- Joined
- Jan 14, 2013
- Messages
- 13,435
- Name
- Vernon
Analyzing Rams snap counts in first half of 2019 season
How has the playing time broken down through eight games for the Rams.
theramswire.usatoday.com
Analyzing Rams snap counts in first half of 2019 season
A combination of injuries and trades have forced the Los Angeles Rams to make several changes on both sides of the ball this season, either elevating backups to starting roles or acquiring other players to fill in. As a result, playing time has been spread amongst more players than they were last year, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. With eight games in the books, the Rams have officially completed half their season.
We’ll take a look at the snap counts from the first half of the season, starting with the offense.
Rob Havenstein is the only iron man thus far for the Rams, playing every single snap. Andrew Whitworth and Brian Allen both got three plays off in the team’s blowout win over the Falcons, as they were replaced by Bobby Evans and Coleman Shelton.
Gerald Everett has played 102 more snaps than Tyler Higbee, which is a promising trend. Everett has been the more impactful tight end, and should be on the field more than Higbee. Hopefully that will continue in the second half of the season, too.
Robert Woods surprisingly played nearly 50 more snaps than Cooper Kupp despite being less productive. Kupp is typically the receiver who comes off the field when the Rams utilize two-tight end sets, keeping Woods and Cooks outside. Cooks’ snaps have been limited due to injury; he’s suffered two concussions this season.
Josh Reynolds has been on the field for nearly a third of the Rams’ snaps, both as an injury replacement and in four-WR formations. His production has been limited, however, to just five catches for 107 yards and a touchdown. Mike Thomas is the only other receiver to get playing time.
Darrell Henderson has only played 13.2% of the snaps, backing up both Todd Gurley and Malcolm Brown. Most of his playing time has come in the past few weeks with Brown injured, but Les Snead expects to see more of the rookie in the near future. Gurley has only played 63.8%, which is also the result of him missing one full game, as well as taking most of the fourth quarter off against Cincinnati.
Defense
As you can tell, a good portion of the players with the most playing time on defense are no longer playing. Marcus Peters was traded, John Johnson is hurt, Aqib Talib was on IR before being sent to Miami and Clay Matthews is out with a broken jaw. That’s led to additional playing time for Taylor Rapp, Troy Hill, Samson Ebukam and now Jalen Ramsey.
Cory Littleton and Eric Weddle hardly ever come off the field, both because of their talent and leadership in the middle of the defense. Aaron Donald is also playing a lot, as is Dante Fowler Jr. Those are four of the most important defenders on the team right now, as well as Ramsey.
Michael Brockers is getting a lot of snaps at defensive end, too. Last season, he played 67.2% of the snaps, so he’s seen an uptick in playing time this year. It’s easy to see why, given the high level he’s been playing at.
Sebastian Joseph-Day clearly has a strong hold on the nose tackle job, playing 181 more snaps than backup Greg Gaines. Gaines has been inactive on Sundays a bunch, which shows the gap between him and Joseph-Day is wider than expected.
Nickell Robey-Coleman has been playing more this season than he did last year, too. He’s played 62.5% of the snaps this year compared to 55% last season. That’s partly because of how well he’s playing and the fact that the Rams are using more dime packages with six defensive backs and one inside linebacker.
Ogbonnia Okoronkwo has been playing more as time has gone on, and he’s up to 54 snaps played on the year – still a relatively insignificant amount. When Matthews returns – he’s expected to this week – Okoronkwo and Ebukam probably won’t play as much as they have been
