Heading into last season, the LA Rams were ranked as having the ninth-best secondary in the NFL according to ProFootballFocus. They ended the season fourth in DVOA against the pass and the secondary had a strong argument — with Jalen Ramsey, John Johnson, Jordan Fuller, Darious Williams, and Troy Hill — for being the best group of defensive backs in the NFL.
As a matter of fact, PFF did rank the Rams as having the NFL’s best secondary when the season was over.
This may seem like a small difference, to jump from ninth to first, but I would argue that there is a major gap between those two rankings and certainly you would think that there are identifiable traits that you’d be able to point to prior to the season beginning when it comes to which team will have a dominant secondary.