What will the Los Angeles Rams do at inside linebacker?

[BonifayRam]

Honestly it remains an ugly group. You have Matthews/Littleton and then a bunch of guys who are either one trick ponies vs the run or who bring a little balance but are limited athletically/physically. Matthews IMO still has some edge ability and that's going to result in him only part-timing at ILB, so basically things are wide open for these guys to get a lot of snaps next to Littleton. It's a very good opportunity.

Looking at them all just physically speaking, I have to think that Dakota Allen should be excited to get in there and compete. He's got limitations obviously (like being eaten by blockers) but some things like his lack of speed is made up for a bit by his short area burst. And while he's not going to be an option to man up on a lot of NFL backs and TEs... His zone drops show some natural feel.

I'm just hoping one of those guys steps up. And btw I think we can add Ebukam to your list Boni. He's probably going to be a liability in coverage but unlike most of those guys he brings physicality and some excellent closing speed that should show well in run fits.

My own expectation is that we're going to see a lot of sub packages with 3x safeties and Rapp in the box as a LB-lite.

This Rams article seems to segue/segway right into your comments:

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/...s-nfl-run-defense-wade-phillips-clay-matthews

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/...backer-edge-rusher-dante-fowler-clay-matthews

ESPN tabs edge rusher as biggest roster gap for Los Angeles Rams in 2019

While most Rams fans probably agree with ESPN on this, the front office doesn’t seem too concerned.
By Joey The Jerk@LaRamsRamsRams May 7, 2019, 11:59am CDT


With the 2019 NFL Draft officially behind us, the Los Angeles Rams have essentially made their major moves for the offseason and now fans can take a look at this roster and build up their expectations for the upcoming season.

I put together my updated holes for the roster last week making the point that after the draft the Rams still had holes with the depth along the offensive line and lacking pass rushers. It appears that Rams General Manager Les Snead and company were more worried about the run defense and made their moves with that in mind.

This week, Football Outsiders released their biggest roster holes for all 32 NFL teams and agreed with part of my assessment of the roster:

The Rams were paper-thin on the defensive perimeter coming out of the Super Bowl and failed to add a pure edge rusher in either free agency or the draft. That sentence does come with an asterisk; the Rams signed veteran linebacker Clay Matthews away from Green Bay, and Matthews has split time between edge rusher and inside linebacker over his career.

The hand-wringing about the effectiveness of the pass rushers on the Rams moving forward really depends on what you think about LB Clay Matthews. He turns 33-years old next week. And while he did play 16 games last year, his production plummeted with a career-low 3.5 sacks. Will a homecoming back to LA and a chance to reinvigorate his USC roots help him conjure up bigger stats? I believe Matthews will be fine as long as he’s thought of as an experienced role player and not a guy that’s going to be consistently blowing up plays and scaring the hell out of quarterbacks.

But what about the rest of the linebackers on the team? What did FO think of them? Well, not much:

Mind you, that’s still more than either of L.A.’s returning edge rushers, Samson Ebukam (3.0) and Dante Fowler Jr. (2.0). Fowler remains an enigma; he has only 16.0 sacks since Jacksonville drafted him third overall in 2015, but he added 1.5 in the playoffs last year, and he doesn’t turn 25 until August. The Rams re-signed him to a one-year, $14 million prove-it deal.

This is going to sound like an extremely” homer take,” but judging the productivity of LB Samson Ebukam and LB Dante Fowler Jr. by their sack totals really misses the point and only reveals a fraction of what they’re doing during the game. Granted, Ebukam still has question marks about whether he should be a starter going into the season, but his sacks shouldn’t be the arbiter of that discussion. It’s his health. He had surgery in March for a knee injury that will keep him out of the Rams’ offseason program so we won’t really see him on the field until training camp.

So as the Los Angeles Rams conduct their workouts throughout the offseason, it’ll be interesting to see how this position of need unfolds. Will any rookies step up? Will guys like LB Justin Lawler or DL John Franklin-Myers show up to compete for time on the edge? And will Matthews prove that age is just a number?

We have the rest of the summer to hopefully get some good answers.

 

[Ramstien]

I think Ram fans are going to be pleasantly surprised to what Obo brings to this defense. Fowler was signed to a one year prove it deal, it will be interesting to see how a motivated Fowler plays.

 

[Soul Surfer]

I see Cory Littleton as the #1 LB'er. CL rarely came off the field last year. CL can line up @ all the known Wade LB'er posts & play them well.

That's how I see it.

Not too bad for a UDFA.

 

[Merlin]

The hand-wringing about the effectiveness of the pass rushers on the Rams moving forward really depends on what you think about LB Clay Matthews. He turns 33-years old next week. And while he did play 16 games last year, his production plummeted with a career-low 3.5 sacks. Will a homecoming back to LA and a chance to reinvigorate his USC roots help him conjure up bigger stats? I believe Matthews will be fine as long as he’s thought of as an experienced role player and not a guy that’s going to be consistently blowing up plays and scaring the hell out of quarterbacks.

One thing I do think is overlooked wrt Matthews is the change of defensive coordinator. He just wasn't as good a fit with Mike Pettine as he was with Dom Capers. Yeah, he's old, but if you watch last year's games he's still got some skills and should fit extremely well with Wade Phillips. I am convinced he will have a very strong season and surprise a lot of people.

 

[dang]

This Rams article seems to segue/segway right into your comments:

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/...s-nfl-run-defense-wade-phillips-clay-matthews

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/...backer-edge-rusher-dante-fowler-clay-matthews

ESPN tabs edge rusher as biggest roster gap for Los Angeles Rams in 2019

While most Rams fans probably agree with ESPN on this, the front office doesn’t seem too concerned.
By Joey The Jerk@LaRamsRamsRams May 7, 2019, 11:59am CDT


With the 2019 NFL Draft officially behind us, the Los Angeles Rams have essentially made their major moves for the offseason and now fans can take a look at this roster and build up their expectations for the upcoming season.

I put together my updated holes for the roster last week making the point that after the draft the Rams still had holes with the depth along the offensive line and lacking pass rushers. It appears that Rams General Manager Les Snead and company were more worried about the run defense and made their moves with that in mind.

This week, Football Outsiders released their biggest roster holes for all 32 NFL teams and agreed with part of my assessment of the roster:

The Rams were paper-thin on the defensive perimeter coming out of the Super Bowl and failed to add a pure edge rusher in either free agency or the draft. That sentence does come with an asterisk; the Rams signed veteran linebacker Clay Matthews away from Green Bay, and Matthews has split time between edge rusher and inside linebacker over his career.

The hand-wringing about the effectiveness of the pass rushers on the Rams moving forward really depends on what you think about LB Clay Matthews. He turns 33-years old next week. And while he did play 16 games last year, his production plummeted with a career-low 3.5 sacks. Will a homecoming back to LA and a chance to reinvigorate his USC roots help him conjure up bigger stats? I believe Matthews will be fine as long as he’s thought of as an experienced role player and not a guy that’s going to be consistently blowing up plays and scaring the hell out of quarterbacks.

But what about the rest of the linebackers on the team? What did FO think of them? Well, not much:

Mind you, that’s still more than either of L.A.’s returning edge rushers, Samson Ebukam (3.0) and Dante Fowler Jr. (2.0). Fowler remains an enigma; he has only 16.0 sacks since Jacksonville drafted him third overall in 2015, but he added 1.5 in the playoffs last year, and he doesn’t turn 25 until August. The Rams re-signed him to a one-year, $14 million prove-it deal.

This is going to sound like an extremely” homer take,” but judging the productivity of LB Samson Ebukam and LB Dante Fowler Jr. by their sack totals really misses the point and only reveals a fraction of what they’re doing during the game. Granted, Ebukam still has question marks about whether he should be a starter going into the season, but his sacks shouldn’t be the arbiter of that discussion. It’s his health. He had surgery in March for a knee injury that will keep him out of the Rams’ offseason program so we won’t really see him on the field until training camp.

So as the Los Angeles Rams conduct their workouts throughout the offseason, it’ll be interesting to see how this position of need unfolds. Will any rookies step up? Will guys like LB Justin Lawler or DL John Franklin-Myers show up to compete for time on the edge? And will Matthews prove that age is just a number?

We have the rest of the summer to hopefully get some good answers.

2018 brought us Ebu (2nd year player), Obo (IR), Longacre and a couple of rookies on EDGE. 2019 brings us Ebu (3rd year player), Obo (off IR), Fowler, Matthews and a couple of 2nd year players. There is always room for improvement but I like the direction we are heading. Perhaps Shane Ray would like to join for vet minimum??

 

[BonifayRam]

2018 brought us Ebu (2nd year player), Obo (IR), Longacre and a couple of rookies on EDGE. 2019 brings us Ebu (3rd year player), Obo (off IR), Fowler, Matthews and a couple of 2nd year players. There is always room for improvement but I like the direction we are heading. Perhaps Shane Ray would like to join for vet minimum??

Snead has been bargain shopping for youthful Wade type 34 D edge rushers/ OLB'ers since the 2017 draft. The last time Snead utilized a first-round selection on defensive players was in 2014 (Aaron Donald). Since then its been all in for the offense with those #1's. Snead has utilized all his top draft pics on the 2nd day on offense too. However this year we saw a change with the utilization of the #2 pick on a safety.

Snead has invested six draft selections since 2017 on ER's/OLB'ers:
3rd/#98 Trade Jax Fowler
4th/#125 Ebukam
5th/#160-Okoronkwo
6th/#205-Young
7th/#244-Lawler
2020 5th rd election traded to Jax for OLB'er Fowler.

None of the five above OLB'ers are over 24 yrs old. I would think that it would be very smart to see what these five young OLB'ers can do this season & stand pat. They went out & got an experienced former all-pro edge rusher to make it a happy half dozen. I like this blended cadre myself.

The LB'er that most here would seem to have issue with is Samson Ebukam 2018 performance. His first season as a starter too. SE is entering his 3rd season now & his blazing 4.5 speed in the 40, along with his 39 inches of a vertical jumping needs to be showcased. We do know that he had a injury to his knee early in December just after his big game against KC. That knee underwent surgery sometime in late February of this year. The plan is to bring Ebukam in slow during TC.

OLB'ers Og Okoronkwo & Trevon Young both were unhealthy for their rookie seasons. Young with a hip surgery recovery & Og with a broken foot. So we may get to see these two a lot this preseason. Justin Lawler went to work on special teams & did very well. He is a steady strong side Edge rusher who may end up on the DL if he gets any bigger & stronger.

 

[So Ram]

I think Ram fans are going to be pleasantly surprised to what Obo brings to this defense. Fowler was signed to a one year prove it deal, it will be interesting to see how a motivated Fowler plays.

It’s not a prove it deal . It’s what they have in cap space. Fowler will be better this year than
Last. Granite I’ll give you OBO will be better than some suspect.

I think Brockers is going to Rock It this year. He is freaking in great shape. Same as Donald. Donald might have lost to much weight ?? You will see him flying off the Edge more this season.

 

[BonifayRam]

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/...l-micah-kiser-clay-matthews-inside-linebacker
What will the Los Angeles Rams do at inside linebacker?

Could fifth-round pick Micah Kiser be the heir to the throne at inside linebacker? Or could an unexpected challenger take over?
By Sosa Kremenjas

Not many starting positions are likely to be up for grabs, but the inside linebacker position is one for the Los Angeles Rams.

Going into the offseason, it was a foregone conclusion that ILB Mark Barron was going to be released, and that move ultimately came to fruition. Barron simply couldn’t remain healthy any longer and his salary suggested he was one of the top linebackers in football when in reality, he simply wasn’t. Barron played 570 downs of football in 2018, with SS Marqui Christian often subbing in on third-down passing situations, registering 348 snaps of his own.

Looking forward at the inside linebacker position, the likely heir to the starting spot is 2018 fifth-round pick ILB Micah Kiser. Kiser appeared in 16 games last season, though all of his playing time was spent on special teams units. He only registered four total tackles in 2018, though when given the opportunity to play in the preseason, Kiser was very productive as he accumulated 26 tackles and two pass deflections in four games of action.

Kiser is likely to fill the role that ILB Alec Ogletree once filled in Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips’ defense. Kiser is a much stronger defender at the point of attack and in the run game, though their similarities come with the ability to blitz effectively and lack some coverage ability. Kiser totaled 19 sacks in college, often showing his ability to blitz in Virginia’s defense.

With all that being said, Kiser has the athletic traits needed to be effective in coverage, he just needs to get the technical aspects down. Look at this comparison between Kiser and one of the leagues best coverage linebackers in Atlanta Falcons’ Deion Jones:

For a guy who's not really considered a great athlete, Micah Kiser's combine numbers were pretty awesome. Compares (just #'s wise) favourably to one of the leagues best LB's/coverage LB's in Deion Jones.

Kiser is the first web, Jones is the second. pic.twitter.com/3ie4GtkBjp

— Sosa K (@QBsMVP) February 27, 2019
If Kiser proves to be a liability in coverage, the Rams can address that by allowing second-round pick S Taylor Rapp onto the field in coverage situations. That might be their plan regardless, though it’s tough to say with certainty.

The other flip of the coin is a potentially unexpected ILB in Clay Matthews. Matthews was signed to be an edge rusher here, though he could essentially do both if that’s what the Rams want him to do. Matthews played inside linebacker for the Green Bay Packers in 2014 and 2015, amassing 101 tackles, 30 tackles-for-loss, 17.5 sacks, 41 QB hits, two interceptions, and 12 pass deflections. He was clearly effective in that inside/outside role, and has the potential to do the same in this defense. If this is the route the Rams chose, Matthews would likely play inside on run stopping situations and would kick outside to the edge on pass rushing situations.

My preference would be to start Kiser at inside linebacker and Matthews on the edge next to him, though this is something the Rams will need to decide over the next few months.

 

[dang]

Any chance the Rams add another vet FA or roster cut at either ILB or EDGE (i.e. Jamie Collins, Shane Ray, etc.)?

 

[BonifayRam]

Any chance the Rams add another vet FA or roster cut at either ILB or EDGE (i.e. Jamie Collins, Shane Ray, etc.)?

If they will play for empty just off the floor peanut shells

 

[Akrasian]

Any chance the Rams add another vet FA or roster cut at either ILB or EDGE (i.e. Jamie Collins, Shane Ray, etc.)?

The Rams can afford vet minimum plus $90k signing bonus. Will they both fit the Rams' system and accept that?

 

[Ram65]

Training camp should be interesting for ILBer playing time. I could see Kiser getting a big opportunity to be in the rotation. Mathews can't play every down and would be much more effective with less than a full play load. The Rams have to see how far Kiser has come along. I had my doubts about his coverage ability. If he can diagnose the plays quickly he could cover well enough to get early down reps. Dakota Allen may need another year to develop his coverage skills but, he gets a shot. I guess Wade could try Ebu in the middle as well. I see Wade trying to get the best fits with Mathews and Kiser having the inside track.

 

[FrantikRam]

This Rams article seems to segue/segway right into your comments:

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/...s-nfl-run-defense-wade-phillips-clay-matthews

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/...backer-edge-rusher-dante-fowler-clay-matthews

ESPN tabs edge rusher as biggest roster gap for Los Angeles Rams in 2019

While most Rams fans probably agree with ESPN on this, the front office doesn’t seem too concerned.
By Joey The Jerk@LaRamsRamsRams May 7, 2019, 11:59am CDT


With the 2019 NFL Draft officially behind us, the Los Angeles Rams have essentially made their major moves for the offseason and now fans can take a look at this roster and build up their expectations for the upcoming season.

I put together my updated holes for the roster last week making the point that after the draft the Rams still had holes with the depth along the offensive line and lacking pass rushers. It appears that Rams General Manager Les Snead and company were more worried about the run defense and made their moves with that in mind.

This week, Football Outsiders released their biggest roster holes for all 32 NFL teams and agreed with part of my assessment of the roster:

The Rams were paper-thin on the defensive perimeter coming out of the Super Bowl and failed to add a pure edge rusher in either free agency or the draft. That sentence does come with an asterisk; the Rams signed veteran linebacker Clay Matthews away from Green Bay, and Matthews has split time between edge rusher and inside linebacker over his career.

The hand-wringing about the effectiveness of the pass rushers on the Rams moving forward really depends on what you think about LB Clay Matthews. He turns 33-years old next week. And while he did play 16 games last year, his production plummeted with a career-low 3.5 sacks. Will a homecoming back to LA and a chance to reinvigorate his USC roots help him conjure up bigger stats? I believe Matthews will be fine as long as he’s thought of as an experienced role player and not a guy that’s going to be consistently blowing up plays and scaring the hell out of quarterbacks.

But what about the rest of the linebackers on the team? What did FO think of them? Well, not much:

Mind you, that’s still more than either of L.A.’s returning edge rushers, Samson Ebukam (3.0) and Dante Fowler Jr. (2.0). Fowler remains an enigma; he has only 16.0 sacks since Jacksonville drafted him third overall in 2015, but he added 1.5 in the playoffs last year, and he doesn’t turn 25 until August. The Rams re-signed him to a one-year, $14 million prove-it deal.

This is going to sound like an extremely” homer take,” but judging the productivity of LB Samson Ebukam and LB Dante Fowler Jr. by their sack totals really misses the point and only reveals a fraction of what they’re doing during the game. Granted, Ebukam still has question marks about whether he should be a starter going into the season, but his sacks shouldn’t be the arbiter of that discussion. It’s his health. He had surgery in March for a knee injury that will keep him out of the Rams’ offseason program so we won’t really see him on the field until training camp.

So as the Los Angeles Rams conduct their workouts throughout the offseason, it’ll be interesting to see how this position of need unfolds. Will any rookies step up? Will guys like LB Justin Lawler or DL John Franklin-Myers show up to compete for time on the edge? And will Matthews prove that age is just a number?

We have the rest of the summer to hopefully get some good answers.

Wow I disagree with that article.

With Fowler, Matthews and Ebukam we have a really good group of edge rushers now. And while ILB might seem like a weakness, Kiser on early downs and Rapp on passing downs is going to be much better than what we had last year IMO.

 

[dang]

If they will play for empty just off the floor peanut shells

I don't think all current vets will be retained. Letting a couple of those go would free up some cap space. I don't doubt the Rams would also consider restructuring someone should a Fowler type opportunity present itself at EDGE or ILB.

 

[BriansRams]

Haven't seen the figures yet,
Hager is a useful player - not a star, not someone you want to start, but good on special teams, hard practicer, not useless when he gets in the game. I'm glad he's back.

Hahaha.
"Hey Hagar. I wanted to let you know I noticed you're not useless when you get in a game."

"Um. Thanks?"

 

[Soul Surfer]

Whoever wins that second inside linebacker spot next to Littleton will only be on the field for approximately 40% of the defensive snaps.

 

[8to12]

2018 brought us Ebu (2nd year player), Obo (IR), Longacre and a couple of rookies on EDGE. 2019 brings us Ebu (3rd year player), Obo (off IR), Fowler, Matthews and a couple of 2nd year players. There is always room for improvement but I like the direction we are heading. Perhaps Shane Ray would like to join for vet minimum??

..."a couple of rookies on EDGE" ..... here's one of those rookies, Trevon Young (Louiville) drafted in the 6th round. If not for a devastating hip injury at the end of his sophmore season he would've been drafted higher than Obo.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CInyhAZ4IT8


Senior season highlights: #91

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=micQmX2TIsw

 

[OldSchool]

They'll play two guys on some downs in that position and on others they'll play just one. It's the nature of ILB and why it wasn't a huge focus like some thought it would be with Littleton tendered like he was.

 

[Mojo Ram]

The Rams of late have shown that they're willing and creative enough to make a move late off-season or mid-season if they feel they're not good enough in one particular phase of the roster.

They will continue to look at opportunities i'm sure.