The growth of the NFL’s championship game and the spectacle surrounding it, and not incidentally the more than 6,000 credentialed media members in Las Vegas this week, probably would have driven the Hall of Fame coach crazy. Allen served 12 sometimes turbulent but always successful NFL seasons with the Rams and Washington and reached the title game in Super Bowl VII.

And as author Mike Richman noted in his recently released book, “George Allen: A Football Life,” he railed at what he termed distractions in any case, and did not handle the media and promotional demands of what was a more modest a Super Bowl well at all.

Allen’s team finished the 1972 regular season 11-3 and beat the Packers and rival Cowboys to reach the Super Bowl at the Coliseum against Miami, which was attempting to and ultimately did complete the NFL’s first perfect season with a 14-7 victory.

“He was so annoyed with the media coverage at Super Bowl VII,” Richman said in a telephone conversation this week. “Today it would be even so much more overwhelming. If this (week) were his Super Bowl, who knows how he would handle it. … He was so uptight because of the media coverage there and that they were taking up his time.”

But while Allen reached the Super Bowl only once in his 12 full NFL seasons, 1966 through 1977, his winning percentage (116-47-5) is the fourth best in NFL history, behind Guy Chamberlain (who coached in the 1920s and won 78.4% of his games) and a couple of coaches you might recognize: John Madden (.759 in 10 seasons with the Raiders) and Vince Lombardi (.738 in 10 seasons with the Packers and Washington).

More than that, Allen was an innovator. He was the first to consider special teams aptitude in roster decisions; the first to stress offseason work (upon taking the Rams job in 1966, he held a camp for rookies that April, the forerunner of today’s minicamps); the first to launch a permanent dedicated training facility (Washington in 1971); the first to introduce five- and six-defensive back configurations; the first to introduce Tuesdays as days off during the season (now an NFL standard); … and, also, one of the first to sign a player who had recently been released by the upcoming opponent, the better for pumping him for information.

Winning was his sole objective, and he considered anything that didn’t directly contribute to winning a waste of time. (The legend, as Richman related, was that Allen’s favorite food was ice cream because he didn’t have to spend time chewing it.)

But such single-mindedness, epitomized by his preference for veterans and his willingness to pay them top dollar, caused issues with the people who employed him. In fact, while it was undoubtedly to his detriment, that might have been a feature rather than a bug because his players took the “us vs. them” attitude – them being management – and ran with it.

Allen left George Halas’ staff in Chicago to become Rams coach in 1966, and despite taking over a team that had gone 19-48-3 the previous five seasons and winning a division title in his second year in L.A., he was fired by owner Dan Reeves – twice. Reeves sacked him the day after Christmas in 1968 despite a 10-3-1 record, reconsidered 11 days later after Allen’s players objected, but fired him again after the 1970 season. It was part personality conflict (Reeves liked his cocktails, while Allen’s favorite beverage was milk) and partially the feeling that Allen overstepped his authority, including but not limited to spending too much of the team’s money.

Allen’s seven seasons in Washington were similar. As was the case in L.A., but with even more authority as the official general manager, he acquired as many veterans as he could (and paid them well), traded away draft picks (he didn’t trust rookies), sometimes pushed the envelope (he was accused of trading the same pick more than once), and again clashed with the team president, in this case Edward Bennett Williams. After the 1977 season, the team and Allen parted ways, even though his teams reached the postseason in five of his seven seasons in D.C.

The most bizarre firing of all? Carroll Rosenbloom brought Allen back to the Rams in 1978 to replace Chuck Knox, but from the introductory press conference the owner seemed uncertain that this was going to work. And when a new generation of Rams players resisted and complained, Allen was fired two games into the exhibition season.

“So many people had barked in (Rosenbloom’s) ear saying that George Allen was the wrong coach to hire,” Richman said. And it was generally understood that some of that discontent came from front-office people who had lived through Allen’s tenure with Reeves, as well as the discontent of holdover players.

“People stabbed him in the back,” former Herald-Examiner and Press-Telegram columnist Doug Krikorian said in a phone conversation.

“They (said), ‘He spent too much money,’ this and that,” Krikorian said. “All they did (when Allen got there in ’66), they went from 50,000, 60,000 a game up to 90,000. He brought the crowds back. Yeah, he was controlling in some ways, but all they did was win with him. And they (shafted) him with the Rams like you can’t believe.

“George made (the players) work too hard. Chuck Knox was a good coach, but they had a lot of freedom there. The players had their cliques and everything. And George went in there and cleaned house. They didn’t like it. … He was a giant. He didn’t give in, and that was a problem.”

That was his last NFL job. Allen coached two seasons in the USFL in the 1980s, was chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports for a time, and had one last hurrah as a coach at Long Beach State in 1990, taking a team that was 4-8 the year before and finishing 6-5. It was his last job, because Allen died of a heart attack on New Year’s Eve 1990, at the age of 73. The Long Beach program was discontinued after the 1991 season.

Twelve years later, he was inducted posthumously into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, and deservingly so. You could say he personified the template of head coach as the organization’s dominant figure, one most recently used by Bill Belichick in New England but maybe one we’ll never see again.

But could his methods work in today’s NFL?

“I think yes, his approach to the game would work today,” Richman said, noting that free agency would enable him to stock the roster with veterans, although the salary cap would act as a governor. Ignoring the draft and declining to work young players in could be an issue. But emphasis on special teams and the use of nickel and dime packages would fit right in today. “He introduced those schemes to the game for the most part,” Richman said.

And then there’s this:

“He was a players’ coach,” Krikorian said. “The players loved him in Washington.

“He was a very, very bright guy, and he was a defensive genius. He was a very good coach, and he got those guys to play. He always used to tell me, ‘The key is getting guys to play.’”

Lots of things may have changed in the NFL over the years, but that hasn’t.

jalexander@scng.com

Intertwined with those groups, Shula noted the Rams’ outside linebackers from 2019, his first year as a position coach: Dante Fowler, Clay Matthews, Samson Ebukam and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, as well as his linebacker charges from 2023: Ernest Jones IV, Troy Reeder, Christian Rozeboom and Jake Hummel.

“The reason I’m in coaching is the relationships with the players,” Shula said, “and that’s what it’ll continue to be going forward.”

As he outlined his vision on Tuesday for the Rams’ defense under his guidance, the first-time coordinator made clear that the players will be his north star.

Shula has not yet determined whether he will call the defense from the sidelines or up in the coaches’ box. He expects he will be down on the field, but it will depend on what is easier for Jones to hear as he relays play calls to his teammates.

Nor has he fully committed to maintaining last year’s base schemes that worked well for that personnel group, but that group will change by the time the Rams’ offseason is complete and he expects to adapt based on the new players available to him.

“I think we’ll use a lot of the same structures, the same 3-4 structure and some of the same core beliefs, but it’s all about the players,” Shula said. “So we’re going to do whatever the players can execute at a high level where they can go out and play fast and play confident and whatever the offense gives us, we’ll be able to have answers to and they can go be the best versions of themselves.”

That was, in part, a lesson that Shula learned from Wade Phillips, the defensive coordinator when Shula first joined the Rams in 2017.

“He always said that listening is a skill,” Shula said. “He let his coaches coach and the players knew exactly what they were supposed to do and that allowed them to go play at the best of their ability.”

Shula picked up things from all three Rams defensive coordinators in his seven years with the franchise, which was part of the appeal for the team to promote him from linebackers coach, according to a source who was part of the interview process.

He learned to study the rest of the NFL from Brandon Staley’s one year with the Rams. He learned to build relationships and find joy in the daily process from Raheem Morris, now head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

But in some ways, Shula, 37, has been learning what it means to lead a unit since before he was a coach. His father, Dave, is the Cincinnati Bengals’ former head coach. His grandfather, Don, was the Hall of Fame coach of the Miami Dolphins.

That was a legacy Shula used to shy away from, not disclosing his last name when he introduced himself in case someone made an assumption that he got his job because of his family.

But he can embrace it now, happy to receive the memories and stories of his grandfather that football lifers are so eager to share with him when they meet. And while Don Shula died three years ago, Chris Shula believes he knows what he would think about his ascension to defensive coordinator.

“I’d like to think he would think I did it the right way,” Shula said. “I just focus on building relationships with the coaches and the players, working as hard as I can to provide clarity for the players so that they can play their best. I’d like to think he’d be proud of a lot of the lessons I learned from him, the discipline, the accountability that you have that you show to your players by being prepared, by leaving no stone unturned in your preparation so that they go out and they can feel confident when they take the field.”

Shula, 37, was a member of head coach Sean McVay’s original coaching staff and spent the past eight seasons with the Rams. He has worked with inside and outside linebackers during his time with the Rams and spent the 2022 season as defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator before moving back to linebackers and pass rush for the 2023 season.

He replaces Morris, who left last month after three seasons with the Rams to become head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

The move to retain Shula, who interviewed for the Miami Dolphins’ defensive coordinator position earlier Thursday according to an NFL Network report, makes sense for a number of reasons for the Rams.

First, the Rams’ young defense took major strides in 2023 and retaining Morris’ defensive system will help with continuity moving forward. Having worked with all three levels of the defense, Shula already has a familiarity with the players on the roster and their strengths and weaknesses.

Many current Rams have thrived under the tutelage of Shula, grandson of Hall of Fame coach Don Shula. Linebacker Ernest Jones IV had a career year in 2023 and appears poised for a lucrative contract extension. Former fourth-round pick Cobie Durant had a strong rookie season in 2022, preparing him to be the starting star back this past season.

And after a second straight offseason of churn among McVay’s coaching staff, Shula’s return and promotion will bring some more continuity heading into the 2024 season.

Morris took Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Robinson and assistant head coach Jimmy Lake with him to Atlanta for coordinator positions. Assistant special teams coach Jeremy Springer was hired by the Patriots Wednesday to be their special teams coordinators. And defensive line coach Eric Henderson is now the defensive coordinator at USC.

So with Shula, McVay retains a trusted ally, one who was a teammate of McVay’s at Miami (Ohio).

We have two of most every team in every major team sport. We have two major conference college programs operating cheek-to-jowl with major league franchises. We get cameo appearances from almost all of the itinerant sports circuits, starting with this Sunday’s NASCAR Clash in the Coliseum (although it would be nice if the tennis tours would again land in the nation’s second-largest market in the summertime, rather than merely touching down in Indian Wells in March).

Also, dare I point out, we will have our third Olympic Games four years from now. Before that, if FIFA and Stan Kroenke could mend fences, SoFi Stadium would be hosting World Cup matches in two years (and maybe some of the expanded Club World Cup next summer).

And I don’t even have to mention the cornucopia of prime-time athletes that this region continues to pump out annually. You name the sport and we’re represented.

So let’s go big. SoCal is not only the preeminent sports community in North America, but I’ll make the case that it’s unmatched on this planet. The phrase “Sports Capital of the World” sounds way too boosterish, but doesn’t it fit?

What other city on earth has the multitude of sports attractions – i.e., competition for attention – that we do? For example, in most countries, the sport we know as soccer is considered King Football. Here, it has to fight for market share and for attention with four other major professional sports. And there are good reasons Major League Soccer avoids the fall-winter-spring scheduling cycle observed by the rest of the world, the most important being the NFL behemoth, i.e. our very own King Football.

Meanwhile, what other metropolitan area on this continent can match the sports chops of this sprawling community made up of L.A., Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties?

New York? Sorry, not much of a college football profile. Boston? Only one of everything (and they haven’t had a duck boat parade in a couple of forevers). Chicago: Solo NBA and NHL teams (plus, ahem, the Bears). The Bay Area? Close, but they have only one soccer team, they’ve lost the Raiders and are about to lose the A’s, regrettably.

Oh, and here’s the kicker and a spoiler alert: The leader (again) in our annual rankings of SoCal’s teams might as well be considered Japan’s team, too.

As has been the case since we began these lists in 2005 at The Press-Enterprise, the ranking is determined by multiple factors – a mixture of winning, historic importance in the market, interest level and, not insignificantly, the passion of a team’s followers.

The beauty is that, with rare and obvious exceptions, the teams in this market understand what it takes to be competitive not only in their own leagues but in the fight for fans’ attention. In other words, those in charge understand that if you’re a big market team, you’d better act like one.

(And you might notice that there are a couple of additions to the list this year. If you capture the fancy of the greater SoCal public, you deserve to be here.)

So, as SoCal’s newest coach likes to say, who has it better than us?

The list, with the 2023 ranking in parentheses:

1. Dodgers (1): Seen in a local store: A blue T-shirt with “OHTANI” in the style of the “HOLLYWOOD” sign. That says it all, doesn’t it? No team, anywhere, acts the part of a big market franchise so well. That fan bases elsewhere are grumbling “not fair?” All the better.

2. Lakers (2): Yes, they’re struggling to get a foothold this season. That only reminds us of the expectations of their followers, for whom Laker Exceptionalism isn’t just a slogan but a way of life. (And, at times like this, maybe a curse.)

3. Rams (8): What was that again about paying the price in order to win a Super Bowl? As long as they can keep Matthew Stafford healthy, their immediate future seems bright.

4. Clippers (7): It’s hard to have championship expectations when, you know, stuff repeatedly happens. But why shouldn’t this well-run, well-coached, talented team make a deep playoff run … and, perhaps, even have a chance to hang a banner in its new arena? (So, if you’re a Lakers fan and you’re confronted with a Clippers-Celtics final, who do you root for?)

5. Angel City (12): ACFC, along with the San Diego Wave, showed the people who run the National Women’s Soccer League that avoiding Southern California all those years was a grave mistake. The L.A. team’s average home attendance in its two seasons: 19,105 in 2022, 19,756 in 2023. Any surprise that the league is about to expand to the Bay Area in 2024?

6. (tie) UCLA women’s basketball and USC women’s basketball (not ranked in 2023): It’s a perfect storm, with the surge in interest in women’s sports and particularly women’s college basketball dovetailing with two championship-caliber teams. The line wrapped around Pauley Pavilion waiting to get in before the teams’ first meeting on Dec. 30 was an eloquent statement all by itself.

8. USC football (3): The high hopes built in 2022 came crashing down in 2023, as a team of mercenaries played like it down the stretch. But the Trojan fan base has regained its passion and expectations and, yes, a little bit of swagger after a dreary decade.

9. Chargers (6): Could this fan base ever use some swagger? They might get their wish, if Jim Harbaugh does what the multitudes expect.

10. LAFC (4): They might not have been able to defend their MLS Cup title, but this is a well-run team with a passionate fan base that is going to be a factor for a while.

11. UCLA men’s basketball (5): The young Bruins might indeed have a run in them down the stretch, and it’s pretty well established that Mick Cronin won’t let this program wither. But it’s been almost three decades since the last banner, and this is another fan base that has trouble settling.

12. Kings (10): A year ago – heck, six weeks ago – they seemed to be building toward a shot at another Stanley Cup, a decade after their last one. But the recent whopper of a slump has called into question not only players’ effort and coaching but the way General Manager Rob Blake built this roster. The most devoted fans in this market deserve better.

13. Angels (9): Arte Moreno and the rest of his organization should feel fortunate that so many fans still care about this team. There’s little reason to expect improvement unless new Manager Ron Washington is indeed a miracle worker.

14. USC men’s basketball (11): A promising season has turned sour, and is there any real evidence that the USC faithful notice or care? They average 6,228 at home, and their best home crowds were a 10,300 sellout against UCLA and 9,806 against Long Beach State – and how many of those were there early to await JuJu Watkins and the USC women in the nightcap?

15. UCLA football (14): Yes, they were 8-5, and yes, they beat Boise State in the Gronk Bowl at SoFi Stadium, but the Chip Kelly era remains distinguished by a lack of fan passion.

16. Galaxy (13): They were once MLS’ flagship franchise. Now they’re an afterthought in their own town and starting over.

17. Ducks (16): Rebuilds are difficult, especially two or three seasons in. The Ducks are now six seasons removed from their last playoff berth and finally seem to be moving forward, slowly.

18. Sparks (15): And here, a rebuild is just beginning. This is another former flagship franchise trying to find its way again, and at least they’ll have a No.2 draft pick to work with.

jalexander@scng.com

The Rams’ defensive coordinator is nearing a deal to become the next head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, according to multiple media reports on Thursday afternoon.

Morris, 47, spent the past three seasons as the Rams’ defensive coordinator, winning Super Bowl LVI with the team. This year, he helped turn a young, unproven defense into a unit that was capable of carrying the Rams’ offense in certain games, pitching five shutout halves (all in games the Rams won).

That success led to interviews with five teams about their head coaching vacancies. Morris had his second interview with the Falcons on Thursday morning and the sides appear to have moved quickly to get a deal done for Morris to return to the NFC South.

In 2009, Morris was named the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They won 10 games in his second season, a seven-win improvement, but a 4-12 campaign the following year spelled the end of his tenure in Tampa.

He spent the next three seasons with Washington, where he first worked with Rams head coach Sean McVay. Morris then coached for the Falcons from 2015-2020 and served as their interim head coach for the final 12 games of the 2020 season.

Now after his three years in Los Angeles, Morris returns to Atlanta with the full-time head job, a position that Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel (and 11 others) interviewed for.

It’s a loss for the Rams, given Morris’ larger-than-life personality and his football acumen, but one the team will welcome. After Morris narrowly missed out on head coaching jobs with the Minnesota Vikings and Indianapolis Colts the past two years, coaches, players and executives with the Rams have come out publicly in support of Morris’ candidacy.

“The guy is coded to respect everyone, to build a relationship with everyone no matter where you’re at in the organization. What’s awesome is as he does that, you just see the respect flow back in his direction,” General Manager Les Snead said most recently. “It’s a superpower that I think would help any organization.”

Shortly after news broke of Morris’ hiring by the Falcons, Rams linebacker Ernest Jones IV and former Rams defensive back Jalen Ramsey posted their support on X, formerly Twitter.

“Falcons got a great one,” Jones wrote, as Ramsey added, “Falcons got one of, if not the best coach in the NFL.”

The departure leaves the Rams with a vacancy to fill at DC, along with defensive line coach after Eric Henderson left for USC. McVay told reporters earlier this month that, should Morris leave, the plan would be to move slow and deliberate about finding his replacement, similar to how the Rams operated while filling several vacancies last offseason.

The Rams will receive third-round compensatory picks in 2024 and 2025 due to the Falcons hiring Morris.

When the Rams’ leaders do sit down after the Super Bowl to evaluate the state of the team and the options ahead of them, there will be several key decisions to be made. First up on the calendar will be NFL free agency, which begins the second week of March.

Here’s a look at six pivotal free-agent decisions the Rams have to make ahead of the 2024 season.

Right guard Kevin Dotson

The Rams acquired Dotson, 26, from the Pittsburgh Steelers at the end of August in exchange for a swap of Day 3 draft capital. The move turned out to be a bargain for the Rams, as Dotson started at right guard in Week 4 and never surrendered the job. According to Pro Football Focus, Dotson was the second-highest graded guard in the NFL this season, allowing just 24 pressures on 561 pass-blocking snaps while adding physicality to the Rams’ running game.

The other side of the sword for the Rams is that Dotson is now an unrestricted free agent and has greatly increased his value. Speaking with reporters last week, Rams general manager Les Snead made it clear that the Rams want Dotson back but was unsure what the open market would pay him.

Dotson’s Rams teammates want him, back, too.

“I thought Kevin did a great job coming in here,” right tackle Rob Havenstein said. “He’s a big, strong, physical guy. He’s a great presence in the meeting room. He’s funny as all heck. Just a great guy to be around. And however it shakes out, I’m just a Kevin Dotson fan from here on out. But obviously having continuity on the O-line is important.”

Left tackle

One thing that Snead spoke about regarding Dotson and the offensive line is that continuity “is definitely the vision.” Does that apply to starting left tackle Alaric Jackson, 25, who is a restricted free agent?

Jackson won the Rams’ left tackle job in training camp and did a serviceable job, but also allowed 41 pressures, the most of any Rams offensive lineman this season. Do the Rams think they can improve at the position either in free agency or with their first-round pick? If enough receivers and quarterbacks are taken high in the draft, it could push a talented tackle to the Rams at No. 19.

As a former undrafted free agent, Jackson won’t net the Rams any compensatory picks if he signs with another team assuming he is designated with a right-of-first-refusal tag.

Safety Jordan Fuller

Fuller was second on the team in tackles and had three interceptions and eight pass breakups this season. Beyond that, he was an important leader in the locker room, serving as captain and wearing the green dot on defense when linebacker Ernest Jones IV missed the game against the Green Bay Packers.

As important as he was to the Rams’ defense this season, Snead appeared resigned to losing Fuller in free agency in his press conference last week. Asked directly how Fuller’s leadership plays into his decision-making, Snead spoke about replacing that leadership rather than retaining it.

“Anytime a leader goes out, it’s probably hard to replace that exact leader,” Snead said. “That’s the tough part about this business is there’s times where you actually lose useful skills when players move on, but the very, very hard part is to lose that leadership quality that definitely is an important part of blending the energy that you have for that particular team and that moment.”

Third receiver

Veteran Demarcus Robinson emerged late in the season as the Rams’ third receiver, establishing a strong rapport with QB Matthew Stafford by winning his routes and making contested catches. But his veteran’s minimum deal has expired, and he’s a free agent.

With Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua coming back, how do the Rams want to round out their starting receivers? Robinson is the trusted hand. Former second-round pick Tutu Atwell’s speed made him a dynamic presence before injuries and Robinson’s emergence left him in more of a reserve role. Then again, Nacua has three years left on his bargain rookie contract, so the Rams could look to take advantage with a free-agent acquisition on a short-term deal.

DBs Ahkello Witherspoon and John Johnson III

Fuller is one of three starting defensive backs entering free agency. Like Fuller, Witherspoon and Johnson offered a good share of on- and off-field leadership for the Rams this season while playing on veteran minimum deals.

Witherspoon was the Rams’ top cornerback this season, embracing big matchups in man coverage. And Johnson provided a boost to the defense late in the season, especially with a game-changing interception in a victory over the Cleveland Browns. Beyond that, their years of experience in the league were invaluable on a young roster.

But defensive back seems like a position group that could have a drastically new look for the Rams next year. Third-year safeties Russ Yeast and Quentin Lake are biding their time for more snaps, and cornerback seems like a position the Rams could address in free agency or the draft.

So will the Rams have room for these vets next year, especially if they are looking for a pay increase?

Kicker

The Rams can’t experience another merry-go-round at kicker next season. From the start of training camp until the end of the season, the Rams made three different changers at kicker, including two stints by Brett Maher and not counting a one-week practice squad appearance by Mason Crosby.

There are several veterans available in free agency, and it would make sense for the Rams to explore those options earlier in the offseason after head coach Sean McVay admitted the kicking situation was impacting his play-calling and decision-making on offense.

On Friday, as he addressed reporters on Zoom for the first time since the Rams’ wild-card loss to the Detroit Lions, Snead offered up a metaphor in the form of a bronze sculpture that lives in Snead’s office, of Sisyphus pushing his punitive boulder up the hill.

“The bittersweet part is, when the season ends, you get that boulder as high up the mountain as you can, then it just rolls back down,” Snead said. “Holy cow, in Detroit the other night, it took a lot of work to get that boulder to Detroit, but when the clock hit zero, that thing went all the way back to the bottom. We haven’t even started pushing it up again. We’re trying to just get over that ball rolling over us as it went back to the bottom.”

Snead finds the Rams in a very different place than last January, or even other recent offseasons.

The Super Bowl core of Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp has been reinforced by Kyren Williams, Puka Nacua, Steve Avila and Kobie Turner. Upwards of $40 million in salary cap space is available to play with. So is a first-round draft pick, the first since Snead traded up to take quarterback Jared Goff at No. 1 overall in 2016.

Snead and the front office’s process will begin after the Super Bowl, watching cut-ups of the season and asking the existential questions: Who are we? Where are we at?

Then come the more practical questions as the NFL’s calendar spins forward.

What to do about your own free agents?

Contributors on both sides of the ball are hitting free agency. Snead tipped his hand on one of them on Friday, stating a desire to bring back starting right guard Kevin Dotson. The Rams traded for the former Pittsburgh Steeler after the preseason, and he proved to be one of the better right guards in the NFL after taking over the starting job in Week 4.

“[Continuity] is definitely the vision,” Snead said of the offensive line. “I would bet with you that he’ll definitely have a marketplace, for sure. People are going to want him to come play football for them. We’re one of those teams.”

And what else can the Rams do with their newfound cap space?

Snead preached a patient approach, saying the Rams won’t rush to spend all of their money on the first day of free agency. They will try to be precise, Snead said, asking, “What skill gives us an edge that this team might not have?”

And there could be an effort to be preemptive about future free agents, like linebacker and leading tackler Ernest Jones IV as he enters the final year of his rookie contract.

“Definitely the leader of the defense,” Snead said. “In the past, obviously we’ve been invested in some other positions. But I think as we evolve and as teams evolve, there’s times where you might be less invested at a certain position than you were in the past and one of your better players is an inside linebacker. So he’s definitely someone we’ll discuss and definitely someone we’d like to have around.”

And what about that first-round pick? Will the Rams select at No. 19, or trade down, as they did in 2019? Snead kept open all possibilities, including trading up.

That might be the most valuable asset the Rams have: Options. The offense suddenly has two more playmakers on rookie contracts. The defense admittedly exceeded even Snead’s expectations this year. So he can be more selective this offseason, and take the path that presents itself instead of trying to force any issue.

The remodel might be ahead of schedule. But the boulder still needs to restart its journey up the hill.

He ultimately did decide to return to the Rams for 2023. And after that season came to the kind of abrupt end Sunday that only the postseason can provide, McVay was calm, the result of a 24-23 wild-card game loss to the Detroit Lions not washing away the process that had revitalized him.

“The finality of it is still kind of … it doesn’t totally resonate, but man, did I learn a lot and really appreciate this group,” McVay said. “They helped me find my way again and how much I love this and love the people that I’m around.”

The 2023 Rams didn’t win a Super Bowl, like their counterparts from two years ago. They didn’t make the Super Bowl, like the 2018 team. Just a few years ago, a first-round playoff exit would have been considered a failure for this franchise.

But there’s a certain “found gold” quality to a young team that finds success ahead of schedule. The Rams’ playoff appearance with a young, exciting core was the kind of moment that Lakers fans craved for Brandon Ingram, D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle before that group was broken up for a less patient approach.

Except the Rams didn’t have to be patient. In Year 1 of what was carefully labeled a “remodel” around Matthew Stafford, Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp, young stars arrived to complement that Super Bowl experience.

There was fifth-round rookie Puka Nacua, breaking a 63-year-old rookie receiving record and making even future Hall of Famer Donald shake his head in admiration at his displays of toughness. Third-rounders Kobie Turner and Byron Young trading the rookie sack lead. Second-rounder Steve Avila playing every snap at left guard. Second-year back Kyren Williams exploding onto the scene with the third-most rushing yards in the NFL while playing 12 games.

Most of all, though, there was a new atmosphere in Thousand Oaks. Before the season opener, players gathered in the middle of the locker room to watch the first “Thursday Night Football” game of the season, something veterans had never seen before.

That energy was powerful enough to keep the Rams stable even after a 3-6 start to the season. The team came back from the bye and won seven of its next eight to reach 10 wins and the playoffs after a one-year absence.

“I think their energy, their vibe, their relentless mental and physical toughness, the stamina at which they just continued to come to work whether we were 3-6 or 7-1 at the end of the season,” McVay said. “Everything is and always has been and always will be about people. When you’re surrounded by coaches and players you love and that you don’t want to let down, you’re reminded of that really quickly. I think a lot of those things were on display.”

And still, despite everything achieved, above and beyond any outside expectation, the suddenness of their playoff exit left the Rams stunned.

“Ended too soon. Everyone was having too much fun,” right tackle Rob Havenstein said. “You watch some of the absolute joy that these young guys play with … with enough of those guys in the room, just, I’m happy. Happy to be out there, happy to play, happy to learn. Which is one of the biggest things I think our rookies did a great job with. Nobody took themselves too seriously, everyone just wanted to continue to get better. The way they brought life and juice to everything.”

A nine-year veteran, Havenstein spoke of the team in the past tense two days after the loss to Detroit. He’s seen enough offseason remodels to understand what comes next.

The Rams have some decisions to make. At least one was already made, with McVay declaring Wednesday that Stafford “unequivocally” would be the Rams’ quarterback in 2024 after an offseason of speculation a year ago.

But team captain Jordan Fuller is an unrestricted free agent, as are fellow secondary starters John Johnson III and Ahkello Witherspoon. Starting right guard Kevin Dotson is unrestricted, too, while left tackle Alaric Jackson is a restricted free agent. Three contributors to the defense’s front seven – Jonah Williams, Michael Hoecht and Christian Rozeboom – are restricted, too.

General Manager Les Snead could opt to get the band back together. But the Rams are projected to have $48,214,762 of cap space this offseason, per Spotrac, and have a full allotment of draft picks, including their first first-round selection since the No. 1 overall pick of Jared Goff in 2016. Snead and the front office will explore every avenue to improve the team.

Perhaps it won’t be as drastic of an offseason as following the 2017 season, when the Rams made the playoffs in McVay’s first year and used several blockbuster moves to elevate to Super Bowl contenders a year later. But McVay can see parallels between that winter and this one.

“It does feel like this was kind of a new start to the journey that we’re on,” McVay said. “I do feel like we have a much better idea of the types of people and players and coaches that we want with all the turnover and some of the different things that we’ve experienced I think will serve us well because of the approach that we’ll be able to take.

“But this league is tough and we all know that, but I’m sure as hell excited to get back and compete and attack it with these coaches and players next year.”

Higbee will undergo surgery for the knee injury, which he suffered in the second half on Sunday night when Lions safety Kerby Joseph went low to break up a pass and flipped Higbee into the air.

“He is such a tough stud and means so much to our team in so many different ways, it’s unfortunate,” McVay said. “But he’s got the right mindset and spirit.”

The timing of the injury in mid-January puts into question whether Higbee, who signed a two-year contract extension with the Rams in September, will be ready for training camp or even the start of the season.

“When you get an ACL this late in the year, I’d be willing to bet you he’d be a candidate for [the physically unable to perform (PUP) list],” McVay said. “But to put a timeline of exactly, you gotta get that surgery, the rehab ends up kinda being different based on what they end up really finding when you go in there and how the recovery and the procedure ends up going to fix that. But I would think at the minimum he’ll be a PUP guy.”

Higbee wasn’t the only Ram who required a medical procedure after Sunday’s game.

Running back Kyren Williams left the NFC wild-card game with a hand injury and was seen with a large wrap on his left hand in the postgame locker room. McVay said Williams had suffered a broken bone and had surgery Tuesday to repair the break.

The injury is not expected to impact availability next season for Williams, who broke out in his second season with 1,144 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns despite missing four games with an ankle sprain and sitting out Week 18 to rest for the playoffs.

Coaching staff status

Last offseason, the Rams underwent a major overhaul of their coaching staff, with eight departures from the team. McVay expects to have more continuity going into the 2024 season.

“If there’s changes, it’ll only be because of better opportunities,” McVay said. “I feel really good about our coaching staff. … Obviously, there could be some chips that end up falling into place relative to [defensive coordinator Raheem Morris] getting an opportunity to be a head coach, but if that doesn’t occur, if people don’t get better opportunities, then we’ll have the same group back.”

One of those better opportunities emerged Monday, when USC announced that it had hired Rams defensive line coach Eric Henderson to be its co-defensive coordinator.

Henderson spent five seasons with the Rams, including the last three as defensive line coach and running game coordinator. He was a beloved figure among his position group and played a big role in developing young players like Kobie Turner over the years.

“Basically established his own culture within the defensive line room, has had a really good track record of developing people, building relationships with our players,” McVay said. “I think there’s a toughness, there’s an identity that we played with on the defensive line that is a real credit to him. … [USC] was a good chance for he and his family to do something that was in alignment with some of his goals.”

McVay mentioned AC Carter as a potential internal candidate to replace Henderson. Carter served as Henderson’s second in command on the defensive line this year in his first season with the Rams and developed a reputation as a high-energy coach, especially during practices.

But with Morris still in the process of interviewing for head-coaching jobs – Morris is reportedly meeting with the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday, the Washington Commanders on Thursday and the Seattle Seahawks on Friday – McVay will take a patient approach to filling Henderson’s old job.

“I think the appropriate direction to go is wait to see what exactly happens with Raheem before I make any decisions as it relates to any possible openings on the defensive side of the ball,” McVay said. “If we do lose Raheem, there will be a very patient, thorough and deliberate process in the same manner that was reflected last year.”

Bennett still in flux

Quarterback Stetson Bennett IV spent his entire rookie season on the non-football injury list after the Rams drafted him in the fourth round in April. Asked if he anticipated Bennett being back with the team next year, McVay did not commit.

“I think he’s doing better, but I wouldn’t be in a position to answer that accurately right now,” McVay said. “It’s probably a long ways away from me being able to answer that.”

Exhibit A, of course, is the 2023-24 Rams. We saw the previous season’s 5-12 hangover from a Super Bowl championship, saw Coach Sean McVay’s initial reluctance about even coming back this season, and figured that the retooling process would take at least another season.

It took, in fact, just 10 weeks to kick in. And McVay confirmed, in the disappointment of Sunday night’s 24-23 wild-card playoff loss to the Detroit Lions, that this team had restorative powers in a way we might not have anticipated.

“The finality of it … it still doesn’t totally resonate, but man, did I learn a lot, and I really appreciate this group,” McVay said. “They helped me find my way again and (realize) how much I love this and love the people that I’m around. And it’s certainly always about these people, these players, these coaches.”

And then, to pound home the point:

“There’s a lot of things that we can build on, but you’ve got to do it. It’s – as we know, and this group is an example of it, the preseason stuff doesn’t mean (anything). You’ve got to be able to go earn it, and every single year is a new year. But I do think we’ve got a lot of really key and critical guys that we’re excited about building and continuing to develop and work with.

“And then there’s a lot of guys that might not be here that, man, I loved working with them and certainly learned a lot from this group. And so, just the appreciation is the main thing that I hope they feel.”

Who could have guessed, for example, that Puka Nacua would become such a force as a complement to Cooper Kupp in the Rams’ offensive plan? Nacua blamed himself for the third-and-14 incompletion late in the fourth quarter, even though the ball was high and he couldn’t come down with it (and there was a jersey tug that could have been pass interference but wasn’t called). That incompletion forced a punt with 4:07 left, and the Rams never got the ball back.

“I’m not disappointed in the team and my teammates, but disappointed in myself,” he said. “I put myself in opportunities to make plays, and I didn’t come down with the play in the opportunity that I had.

“… Teammates count on me to make plays. Coach counted on me to dial up my number. I just wasn’t able to come down with it. So it’ll be a nice motivator, (to) make sure I cross my i’s or … dot my, whatever the saying is.”

He can be forgiven for not remembering that you cross your t’s and dot your i’s. And he can be forgiven for that one miss, as crucial as it was, because he (a) led all receivers on the night with 181 yards, catching nine of the 10 balls thrown his way including a 50-yard touchdown play, and (b) without Nucua’s contributions, and those of a lot of other young players, the Rams wouldn’t have gotten this far.

“This guy’s a freaking warrior and he is a stud,” McVay said. “I love the mindset and mentality that he has and if he just continues to stay humble and keep working, this guy is going to be a problem for a long time.”

The youngsters had an impact, and a huge one. Of the Rams’ two-deep roster for Sunday’s game, 10 were rookies – Nucua, offensive lineman Steve Avila and outside linebacker Byron Young were starters, and Ethan Evans was the punter – and five more were second-year players, including running back Kyren Williams and cornerbacks Cobie Durant and Derron Kendrick, all listed starters.

“A jolt of energy” is how quarterback Matthew Stafford described the young players’ effect. “Man, it was fun. I had a blast. It was a heck of a challenge, but I got to sit there and push guys, but also watch guys come into their own in this league, and it’s not an easy thing to do.

“We got a lot of young guys, and not only rookies but guys who hadn’t played a lot of football but stepped into big-time roles and became huge pieces of our team and stars in our league.”

Williams, in particular, was a find, amassing 1,144 yards and 12 touchdowns in the regular season and adding 61 yards in 13 carries on Sunday night before a hand injury took him out of the game. If Williams had been available for the Rams’ final possession, might things have changed?

The best comparable these veteran eyes can come up with: Williams’ style and production is reminiscent of the young Jerome Bettis. Before he became “The Bus,” and then a Hall of Famer for his accomplishments in Pittsburgh, Bettis was a Rams rookie in 1993 in Anaheim, running for 1,429 yards and seven touchdowns and from the very beginning becoming known for moving the pile to grind out extra yards.

And Bettis and Williams share an alma mater, Notre Dame. It might be much too soon to attach those kinds of expectations to Williams, but there’s immense potential here.

There are still more signs of a bright, bright future for the Rams even beyond the productive youth currently on the roster. Depending on which estimate you believe – and OverTheCap.com and Spotrac are both fairly reliable – the Rams will have between $44 million and $48.2 million of cap space available to them this offseason, and they also have all of their draft picks, plus some expected compensatory picks coming their way.

So there will be opportunities for General Manager Les Snead to augment this roster. Given what he’s done with mid-to-low picks just in the most recent draft alone – Avila was a second-rounder, Young a third-rounder, Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate Nucua went in the fifth round and Evans, defensive end Desjuan Johnson and defensive back Jason Taylor II were picked in the seventh round – I like their chances of going into next season better than they came into this one.

There is one area where the Rams need severe improvement, special teams. The uncertainty of what they would get from their placekicker influenced play calls throughout the second half of the season, and definitely did so Sunday night. Brett Maher’s contributions were three chip-shot field goals, salvaging points out of the team’s three failures in the red zone. But Rams kickers were 14 of 25 from 40 yards and beyond.

There just happens to be a potential special teams solution at hand. John Fassel has been the Dallas Cowboys’ special teams coordinator for the last four seasons. When he was with the Rams, from 2012 through 2019, their special teams were efficient and creative. Given the uncertainty in Dallas after another Cowboys playoff flameout, it’s worth exploring the idea of bringing Fassel, an Anaheim native, back home.

As for the faces of the franchise, Aaron Donald declined to make any definitive statements on his NFL future after Sunday’s game, saying, “We gonna see, y’understand? But I’m proud of this team. I’m proud of this group. You know, we’ve got a lot more football left.”

Stafford, asked a similar question, was more definitive. “Yeah, my plan is to be back and you’re going to have to deal with me for another year, so have fun with that,” he said.

And when I asked Stafford what this season’s success portends for the team’s future, he said:

“Every team is different, right? You could ask me that question last year, and nobody would have guessed we were sitting right here doing this right now. Obviously, it was a solid season where you had a chance to get into the tournament, but didn’t get it done, but next year it’ll be a bunch of new guys I’m sure, like it is every single season. We’ll have to figure that out and figure that journey out when we get there.”

I like their chances of figuring it out.

jalexander@scng.com