Too many people rely upon PFF grades for their opinions. But it's been proven by too many examples that their ratings don't reflect their actual play. Hell, they rated Austin Blythe as the top OL on the Rams last year. Anyone who watched the Rams knows that wasn't even near reality. If it was he would be starting at center instead of fighting for a backup job in KC.
Reeder played far better than most contend. People don't factor into the equation that on too many plays Reeder was the box, so teams ran. In other words you need to factor in Staley's pass centric scheme. Defending the run was secondary on most alignments. So people downgrade players because of a lack of understanding of the scheme's objectives and how it's actually played.
It's no secret that Staley played a lot of cover 6. As such there were many snaps where only the MLB was on the field with OLBs or safeties aligned where the MO & SAM would play. Both of the OLBs (or safeties) would drop into short zone coverage on both boundaries leaving the MIKE to drop into a short middle zone with primary run coverage of all 4 inside gaps. This is exactly why the Rams weren't overly concerned about the ILB position last year.
From reports Gervase and Rapp will play the roles of the MO & SAM on many snaps, continuing the Staley concept, just varying the player types used. This strengthens the Ram short coverages outside but at the expense of the run defense. Both Staley and Morris will depend upon the DL to correctly read run or pass and adjust their play accordingly backed up by the MIKE.
In this scheme, Reeder played as well as you would expect a single ILB to play. Again he wasn't a full-time player as he rotated with Young who also played better than most on this board contend. Go ahead and extrapolate Reeder's production if he were a full-time player and you will be shocked how well he matches up with the better MIKE LBs who for the most part are playing in a more conventional scheme.
It's why I'm one of those that expect Morris to employ much of Staley's concepts but will experiment with different player combinations, hence his playing Rapp and Gervase as inside the box MO ILBs. It's why the Rams drafted Jones who in some ways is less athletic than Reeder. That said he's more than athletic enough to play that single MIKE in a cover 6 which relies heavily upon the MIKE to make the proper read. This is why I see Reeder and Jones in rotation at MIKE to keep each fresh and I can see them both playing side by side instead of a SAM OLB. In Morris' defense, I don't see starters and backups in that front 7. I see different rotational combinations used in a variety of sub-packages depending upon down and distances. In that regard, I personally see Reeder & Young as last year with Jones & probably Howard as the rotational pair. That said I see both Reeder and Jones getting more snaps than Young and Howard.
The advantages of Morris playing OLBs at MO and SAM are since in a hybrid scheme many times that would give a scheme advantage to the defense in the pass rush. OLs won't know which of the OLBs aligned outside would be rushing making them a step slow in their blocking. But it will also funnel runs inside so those OLBs playing as ILBs need to be able to flow quickly to the B gaps.
I think Morris will play a SS to replace the MO ILB retaining the OLB to play behind the JACK as the SAM ILB. Morris could also play Reeder as the SAM and Jones as the MIKE something I think they were experimenting with during this preseason. This is why I think we could see both Reeder and Jones on the field as the only 2 ILBs.
Morris has a wealth of possible combinations. What I see from Morris is a lot of cover 2, 3 and 6. Remember the Steelers also run a lot of cover 6. I think Morris will retain the concept of playing zone until a receiver enters that zone then the DB or LB carries him in man coverage. This will require the safeties to emphasize their support when a LB is in coverage which is advantage Rams as they have good safety depth for that.
Run defense may remain a soft spot but that will depend upon how Morris plays his other schemes and the alignments and players he uses. Like most DCs I see him using a lot of sub-packages so even the new guys like Jones, and Bobby Brown are likely to see a lot of snaps.
