LA Rams 6+ Plan B options as team must now ‘move on from Von’

Honorable mentions

Arden Key – One such player who is worth considering as an honorable mention is FA defensive end Arden Key, who just had a very respectable season for the San Francisco 49ers. While he is a defensive end and not an outside linebacker, he stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 240-pounds, delivered  22 tackles, 6.5 quarterback sacks type of season for the 49ers on just 374 defensive snaps.

Key is coming off his fourth NFL season and would love to receive a significant pay increase. Even if the LA Rams do not dangle one to sign Key, the team can point to their track record of free agency signings after a year with the Rams. A one-year deal worth $3-5 million could get the Rams a promising young NFL player who could turn into something much more than a role player

Anthony Barr – Another player who could warrant a look-see is an eight-year veteran and four-time Pro Bowler ex-Vikings Anthony Barr. While he plays at the outside linebacker on a 4-3 defense, he has all of the making of a solid edge player in the LA Rams 3-4 defensive front.  He covers the flat, he can set the edge, he certainly can stuff the run. The only trait that he is not proficient at is rushing the passer.

But he does blitz, sometimes as often as averaging nearly eight pass rushes per game. So I wouldn’t eliminate him from the discussion based on that alone. He is very durable, averaging over 850 defensive snaps per season over the course of seven NFL seasons.

While many had focused on the LA Rams offseason with the binary grade of sign Von Miller = success and lose Von Miller to another team = failure, it’s not that simple. In fact, based on the asking price of $20 million per year over six years (still in disbelief over that whopper of a contract), the LA Rams could very likely end up better off by vetting and signing alternative options.

Don’t stop believing. The LA Rams did not have Von Miller to start the 2021 NFL season, and look what happened?  If I know one thing about the LA Rams front office, they never stop trying to improve the team.