Everybody was quick to put the Los Angeles Rams at the top of their Super Bowl favorites list after they traded for two-time Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett in June. Then Aaron Donald — a three-time Defensive Player of the Year and franchise icon — came out of retirement and signed a one-year deal with the team right before the season kicked off. But according to All-Pro defensive tackle Leonard Williams, fans shouldn't sleep on the Seattle Seahawks.
"They got to go through us," Williams said on a recent episode of the "BigDubs" podcast. "Coach Mike, after we won one of the divisional games, he's like, 'We did not care.' And we, since then, have made T-shirts that say 'We don't care,' and it's become a part of our brand. So when that happened, we were all saying that we did not care.
"Obviously, you put two Hall of Famers on the same D-line together — that's pretty scary for anybody ... We want to compete with the best. But at the same time, we're aware that they got some stuff going over there ...
And the best thing about it: they got to go through us." More news: Key Member of 49ers’ Pass-Rush Didn’t Travel to Australia for Rams Clash The Seahawks are fresh off a Super Bowl of their own and are running it back with much of the same roster, albeit without Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker and coveted offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. But the defense remains elite, and the offense still has Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, former Rams star Cooper Kupp, and first-round back Jadarian Price. The Rams, meanwhile, won 12 games last year without Garrett or Donald, and still have reigning league MVP Matthew Stafford running the offense alongside Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, and Kyren Williams.
More news: Mason Rudolph Gets Brutally Honest About Myles Garrett Trade More news: Ravens GM Drops Telling Comment on Lamar Jackson’s Future in Baltimore As the defending champions, you have to put the Seahawks at the top of the pecking order — until proven otherwise, they're the team to beat. But with the roster the Rams have assembled, it's fair to believe the NFL could have a new champion by the end of the season. For fans, it's a treat either way: the two franchises will face off twice during the regular season, both late in season, in games that could carry real playoff seeding implications.
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