Rams show good and bad side of "going all-in" as Packers stare down end of Rodgers era

The L.A. Rams won a Super Bowl and any criticism of their methodology must be viewed through that prism. It worked. That doesn’t make it good process, but the outcome matters.

Still, the Rams enter Monday Night Football against the Green Bay Packers at 4-9, their quarterback’s future seems murky at best as does the outlook for their head coach and best defensive player. And, without draft capital or significant cap assets, the path back to a Super Bowl will no doubt be trying.

In Green Bay, by contradistinction, the Packers never truly went all-in, at least not in the way we tend to categorize it (more on this later). They’re only a game better than the Rams despite not winning the Super Bowl last season. On the other hand, they’re positioned much better, with a roster deeper at key positions, draft capital to spend, and a potential future quarterback to go for it both in 2023 and in the future.

That doesn’t make one right and the other wrong either. For example, the Rams will be sending a top-10 pick to the Lions this spring for Matthew Stafford who led the league in interceptions last season and was bad in 2022 before his season ended with an injury. If Jaquiski Tartt doesn’t drop a gimme interception, or the Packers special teams don’t defecate lustily into its yellow pants, the Rams don’t win last year’s Super Bowl.

Defining “all-in” addresses this to an extent. The very idea of “all-in” as many fans and media think of it doesn’t relate to the actual investment. By that standard, the Packers were “all-in” in both 2020 and 2021, maxing out their cap and in particular last year, pushing considerable money down the road in contract restructures to run back an NFC Championship team.

No, what people tend to mean with “all-in” is risky moves. Mortgaging the dairy farm. Do what the Rams did. Send multiple premium picks for Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, and Von Miller. These are moves that, if they don’t work out, are incredibly harmful to the viability of the roster moving forward.