Hard hitting is in LA Rams defensive back Nick Scott’s DNA

The LA Rams may have won Super Bowl LVI, but you can bet that nobody associated with the team had any clue that the victory would involve so many varied and moving parts on the roster. From receivers to defensive backs to return specialists, the Rams true ‘super power’ throughout the 2021 NFL season seemed to hinge upon their relentless pursuit of finding the right players to make a difference.

No, we are not focusing upon blockbuster trades. Rather, this one is focused upon the development and promotion of the bottom end of the roster. More specifically, about defensive back Nick Scott. He was never a headliner. He was not even much of a news story. What he was for the NFL was the 243rd player selected in the 2019 NFL Draft. A seventh-rounder who has slowly evolved into an impressive rotational, if not starting, defensive back for the LA Rams defense.

Former RB to DB?

But did you know that he was a former running back for the Penn State Nittany Lions before converting to safety? In a Sports Illustrated article by Mark Wogenrich, he cited the arrival of running back Saquon Barkley to the Penn Statt offense as forcing him to rethink his future.

It was a reactionary decision at the time, but one that would lead him to drop in the draft to the “special teamers” round of the 2019 NFL Draft, and hope that he can deliver something in a cameo appearance in pass coverage.  And for the most part, that was the career track that Scott seemed to adhere to for the Rams for two seasons.

And then came 2021, and almost everything was tossed into the air. The LA Rams secondary, at full strength, was hoped to be nearly as good as the 2020 smothering pass snuffers. But the Rams’ secondary was seldom anywhere close to full strength. Perhaps even more telling, the loss of defensive backs Troy Hill and John Johnson III seemed to hurt the Rams defense a bit more than expected. Not cripple it, mind you. It just forced more pressure upon the remaining veterans, and that seemed to take a lot of time to make everything synch up.