Rams Have The Makings Of An Elite Defense

[Kupped]

This is what I've been saying. We are going to win this year because of our Defense. No offense to our Offense.

Aaron Donald can already notice difference with Bobby Wagner and Ernest Jones in middle of defense

The linebacker tandem of Bobby Wagner and Ernest Jones has defensive lineman Aaron Donald excited about the potential of the Rams defense in 2022.

www.therams.com

Jones already showed he has an instinct that's pretty rare.. now he's devoting himself to learning everything he can from one of the best-ever.
The Rams defense was pretty good last year, darn good down the stretch and playoffs despite serious limitations at ILB and CB.

I think the hopes that this defense is elite are well-founded. If Garrett, Hollins and Lewis can supply reasonable pressure on the edge, along with Floyd, it should get there. The secondary has more talent than in 20, imo, when they lead the league.

Keeping Powell for returns.. having a strong coverage game... and having an elite defense.. would push this team back to at least another division title.

 

[So Ram]

I think there's a great argument to make that what will get us closer to 2020's defense is a stellar secondary rather than another big pass rushing force aside from Donald. Like hearing what we're seeing so far from the rushers right now but having talent that can lock down CB2 and slot and maybe have a bit more seasoning at safety (remember we lost JJ3 and Hill last year) can go a long way for us to duplicate the stats from 2020.

Hill has comeback as a Ram & David Long has just gotten better.Remember game 1 Int in the endzone last year? Troy was a Brown.

Eric Weedle established himself as a HOF safety & will be on NFL Films.

I can go on because there is more on D than you might not realize.Hill is the inside starting guy Nickle. Rapp ?
Then Nick Scott has SuperBowl & playoff experience,so whatever the concern is imo is to much depth?

 

[BrooklynRam]

JDus already showed he has an instinct that's pretty rare.. now he's devoting himself to learning everything he can from one of the best-ever.
The Rams defense was pretty good last year, darn good down the stretch and playoffs despite serious limitations at ILB and CB.

I think the hopes that this defense is elite are well-founded. If Garrett, Hollins and Lewis can supply reasonable pressure on the edge, along with Floyd, it should get there. The secondary has more talent than in 20, imo, when they lead the league.

Keeping Powell for returns.. having a strong coverage game... and having an elite defense.. would push this team back to at least another division title.

If Durant and Kendrick are players, and I think they are, League better watch out. Lake, Yeast and Hardy look promising too.

 

[Kupped]

If Durant and Kendrick are players, and I think they are, League better watch out. Lake, Yeast and Hardy look promising too.

And another thing I'm actually counting on is A'Shawn Robinson having put it all together. He got his fitness to another level last year and he was truly a MONSTER in the playoffs.. not good, a MONSTER.

If he brings it like that all season? Holy, moly... along with the other additions.. it's going to be just so much fun to watch this defense.

 

[BonifayRam]

From Athletic:

"Rams safety Taylor Rapp finished last season with 205 coverage snaps in the slot — more than any other safety in the NFL. In Staley’s Chargers defense, safety Derwin James tallied 139 slot coverage snaps, which ranked 13th league-wide."

From an excellent article on the proliferation of "Power slots" in the league. I do think that number will come down (a little) with some Hill in the slot this season taking some of those snaps but I bet he still finishes top 5 in slot coverage snaps for a safety.

Having Taylor Rapp ending up in slot coverage ???

My thought on this .......is our opponents in the regular season were very successful in moving DC Morris's defense into a very defenseless position.

The last thing I would want to see is Rapp covering the slot, same for safety Jordan Fuller.

What happen after Rapp & Fuller were injured in the final regular season games & out for the 4 playoff winning games?

Ram's secondary made great improvement in coverages with new starting safeties Scott/ Weddle along with a heavy contingent use of Rams corners.

 

[BrooklynRam]

JDus already showed he has an instinct that's pretty rare.. now he's devoting himself to learning everything he can from one of the best-ever.
The Rams defense was pretty good last year, darn good down the stretch and playoffs despite serious limitations at ILB and CB.

I think the hopes that this defense is elite are well-founded. If Garrett, Hollins and Lewis can supply reasonable pressure on the edge, along with Floyd, it should get there. The secondary has more talent than in 20, imo, when they lead the league.

Keeping Powell for returns.. having a strong coverage game... and having an elite defense.. would push this team back to at least another division title.

If Durant and Kendrick are players, and I think they are, League better watch out. Lake, Yeast and Hardy look promising too.

And another thing I'm actually counting on is A'Shawn Robinson having put it all together. He got his fitness to another level last year and he was truly a MONSTER in the playoffs.. not good, a MONSTER.

If he brings it like that all season? Holy, moly... along with the other additions.. it's going to be just so much fun to watch this defense.

And not only Robinson, Gaines is Beastly now. Put Beastly Floyd in there too. This could be one of "those" Defenses that wins the Super Bowl. Not saying 85 Bears, but more like 2013 Seahawks maybe.

 

[Mojo Ram]

I concur with this thread.

 

[WestCoastRam]

Having Taylor Rapp ending up in slot coverage ???

My thought on this .......is our opponents in the regular season were very successful in moving DC Morris's defense into a very defenseless position.

The last thing I would want to see is Rapp covering the slot, same for safety Jordan Fuller.

What happen after Rapp & Fuller were injured in the final regular season games & out for the 4 playoff winning games?

Ram's secondary made great improvement in coverages with new starting safeties Scott/ Weddle along with a heavy contingent use of Rams corners.

We play a ton of zone coverage. You're not having him cover slot and turning and running with the receiver. He's covering a short zone. Having Rapp cover power slots especially on running downs was probably a good idea and probably will remain so. I don't see a problem with it.

Now, maybe he plays it less because Wagner's range allows him to cover a wider area in short zone than any previous LB but I would expect his snaps to remain a league high in general. What you need from a slot defender these days is way different than even 5 years ago. With the amount of guys like Kupp who block from the slot like a mini-tight end, you need a guy who has a little range and can come down and defend, not the quick small guy like Nickel-Roby anymore.

Sure there will be some teams that have a Welker type slot still or a Tyreek Hill for the slot and that's when you sub out a Hill/Long/Durant type. But a bunch of snaps (still not a majority!) will go to Rapp and that's fine. He did above average in that position last year and I don't see us having a replacement.

 

[Kupped]

We play a ton of zone coverage. You're not having him cover slot and turning and running with the receiver. He's covering a short zone. Having Rapp cover power slots especially on running downs was probably a good idea and probably will remain so. I don't see a problem with it.

Now, maybe he plays it less because Wagner's range allows him to cover a wider area in short zone than any previous LB but I would expect his snaps to remain a league high in general. What you need from a slot defender these days is way different than even 5 years ago. With the amount of guys like Kupp who block from the slot like a mini-tight end, you need a guy who has a little range and can come down and defend, not the quick small guy like Nickel-Roby anymore.

Sure there will be some teams that have a Welker type slot still or a Tyreek Hill for the slot and that's when you sub out a Hill/Long/Durant type. But a bunch of snaps (still not a majority!) will go to Rapp and that's fine. He did above average in that position last year and I don't see us having a replacement.

Troy Hill will take a lot of those, imo. Played the most snaps on team there in 20, I’m pretty sure. Not as big as Rapp but willing to throw his body in there on runs and made some plays behind LOS.
Also see Ramsey there a bunch if Rochell takes a big jump.

 

[WestCoastRam]

Troy Hill will take a lot of those, imo. Played the most snaps on team there in 20, I’m pretty sure. Not as big as Rapp but willing to throw his body in there on runs and made some plays behind LOS.
Also see Ramsey there a bunch if Rochell takes a big jump.

Yeah, it really is a matter of percentages. Rapp will be there for 3-safety packages, some high percentage run downs, but the slot corner will play the majority (possibly more than last year if they prove they excel in run support), with Ramsey also taking a number of snaps there. Additionally, Wagner and Jones range will probably reduce Rapp's snaps there too.

 

[Merlin]

It's time to phase Rapp out back there. He's a pending UFA who's struggled in his exchanges on his side in cover 4 and when used over the top doesn't have a good feel for when to flip his hips and run with the wideout. You can't run a top quarters scheme with one of your two safeties being a liability.

Also there is going to be a trickle down effect on our defense from adding a player of Wagner's caliber. Depending on how often they feel comfortable putting their base look out there vs opponents there may be less snaps for certain package roles. Guy who loses out is probably Rapp, whose value is supplementing the run.

I'm with that group that feels this is Scott's time. He's earned it and I can't wait to see what he can do.

 

[Kupped]

It's time to phase Rapp out back there. He's a pending UFA who's struggled in his exchanges on his side in cover 4 and when used over the top doesn't have a good feel for when to flip his hips and run with the wideout. You can't run a top quarters scheme with one of your two safeties being a liability.

Also there is going to be a trickle down effect on our defense from adding a player of Wagner's caliber. Depending on how often they feel comfortable putting their base look out there vs opponents there may be less snaps for certain package roles. Guy who loses out is probably Rapp, whose value is supplementing the run.

I'm with that group that feels this is Scott's time. He's earned it and I can't wait to see what he can do.

I guess I’ve already been of mind that Scott was going to significantly out snap Rapp.
He’s the only safety they have with any real ball skills and has elite athletic ability. He’s learned enough, imo.

 

[BonifayRam]

It's time to phase Rapp out back there. He's a pending UFA who's struggled in his exchanges on his side in cover 4 and when used over the top doesn't have a good feel for when to flip his hips and run with the wideout. You can't run a top quarters scheme with one of your two safeties being a liability.

Also there is going to be a trickle down effect on our defense from adding a player of Wagner's caliber. Depending on how often they feel comfortable putting their base look out there vs opponents there may be less snaps for certain package roles. Guy who loses out is probably Rapp, whose value is supplementing the run.

I'm with that group that feels this is Scott's time. He's earned it and I can't wait to see what he can do.

Since Taylor Rapp was drafted as the top 2019 draft selection TR has proven to be more of a negative on passing downs. During these first 3 seasons, Ram's defense has been fielding ILB'ers like....Kenny Young/ Troy Reeder/Micah Kiser & old broken down Clay Matthews, which most will conclude is not an impressive ILB'er cadre.

TR being on the field with the above-stated ILB'ers gave him some good value playing up close for Wade/Morris. Currently, the ILB'er unit has All-Pro Bobby Wagner/ future rising star Ernest Jones/ Travin Howard/ Christian Rozeboom/ Jake Hummel/ & a healthy Justin Hollins if Morris wants.

It's very hard for me to see the removal of Ernest Jones or Bobby Wagner in order to insert a Strong Safety Taylor Rapp on the field up close to improve the defense. Things have changed dramatically for this 2022 defense from the days of Reeder/Young/Kiser on the field.

TR's $2.5 million salary price tag this season is lofty for a future 2023 UFA & 2022 reserve strong safety when you have safeties on the roster like Jalen Ramsey/ Jordan Fuller/ Terrell Burgess/ Nick Scott/ Quentin Lake/ Russ Yeast. I would be highly upset if we keep TR & lose safeties Lake or Russ.

I believe that 3rd yr strong safety Jordan Fuller is more than capable of filling the previous 3 season role that TR had or would have in the 2022 defense. Does anyone think differently? One might say for the point of discussion that JF has no proven ability to remain on the field either as a starter ...that con would have merit. However TR has missed 8 gms in 2019/ 13 gms in 2020 & the last 4 gms in 2021 due to injury thus TR has missed a much bigger % pf gms than JF.

 

[oldnotdead]

LOL This is an obvious attempt at lobbying Kroenke to pony up the money. Do it not Stan because when Sean wins another Lombardi his cost will skyrocket.

 

[majrleaged]

It's time to phase Rapp out back there. He's a pending UFA who's struggled in his exchanges on his side in cover 4 and when used over the top doesn't have a good feel for when to flip his hips and run with the wideout. You can't run a top quarters scheme with one of your two safeties being a liability.

Also there is going to be a trickle down effect on our defense from adding a player of Wagner's caliber. Depending on how often they feel comfortable putting their base look out there vs opponents there may be less snaps for certain package roles. Guy who loses out is probably Rapp, whose value is supplementing the run.

I'm with that group that feels this is Scott's time. He's earned it and I can't wait to see what he can do.

Yes, I think the one LB alignment is about to be history or at least a rarity.

 

[RAMBUSH]

Rams gonna get back to the big game via Defense. No offense to the Offense, who will be Top 12 ish. That's all we're gonna need from them. Robert Rochell, Decobie Durant, Derion Kendrick, Daniel Hardy and Chris Garrett are all "DAWGS," who are gonna put this Defense, led by Aaron Donald, Leonard Floyd, Jalen Ramsey, Greg Gaines, Bobby Wagner, A 'Shawn Robinson, Justin Hollins, Nick Scott, Jordan Fuller and Taylor Rapp into the Elite category. Yes guys, your sunny, Southern California Rams are gonna be Defensive stalwarts, en route to repeating, as your 2022 Super Bowl Champions.

Shout out to the Offense, who will be just as important, utilizing Elite NFL talent Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Allen Robinson, Tyler Higbee, Cam Akers, and soon-to-be-returning Odell Beckham, along with budding star Joe Noteboom. You guys can relax and play easy, Defense gonna bring us the Ring this year.

Don't forget about Earnest Jones. The kid can play.

 

[BrooklynRam]

Don't forget about Earnest Jones. The kid can play.

Yes. Corrected my post a few posts afterward.