LA Rams starting ILB role critical to focus upon durability

The LA Rams have not been very good caretakers of their inside linebacker position in recent years. From the moment that the team promoted ILB Cory Littleton to the starting role on the Rams defense, they have struggled to find the answer to a very basic question: Who will be Littleton’s successor?

Of course, that has been amplified with the successive season-ending injuries to the projected starters of ILB Micah Kiser and ILB Travin Howard. But even when healthy, they are not that healthy. Over the past two seasons, the LA Rams defense played approximately 2150 snaps. Over the past two seasons, the Rams got 102 defensive snaps out of Travin Howard. And the Rams thumper, Micah Kiser, only delivered 558 defensive snaps over the past two years.  Who made up the difference? Well, Kenny Young delivered 471 defensive snaps over the past two seasons and Troy Reeder delivered on 721 defensive snaps.

The two backups from the 2020 NFL season have been the two workhorses for the team’s defense. And that’s a problem. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not labeling anyone with fragile, brittle, oft-injured, or anything of the sort. I’m simply to the huge challenge of the Rams defense over the past two seasons. The Rams’ ability to keep a starting inside linebacker healthy on the field has not met with much success.

Reinforce the depleted ranks

Of course, the Rams did make a rather weak effort to infuse a fresh body into the mix by draft ILB Dakota Allen in 2019 and Clay Johnston in 2020. But come roster cuts, the Rams were unable to migrate either player onto the team’s practice squad. So over the past two seasons, the talent level has been depleted without additional reinforcements.

So when Jay Blucher suggested that drafting ILB Ernest Jones is the key to the 2021 NFL season for the Rams, I wasn’t sold at first. These Rams haven’t changed their horns, I thought to myself. The same team that was content to allow the inside linebacker to go practically unattended and most definitely not reinforced suddenly took responsibility to add a true starter prospect to the mix?  Well, in the past 48 hours, I’ve warmed up immensely to his perspective.

Yes, there are some veterans on the roster today. But all four inside linebackers from the 2020 53-man roster are in their contract year.  They will all hit free agency in 2022. Historically, the Rams have attempted to feature contract-year players to build upon their market value and enhance the likelihood of being awarded a compensatory draft pick in the future. I don’t really see much chance of that with the Rams’ current roster.

So why not give the shot to the rookie? Why not let Ernest Jones the chance to start and learn how to run this defense first hand?  If the Rams did draft wisely, and you have to believe that they did for their inside linebacker, the level of play from veterans was not so vital that the Rams face a significant decline with a new rookie in there. In fact, the opposite may be true. And there is the chance that Jones will be better suited to withstand all 17 games.

I think the key to the defense is durability. This will be a 17 game season, and continuity at the inside linebacker position would be a welcome change. The past two seasons, the Rams have missed terribly at getting quality snaps out of the projected ILB starters. This year, give the starting role to Ernest jones and see how he handles the workload.  Durability should be the focus, and from everything we know, Jones can handle it.