We're lucky we didn't skimp on our CB depth...Sam Shields and Troy Hill can play
https://theramswire.usatoday.com/20...s-sam-shields-cornerback-injury-talib-peters/
Underrated Sam Shields signing set to pay dividends for Rams
By: Cameron DaSilva
After a remarkable first season under Sean McVay, Les Snead and the Los Angeles Rams front office set their sights on getting even better. Trumaine Johnson and Sammy Watkins were bound to leave, there were aging veterans at edge rusher and Kayvon Webster was facing a lengthy recovery from an Achilles injury.
To make up for those forthcoming losses, the Rams made a handful of high-profile moves. Aqib Talib, Marcus Peters and Brandin Cooks were all acquired via trade, Ndamukong Suh was signed in free agency to fill a hole at nose tackle and Ramik Wilson was brought in to possibly replace Alec Ogletree.
Lost in the shuffle of all those blockbuster moves (Wilson excluded) was the signing of Sam Shields – a player who hadn’t step foot on an NFL field in about two years. Shields suffered multiple concussions in his career with the Packers, but he set out to return this offseason after taking the 2017 season off to recover.
It was a low-risk, underrated move by the Rams, but it’s about to come to the forefront this week. Talib and Peters both suffered leg injuries in Week 3 and could be out for a little while. Peters strained his calf and is day-to-day, while Talib injured his ankle and most likely needs surgery.
That leaves the Rams without their top two cornerbacks, thrusting depth players into prominent roles. Shields will certainly be one of them.
The veteran has played just 48 snaps this season, but he’s made plays when called upon. He has five tackles, one interception and two passes defensed, breaking up a would-be touchdown in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win over the Chargers. Against the Cardinals, he undercut the receiver’s route and made the interception, returning it 22 yards.
View: https://twitter.com/RamsNFL/status/1041457828240609280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1041457828240609280&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheramswire.usatoday.com%2F2018%2F09%2F25%2Fnfl-los-angeles-rams-sam-shields-cornerback-injury-talib-peters%2F
Shields will be one of the starting cornerbacks on Thursday night against the Vikings regardless of whether Peters plays, and that’ll remain the case until Talib returns, whenever that is. McVay has full confidence in Shields’ ability to step up and continue to play at a high level.
“I thought at the end, Sam made a big-time breakup on the third down that ended up leading – or in that last series in the red zone that ended up getting them off the field and then got the ball back for the offense where they were able to run out the clock,” McVay said Monday. “They did some good stuff too. When we had to tighten up, I thought those guys did a nice job.
To be able to step in on short notice, that was something that ultimately, they were their best at the end of the game when we had to be and I thought that was good. But, to have guys that have played a lot of football for us or played a lot of football in this league is extremely important and they’ll definitely get those reps.”
Shields wasn’t even a lock to make the team out of training camp, but now he’s being thrust into a starting role. It’d be unfair to call this “found money” for the Rams because they knew exactly what they were doing when they signed him, but to have him playing at a high level so quickly is a huge development.
