Interesting read on Wiki about LL. He was light at 237 Lbs coming out of college. So he as a DE in college but played STs and LBer early as a Ram. He made lots of big plays as a Ram.
He was a stud LBer at Tennessee.
College career[edit]
Little played three seasons at
University of Tennessee, where he started every game at Defensive End during his senior season, leading the team in tackles (87) and sacks (8.5). He was first-team
All-America and first-team All-
Southeastern Conference in his senior season. He appeared in the first seven games of his junior season at
defensive end, tallying 33 tackles, 8.5 sacks, and five tackles for losses, also blocking one field goal and forcing four fumbles. As a sophomore, he started every game at left defensive end and recorded 62 tackles and a career-high eleven sacks. He played one season for
Coffeyville Community College in
Coffeyville, Kansas. Little graduated from Tennessee with a
bachelor's degree in
psychology.
[2]
Professional career[edit]
Pre-draft[edit]
Little measured 6-3½, 237 pounds and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.48 seconds.
[3] Little was expected to be a first-round draft choice, but his "in-between" size left teams not sure if he would be a linebacker or a defensive end in the NFL.
[4]
He almost put up HOF numbers in sacks !!
Kevin Carter was a DE The Super Bowl year from the LDE position & Grant Wistrom was from the RDE .
I don’t recall if LL was a LBer then ? I know the following years though he stepped in ? I never committed though on it ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Little#College_career
He signed a 3-year, $1.2 million contract on July 2, 1998, with a $400,000 signing bonus. Little began his NFL career as a linebacker, donning uniform number 57. As a gunner on kickoff and punt coverage Little made eight tackles. He was inactive for four games before being placed on the non-football injury list due to legal issues surrounding his
drunk driving accident.
The NFL suspended Little for 8 games of the 1999 season. The suspension cost Little $125,000, half his seasonal salary. He returned to the Rams at mid-season and performed mostly on special teams with a season-high four special teams tackles vs. the New York Giants on December 19, 1999, ending the season with nine special teams tackles. He also would spell Rams defensive ends
Kevin Carter and
Grant Wistrom and was in the game for Wistrom for the play known as "The Tackle" in
Super Bowl XXXIV.
In 2000, he played at the defensive end position, coming into games to play left defensive end in passing situations, with starting end
Kevin Carter "reducing" down to left defensive tackle. He also spelled right defensive end Grant Wistrom. Little added 20 pounds with weight training and extra eating to help him make the switch and in that role Little had 5 sacks and totaled 17 tackles.
[6] He also had 18 tackles on special teams in 2000.
On April 24, 2001, Leonard Little agreed to a one-year tender offer of $512,000, the minimum level for a restricted free agent.
[7] That season, he changed his jersey number to 91 and was a pass-rush specialist for the NFC champion Rams. Little would enter games in passing situations in place of starting left defensive end
Chidi Ahanotu. In that role, Little led the Rams with 14.5 sacks, 3rd in the NFL.
