Rams' Jalen Ramsey trade first domino in team philosophy change - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — As the 2022 Los Angeles Rams wrapped up a 5-12 season, the front office recognized the 2021 core that had won Super Bowl LVI was aging.

«You're going to naturally want to run it back [or] repeat, and you bring a lot of those players back,» Rams general manager Les Snead said. «When it didn't work out at that point, you got to say, 'OK, who's the core? How many years does that core have together? It's not going to last forever. When is it best to start trying to engineer a new core?'

»That's probably when it really began.… I don't want to say the clock struck midnight, but the core, that team, that senior class… it just doesn't last forever."

So, changes were made — including trading star cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the Miami Dolphins for a third-round pick. To many, the move signaled the Rams' championship window was closing, as they recouped draft capital and started to rebuild instead of sticking to the philosophy famously worn by Snead in the Super Bowl LVI championship parade, on a shirt with his photo and the line, «F--- them picks.»

The Rams, after all, won the Super Bowl by taking huge swings to improve their roster, including trading for quarterback Matthew Stafford during the offseason, adding linebacker Von Miller at the trade deadline and signing Odell Beckham Jr. soon after. The moves were made to add to edge rusher Aaron Donald and receiver Cooper Kupp — two players along with Stafford whom Snead later called the «weight-bearing walls» of the roster.

As the Rams try to put together another Super Bowl contender, they've returned to building the roster in a more traditional way: through the draft. It's an attempt to build a new core alongside the veterans on offense, including Stafford and Super