Rams Positional Outlook: Defensive Backs

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View: http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Rams-Positional-Outlook-Defensive-Backs/1dcf0e09-df95-4c7f-ae0b-2d0015780b17


Rams Positional Outlook: Defensive Backs
Myles Simmons

The 2017 Rams won their first NFC West title since 2003 with an 11-5 regular-season record. As Los Angeles’ focus shifts to 2018 and beyond, we’ll take a position-by-position look at how the Rams performed in 2017 and how each group currently stands at the start of the 2018 offseason.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

CB | Trumaine Johnson
— Team-leading 14 pass breakups || two interceptions || one forced fumble || one fumble recovery || 70 tackles

CB | Kayvon Webster
— Eight pass breakups || one interception || 43 tackles

S | Lamarcus Joyner
— Tied for team lead with three interceptions || seven pass breakups || one forced fumble || 61 tackles

S | John Johnson III
— Third on the Rams with 91 total tackles || 11 pass breakups || one interception

CB | Nickell Robey-Coleman
— Nine pass breakups || two interceptions || one forced fumble || one fumble recovery || two tackles for loss || 50 tackles

CB | Troy Hill
— Five pass breakups || 18 total tackles

S | Cody Davis
— 25 total tackles || Three pass breakups || one interception || one QB hit

DB | Blake Countess
— One interception || 1.0 sack || 15 total tackles

DB | Isaiah Johnson
— Five total tackles

S | Marqui Christian
— Six total tackles || Four special teams tackles

*Signed to futures contracts: CB Taurean Nixon, CB Marcus Sayles, CB Dominique Hatfield

ANY FREE AGENTS?

Trumaine Johnson, Joyner, Robey-Coleman, and Davis are all slated to become unrestricted free agents when the new league year begins in mid-March. Hill is also an exclusive rights free agent.

LOOK BACK, LOOK AHEAD

The Rams’ secondary had a solid year under coordinator Wade Phillips, cornerbacks coach Aubrey Pleasant, and safeties coach Ejiro Evero. As a team, Los Angeles finished tied for sixth with 18 interceptions, 13 of which came courtesy of the club’s defensive backs. Two of the Rams’ DBs also returned interceptions for touchdowns, and the club nearly had a third early on in the season.

The unit often showed it was ready to go early in games, as Trumaine Johnson, Robey-Coleman, Joyner, and Webster each recorded an interception on an opponent’s opening possession. Joyner also forced a fumble in Seattle, to account for five of Los Angeles’ eight opening-possession takeaways.

The Rams had to fight through some injury issues in the secondary, with Trumaine Johnson and John Johnson the only major contributors to play in all 16 regular-season games. Webster suffered a season-ending Achilles injury during the Rams’ Week 13 contest against Philadelphia, and Hill filled in at the starting spot opposite Trumaine Johnson through the rest of the realgar season and playoff game against Atlanta.

At safety, John Johnson started the year behind Maurice Alexander, but the rookie moved into the starting role opposite Joyner in Week 5 after playing much of the second half against Dallas the week before. Joyner also was quite effective in his position switch from slot corner to free safety, receiving a 90.3 “elite” grade from Pro Football Focus for his 2017 performance.

As for the future, however, the Rams have a bevy of key free agents in their secondary. After playing under the franchise tag for consecutive seasons, Trumaine Johnson is likely to become an unrestricted free agent in mid-March. A second-round pick out of FSU in 2014, Joyner is at the end of his rookie contract and is set to become an unrestricted free agent, too. Robey-Coleman and Davis are at the end of their veteran contracts, and are also slated to hit the open market.

With so many key free agents, the organization and players will likely have decisions to make over the next few weeks if the majority of the secondary is to remain in tact on the roster to start the 2018 offseason program. Plus, Webster is still recovering from separate surgeries to repair his Achilles and shoulder.

Given all that, it’s fair to expect Los Angeles could have some movement in the secondary over the next couple of months.
 

Memento

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No Kevin Peterson? He did pick off Garoppolo twice, and he played rather well against the San Fran offense.
 

DaveFan'51

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This is an area I feel we have to be really careful about! I don't know who we are going to be able to keep, or How Deep the FA Market is. But the Draft Class this year at CB/SS/FS does not appear that Deep to me,so far! And I've always subscribed to the theory " the more CB's and Safeties the better!"
 

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CB is deep with lots of options. Safety who cares, since they should be locking Joyner up anyway.
 

Merlin

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More I think about it, the more I suspect they might try to get Hill wrapped up with an affordable extension. He's really come on under this staff, and if he wants to factor in for real as a starter being under contract is a good way to open that door; I doubt they give him too hard a look if they know he's going to bail in FA the next year.
 

Memento

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More I think about it, the more I suspect they might try to get Hill wrapped up with an affordable extension. He's really come on under this staff, and if he wants to factor in for real as a starter being under contract is a good way to open that door; I doubt they give him too hard a look if they know he's going to bail in FA the next year.

No thanks. He's already been suspended for a DUI, and I'm not keen on extending him to a long-term deal when he has a history of legal problems (an arrest and guilty plea to menacing in college as well as the DUI).
 

jrry32

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More I think about it, the more I suspect they might try to get Hill wrapped up with an affordable extension. He's really come on under this staff, and if he wants to factor in for real as a starter being under contract is a good way to open that door; I doubt they give him too hard a look if they know he's going to bail in FA the next year.

We have him under ERFA control in 2018 and RFA control in 2019. We should wait and see what he can do before we give him an extension.
 

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We have him under ERFA control in 2018 and RFA control in 2019. We should wait and see what he can do before we give him an extension.

Had that wrong, thought he was RFA this year. So yeah two years of control is enough to give him a hard look and see what he can do. Won't affect their offseason plans of course, but he'll probably get a chance to compete.
 

BonifayRam

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Had that wrong, thought he was RFA this year. So yeah two years of control is enough to give him a hard look and see what he can do. Won't affect their offseason plans of course, but he'll probably get a chance to compete.
Might you be vastly underestimating the skills & talents of Troy Hill just a little bit here Merlin?:D

More I think about it, the more I suspect they might try to get Hill wrapped up with an affordable extension. He's really come on under this staff, and if he wants to factor in for real as a starter being under contract is a good way to open that door; I doubt they give him too hard a look if they know he's going to bail in FA the next year.

Since CB Troy Hill is a Ram Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA) @ this time ...all the Rams need to do is offer him a minimum term one year contract & Troy Hill would be under contract to the Rams for the 2018 season. This is a super sized big break for Demoff Snead McVay & Wade! :banana:That cost (crushed peanut shells) would be @ a very low cost for our late 2017 starting outside corner across from Trumaine Johnson.....because we all know that NR-C would always moved into the Nickle late 2017. Troy's best game was the win against the Titans when he was the best Ram outside corner on the field that Sunday. Troy basically became the starting outside corner after the loss to the Eagles.

If things go right for the 27 yr old Hill & if he can stay out of trouble :cautious::notsure: in 2018 he might finally graduate into the status of RFA this time next year. Troy Hill has always been problematic & has shown to have a very slow work brain maturation ability.

Troy would have been a RFA this year but like I said he has big brain farts (off the field). Troy needs exactly three accrued NFL seasons. These accrued season is defined as a player being on a team for at least six regular season games. Lets hope he can stay out of trouble because Troy has shown very good steady improvement in 2017 & sure helped the Rams down the stretch when Kayvon Webster body went into complete fail mode.

As I see it currently if the season was to start today Troy Hill & Kevin Peterson would be our starting outside corners with either Dom Hatfield or Blake Countess as our starting Nickle. One can say that Demoff & Snead have their work in-store for them if you have heartburn with those two. I just happen to like both of them(y).
 
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DaveFan'51

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Might you be vastly underestimating the skills & talents of Troy Hill just a little bit here Merlin?:D



Since CB Troy Hill is a Ram Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA) @ this time ...all the Rams need to do is offer him a minimum term one year contract & Troy Hill would be under contract to the Rams for the 2018 season. This is a super sized big break for Demoff Snead McVay & Wade! :banana:That cost (crushed peanut shells) would be @ a very low cost for our late 2017 starting outside corner across from Trumaine Johnson.....because we all know that NR-C would always moved into the Nickle late 2017. Troy's best game was the win against the Titans when he was the best Ram outside corner on the field that Sunday. Troy basically became the starting outside corner after the loss to the Eagles.

If things go right for the 27 yr old Hill & if he can stay out of trouble :cautious::notsure: in 2018 he might finally graduate into the status of RFA this time next year. Troy Hill has always been problematic & has shown to have a very slow work brain maturation ability.

Troy would have been a RFA this year but like I said he has big brain farts (off the field). Troy needs exactly three accrued NFL seasons. These accrued season is defined as a player being on a team for at least six regular season games. Lets hope he can stay out of trouble because Troy has shown very good steady improvement in 2017 & sure helped the Rams down the stretch when Kayvon Webster body went into complete fail mode.

As I see it currently if the season was to start today Troy Hill & Kevin Peterson would be our starting outside corners with either Dom Hatfield or Blake Countess as our starting Nickle. One can say that Demoff & Snead have their work in-store for them if you have heartburn with those two. I just happen to like both of them(y).
Just idea of having Hatfield and Countess as our Starting Nickle gives me Heart-Burn!! JMO!!
 

pmil66

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Rams have not invested any draft capital in CB for a few drafts now, and are lucky to have Hill & Peterson that could potentially start for 2018. Will have to sign a starting CB if Tru leaves to replace him. NRC was brought in last season, played very well, now its time to pay up. At best, the above 4 are back, still see the Rams having to draft a CB or 2 in april. Need to draft a CB at some point every year, or every other year.
 

RamFan503

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Might you be vastly underestimating the skills & talents of Troy Hill just a little bit here Merlin?:D



Since CB Troy Hill is a Ram Exclusive Rights Free Agent (ERFA) @ this time ...all the Rams need to do is offer him a minimum term one year contract & Troy Hill would be under contract to the Rams for the 2018 season. This is a super sized big break for Demoff Snead McVay & Wade! :banana:That cost (crushed peanut shells) would be @ a very low cost for our late 2017 starting outside corner across from Trumaine Johnson.....because we all know that NR-C would always moved into the Nickle late 2017. Troy's best game was the win against the Titans when he was the best Ram outside corner on the field that Sunday. Troy basically became the starting outside corner after the loss to the Eagles.

If things go right for the 27 yr old Hill & if he can stay out of trouble :cautious::notsure: in 2018 he might finally graduate into the status of RFA this time next year. Troy Hill has always been problematic & has shown to have a very slow work brain maturation ability.

Troy would have been a RFA this year but like I said he has big brain farts (off the field). Troy needs exactly three accrued NFL seasons. These accrued season is defined as a player being on a team for at least six regular season games. Lets hope he can stay out of trouble because Troy has shown very good steady improvement in 2017 & sure helped the Rams down the stretch when Kayvon Webster body went into complete fail mode.

As I see it currently if the season was to start today Troy Hill & Kevin Peterson would be our starting outside corners with either Dom Hatfield or Blake Countess as our starting Nickle. One can say that Demoff & Snead have their work in-store for them if you have heartburn with those two. I just happen to like both of them(y).

You lost me with the liking of both heartburn creators.
 

fearsomefour

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Retaining guys like Hill and Davis are key.
They may not be starters but they will not cost a ton a dorockde very important depth.
In my opinion that first round pick almost has to be invested at CB even if Tru is retained.
 

Merlin

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Troy would have been a RFA this year but like I said he has big brain farts (off the field). Troy needs exactly three accrued NFL seasons. These accrued season is defined as a player being on a team for at least six regular season games. Lets hope he can stay out of trouble because Troy has shown very good steady improvement in 2017 & sure helped the Rams down the stretch when Kayvon Webster body went into complete fail mode.

Yeah I had him as RFA, as mentioned on a previous post, overlooked a year on him. My point was that if he only had a year they probably weren't going to put too much effort into giving him a real chance to win a job only to see him be the next CB to bail out in FA. But with two years under club control, he will definitely get a shot and good for him.

IMO he's really taken to the coaching of this staff. Only thing is how will he look when teams are actively gameplanning him and going after his weaknesses over a full sixteen. But either way I'm pulling for the guy.

If things go the way I figure they will, Tru walks as we've all expected, the Rams get NRC locked up, and they draft at least one CB up high. That draftee will man one spot most likely, so the other (barring a FA brought in from outside) will be a competition where Hill is in the mix. But either way if he keeps playing the way he did late last year the staff will have no choice but to get him on the field. Question is whether he can do that, will be fun to watch him this year in camp.
 

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I have a feeling Tru leaving is a foregone conclusion. I also have a feeling Joyner could be an all pro in the mold of Earl Thomas. I think they really should do what they can to lock him up now before he become the elite FS and would cost a bundle to sign long term. It'll cost plenty but not as much as it could this time next year if they tag him.
 

Elmgrovegnome

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Kansas City may be making Peters available. He would be better than any Corner they could get at 23. Anyone know why they are thinking of trading him? Is he a locker room problem or something?