The Rise Up, See Red podcast
2024 Cardinals opponent preview: Los Angeles Rams with Cam DaSilva
The 2024 Cardinals opponent preview shows continue. The second of 14 shows is about the Cardinals' Week 2 and Week 17 opponent, the Los Angeles Rams. Rams Wire managing editor joins Jess to talk about the Rams. They discuss their 2023 season, their offseason moves and what expectations are for 2024.
- Duration:
- 47m
- Broadcast on:
- 10 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
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Visit renterswearhouse.com to request a free rental price analysis that's renterswearhouse.com or call 303-974-9444 to speak to a rent estate advisor today. This is the Rise Up Sea Red podcast, all about the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL, featuring insider and outsider perspectives. Enjoy the best hour of Cardinals Talk on the web. Now here are your hosts, Jess Root and Seth Cox. Hello, Arizona Cardinals fans and welcome to the latest edition of the Rise Up Sea Red podcast, the best hour of Cardinals Talk on the web. I'm your host, Jess Root from cardswire.com, the USA Today NFL Wiresight. And we are in the midst of what I hope is 14 shows and 14 days, recording different shows with opposing writers, writers for the teams that the Cardinals play in 2024, those 14 opponents. And next up on our list are the Los Angeles Rams, whom the Cardinals play at home in week two, their home opener, and then not again until week 17, on the road as they nearly close the season. And joining me on the show is a familiar name who's been on several times for the previews and then as well last year when I started doing the weekly previews. It's Cam De Silva, managing entity over at the Rams War, Cam, how have you been? I'm doing well. How are you, Jess? And fantastic as we are gearing up for the beginning of training camp. I think with the last stretches, it's now close enough that we can start writing previews and position battles and roster profiles and things like that. It's getting to that good part of you, right? Yeah, exactly. That's the exciting part. OTAs and mini camp are fun to see some of the names out there and get the rookies acclimated. But training camp is when the fun really starts. Yes, and the Rams are coming off a pretty solid season after a year where injuries were a problem. Matthew Stafford, Cooper Cup, in my opinion, this team has completely reinvented itself from its championship year when it was a bunch of veteran players to then they suddenly looked over the hill and now they have young talent all over the place and look very promising for the years to come. What in the world, how did the Rams do that so quickly? They had one really good draft class. I mean, it's more than that, but it is funny the way you talk about it, the way that they've transformed themselves in the last two years. I mean, when they won the Super Bowl, they had Odell Beckham Jr., Von Miller, Jalen Ramsey, all these stars all over the roster. It was really kind of a top-heavy roster where you had so much of the talent and the cost at the top of the roster. And then down below was lesser-known backups who didn't really have to contribute. And now they've transitioned to more of a balanced team where you do have Matthew Stafford and Cooper Cup who are expensive and leaders of the team, but it's such a more well-rounded roster from top to bottom. Hukonikoua was a revelation last year as a rookie. Byron Young and Kobe Turner were both excellent rookies as well. I thought Turner should have won defensive player, or defensive rookie of the year. He just had such a good season with nine sacks and Steve Avula, the guard who they drafted out of TCU. He had a great year, so it's really, I mean, if they didn't have the draft class that they did last year, they wouldn't have gone 10 and 7 and had the season that they did because last year was supposed to be a rebuild year. You have a decent draft class. You expect to develop guys who can contribute in two or three years, and then you kind of get into that push to contention. But last year, I mean, they very easily could have eaten the Lions in the first round and gone to the next round of the playoffs. But I think this year is really another stepping stone for them. They've only gotten better, brought in a few more veteran players and free agencies. So they're built to win right now. Yeah, we look back at last year, they would go 10 and 7, they make it to the playoffs, a surprise. They do lose in the wild card round. But they do it with the top 10 offense, number eight in points and number seven in yards. And they did it with Matthew Stafford being a little bit different quarterback than he's been in past years. It was not nearly as pass heavy. Kyron Williams was fantastic in year two. And the defense was a little below average. Obviously Cooper Cup didn't play a full season, but Puke Nakua was record-breaking as a rookie. 105 catches, nearly 1,500 yards. You get over 1,100 yards in 12 games out of Kyron Williams. And on top of that, you get the production on defense. We're Byron Young, eight sacks, Kobe Turner, nine sacks. All in Aaron Donald's final season. You kind of highlighted, but what were the highlights of last year? What were the highlights and the big surprises? Yeah, I think, like I mentioned, the draft class was a big surprise, just getting that instant impact from four guys, Avila, Turner, Young, and Nakua all played really well and were starters all year. And then the offensive line was surprisingly good, too. They brought in Kevin Dotson. They traded for him from the Steelers right before the season started. And he took over, I think, in week three or four and just was a monster at right guard. He could have been a pro bowler. He was, I think, PFF's highest-graded or second-highest-graded guard in the league, and he was just a standout player for them and really transformed an offensive line that was so banged up in 2022. And I think they had 12 or 13 different starting combinations in the first 12 or 13 games two years ago. So, it was wild to see how the offensive line transformed with Avila and Dotson stepping in. And then, oh, Eric Jackson at left tackle was a pleasant surprise, too. A former undrafted guy really played well. They've kind of been searching for that replacement for Andrew Whitworth. Right. I remember that because the plan was Joe Noteboom, then Noteboom got hurt, and then Jackson stepped in and he got hurt. And then that Jackson really established himself, didn't he? Yeah, last year, he really established himself as that starter, and they brought him back as a restricted free agent this year. He gave him a second round tender. So they're committed to him for this season as they're left tackle, and whether he gets a long-term deal after this year, we'll see. But I think the offensive line was a big surprise. Kyron Williams was just out of nowhere. I mean, the guy was the backup to cam makers in week one, and then they traded, they cut cam makers or traded him to Minnesota, and Kyron just absolutely took off. Like you mentioned, 1,100 yards in 12 games, led the league in rushing yards per game, had 15 total touchdowns. I mean, he was just, he was amazing the way that he played. He just destroyed the Cardinals in the, the Cardinals had problems against all the running backs in the NFC West, but Kyron Williams kind of kind of started that off because he had that, like he had his two best games, two of his best games. They were against the Cardinals, you know, he got hurt in that second half too, because he went for 158 yards against the Cardinals. He sprains the ankle, comes back and rushes in his first year back, and his first game back goes for over 200 yards from scrimmage. Kyron Williams was a problem for the Cardinals last year. That was, that was not pleasant, but, yeah, yeah, and, and you do all this, you got Pukka Nakua, I mean, I, I loved Nakua, come out of college, but I didn't ever think that he would be that sort of player. And I think, and I'll be honest, I think part of it was that Nakua fell into the perfect offense with the perfect opportunity with cup hurt. And, you know, the last two of BYU's, like, bigger names, Tyler Ojir and Pukka Nakua, I was really high on both of them because, and I, I do watch BYU football. My daughter went to, my daughter and son-in-law went to BYU, and, and so I'd see, I'd watch them in college and say they were the offense, that they were the offense. And, and Nakua's thing was only, like, his issue in college was just staying healthy. I get why he was a late pick, but I, I felt that he would be able to have a productive career because of the test skillset that he has, but he, my goodness, uh, what, like, is there anything that he, like, what does he do, what made him so good last year? That's what's funny. It's not, he's not like this first-ground talent with all-world speed and this amazing leaping ability and these terrific hands. He's just, he's kind of like Cooper Cup, he just runs great routes, he knows how to work leverages on, on defenders and get open against man coverage and he can play inside, he can play outside, and he dropped a lot of passes last year too. I think he'd let the league in drops, which he's not happy about and he's been working on this all season, but, um, he's just a great route runner, a great blocker, and he had an instant connection with Matthew Stafford, and that first game against the Seahawks, he, I mean, he really announced himself as a playmaker and then against the 49ers, he had something ten plus catches and, uh, went crazy against them and he just, he built the trust of Matthew Stafford really early and, um, it was fun to see, I mean, he's been compared, not compared to Cooper Cup, but, I mean, they're similar builds, similar speed and, and quickness types and, um, he's just a, a very good receiver who's smart and knows how to, knows how to run the right routes and get open, and, um, this offseason, he's lost ten pounds already, he's been working on his quickness, he's working on his body control, so, I think he's only going to continue to get better, but, nobody expected that crazy historic season, it's just, I mean, he had the talent, he just, it, it was, like you said, it was a perfect opportunity, Cooper Cup was hurt, and Jefferson wasn't doing much, Tutu Atwell was kind of a gadget player before, so they needed someone to step up and, and Puka took grab of it. Oh, and, and Tutu even, like, in, when he was kind of like the number two, he was also producing early, I mean, it's been, it whistled off, like, once Cup came back, but, but the production that he had earlier in the season, really, I mean, I, I think he had to feel like it gave, it gave you a little bit hope that he wasn't a wasted pick, because it started to look that way. Yeah, and I mean, it's, it's weird because he, he showed so much of those first few weeks when Cup was out, and after Cup came back, they just kind of phased him out of the offense, he had a couple, he had maybe one other good game, two other good games, but, um, they just haven't been able to find, like, a true, consistent role for him, obviously, he has a speed to go over the top of the defense, and he can run some of these jet sweeps and things like that, but, um, they just didn't find ways to get him the ball, and, uh, this is, is amazingly, the last year of his rookie contract already, and, uh, the Rams are, it's not looking like they're going to resign have based on his production in the first few years. He looks just as much of a question mark as ever, only you had the flash at the beginning of last year. Yeah. Tell me, tell me about Matthew Stafford, because statistically, he was not the same. He was not quite the volume guy that he's always been. He just missed, I mean, he did miss two games, um, but he just missed 4,000 passing yards, but only 20, like, quote, unquote, only 24 touchdown past 11 interceptions. What would you say about his play at age 35 last year? He was so good. I mean, the numbers don't say it, but he was so good last year. He played better last season than he did in 2021 when they won the Super Bowl. He was just very precise, very accurate, took good care of the football. He only had 11 picks, didn't fumble the ball once, not even, not even just a fumble that the Rams recovered. He didn't fumble the ball one time, um, so he took really good care of the football, which helped the offense a lot because in 2021 and 2022, he was throwing pick sixes. He was turning over the ball deep in their own territory. He was costing them points and last year, he really cleaned that up and just some of the throws that he was making were unbelievable off the back foot, sidearm. I mean, he's always done that throughout his career, but he did it so consistently last year. And I think he really showed that he's not quite over the hill and ready to be kind of one of those aging fall off veterans who don't necessarily have it anymore. I mean, he can still play at a very, very high level. Let's take, let's look at the off season, come out on X on the rise of Sierra podcast, Mr. Carnal's talk on the web. Let's move on and talk about what the Rams did this off season, both in free agency and the draft. Let's come out on X, the recipe read. We all have somewhere we're trying to get to as the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is working to responsibly meet rising energy demand. So everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's energy and progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. Well, it sounds like the tenants at your rental property sure know how to throw a great party. You just wish they wouldn't throw so many parties on Tuesdays until 4 a.m. And if they could pay the rent on time, that would be nice too. Being a landlord can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be. Let renters warehouse handle the hard part of property management for you, like finding quality tenants you can trust. Renters warehouse manages thousands of single-family homes and specializes in locating reliable tenants at the right price for your property, usually in a matter of days. And if your tenant defaults for any reason, they'll replace them for free up to 18 months under their tenant warranty program. From rent collection to maintenance coordination, their best-in-class property management professionals do it all. All for one flat monthly fee, get a free rental price analysis at renterswarehouse.com to find out how much your home can rent for. That's renterswarehouse.com or call 303-974-9444 to speak to a rent estate advisor today. Niko has always been a leader ahead of the curve, but his growth wasn't keeping up. So as pediatrician recommended, Pediasure Nutrition Chakes to help him grow and support his immune system. And he says they are de lisioso. Shop for Pediasure at Pediasure.com. We're back on the rise-ups here at Podcasts, this is our Cardinals Talk on the Web Talk and to Cam De Silva from the Rams Wire, managing it over there, talking about the Rams. We're looking to the off-season. Starting with free agency, who are the guys that the Rams lost? No, I guess the first thing is Aaron Donald retired, and that got that news entire league. It got a couple of very funny posts from Kyler Murray, "Good riddance, don't come back." Now, he respects the hell out of Aaron Donald, but Aaron Donald was a problem for so long. Talk about the impact, just having no longer, even though he wasn't producing at his defensive player of the year level, he wasn't playing best in the NFL, but he was still performing as really good defensive tackle. How impactful is that loss and how much does it change the identity of the Rams defense? Yeah, it's big. It's the first time since 2013 they're not going to have Donald in the middle, so they've got some stuff to work through, and they have a new defensive coordinator, Chris Shula. Welcome to being in DC, without Aaron Donald now, it's going to go figure it out. In last year's production from Kobe Turner, as good as Turner was, you have to attribute it a lot of that success from playing right next to Aaron Donald. Oh, yeah, for sure. That was the case with Dante Fowler. That was the case with Leonard Floyd for a bit, both of those edge-rushers. They benefited a ton from Donald drawing all these double and triple teams, and now he's not there anymore, so you're going to have Turner needing to step up. They still have some edge-rushers who they can hopefully rely on, Byron Young and Jared Burs, who they just drafted in the first round, and Mike Hoyt is a former defensive tackle outside linebacker, but these guys are going to see more double teams than usual because there's five offensive linemen going up against these four edge-rushers, and they don't need to double Aaron Donald anymore, so it's going to make life harder for them. The secondary is also going to have to work a bit harder because they're not going to have Donald pressuring the quarterback so quickly in the pocket, getting there in half a second and forcing an early throw, so the coverage has to be a little bit better, and I think it's just going to be a ripple effect throughout the defense. Don't be Turner, fortunately, they drafted him last year, and he was just amazing in his first season, and so much to build on there with him, and Bobby Brown, their nose tackle is going to get some more opportunities. He's a big run defender, so he's going to have to step up, too, but it's going to have to be a group effort. You don't replace Aaron Donald with one player, you don't even replace him with two. It's going to take a complete group effort to kind of fill those shoes and continue the defense playing as well as they did at times last season. They are set at tackle, they are steady there, however, they have made some changes on the interior of the offensive line. They've spent a lot of money on Kevin Dodson and on Jonah Jackson, and after a solid rookie season, Avila now moves to center as they let Coleman Shelton go. How confident is Avila was viewed as a guy who could be a good center? Were you surprised to see the money that they paid at guard? Yeah, I was. I wasn't surprised at all that they brought back Kevin Dodson, but when I saw that Jonah Jackson signing, I was like, "Oh, my, wow." I was surprised that they not only gave him that much money, but that they wanted to go out and get a guard and were comfortable shifting Avila to center. He played center in college, he played guard at TCU, so he played both positions, and some viewed center as his better spot, which the Rams clearly feel very confident that he can take that over. Just a sheer size of the interior offensive line is impressive now. Those are a bunch of big boys up front, and they're going to move some bodies, and they're going to run the ball with Kyron Williams and Blake Corum and really impose their will, which is a different kind of style of Rams offense than we've seen in recent years. With Jerry Goff, they had Todd Gurley, but when Gurley fell off, they were a little more of a finesse team, usually a lot of jet motion, throwing the ball and some shotgun stuff, and they weren't necessarily a physical team. They're not a team that you think of pounding the ball and running it, but they switched to that last year, and they're only going to continue to do that again this season, I think, with that interior offensive line that they've built with Jackson and Dodson and Avila in the middle. Well, and I also think that that also is evident in the fact that by the fact that they didn't go out and try to add receivers, granted they've got receivers, what they added was another reliable tight end to add to the mix in Colby Parkinson, who's fine. He's not a special tight end, but pairing him with Tyler Higby, I think what you have is two reliable pass catchers, who are equal, they are true two-way tight ends, and, well, Higby had that end of season, that second half of us even a few years back, where he looked like that he was going to turn into one of the tight ends in the league, and then he's just turned into a decent tight end. Not a bad player at all, but just a decent starter, and you add Colby Parkinson to that, and that's honestly for me. If you look at the coaches in the NFC West and Seth and I on the regular show, we recently did our rankings show, and I'll be writing those over the course of the next few weeks. Ranking the head coaches, that's why I put Sean McVay ahead of Kyle Shanahan, is because he's remade himself philosophically, offensively. I know that it's still within the same offensive scheme. It still comes from Shanahan, Mike Shanahan, ultimately, but the fact that he has remade the identity of this team, and had success with it, is really something telling about McVay. He didn't stick to just what they were doing. He looked at, "Oh, we've got Kyron Williams, and Matthew Stafford is getting older, so we're not going to make him throw it 50 times a game. We're going to run the ball more, and I'm really impressed by that." Defensively, well, actually before we go that very intriguing move that I think is really under the radar, is the addition of Jimmy Garoppolo as the backup quarterback, because now, now, granted, Jimmy has his own injury issues, but now you will not, by far, the best backup in the NFC West. But if something happens, as Matthew Stafford has a history of injuries, the fall off from Stafford to Garoppolo is not nearly the problem that it would be, say, Kyler goes to Desmond Ritter or Brock Purdy to Josh Dobbs, because Jimmy Garoppolo is as a starter. He's an above average to good NFL starter. And I think the big thing that made them go out and make this move was the Packers game last year. When Stafford was unavailable, they had Brett Ripin as their backup, and it was just a nightmare. I mean, everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. I think he threw a pick. He fumbled it twice. It was a mess. And Les needs said it this offseason, and he was like, "We need to go out and get a quarterback who can back up Stafford," and he pointed to that game that was just not good enough. And that could have been a game that derailed their season, to be honest. I mean, they went into the by after that. I think it was three and six, and they were not looking like a playoff team whatsoever. And it could have been really, really bad after that, but Stafford came back and played well. But I was really happy to see them finally address the backup quarterback spot, because it's not a position they put much value in. They went with John Wolfer. They had Bryce Perkins before they finally picked up Carson Went once at the end of last year. He was decent. But Garoppolo is someone who, coming from the Shanahan tree in the offense, knows, should not have a good grasp of what they want. He knows the concepts at least. Yeah. And he was cheap. That's the thing. I'm like, you see teams going out and spending like going out and spending out like the Jets went and spent 11 million, 11, 12 million dollars on Tyrod Taylor. And I'll say this, healthy Jimmy Garoppolo is better than a healthy Tyrod Taylor. And Jimmy Garoppolo is only getting a little more than 3 million. Now granted, there's there's a recency issue is that Jimmy Garoppolo has a history of fragility. He has a, he has a durability problem, but as a backup, I mean, he's a capable starter of the places. And so that's, that's a really, really good move. If Stafford, because Stafford, like Stafford has a history of getting hurt. And he's older now, too. Yes. And he's even older. Yeah, it's, it's a, I think that was a really, really smart move in the drop off from, from Stafford to Garoppolo won't be, won't be nearly so precipitous as you go to Stafford to Brett Ripon. Yeah. Like Brett Ripon. Come on. I know. And it was, it was a good move. And like you mentioned, a cheap one. I mean, it's a very heavily incentive filled contract, which I think can bring them up over like nine, 10 million or something, but for the cap hit of, I think it's around 3 million. That's, I mean, for a backup quarterback, that's cheap. Defensively, you bring back some familiar faces, Darius Williams, who was at his best with the Rams that left Cleveland, left the Jacksonville now returns. More recently, John Jackson, the third, who was really good with the Rams, then spent some time in Cleveland as well. You go out and let's think if there's anyone, there's Tridavius White. White. So Trey White, he's, he's added to the mix, although the question is, is, can he get back to the level of play? Um, obviously you've got the young, you've got the young talent already. Kobe turn, you've got Byron Young, you've got a solid, an underrated line back in court, Christian Roseboom and the Nerniz Jones, I believe, the additions that, that they made, how impactful do you think they're going to be? It was, it was smart for them to go out and get some, some experience in the secondary because last year, I mean, a Keller Witherspoon played well, but they just didn't get consistent enough play out of Darian Kendrick and Kobe Durant. So they went out and got Trey White, which he's coming off in, in a Achilles tear and he hasn't participated in practice or done anything yet. So we'll see in training camp how much he does and whether he's ready for week one. But that was another fairly low cost signing, which it has to be considering his age. They brought in Cameron Curl from the commanders who's a, I would say an underrated safety. He can play in the slide. He could play in the box. He can play a split, split half safety and cover the one side of the field and he's, he's a good player too. Well, I thought they brought in and then Darrish Williams was the important one. They gave him a, a decent contract that it was three years and somewhere over $20 million to bring him back. And like you mentioned, he was at his best when he was with the Rams and the Jaguars tried to play him in the slot because he is only what, five, nine and thinking that he's a smaller defender. So he should cover the slot, but that's not where he's at his besties. He's a good zone outside corner who can keep his eyes on the quarterback and make plays on the ball. And I think that's what the Rams are going to try to get back to doing with him in the defense with Chris Shulah. So smart moves on the back half, they didn't, they kind of reserved their additions on the defensive front for the draft with Brendan Jackson, Jared Burs and Tyler Davis and Braden Fisk, the second round pick that you traded up for, didn't do anything at Inside Line Backer. But I think the additions in the secondary with kind of some experience is going to be beneficial. And into the draft, they pick up two very good defensive players with their two first picks. From that Florida State defense, they get Jared Burs. With the 19th pick, they get Braden Fisk with pick number 39. How impactful do you think Burs and Fisk can be in year one? They're going to have to be very, very impactful and I think they will be. But Burs has a clear path to playing time, I think he'll beat out Mike Hoyt for the other Outside Line Backer spot opposite Byron Young. He's such a grown defender, he's experienced, he's a little bit older, he's just rocked up in a big physical defender who can stop the run. He can bull rush offensive tackles, he has good speed off the edge too. So just an all-around good defensive end outside line backer and the Rams already envision moving him around a little bit on defense, putting him inside on third downs when it's an obvious pass situation, getting another edge rush around the field. So he's not going to have any trouble getting playing time. Braden Fisk I think is going to be another guy who gets some opportunities early on. Obviously mentioned Kobe Turner and Bobby Brown is there too. But I think Braden Fisk can kind of play that five technique defensive end spot and provide some pressure on the quarterback from that position which isn't something the Rams have gotten very much of in the last few years. So both of those guys and they know each other from playing at Florida State so they played well off of each other and I think that's only going to help their growth with the Rams. They had a Blake Quorum in the third round going to the third round running back like Tardles did with Trey Benson. It sounds like from what I read on a record that you had up on the site about Kyron Williams, how that Kyron Williams hopes that with Quorum's addition that maybe Kyron can do a little more in the past game. Is Quorum already projected to be the main backup? No yeah the main backup yeah it'll still be Kyron's back field to kind of control and he'll get those first second and even third down opportunities. Quorum talked about expecting the Rams to use him a little bit differently than Michigan did too using him more as a receiver and giving him some opportunities in the passing game. So I think both of those guys are going to get chances to score touchdowns, catch them all out of that field and the Rams compared Quorum to Kyron. They call them a very similar back and I think kind of the point of drafting Quorum is to get someone so similar to Kyron that if Kyron gets hurt which he has in each of the last two years and he was hurt in OTAs, if he goes down Quorum can just seamlessly step in and kind of be the guy again and it's not like they went out and drafted some specialist receiving back who is going to take away third down opportunities from Kyron. Quorum is a very similar player just a bell cow at Michigan so very complimentary players who can do everything and kind of spell each other and take some of the wear and tear off of one another. Cameron Kinshans safety in the third round then in the fifth round outside linebacker edge guy Brennan Jackson, a guy that I thought was really underrated, that's that could be a nice pickup. Tyler Davis defensive tackle out of Clemson in round six and they pick up a Stanford kicker Josh Cardi, we'll see how that goes, draft and kicker, Jordan Whittington receiver out of Texas, offensive lineman Bo Limmer out of Arkansas, also in round six you go Katie Leviston, another offensive lineman out of K state been round seven. Obviously it looks like Cardi is the guy to kick right and then what did you think about that pick drafting kickers? I was perfectly fine with it, the Rams were an absolute mess on special teams, not even just kicker last year but overall on special teams, gave up way too many punt return yards, missed way too many, they missed more kicks than any team in the league even though they had more opportunity, more kick attempts than anyone else too, it's just there was no consistency whatsoever from Brett Maher and then Lucas Haversick but Cardi is an accurate guy, he was really good from inside 50 yards which is that kind of sweet spot for a kicker. I mean as much as you want them to be able to make 50, 55 yarders, that important zone is 40 to 50 where you can't leave points on the field and you gotta convert those kicks so still has a powerful leg but he's really accurate so I was perfectly fine with that pick. Of the other guys starting from Kitchens, Kitchens on down, who do, are there any of those that you anticipate being having any sort of role other than Cardi who's going to kick in your one? I think Kitchens could, he's a rangey safety on the back end, just didn't run well whatsoever in the 40, I think he ran like a 4-6 or 4-7 and that kind of pushed him down the draft board but he had a ton of interceptions at Miami and really just really good ball skills and the Rams lacked turnovers last year on defense so I think he might get some opportunities to make some plays on the ball and cover the deep path and take away some passes over the top next to Cameron Curl. Like you mentioned they did bring back John Johnson, it was this week or last week they re-signed him so that was kind of an interesting move by them. I'm curious to see how that impacts Kitchens' opportunities to play on defense but I like the pick of Kitchens out of Miami, he's a, like I mentioned, a ball hawk and someone who I think could turn into a really good player if you just ignore the kind of the poor testing numbers at the Combine. We're going to next on the Rise of Sea Red podcast, Mr. Colonel's Talk on Web. Let's look ahead to the 2024 season and what they expect from the Rams. Let's come to next on Rise of Sea Red. We all have somewhere we're trying to get to. As the largest energy producer in Colorado, Chevron is working to responsibly meet rising energy demand so everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's Energy in Progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. Well it sounds like the tenants hit your rental property sure know how to throw a great party. You just wish they wouldn't throw so many parties. On Tuesdays. Until 4 a.m. And if they could pay the rent on time, that would be nice too. Being a landlord can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be. Let renters warehouse handle the hard part of property management for you, like finding quality tenants you can trust. Renters warehouse manages thousands of single family homes and specializes in locating reliable tenants at the right price for your property, usually in a matter of days. And if your tenant defaults for any reason, they'll replace them for free up to 18 months under their tenant warranty program, from rent collection to maintenance coordination. Their best in class property management professionals do it all, all for one flat monthly fee. Get a free rental price analysis at renterswarehouse.com to find out how much your home can rent for. That's renterswarehouse.com or call 303-974-9444 to speak to a rent estate advisor today. Every day, we rise, challenging ourselves to work for what we believe in. At U.S. Border Patrol, protecting our borders is more than a job. It's a calling. Agents answer the call, working together to keep our country and community safe. If you are ready for a new mission, join U.S. Border Patrol and go beyond. Learn more at cbp.gov/careers. We're back on the rise of Sierra Podcasts, the best part of Cardinal's talk on the web. Looking ahead to the 2024 season for the Rams, where they won 10 games last year, made the playoffs. What are the expectations for the Rams this year? They believe that they can unseat the 49ers at the top. Yeah, I don't see any reason to think that they can't be better than they were last year. Taking down the 49ers is always tough. I mean, they're such a great team from top to bottom, offense, defense. They just have so many playmakers and great defenders at every spot, but there's no reason to think the Rams can't get better when 11 games, when 12 games, and make a deep playoff run. Really, the biggest loss that they have this offseason, which is a big one, is Aaron Donald retiring, but I don't think there's really any notable departures and free agency or anything that's going to make them a worse team. They got better on offense with their offensive linemen. Pukinikou is going to be another year of experience. Cooper Cup is fully healthy now, so that's going to make a big difference. And then Kyram Williams is hopefully going to continue to get better at running back, and if not, then you have Blake Hormm, who can potentially be a really good back too. Yeah, I don't see any reason they can't win a playoff game and kind of make some noise in the postseason. What do you think their potential ceiling is, if everything goes well? If everything goes well, I would, I mean, it sounds crazy, but a Super Bowl appearance. I would not be shocked at that at all with the way that Matthew Stafford was playing. If he stays healthy, he's going to continue to play at a high level. Puka and Cooper Cup are one of the better receiving tandems in a league. And when you have Sean McVeigh as a head coach, I mean, it just kind of elevates everyone on the team and gives everyone a chance. And really his only two bad seasons were 2022 when everyone was injured. And then I think it was 2019 after their Super Bowl appearance, they kind of fell off a little bit. So it's just, it's a good roster from top to bottom. There's some, some concerns about death and improving guys as backups who might have to step up and play, and they don't really have a ton of experience. But from top to bottom, when you're looking at their starters, I think they're a very good team in the NFC. Aside from like big injuries to important players, what do you think is a bad season from them? What do you think their floor is? Not like, say, Stafford gets hurt because that would change things dramatically. But if it is a disappointing season, what do you think the floor for disappointment is? I would say probably a seven in 10 season or something around there. It's not the easiest schedule. They got to play some quality teams, a bunch of teams who made the playoffs last year. And I think the Cardinals and the Seahawks are going to be tough outs as well this season. So they could be some difficult matchups on that schedule. And if Matthew Stafford regresses and throws some picks and turns it all over more than he should or who could just doesn't take the next step or the defense is just absolutely completely different without Aaron Donald that I think you could see them winning seven games. But I expect kind of like a nine and eight 10 and seven season in our range. That schedule does not start easily. You start out on the road against the Lions on the road against the Cardinals at home against San Francisco and then on the so three of the first four games they are on the road. In fact, their first five games challenging. You had Detroit got Arizona and Arizona is probably the weak spot. Arizona and Chicago are the weak spots. They're both. But they're both teams that are expected to be better. And you got the lines 49ers and Packers all playoff teams all happening before the buy. How like how many like how do they have to start like going those to first for a first five games. How many wins do they need to get before things get a little worrisome? I think three and two would be a reasonable start. You you have to expect to beat the Cardinals. You want to beat the Bears and then that Packers game is kind of a coin flip. You're at home thankfully you're not in Lambo. So that's a winnable game. 49ers and Lions are both going to be tough games. The Lions on the road first game of the season after losing in the playoffs to them. And then you come back home and you got the 49ers in week three. Obviously another difficult game. And the 49ers have had the Rams number for the last four years or whatever it's been and just almost unbeatable Carson Wentz is the only one that can apparently beat them in the regular season. But it's going to be a tough I think if they start three into that's kind of like a almost like a sigh of relief for them that they got through that gauntlet and now they can kind of go into a little bit of an easier portion of the schedule. And you said that you kind of expect to win over the Cardinals in week two. How do you view those games that obviously on the road in week two at home in week 17 how do you view the Cardinals this year as as a potential opponent? How do you view that matchup? I think it's going to come down to whether Kyler is healthy. I mean they have Trey McBride who I think is a really good promising tight end. Marvin Harrison Jr. obviously coming over in the draft. So they've got some talent on the offensive side of the ball. I like the Trey Benson pick behind James Connor. So that's going to help them too. I could be wrong but some questions about the defense especially in the secondary a little bit of the pass rush to. I think that's kind of where the Rams are going to have to take advantage and win those matchups with their receivers against the Cardinals DBS and maybe run the ball at that defensive front. I think the Cardinals like I mentioned are going to be a tougher out and now Kyler doesn't have Aaron Donald tormenting him running him down all the time in the backfield. So it could be a little bit of a tougher, tougher matchup for the Rams coming up against the Cardinals. And with that we will wrap up this edition of the Rise of Seer podcast the Best Arab Cardinals talk on the web. Our opponent preview series I got about the Los Angeles Rams with Cam De Silva. You can find his work at the Rams wire our sister's site over at the USA Today NFL Wire covering the Rams. You can find him on social media on Twitter Cam De Silva DA Silva and if you're if you're a degenerate like we are you can also find his work on Sportsbook wire as well. Especially some of the others like golf like if you want if you want a handicap golf cams your guy right. Yeah I got you it's not an easy sport to bet on but we hit we hit a couple on the a couple this year. Hey Cam thank you so much for your time. We'll have you I'm hoping maybe right before the week two game we'll get you back on top preview that game actually. Thanks Cam for your time that'll wrap up this edition of the show. We'll be back again soon. Thanks for listening as always. We all have somewhere we're trying to get to. As the largest energy producer in Colorado Chevron is working to responsibly meet rising energy demand so everyone can get to where they want to be. You've arrived. That's energy in progress. Visit chevron.com/tankless. Well it sounds like the tenants at your rental property sure know how to throw a great party. You just wish they wouldn't throw so many parties on Tuesdays until 4 a.m. And if they could pay the rent on time that would be nice too. Being a landlord can be stressful but it doesn't have to be. Let renters warehouse handle the hard part of property management for you like finding quality tenants you can trust. Renters warehouse manages thousands of single family homes and specializes in locating reliable tenants at the right price for your property usually in a matter of days. And if your tenant defaults for any reason they'll replace them for free up to 18 months under their tenant warranty program. From rent collection to maintenance coordination their best-in-class property management professionals do it all. All for one flat monthly fee get a free rental price analysis at renterswarehouse.com to find out how much your home can rent for. That's renterswarehouse.com or call 303-974-9444 to speak to a rent estate advisor today. Your summer is about to get a major upgrade. Get ready to power up your home with Wayfarer's Black Friday in July. For four days only July 26th through July 29th you can get up to 80 percent off everything home. That's right! Save big on rugs, bedroom and living room updates, home decor, outdoor and way more from furniture to faucets. Wayfarer has fines for every style and every home. But hurry! These deals won't last long. Need a new patio set to soak up the sun? You got it. How about a sofa that's just right for summer movie marathons? We got you covered. And guess what? We're throwing in free shipping sight-wide. Plus for 12 hours only, score can't miss flash deals just when you thought summer couldn't get any better. Don't miss Wayfarer's Black Friday in July, only from July 26th through 29th. What are you waiting for? Head over to Wayfarer.com to start shopping our lowest prices of the summer. Thanks for listening to the latest edition of the Rise Up Sea Red podcast. Listen to previous episodes and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Audio Boom, or many other podcast platforms so shows are delivered directly to your mobile device. Please give the show a five-star rating and always support the sponsors who support the show. We'll be back soon for the best hour of Cardinals Talk on the web. Rise Up Red Sea, Be Red Sea Red, and of course Rise Up Sea Red. [Music] When it comes to renting out your property, the uncertainty of finding reliable tenants can feel like a real guessing game, responsible renter or perpetual party animal. 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