In the summer of 2023, when I was visiting with Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead, I theorized the idea of the team potentially being close to a rebuild — due to the age or uncertainty of what I dubbed as their franchise-defining “trinity” of head coach Sean McVay, quarterback Matthew Stafford and defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
“You’re probably leaving Cooper Kupp out,” Snead replied, adding his star wideout to the conversation. “You could probably go a little deeper than that [trinity].”
It’s hard not to think back to that exchange right now, with the Rams sitting at 2-4, still struggling with injuries, and hosting a Minnesota Vikings team on Thursday Night Football that is clearly one of the NFC’s elites.