St. Louis Rams Midseason Grades

Defense

DL: William Hayes, Michael Brockers, Aaron Donald, Robert Quinn

So Sack City has finally returned. Six sacks throughout the first seven games and eight last week. If the defensive line can continue to play like they did last week, and dominate the line of scrimmage like they did, it will go a long way for this football team.

This defensive front has started to find their stride, but they still have a lot to prove and a long ways to go. They underachieved for much of the first half of the season, but they still have the second half to redeem themselves.

Grade: C

LBs: Alec Ogletree, James Laurinaitis, and Jo-Lonn Dunbar

The Rams currently are pretty thin at the linebacker position and the three that are starting haven’t played all that great. Ogletree continues to take bad angles when pursuing, but Laurinaitis has made some plays over the last couple of weeks. This group could use some improvement, but overall they have made plays when they’ve needed to

Grade: C

Cornerbacks: E.J. Gaines, Janoris Jenkins, and Lamarcus Joyner

Believe it or not, the Rams used to have the top rated pass defense in the NFL. That has changed a lot over the last four games with injuries and blown coverages however. The Rams just traded for Mark Barron which will hopefully help out the cornerbacks, but for now the Rams have the eighth ranked pass defense and almost cost the Rams the game against the 49ers.

Grade: C+

Safeties: T.J. McDonald and Rodney McLeod

McDonald is a good safety but has been picked on in pass coverage which was a problem for him at USC. McLeod is not an NFL caliber safety and continuously is the reason behind miscommunication errors in the secondary. The Rams traded for Barron and it will be interesting to see how they use the former Tampa Bay safety.

Grade: C

Special Teams: Johnny Hekker, Greg Zuerlein, Punt Return, and Kick Return

Johnny Hekker did have a punt blocked last week, but overall has bee pretty solid and was much of the reason for the Rams beating the 49ers last week. However, Zuerlein has been off over the past couple of weeks and Tavon Austin almost cost the Rams a game trying to run a field goal out of the end zone. Overall this group has been solid, but still room for improvement.

Grade: B

Defense/ Special Teams Overall Grade: C