Los Angeles Rams need to give duo of Marcus Peters, Aqib Talib another shot in 2019

Even though the duo didn’t exactly live up to the high expectations, the Los Angeles Rams need to give it another shot with Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib in 2019, no matter what.

During the 2018 offseason, the Los Angeles Rams were in a difficult position since as much as they preferred to keep Trumaine Johnson, deep down the team knew the chances of this happening were slim due to the hefty contract the cornerback would be seeking.

As Rams fans know, Johnson would eventually go on to sign with the New York Jets while the Rams pulled off some unexpected moves by acquiring both Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib through trades.

All of a sudden, Los Angeles went from looking to free agency and the draft to fill their need at cornerback to have a new surprise duo in Peters and Talib, making it seem like their defense would reach a whole new level during the 2019 season.

With that being said, just because the Rams were excited about their new duo at cornerback doesn’t mean it was guaranteed to be successful since both players brought some baggage to the team as well.

Despite the 19 interceptions and five forced fumbles recorded in his first three NFL seasons, the fact that the Kansas City Chiefs were willing to give up on Peters so fast shows there were some concerns, whether it was his temper on the field or being a headache in the locker room.

In regards to Talib, football fans who have followed the veteran over the years know that while he’s considered one of the best in the business, he was on a similar level as Peters when it came to being a headache to deal with at times due to his attitude.

Still, when taking into consideration that Wade Phillips had previously worked with Peters during their time together with the Denver Broncos along with his history of keeping other players in check, the Rams felt confident in this new duo working wonders together on defense.

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While there were certainly times in which this duo looked great for Los Angeles at times on defense, the argument can be made that from an overall picture, Peters and Talib didn’t exactly live up to the hype from playing together.

Most importantly, the Rams learned the hard way that Peters without Talib, who was limited to just eight games in the regular season due to an ankle injury, wasn’t as effective when looking at how many times the former Washington star struggled on defense.

Does this mean Los Angeles should give up on the duo for the 2019 season? Absolutely not, since the last thing the Rams want to do is find themselves in the same situation as last year where there are questions in need of answering at the cornerback position.

While Los Angeles has until March 13 to decide on keeping Peters around for a little over $9 million after picking up his option last April, Talib is entering the final year of his contract, meaning the Rams may as well just give this duo another chance in 2019.

Maybe this time around, the duo of Peters and Talib will live up to the high expectations to put the Rams in the best shape possible to earn another trip to the Super Bowl next season.

Plus who knows, if things do turn out better for these two on defense, Los Angeles could possibly look into new contracts for both Peters and Talib later on, but the best focus for now is clearly just seeing how things play out next season instead of jumping too far ahead down the road.