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Rams 2020 breakout watchlist: OLB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo
Once again, the Los Angeles Rams have made wholesale changes at outside linebacker. They’ve had very little stability at that spot since 2017, with starters ranging from Robert Quinn and Matt Longa…
theramswire.usatoday.com
Once again, the Los Angeles Rams have made wholesale changes at outside linebacker. They’ve had very little stability at that spot since 2017, with starters ranging from Robert Quinn and Matt Longacre three years ago to Dante Fowler and Clay Matthews most recently.
Fowler and Matthews are both gone, which has opened gaping holes on the edge. Leonard Floyd and his fully guaranteed $10 million contract will start on one side, but the Rams have a competition to sort out in camp on the other side. Ogbonnia Okoronkwo is among the candidates to start this season, but only if he can beat out Samson Ebukam and Terrell Lewis.
If he can, he’ll have the potential to break out in his third NFL season. He still has work to do, but the talent and opportunity are there. He just has to capitalize on it.
NFL career thus far
Okoronkwo’s impact in the NFL has been minimal thus far. He missed his entire rookie season in 2018 with a foot injury, and last year, he was only on the field for 10% of the defensive snaps (115 total). He recorded 1.5 sacks and seven tackles, hitting the quarterback four times.
Okoronkwo seemed like a perfect fit in Wade Phillips’ scheme when he was drafted in the fifth round, being an undersized but quick pass rusher on the edge. But even under Phillips, Okoronkwo had a hard time carving out a role in the Rams’ defense.
He hasn’t come close to realizing his potential as a pass rusher and he still has to develop into a well-rounded linebacker, making this a wildly important summer for the third-year player out of Oklahoma.
Why he could break out
With Fowler, Matthews and Ebukam all ahead of him on the depth chart in 2019, Okoronkwo didn’t have many chances to rush the passer or play meaningful snaps. That will change this year with Matthews and Fowler gone. Floyd will likely replace Matthews as the strongside linebacker, primarily succeeding against the run, but Okoronkwo fits perfectly as the weakside edge rusher.
He showed some flashes of being an effective pass rusher last season despite playing very limited snaps, creating a sense of optimism as he enters this critical offseason. He could be poised for a breakout season if he can beat out Ebukam and Lewis, which is conceivable. He just has to stand out in practice and in the preseason (assuming there is one) by getting to the quarterback consistently, while also improving against the run.
One example of his ability came against the Cardinals last season. This was by far his best rush of the 2019 season, using a killer spin move to get a hit on Kyler Murray. It was negated by a roughing the passer penalty, but it was a clean hit by Okoronkwo.
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The spin is undoubtedly his favorite pass-rush move, and it works well as a counter when the tackle is caught getting too deep into his drop.
Okoronkwo does a good job using his arm to club the blocker, too, causing the tackle’s momentum to continue deeper into the backfield. He was credited with a half-sack on the play, splitting it with Cory Littleton.
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Okoronkwo has good short-area quickness and awareness, which was shown on this play against the Falcons. He sidesteps the tight end and knocks aside the running back en route to the quarterback, generating some pressure on Matt Ryan.
It was a long-developing screen pass, but Okoronkwo got to the quarterback efficiently and caused Ryan to throw the ball sooner than he wanted.
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He can win without spinning off a blocker, too. He doesn’t get the sack or hit here, but he helped force Andy Dalton out of the pocket by beating the tackle to the inside. Okoronkwo also showed good pursuit to stay in the play after Dalton escaped.
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Plays like the four above give reasons for hope with Okoronkwo, even if he’s done very little in the NFL up to this point. And it’s why he could break out in his third year with the Rams.
Why he may not
Pass rushers take a little while to develop in the NFL, and that’s certainly been the case for Okoronkwo. He’s undersized to begin with, and his foot injury in 2018 that caused his rookie year to be wiped out didn’t help, either. And clearly the Rams didn’t feel that strongly about his development last year, since he was buried on the depth chart behind Fowler, Matthews and Ebukam.
To make matters worse, Okoronkwo will have a new defensive coordinator in 2020 – a defensive coordinator who covets big, lanky edge rushers in the mold of Floyd and Lewis. Okoronkwo certainly doesn’t fit that build, which could hurt his standing with Brandon Staley.
You can see on the play below that he sometimes has trouble shedding blockers due to his smaller stature.
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He has to develop a bigger repertoire of pass-rush moves, because his spin counter isn’t always going to work. And as teams get scouting reports on his game, tackles will begin to plan for that spin move to the inside.
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The combination of an unrefined pass-rush skill set, Staley’s outside linebacker preferences and the lack of a proven track record in the NFL could cause Okoronkwo to be nothing more than a backup this season.
