Los Angeles Rams: 4 grades for the first half of the 2018 season

Say what you want about Aaron Donald. He is the premier defensive lineman in the NFL playing on the most befuddling defense in the NFL. It’s no knock on him, but for all the fanfare that accompanied the big ticket free agent signings this past offseason, the thud you hear is Wade Phillips and his charges.

Maybe that’s overstated a bit, but for any fan who thinks this defense performs as they were hyped and advertised to be, well you’ve had to much of the Kool-Aid.

The defensive rush has been spotty, and the defenders have been soft to throw on. The injury to Aqib Talib has been big, but Marcus Peters is trending towards being that bust type of signing that nobody saw coming, and that may be the biggest disappointment of 2018.

THAT is not overstated.

Coming into the season, the Rams defense was thought to be a top five kind of unit. With the signing of players like Peters and Talib, the monster deal with Donald, and the bookend of Ndamukong Suh, the early verdict is that this unit has underperformed.

There’s time, an entire second half of a season kind of time and the addition of Dante Fowler Jr. could change the fortunes of Phillips and his crew.

But the first half just didn’t happen as expected.

More Kool-Aid anyone?

Aaron Donald and the Rams defense – C