LA Rams 2020 secondary projects as second to none

As the LA Rams reset for the upcoming season, the secondary shines as perhaps the best in the NFL for the 2020 season.

The LA Rams certainly have plenty to do this off-season to prepare for a new football year. We’ve done a pretty good job of identifying open coaching positions, unsigned free agents, undrafted 2020 prospects, and new game planning and schemes.  What we have not done enough of is heap the praise upon deserving aspects of the LA Rams pockets of excellence.

Let’s change that right now. The Los Angeles Rams secondary will likely be the best group of defensive backs in the NFL in 2020. Surprisingly enough, the team’s pass defense actually improved dramatically when the team shed marquis cornerbacks Marcus Peters and Aqib Talib in 2019.

The team will have an entire training camp and preseason to sync up for 2020. Even with a poor showing to start the season, Pro Football Focus ranked the Rams secondary at 8th in the league for 2019.

That ranking did not reflect just how good the Rams secondary could be, however.  Starting safety John Johnson fell to injury, forcing rookie safety Taylor Rapp into service prematurely.  Rapp responded incredibly well for a rookie, a pleasant surprise indeed.  Despite the novelty of playing in the NFL for his first year, he ended the season ranked highly among his peers in many categories.

Rams Rapp sheet

Safety Taylor Rapp’s outstanding debut should not really be much of a surprise.  After all, he is a graduate of the University of Washington, and benefited from the Huskies defensive back guru Jimmy Lake. In college, Rapp did more than study films of offensive opponents. He admittedly studied film of Rams DT Aaron Donald.  Why?  To learn the best methods to attack the quarterback on blitz packages.

That type of 360 degree mental preparation does not arrive with many rookies entering the NFL. It dis with Taylor Rapp, a young many who focused on all aspects of his defensive role. And it showed:

His rookie season was so impressive that projections anticipate a now healthy Johnson to pair up with Rapp as starting safeties this year. But what of veteran safety Eric Weddle?  He is entering the second year of a two-year deal, and is recovering from off-season surgery.  Ideally, Weddle would rotate in off the bench and help mentor his younger teammates.

Solid secondary

The LA Rams projected secondary for 2020 includes starting cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Troy Hill, with one of the NFL’s best slot cornerbacks in Nickell Robey-Coleman.  They are backed up by second year cornerback David Long, whom Pro Football Focus has described as the “one of the steals of the (2019) draft”.

So a defensive backfield with top-of-the-line starters and a very good player waiting in the wings to rotate in equals a dominating defensive backfield.  And best of all, the entire unit is completely intact through 2020.  With the exception of Eric Weddle, the entire defensive backfield is no older than 28 years old, which in NFL age range is the peak of productive play.

Yes, the Rams have some areas of need: offensive line, re-signing free agents, bolstering the run defense.  But perhaps one of the most challenging elements of the team, the defensive secondary, is solid set to dominate in 2020.

That’s very good news indeed, because the NFC West is one of the fiercest divisions in the NFL today, and for years to come.  With opposing quarterbacks like Seattle Seahawks Russell Wilson, San Francisco 49ers Jimmy Garrapolo, and Arizona Cardinals Kyler Murray, the Rams pass defense will be tested constantly.

Thankfully, the Rams will be up to the test.  Not only in 2020, but for years to come.