2nd LA Rams free agent gone, OLB Samson Ebukam defects to 49ers

If you had to say which of the LA Rams free agents would be the second player to find a home on another team, I’d bet dollars to donuts that few would have guessed that player would be outside linebacker Samson Ebukam. But I would have gone double or nothing that nobody would have predicted that he would be one of the first signings by the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers.

And yet, here we are. And that is exactly what is taking place. And if there is such a thing as a head-scratcher for the NFL Free agency market this early, I would nominate this one with the full expectation that it would win.  You see, the second free agent to hammer out a deal, and an early move by the 49ers is to lock up young outside linebacker Samson Ebukam for two years.,

Now don’t get me wrong. Outside linebackers are running hot already in this free agency market, and a number of veterans who projected to free agency were locked up by their own teams at the very last minute. Even the LA Rams made a last-minute push to hammer out a deal with outside linebacker Leonard Floyd. While that didn’t bear immediate results, the lack of news with Floyd signing elsewhere suggests that the Rams may be in the running.

Samson Ebukam becomes Rams free agency second defection

So where does that put Samson Ebukam? Well, for the Rams sake, he was always in the back of the mind as a Plan B consolation signing, which is probably unfair to him. He is a young edge rusher and has always had a positive attitude on the football field and in the locker room. The challenge is that his production never quite matched his experience.

You’ve witnessed what happens when edge players line up next to Aaron Donald. They go bonkers against opposing quarterbacks, and feast on single blocking. For whatever reason, that simply did not happen with Ebukam. In four seasons, his quarterback sack total has been 2.0, 3.0, 4.5, and 4.5 respectively. He dropped in tackles due to losing defensive snaps to his teammates.

Ebukam is reliable, if not flashy. He won’t beat a block with speed or physicality. He lines up and delivers on each play. If there is a miscue or gaffe, he will make the offense pay. Of course, if anyone watched his 12 defensive snaps in the last regular-season game, where he recorded two of his 4.5 quarterback sacks,  they would walk away thinking he is the next elite pass rusher in the NFL.

You can bet that the 49ers would love to get a guy on the football field who could sack the Arizona Cardinals quarterback twice. While this certainly is a curious move, I don’t think that the 49ers have improved with this signing.  But then again, neither have the Rams.