While some teams like to sit back and build for the future through the draft, the Rams prefer to remain aggressive each and every year in pursuit of a Super Bowl. They give up draft picks for proven players more than any team in the NFL, and it paid off with Los Angeles winning Super Bowl LVI this season.
It’s a roster-building strategy that Tom Brady has a lot of respect for. After seeing the Rams win it all this season, one year after Brady and the Bucs were crowned world champions, Brady reflected on Los Angeles’ aggressive approach
“I really believe in that – you gotta go for it,” he said on his most recent episode of the “Let’s Go!” podcast. “No one’s gonna hand deliver you these trophies. I think so many people in the NFL think that their time will come. And the reality is you gotta make it happen. You gotta go out there and you gotta do whatever it takes to get the job done and to put yourself in the positions to win Super Bowls, because these things are really hard to earn. You can’t buy ‘em, you gotta go earn ‘em. And when you watch the Rams approach and, you know, they could go the other way, but it’s not from lack of effort. That’s an organization that’s determined to go out there and win Super Bowls, and I have a lot of respect for that.”
Brady was happy to see Matthew Stafford win a ring after struggling to find success in his 12 years with the Lions. He feels the same about Cooper Kupp, who came back from a torn ACL suffered in 2018 and turned into the best wide receiver in football with a magical 2021 season.
The additions of Odell Beckham Jr. and Von Miller helped put the Rams over the top, mixing them into a team that already featured Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey, Stafford and Kupp.
“Matt’s another one too – you know, Matt and Cooper Kupp. I mean, look at those two. Sony Michel is a friend of mine. These are guys we all look around the league and we admire them for their skill, how they play, how tough Matt is, how he always answers the bell,” Brady said. “And then you look at Cooper Kupp, how incredible of a player he is, and understanding where he started in the NFL, and look at the kind of year he had, has overcome his ACL from a few years ago and put together one of the greatest seasons a receiver has ever had. You have a lot of appreciation for those guys because there’s so many talented players in the NFL and it’s a competitive league. Those players are spread throughout a bunch of different teams. So you may be a really great quarterback but you may not have the team to allow to you to get to that place where you want to get to. You may be a really great receiver but never play with a good enough team. And you’re just trying to find the right mix of guys and the right team, with the right attitude, with the right desire and determination to get over the hump. And I think Matt found that in the Rams and they found that in Matt. Matt was a very talented quarterback and he went to a very competitive organization where you have Aaron Donald there and you have Jalen Ramsey, and I know those guys are great competitors. He had Sean McVay who is a great young coach. And then they bring in, in the same year, they bring in Odell [Beckham], they go all in with Odell and he has a great first quarter and a half of that game. And they go and they trade for Von Miller.”
Coincidentally, Brady’s last NFL game was against the Rams in the divisional round, a game Los Angeles won in dramatic fashion after blowing a 27-6 lead. Brady retired this offseason and while there are rumors he could return for another season, the Rams are likely to go down as the last team to beat the seven-time Super Bowl champion.
