The balance of power in the NFL—particularly in the NFC—might have shifted this week. Not only was All-Pro wide receiver A.J. Brown officially traded by the Eagles to the Patriots, as had been expected for weeks now, but the Rams acquired star defensive end Myles Garrett from the Browns for defensive end Jared Verse, a first-round pick, a second-round pick, and a third-round pick.
The Rams have now gone from a very popular Super Bowl pick to an uncommonly sizable favorite for this time of year, at +500—with Seattle, Baltimore, and Buffalo well behind them at +1100.
The defending champion Seahawks themselves are almost certainly extremely driven and will continue to be as all the hype of their rival escalates. The Seattle Seahawks schedule doesn’t include the Rams until Christmas Day in Week 16, with those two NFC West battles coming in the final three weeks of the regular season. There’s a ton of work to do before those matchups, but the mindset of the championship club is spot on.
They’re not talking about “running it back.” Instead, it’s about “running it forward.” The confidence and aggressiveness they play with should not be discounted. The Rams were their biggest challenge last season, but they were able to overwhelm mostly everyone else—capped by one of the best Super Bowl performances in history versus the Patriots.
We know that Brown’s status in Philadelphia has been part of the NFL latest news for a while now. What makes this even more interesting is that the Rams were seriously interested in acquiring Brown earlier this offseason. Presumably, Brown mostly wanted to play for the Patriots, the team he grew up rooting for and the team with his former head coach Mike Vrabel. And the Eagles might not have wanted to trade Brown to a fellow NFC contender.
Instead? Los Angeles continued adding to the defense. They had already traded a first-rounder for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie before getting Garrett. The offense is still loaded, including at wide receiver with Puka Nacua and Davante Adams. Los Angeles is about as close as you can get to a “superteam” in the NFL.
On top of that, there’s legitimate talk about Rams legend Aaron Donald coming out of retirement to join Garrett and company on the defensive line.
Essentially, Les Snead and Sean McVay are plugging the biggest weaknesses on the team—revamping the cornerback group and adding Garrett as someone who can be one of the game’s best finishers when they build leads. It worked out spectacularly last year when they added Adams to give them the boost they needed to finish drives with touchdowns, which was an issue the season before.
The Seahawks might be getting disrespected right now. But it’s easy to envision—if the Rams defense can indeed take a step forward with their star additions, including potentially Donald re-joining the squad—the LA defense simply overwhelming the Seattle offense.
Remember, Sam Darnold struggled versus that unit until last season. The Seahawks lost offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III is now with Kansas City. The degree of difficulty increases all-around.
So, a lot might come down to the Seahawks defense. Mike Macdonald has quickly proven to be an elite head coach and defensive mind. The unit should keep them in every game, and Darnold proved many doubters wrong last season.
Do the Rams have too much firepower now? They might. But it’s not easy to win a Super Bowl.