How Can Commanders Duplicate Rams' Super Bowl Blueprint?
It's been said that the NFL is a copycat league, and teams have to learn how to beat the best in their own division before trying to win a Super Bowl.
The Cincinnati Bengals won the AFC North on their way to a championship loss, and the Los Angeles Rams took the NFC West crown before stepping into the postseason and climbing to the top of the NFL mountain.
And for the first time in a couple of years, the Washington Commanders can look to a champion, and say, 'Hey, we can do that too!'.
It's hard to look at the Super Bowl-winning teams of 2020-21 to look for a sure-fire blueprint. With the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020, a team needs to simply draft a game-changing franchise quarterback, and do it without trading all its picks in the process. In 2021, simply wait for the greatest quarterback of all time to look for a new team to lead.
No, the Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't leave too many breadcrumbs to follow when Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady led them to titles.
But the Rams are different, and the path they chose was filled with ridicule, all the way up to their Lombardi Trophy celebration.
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In a certain light, the theory is simple: Draft picks are for the future, veterans are for right now.
The Rams chose winning today, over maybe winning in the future. And they paid for it. Up front, for the services of cornerback Jalen Ramsey, running back Sony Michel, receiver Odell Beckham Jr., quarterback Matthew Stafford and outside linebacker Von Miller, Los Angeles spent first-round picks from 2020-23, a 2022 second-round pick, third-rounders in 2021 and 22, fourth-rounders in 2021 and 23, a sixth this year, and a seventh in next year's NFL Draft.
And became the butt of every fanbase outside of their own, for most of the offseason.
Then came the regular season, a win over the Buccaneers early, a division title, and by the time Super Bowl LVI came around, nobody was laughing anymore.
Where the Rams were strong, it mattered. Where they weren't, it didn't.
Where does Washington stand in relation to the Rams blueprint?
The Commanders have one of the top rising wide receivers in the league in Terry McLaurin. Washington's pass rush has Jonathan Allen, Montez Sweat, and Chase Young looking on pace to return in early 2022. The pass defense has good bones but needs a true difference-maker.
And the team needs their quarterback.
All told, Washington's roster isn't far off, and an elite pass rush can make almost any secondary look championship caliber.
What it might take to get over the hump are the guts to go for it. To use future potential as collateral to finance present-day success.
And to withstand all the grief that comes with it as fans and media ridicule the selling of draft picks.
