LA Rams, Raheem Morris, and cover 3 super safety shopping in draft

Break it down for me

Okay, so what? Well, knowing the goal of the defense will be of great help to understand where the Rams will go with their off-season shopping. You see, the Rams will need to look intently at boosting the number of cornerbacks on the roster.  So what type of defensive back is best suited for what the Rams want to run on defense?

Well, you can call him a ‘big nickel’, a ‘super safety’, or a super Saiyan (Dragon Ball Z reference), but the arrival of the deep tight end receiver has now forced defenses to seek up the big defensive back who can line up against him effectively.

As such, he will be 6-foot-1 or taller, 200-pounds or heavier, and may not be touted in draft profiles because he carries both some cornerback and some safety experience. Since he is bigger and slower than some other prospects, he may fall to either day two or day three. With early reports, those bigger later-round defensive backs appear to be exactly who the LA Rams are meeting with this year.

So shopping for in the NFL Draft? Well, you now can be the LA Rams General Manager. You have your assignment for your secondary. And while that may depend on how the draft board falls, here are the Top-Six priority free agent defensive backs to sign immediately after the draft concludes:

I    – 6-foot-1 170-pound CB South Florida Mike Hampton
II   – 6-foot-1 200-pound CB Virginia Tech Devin Taylor
III  – 6-foot-2 185-pound CB UCF Tay Gowan
IV  – 6-foot-2 197-pound CB BYU Chris Wilcox
V   – 6-foot-4 188-pound CB Oregon State Nahshon Wright
VI  – 6-foot-2 180-pound CB Texas A&M Elijah Blades

By the time the LA Rams reach their 90-man roster limit, I expect two or more of these players to be on the LA Rams roster.

The Rams defense was so good in 2020 because the team added the personnel who were experts at its concepts. Leonard Floyd, Justin Hollin, Morgan Fox, John Johnson, were all perfectly suited to perform the role that they filled. Now, as NFL free agency will provide them with new teams to support, the Rams must also find new players to support the vacated roles on the defense. Let’s go shopping!