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IRVINE, Calif. — The Los Angeles Rams opened 2022 NFL training camp on Sunday at University of California-Irvine. Here’s a closer look at a few storylines:

The biggest question: When will quarterback Matthew Stafford throw? Stafford didn’t throw during the offseason after he received an injection in his right elbow for an injury he dealt with last season, but said he will “definitely” be ready during training camp. But when will that be? On the last day of minicamp, Stafford said he still had “a lot of work to do physically just to get ready to go” and feels like he’s entering training camp “in peak position to go out there and play at a high level.” The Rams’ coaching staff isn’t worried about Stafford’s mastery of the offense and there’s been dialogue about making sure Stafford is ready to go during camp.

Training camp is a success if … Stafford is 100% healthy for Week 1: Stafford proved himself in Sean McVay’s offense last season and the head coach said during the spring workout that Stafford “now has such ownership” of it going into his second year in L.A. While the Rams added wide receiver Allen Robinson II in free agency, so much of the offense already has familiarity with Stafford. Although Stafford didn’t throw during minicamp, McVay praised the way the quarterback was able to work during the “above-the-neck emphasis drills,” and said Stafford was “coaching guys up” when he was watching drills from the sidelines.

Obviously most NFL teams rely on the health of their starting quarterback, but given Stafford’s elbow injury, the most important thing for the Rams is to finish training camp with Stafford at 100%.

The player with the most to prove: Wide receiver Van Jefferson. As Odell Beckham Jr. recovers from a torn ACL, there’s been a thought that the wide receiver could re-sign with the Rams during the season if all goes well with his rehab. But while the Rams have the necessary cap space (around $7.5 million, according to Over the Cap), a strong start to the season from Jefferson could diminish the need to bring back Beckham.

Jefferson took a big step forward in his second season, finishing with 50 catches for 802 yards and six touchdowns, and that was as Los Angeles’ third receiving option for much of the season. Beckham was crucial to the Rams’ Super Bowl run and victory — despite the injury — but Jefferson will likely have the chance to prove he can be a strong No. 2 or 3 receiver in 2022.

As NFL training camps swing into action, NFL Nation looks at the top storylines and offers a prediction for each team.
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Most impactful offseason addition: Linebacker Bobby Wagner. The Rams lost Von Miller in free agency, and although Wagner is not a direct replacement, he brings a great deal of veteran leadership to the Rams’ defense. Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said “you can’t help” but learn from the veteran linebacker when you’re around him, and saw during the spring how beneficial that was to other players at the position, especially 2021 third-round pick Ernest Jones. Morris said Wagner “slows the game down for everybody around him” and said Wagner is still a guy who can “go out there all three downs and play every single snap of the season.”

Camp prediction: Tutu Atwell ends camp as No. 3 receiver. Both Stafford and wide receiver Cooper Kupp pointed out Atwell’s improvement during the spring. Atwell, the Rams’ second-round pick in 2021, played 10 offensive snaps last season but had a role on special teams before injuring his shoulder and being placed on injured reserve in November. The Rams have a strong trio of Kupp, Robinson and Jefferson, but a solid camp from Atwell will give him a bigger opportunity entering the regular season.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — It didn’t take much time after the Los Angeles Rams won Super Bowl LVI for the front office trio of general manager Les Snead, COO Kevin Demoff and VP of football and business administration Tony Pastoors to turn to the task ahead: Keeping as much of this championship roster together as possible.

The first big move was to sign quarterback Matthew Stafford to a contract extension in March, tying him to the franchise through the 2026 season. And then last week, the Rams reworked defensive tackle Aaron Donald‘s contract to give him a big raise and signed wide receiver Cooper Kupp to a three-year contract extension that pairs him with Stafford for five more seasons.

After the Donald and Kupp deals, the Rams still have $7.6 million of cap space, according to Over the Cap.

And while those are the three long-term deals the Rams have done this offseason, there is plenty of talent alongside them. The Rams are now the only team in the NFL with two players — Stafford and Donald — who have an average salary at least $30 million per year in their current contracts. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who signed a five-year, $100 million contract extension in 2020, has a cap hit of $23.2 million this season. Wide receiver Allen Robinson II signed a three-year, $46.5 million contract this offseason.

So, how did they do it?

With a top-heavy roster containing so many star players, the Rams have to rely on their draft picks to add cheaper talent. For this to work, they have had to find young talent to fill in around the headliners. The Rams have managed despite not having a first-round draft pick since 2016. The Rams have 11 projected starters they’ve picked on the second or third day of the draft since 2017, led by Kupp (a third-rounder in 2017).

The recent contract extensions also helped the Rams’ cap space for this season. Kupp’s cap number for this season went down with the extension, from $18.3 to $17.8 million, according to OTC.

Extending Stafford in March also gave the Rams some cap flexibility this year.

While Stafford’s contract averages $40 million per season, his cap hit for 2022 is $13.5 million, which is 6.71% of the Rams’ salary cap and a sizable reduction from the $23 million cap hit he would have had before the extension. Stafford’s deal does jump to $20 million in 2023 and then $49.5 million the following season, which is when many people around the league are expecting the cap to explode with the potential of huge TV deals.

But it’s a bargain right now. By comparison, the Green Bay Packers‘ Aaron Rodgers has a cap hit of $28.5 million in 2022, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes‘ is $37.8 million and the Buffalo Bills‘ Josh Allen‘s $16.4 million.

According to OTC, the Rams are currently $2.5 million over the projected cap for 2023 and $7.8 million under for 2024, but those cap numbers won’t be set until after each preceding season and could drastically change.

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One player the Rams did not retain was outside linebacker Von Miller, who signed a six-year, $120 million contract with the Buffalo Bills in free agency. The Rams also have not re-signed wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who tore the ACL in his left knee during the Super Bowl.

The Rams could re-sign Beckham, who attended head coach Sean McVay’s wedding earlier this month. McVay joked that Beckham knew the expectation was, “You come to the wedding, you’ve got to sign with the Rams.”

After he signed his contract, Donald said it was not his top priority to become the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL. Instead, he said, one of the “most important things for me was feeling that the pieces that we brought in were going to still be here.”

With the core tied together for at least the next three seasons, the Rams were able to extend their Super Bowl window.

Andrew Whitworth was the left tackle for the Los Angeles Rams for five seasons, but somehow it felt like more.

Whitworth joined the Rams in 2017, when they were coming off a 4-12 season, playing in the aging Los Angeles Coliseum and quarterbacked by Jared Goff. By time he retired earlier this month, the Rams were Super Bowl champions, playing in the most modern of NFL stadiums at SoFi Stadium and quarterbacked by Matthew Stafford.

It’s going to take the Rams a little while to get used to a world without him.

“It’s a new era of Rams offensive line,” center Brian Allen said. “It’s going to be weird without Whit there.”

The Rams have been grooming his replacement, Joe Noteboom — a third-round draft pick in 2018 — the past four seasons. Noteboom has played various offensive line positions, started a total of 17 regular-season games and was recently re-signed by the Rams to a three-year, $40 million contract with $25 million guaranteed.

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“The best part is knowing the coaches have the confidence in you to sign you back to a contract here and put you in that spot,” Noteboom said. “But it’s also a challenge. Being the guy now comes with a little more responsibility. It’s motivating more than ever.”

Noteboom said his four seasons as Whitworth’s teammate weren’t wasted. He said he learned things such as work habits, preparing his body for a long season and diet from the veteran tackle.

“It was a perfect situation [to learn],” Noteboom said. “There was no other guy in the league I’d rather have been behind for those four years. That gives me confidence going into it.”

Noteboom played some at both tackle spots and left guard last season, his first with Stafford as his teammate.

“He’s a plug-and-play player for us,” Stafford said. “Wherever we needed him, he stepped in and played at a high level against some really quality opponents. I’m looking forward to seeing his development on the left side and seeing him do his thing for a bunch of years.”

Allen and Noteboom arrived the same season as Rams draft picks. Allen said Noteboom was “the left tackle in waiting” over the past four years even as he moved around the offensive line.

“I think that left tackle spot really is where he’ll shine the most,” Allen said. “I’m pumped for him to have this opportunity to really be the guy. … He absorbed so much wisdom and so much stuff that Whit taught him over those four years.”

Allen also re-signed with the Rams this year, on a three-year contract for $18 million, with $10 million guaranteed.

“It was definitely a little more stressful than I thought it was going to be … being my first time having gone through free agency so I really wasn’t sure what to expect or really what I was getting myself into,” he said. “But I wanted to be back in L.A. and I’m excited about how things unfolded.

“I really didn’t want to leave not knowing how much better I could be in our offense. That was definitely something that was in the back of my mind that I didn’t want to go somewhere and be in a situation where I didn’t have someone like Matt to work with … he’d be a hard person to let know you were leaving.”

Losing Whitworth isn’t the only change coming to the Rams on offense. They also traded wide receiver Robert Woods to the Tennessee Titans for a sixth-round pick in 2023. But they added another receiver, Allen Robinson II, in free agency with a three-year, $46.5 million contact and re-signed Stafford to a four-year contract extension worth $160 million.

The Rams could still re-sign wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., though he won’t be available early next season after tearing his ACL in the Rams’ Super Bowl LVI victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.