3 late round LA Rams rookies showing up big time in training camp

LB Clay Johnston

I have something very sad to admit as a wanna-be NFL Draft analyst: I did not even watch Clay Johnson before the NFL Draft. The Rams did, however, and took him in the seventh round. Ourlads scouting services said that the 2019 second-team All-Big 12 linebacker was thriving in the 3-3-5 system that Baylor had switched to before a knee injury derailed his season.

Johnston is a hustle player. He is constantly striving to get better and play better, someone who plays with a high motor and gets from sideline-to-sideline. It’s enough that even legendary NFL quarterback Brett Favre noticed.

Johnston may be next man up

When he spoke with Johnston on the phone in a scene that was aired on HBO’s Hard Knocks. “I played with a ton of guys, but not many guys like you, who love (football),” Favre told him. “I always liked the guys, like yourself, who’d come in and be full of energy and love it … that’s the kind of guys you win with.”

With the latest injury to Travin Howard, who is now out for the season with a torn meniscus, there is room on the roster for more help at the linebacker position. Johnston was on the unofficial depth chart behind Howard and would slide into the back-up spot if that chart proves to be accurate.