Sean McVay has never been a coach who deploys a bunch of different groups on offense. He relies heavily on his starters, rarely rotating players on that side of the ball. That’s remained the case this season, resulting in very few unique lineup combinations for the Rams.
According to the NFL’s official statistics system, the Rams have only used 111 unique lineup combinations on offense this season. That’s not starting lineups, but simply how many different groups of 11 players the Rams have used offensively.
That’s the fourth-fewest in the NFL, more than only the Bucs (93), Eagles (98) and Bengals (102).
This is not only a sign of the Rams’ relatively good health on offense, but also McVay’s reluctance to use backups. Since Cooper Kupp returned, he, Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell have played the majority of the snaps at wide receiver. Tyler Higbee rarely comes off the field, giving few opportunities to other tight ends. At running back, Kyren Williams was playing nearly every snap before getting hurt, and the offensive line hasn’t had to shuffle things up nearly as much as last season.
In terms of starting lineups, the Rams have only used seven different unique groups on offense, which is tied for the seventh-fewest in the league. For comparison, they had 16 different starting lineups in 17 games last season.
On defense, it’s a similar story: fifth-fewest unique lineups (166) and eighth-fewest unique starting lineups (7).
