Last year Morris played a lot of Fangio style mixed fronts on early downs. It's why Gaines isn't here. Gaines is a one gap penetrating DT. Morris wanted a two gap 0T that is why they drafted Brown. That read/react style front is why Donald's and Floyd's production dropped. It's why this defense dropped into the bottom half of the defensive rankings last year. It's why Wagner wanted out after one season as did Ramsey. Both players asked to be traded or otherwise released from their contracts.
Why do you think I've been saying that Morris plays what he wants to play, and does not scheme to play to his player's strength's. Why do you think he buried Rochell in favor of Kendricks? It's why unless Pleasant and Lake can change things around this will be Donald's last year. Why do you think Morris dropped Floyd into coverage so often? They only had one starting quality edge last year and Morris dropped him into coverage on passing downs? Give me a fucking break. If Morris is going to play that way they needed to be 4 deep at the edges. Mathis is going to probably take the role of Travin Howard who played WIL behind Hoecht. He is much slower than Howard in terms of long speed but he's better against the run and fast enough to play WIL.
I'm not reinventing Morris' wheel. All I'm doing is plugging in the guys they drafted into roles that the Rams either played by Morris or formerly played but is often used in a Fangio style scheme. Jimmy Lake is a proponent of the Tampa two zone scheme. I think Morris will get away from his quarters look in favor of a Tampa two base look. The difference is Lake normally plays that scheme aggressively. Lake's failings at UW had more to do with his poor offensive schemes. Under Morris, Taylor Rapp was often played in the role of a SAM OLB more than a SS. But he lacked the size and speed needed at the position. The SAM will often play as a pass rusher with the JACK dropping to provide that edge setter. Just go back and picture the way Ebukam played in the 2018 KC game. I was saying back then that Ebukam was becoming an outstanding SAM LB. That position was dropped by Staley. The Rams do play a WIL LB to cover the flats and provide run support on the weakside edge. Mathis would give them the option of dropping Hoecht with his better speed, and sending Mathis who is a better edge setter. Both SAM and WIL are best played by OLBs with size and speed. Mathis timed at 1.59 in his 10 yd split which is good for a man his size and fast enough to play as a WIL in a short zone.
This is why people shouldn't discount the 40 times. It's why it's broken down into 10 and 20 yd split times as well. A taller player is often a long strider, meaning he takes longer to hit his stride. A faster 10 yard split time indicates better explosiveness especially when you are talking about bigger players. Just remember, Travin makes that INT in the championship game because he was in position playing WIL in the same way Ebukam was the impact player he was against KC because he was playing the SAM. With Mathis and Hampton the Rams have significantly upgraded their options should they decide to utilize those positions.
All I'm doing is extrapolating why they drafted 3 edges. At first blush it wouldn't make sense, until you look at it schematically if they scheme it as Young and Hoecht edges, Hampton SAM and Mathis WIL, this would account for why they didn't draft an ILB, because perhaps Morris simply wants to play with one ILB to cover the A gaps.
Morris will have no excuses anymore. It's why I've been saying if played properly this defense can be sneaky good.
theramswire.usatoday.com
