LA Rams need to check on this cents-on-the-dollar EDGE player

If you haven’t heard the tale yet, the LA Rams have a seriously effective reclamation project going on for NFL EDGE players. Whether the role is the defensive end or outside linebacker, it seems that NFL careers get a huge vitamin B-12 booster shot just by lining up next to All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald. We’ve termed it the ‘Aaron Donald effect’, and it’s pretty beautiful to witness.

OLB Dante Fowler Jr. benefited from it to get a huge paycheck. This year both veteran OLB Leonard Floyd and promising DE Morgan Fox hope to cash in on the boost. It seems like an annual ritual for pass rushers to exit via free agency in hopes to sign a huge contract and be replaced by a pass rusher who is willing to sign on the dotted line upon a modestly-priced contract. Of course, they hope to be the big pay recipient the following year. But there is one challenge to this cycle.

Of course, the LA Rams have a seriously bad habit of overspending as well. So no new signing until the Rams clear space, right? We, simply by restructuring, the LA Rams can free up significant cap space in 2021. If the Rams want to go the full monty, then they can aim at clearing over $80 million in cap space.

But even with available cap space, the problem is finding an ample supply of modestly priced pass rushers. Well, we have just uncovered one. And to be honest, he fits the LA Rams like a glove. Well, he has the makings of a perfect fit:

I don’t think that the Rams need to swing for the fences with each FA signed. The team merely needs to get a talented player with a good work ethic who has the potential to play even better with the right defense. And then, the Rams can watch the ‘Aaron Donald effect’ run its course. The NY Giants tried to convert Okwara to a 3-4 OLB in 2018. When that failed, they released him and he landed with the Detroit Lions and was a 2018 and 2019 teammate of A’Shawn Robinson.

He found firm footing as a DE Edge rusher in Detroit. That means that the Rams could either repeat the NYG experiment to fit him into an outside linebacker slot or slide him into the DE slot vacated by free agent Morgan Fox. Or… both? In 67 NFL games, he’s gotten 20 NFL sacks, 22 tackles for a loss, 49 quarterback hits, and one safety.

His projected cap estimates are between $8-10 million.  Much like other Edge players, the Rams would most likely sign him to a one-year deal that would afford him the chance at a mega-deal next year, and a compensatory pick awarded to the Rams the following year. One year of production, and perhaps a third-round compensatory pick in 2023?

Doesn’t sound like a bad plan at all. In fact, it looks like a pretty good plan.