LA Rams Leonard Floyd had far better 2021 than you may realize

Bobby Wagner could be a better defensive upgrade

But for now, I would argue that Bobby Wagner is an upgrade in the LA Rams defense over that of Troy Reeder or even Kenny Young.  Will it be enough to make up the difference? Well, it all depends on how the defense chooses to use him, right?

Everything at this point is speculation. But we’re not just spitballing now, are we? We have data points, and we can plot the trends of the total OLB track. The entire group was red hot to start the season. In the second half of the 2021 NFL season, tackles remained strong, but the pass rush simply didn’t get there.

Oh… and here is an interesting factoid. In the four games of the NFL playoffs, the Rams recorded six quarterback sacks. How would that have looked over nine games?

13.5 quarterback sacks.

As long as the Rams raise the depth at outside linebacker, and the players remain healthy through the 2022 NFL season, we are not as ‘woe is me’ as some may believe.

Bring on Bobby!

I don’t need to be right on this issue. I just don’t want to portray flawed logic in this one. Here’s the crux of the matter:

I believe that Bobby Wagner + Ernest Jones
is so much better than Ernest Jones + Troy Reeder,
that it will more than make up for any depletion of outside linebacker due to the Rams fielding
Leonard Floyd + Justin Hollins, rather Von Miller + Leonard Floyd.
Now, we’re talking scenarios, the future tense, and it will always be an impossible matter to compare the two alternatives directly.

But what I did illustrate above is that the Rams outside linebacker unit was very comparative before adding Von Miller to the group.  The key is to ensure that Leonard Floyd and the outside linebacker group remain as healthy as possible.

I was skeptical before undertaking this mini deep-dive into what truly went on at the outside linebacker position.  While I’m far more optimistic after discovering how well the unit held up throughout 2021, the front office will need to reinforce the group.

What are your thoughts? Are you still seeing a doomed Rams defense? Do you see more upside potential? Let us know in the comments section. Thanks for giving this one a read.