This UDFA was able to play in all 16 games for the Rams last yr. Early in pre season we saw a lot of Rodney. The reason we saw so much of Rodney in TC & pre-season was due to the knee injury suffered by FS Darian Stewart. Mikell was moved early to SS post in the mini's and SS Craig Dahl was his back up. With the ongoing injury situation saw fisher move Dahl into the FS post. Matt Daniels was still coming off knee surgery after the 2012 draft so he was unable to get into much action at free safety either.
Rodney McLeod is about 35 to 40 pounds lighter than Darian Stewart who is also more SS than FS type. However Rod show'd that even when playing under 180 lbs he is a gamer. So last yr @ this time the Rams had a bunch of strong safeties types in Mikell- Dahl- Stewart & Daniels and only one bonified true free deep range safety was lucky for Rodney. Throw in the non health of Stewart & Daniels ...Rod had a clear path to a 53 roster spot. Rod did see the playing field in the first two games besides just being the no#1 gunner it was when Dahl suffered a concussion. He held up well. Fisher plays more Nickle than base. I was wondering if the reason Fisher plays so much Nickle & Dime defenses in 2012 was due to being forced into starting two in the box safety types @ the same time???? :???:
I would expect that free safety Rodney McLeod will have added some serious muscle to his skinny frame at least 10 pounds or more plus added strength too. But Rod is under 5-10 in height.
Rams have greatly changed the look of the secondary since Rodney's arrival last yr. This year Fisher resigned a healthy Darian Stewart who is entering his 4th season & has 40 NFL games under his belt, added through the 2013 draft Fishers much coveted just under 6-3 220 pound safety in TJ McDonald, signed a bonified gamer called Cody Davis who is over 6-2 & 205 pounds and Cannon Smith who is 6 ft 205 pounder. Fisher also signed safety Ray Ray Armstrong but he will get some work in TC @ weakside Lbing instead. Fisher also changed the 5-9 195 pound CB Quinton Pointer to FS position. So the Rodney McLeod has some major competition that he did not have last season. Since Rodney is a DB I should bring up the changes to the corners too...beside the big three Finnegan,JJ & TJ Fisher brought in drafted Brandon McGee in the 5th rd plus signed three good UDFA's in Robert Steeples & Don Unamba.
In conclusion, Fisher has returned 7 of the 2012 DB's (3 CB's, 2 SS's & 2 FS's). He has drafted & signed UDFA's six new DB's into the secondary for Tim Walton & Cecil Cooke to groom. Six CB's & seven safeties. I have no crystal ball looking into the future of how all this fails out but its my opinion that the Rams secondary will look like this:
SS- D.Stewart/Cody Davis[R]
FS- TJ McDonald[R]/Rod McLeod/ Q.Pointer
CB- C.Finnegan/T.Johnson/R.Steeples[R]
CB- J.Jenkins/B.McGee[R]
Fisher should end up with four rookies, four 2nd yr players & two veterans. Fisher lost veteran long time starters in Bradley Fletcher & Quinton Mikell but it appears he has done very well in replacing them & Rodney would appear to have a part in the 2013 Ram defense & ST's again.