St. Louis Rams’ Three Strengths

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With mini camp over, we now enter into the dog days of summer. The St. Louis Rams and the rest of the NFL alike won’t practice as a team until training camp. This is a time for the players to have their last hooray before the grind of a long NFL season. So,with not a whole lot to report on, lets take a look at the Rams’ top three strengths heading into the 2015 campaign.

1) Defensive line

As a team, the Rams racked up 40 defensive sacks in 2014. Defensive end Robert Quinn added 10.5 while rookie tackle Aaron Donald finished his great first season with nine. This was already the Rams’ biggest strength a year ago, and it’s continued to get better. In the offseason, St. Louis went out and added former Detroit Lions tackle, Nick Fairley to add some beef up front. The 27-year-old has not played in all 16 games in any of his five seasons in the NFL, but he won’t be asked to do such a thing in st. Louis. Fairley is down nearly 20 pounds since joining the Rams and will bring some fire power when in the game. As far as Quinn and Donald go, these two men are the two best players on the entire Rams squad. Both men made the NFL top 100 players of 2015  list, the only two to do so on the Rams, and for good reason. Quinn is a sack machine, while Donald brings a different set of skills to the tackle position. Donald’s ability to rush the passer is arguably the best in the NFL from the tackle spot. This is a unit that will continue to carry this team, and will need to if the Rams want to make it to the playoffs in 2015.

2) Running the Football

This has always been a strength for the Rams, dating back to their time in Los Angeles, minus a season here and there. Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk and Steven Jackson are just to name a few. The Rams now have guy who may be better than all three in Todd Gurley. His speed mixed with his power and agility is simply amazing. The way he runs a football is one beautiful thing to watch. But, two major question marks surround him. Can he stay healthy, and can the Rams block for him? Both remain to be seen, but come training camp and the regular season, we will find out very quick. But, Gurley is not the only running back with star qualities. Second year running back Tre Mason has already been receiving first-team reps due to the Gurley knee recovery, and will likely see first-team reps throughout training camp and into the preseason. Both running backs have the potential for 1,000 yard plus seasons, it’s just a matter of when.

3) Line-backing core

It goes without saying that the Rams have three, if not four quality football players that play linebacker. James Laurinaitis is a tackling machine while outside linebacker Alec Ogletree is doing nothing but getting better day in and day out. Ogletree’s speed sets him apart from most. The former safety has the ability to guard tight ends in coverage and the strength to tackle. The Rams also added free agent linebacker, Akeem Ayers. At just 25 years old, Ayers may just steal Jo-lonn Dunbar’s starting job, but if not, will serve as a viable backup who will see quite a bit of snaps throughout a game. Ayers helped the New England Patriots to a Superbowl in 2014 and showed signs of brilliance. With the greatness of the defensive line, this makes the linebackers on this roster’s jobs a whole lot easier. This is a group that will not let you down.