ESPN analyst predicts 3rd place finish for Rams in NFC West

ESPN’s Mike Clay is at it again, projecting the Rams for fewer than 8 wins in 2024

It’s been common for Mike Clay to undersell the Los Angeles Rams in his projections for ESPN, but did the analyst take it a step too far with his win-loss projections this week? In Clay’s win-loss projections for all 32 teams and the projected standings and playoff seedings, Clay has the Rams winning 8 games (7.9 to be exact) and finishing in third place behind the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.

Clay’s projections have the NFC West going like this:

49ers 12-5

Seahawks 9-8

Rams 8-9

Cardinals 6-11

By these projections, the Bears win the final wild card spot with a 9-8 record and the Rams would have the 12th overall pick in next year’s draft.

With the news that Darious Williams is on IR, adding to a relatively long list of injured Rams, it is possible that L.A. does fall below expectations. But it is so early in the year that we can’t over-sell every little thing that happens as being what determines the full season outcome for any team, including the Rams. A team could start 0-2 and make the playoffs or start 5-0 and miss the playoffs. Right now all teams are 0-0 though, so anything could happen in the next four months.

A projection of the Seahawks finishing with a better record than the Rams is probably more surprising than just L.A. finishing 8-9. Clay must be giving a high score to Seattle’s new coaching staff because not much else has changed and the Rams easily defeated the Seahawks 30-13 in Week 1 last year and have consistently finished ahead of them in the standings for most of Sean McVay’s career.

Clay sees that changing in 2024, but I’m not sure how many people agree.