LA Rams 2020 NFL Draft fill all needs – Mock Draft 7.0

Pick 104

The LA Rams may have plenty of warm bodies at linebacker, but the roster still needs a solid cover linebacker.  Thankfully, the team selects one with very promising coverage skills in linebacker Troy Dye, from the University of Oregon. Dye is the second linebacker chosen by the LA Rams in the 2020 NFL Draft, but he brings a separate but vital set of skills to the Rams defense.

He is a 6-foot-3 linebacker who has begun to bulk up from his 225-pound college playing weight to 231-pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine. He’ll need to add about 15 more pounds of muscles to truly ensure durability at the NFL level of an inside linebacker.

The detraction on Dye is his inability to shed blockers. He is long and where that length helps on pass coverage and leverage, it creates struggles to get away from blockers. But playing behind the likes of Aaron Donald will help immensely with that, as he will be able to remain in the shadow of Donald until he slides in for the tackle.

While productive, Dye is raw in areas. He has great burst, excellent range, and can wrap up and drop a ball carrier. As long as he doesn’t need to read too much on a play. He misses some of his keys and can be fooled out of a play when that happens.  That is not an ideal situation for the interior linebacker on any defense. But he has such incredible raw talent that he could compensate at the college level. With coaching, he could become a gifted pro-bowl linebacker in the NFL, along the same path taken my Rams ILB Cory Littleton.

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