The 2017 season will be one of change for the Los Angeles Rams.

Unshackled from the Jeff Fisher era, new Head Coach Sean McVay is tethered to entirely 0 holdovers from 2016 and prior.

Consider the results of this poll we ran on Twitter on Tuesday:

Question of the night: How many seasons can the Rams put up a losing record before Sean McVay is fired? — TurfShowTimes (@TurfShowTimes) June 28, 2017

A majority of respondents suggest McVay has three years to right the ship. An overwhelming majority suggest he has less than the five years on the contract he signed in January.

So as that pertains to 2017, if McVay needs to have things rolling toward a 10-win or better season just two or three years after this one, he has little time to dawdle. Because he has a limited amount of time to turn things around, there’s a good likelihood that if any veterans are slow to produce and adapt to McVay’s offense or the new defensive system under new Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips, they won’t enjoy the job security they did under Fisher (see: Greg Robinson).

Here are five candidates who need to have a plus 2017 season to ensure they’re around for 2018 and beyond.

RB Todd Gurley

No player on the Rams has fell below expectations more than Gurley, a fall that few perhaps anticipated despite the obvious potential. In his final 8 games of his 2015 Offensive Rookie of the Year-winning season, Gurley ran for just 66 yards per game at a 3.93 yards per rush clip. That was seen as the aberration, and that his first four starts at 141 yards per game, 6.4 yards per rush represented the real Todd Gurley.

So I pointed out the pressure Gurley was under last offseason. I pointed out that he wasn’t just the face of the Rams in LA in year one, but the face of the Rams to the entire NFL world in an entire misrepresentative way.

ESPN the Magazine put him on the cover of their NFL preview under the heading “The Offense Strikes Back” after a year in which the Rams had arguably the worst offense, prior to a year in which the offense got even worse and had inarguably the worst offense. Think about the incongruity of that. It’d be like putting Jared Goff on the same cover with the same heading in a couple of weeks when the season previews start dropping. And remember what that article said about Gurley’s role in 2016:

The problem isn’t Gurley’s potential. It’s that the Rams, after 21 seasons in St. Louis, are all about the LA life now. And they’re not returning home with a winning touch—they haven’t had that in a long time. So Gurley doesn’t have time to try to get there. After last year’s 7–9 season, the Rams need him to carry the offense, at least until rookie QB Jared Goff gets his stance under him.

Yeah.

In 2016, Gurley ran for 55 yards per game, on a 3.18 yard per rush rate.

The luster from those first four games is gone. Instead, he’s on a 24-game run of mediocrity. And if that extends into the 2017 season?

Running backs are replaceable. Consider that the Rams spent the 10th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft on Gurley. Could Tre Mason have averaged 55 yards last year? Could Zac Stacy? Could Benny Cunningham? Or Lance Dunbar? It’s about wins above replacement. How much better has Todd Gurley made the offense than an average RB? Obviously not much for the last 24 games. If that gets to 30?

Sean McVay might begin the search for a new ballcarrier in earnest.

WR Tavon Austin

Austin is in year two of his six-year, $56.14m contract. Last season, he was targeted 106 times but logged just 58 receptions for 509 yards, the most inefficient season of any receiver in the NFL in 2016 and one of the most inefficient in history.

Only two wide receivers in the NFL are getting paid more in 2017.

While cutting him next season would leave $5m in dead money, it would free up $3m in cap savings. With $50m in available cap room as it stands for 2018, they can afford to sink that $5m pretty comfortably. Beyond 2018? All of Austin’s salary is voidable and freed up.

He has 16 games, though perhaps even less, left to prove he’s worth keeping let alone at that exorbitant price.

OLB Robert Quinn

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Quinn tore into the NFL in his second, third and fourth professional seasons with 40 sacks from 2012-14 with 19 of them in that historic 2013 season. Before Aaron Donald was a Ram, Quinn was the Rams defensive lineman the rest of the NFL was worried about.

But he missed half of 2015 due to injury.

And he missed half of 2016 due to injury.

Now, he heads into 2017 moving from a 4-3 down lineman to a 3-4 upright outside linebacker. Drafting two 3-4 OLBs was a clear sign the Rams are worried about the depth chart at the position. That starts with Quinn.

Phillips is going to find it hard to deliver that elite defense without a consistent, effective pass rush from the outside. If Quinn’s unable to stay healthy or produce while he is? The Rams are going to start inviting other options to see if they can make more out of their opportunities.

K Greg Zuerlein

Remember Young GZ? Greg the Leg? Legatron?

He’s flown waaaaaaaaaaaay under the radar this offseason after a very good 2016 season in which he had just three missed field goals, two of which came beyond 50 yards.

A year ago was a different story. Many fans were calling for Zuerlein’s head after a 2015 in which he missed four field goals from less than 50 yards and another six beyond that 50-yard mark.

Much like running backs, the kicker position doesn’t enjoy a long leash. Zuerlein would be on this list more or less annually. If he has a 2015 repeat? The calls to find a new place kicker are going to find voice again. And they should.

QB Jared Goff

Yes, it’s early in his career.

Yes, he has yet to play a single game for McVay.

Yes, he’s the most obvious name on this list.

I’ll point back to the Twitter poll. Let’s assume McVay has to have the Rams winning by 2019. If Jared Goff has a horrible 2017, is McVay going to give him another run in 2018? I’m not sure McVay wants to go into his make-or-break year professionally with a new QB he has yet to coach up.

Steve Spagnuolo got two years out of Sam Bradford before being fired. Jeff Fisher got one out of Goff. Leaving it late would not seem the wisest course of action. McVay’s almost certainly aware of this heading into 2017.

So with an 0-7 career record in the NFL, Jared Goff doesn’t have the luxury of patience. More than anyone, he needs to show improvement (a) from 2016 to early on this season and (b) from early this season to later on.

If he fails to do both? Sean McVay likely starts exploring candidates who won’t fail similarly in 2018.