LA Rams News: Defensive linemen competition heated

Fighting for roster roles

Twelve to six is certainly not very good odds for a player, particularly when three such roles are certain assignments.  Eventually, all the players on the roster will gather and begin actual hands-on practices. At that point in time, we’ll begin to form a picture of who will be the Rams starters, and who will likely be making up supporting roles.

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After all, the Rams signed defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson after it appeared that Rams veteran Michael Brockers would sign elsewhere. When the Rams re-signed Brockers, that inadvertently bumped 2019 starter Sebastian Joseph Day down in the rotation. Meanwhile, young Greg Gaines, patiently awaiting his opportunity to add his run defense skills to the LA Rams defensive line, must place his own hopes for promotion on hold.

Sorting it all out

Of all the positions at or near the line of scrimmage, the defensive line seems to be the easiest to sort out. That is until you dive into the players who have been added to the defensive front.  On paper, it’s a three-man front. That base 3-4 defense is the basic framework for the team’s structure.  But the team has twelve competitors in the mix for those three spots, six of whom were on the Rams’ roster last season. They are joined by free agent A’Shawn Robinson, and five players added after the 2020 NFL Draft: Michael Hoecht, Sam Renner, Greg Reaves, Eric Banks, and Jonah Williams.

Of the group signed after the NFL Draft, Hoecht, Banks, Williams, and Renner are most likely defensive linemen. All are 6-foot-4 or taller, and tip the scales at over 270 pounds.  Only Greg Reaves is a hybrid 6-foot-2, 241-pound defensive end/outside linebacker hybrid who could play as an OLB for the Rams defense for better odds of making the roster.