LA Rams: 8 players who could be gone after the 2021 NFL season

Nose tackle

Playing next to All-Pro defensive lineman Aaron Donald and the aura that he infuses his teammates with has both a boon and a bane for his teammates. While it is a huge advantage to play alongside and in the shadow of one of the NFL’s best, it also has the undesirable effect of overestimating a player’s true value.  I fear that may prove to be the case for nose tackle Sebastian Joseph Day.

Sebastian Joseph Day is a dedicated defensive lineman who has surpassed expectations with each opportunity granted to him so far. When he earned the chance to start in 2019, he stuck around all season. When he earned the right to consider himself a starter in 2020, he returned to the team stronger and faster than ever. Now that he is playing in the last season of his rookie contract, he is focusing on getting to the quarterback and establishing himself as a premier NFL nose tackle.

While all of this is happening, he is facing a need to create value for himself by dominating the line of scrimmage. Not just by stuffing the run, but by applying pressure on unsuspecting quarterbacks. After all, that would be something that will catch the eye of many NFL teams and would add his name to their shopping lists.

SJD is one of those players who improves each year.  He focuses on those aspects of his game that needs attention in the offseason and then gives those areas his full attention. But there is a numbers challenge for the roster. Bobby Brown III appears to be something quite special, so special that he will be in line to start in 2022. To do so, the Rams will need a spot, and that appears to be the one that SJD will vacate.