LA Rams 5th worst offseason ranking is undeserved

Little to-do about Littleton

The final factor of what went wrong was the LA Rams’ failure to address the tremendous void left by veteran inside linebacker Cory Littleton.  While that’s true in some regards, he falls into another pit of misdirecting facts by citing the exodus of former defensive coordinator Wade Phillips as the coach responsible for transforming undrafted players into NFL inside linebackers.  That completely ignores the quality of Rams’ linebacker coach Joe Barry, who has complete command and trust of the organization to develop players into the roles needed for success in 2020.

He goes on to cite the loss of long-time special teams coordinator John Fassel. He notes that Fassel will be replaced by “former Central Michigan coach John Bonamego”. Huh?  Bonamego is one of the NFL’s most renowned special teams specialists and is desperately needed to fix a rapidly declining Rams special teams group.

What about the LBs, didn’t one pump up HC Sean McVay?

Once again, the facts do not support the arguments in this article. The LA Rams did add two inside linebackers within the past year. First, they added inside linebacker Kenny Young in the Marcus Peters trade with the Baltimore Ravens in 2019.  While Young may not be familiar to fans just yet, he was a part-time starter for the Ravens and played very well in both run and pass defense. It was likely the Rams asked for Young specifically to compete for Littleton’s vacancy.

Barnwell continues to cherry-pick facts when he lists the transgressions by the LA Rams this offseason.  The LA Rams did add an interior linebacker in the 2020 NFL Draft, a true energetic dynamo in Baylor’s linebacking corps, Clay Johnston.  While he was the 234th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, he was clearly the Rams’ effort to reinforce Littleton’s role this year.  Whether or not he succeeds in doing so, the Rams clearly replaced the roster spot with a rookie ILB.