6 LA Rams players who could be playing their last season in horns

Rapping up the secondary

The LA Rams have not been very generous when it comes to defensive backs who play centerfield for the team. If the Rams willingly let John Johnson III walk away in free agency, there should be little chance that the team fights hard to retain DB Taylor Rapp. Not that Rapp hasn’t been a scrappy defensive back, mind you. But I don’t see anything that Rapp has done with the Rams that makes a more compelling argument to re-sign him than that of JJIII.

As we had learned so often in the past, there are some positions on the team that are simply not as highly valued on the roster by the Rams as other teams. So the Rams organization is happy to draft players, coach them up into NLF starters, and then enjoy whatever compensatory picks might be awarded to the team as a result.

Rapp, suffering from injuries in 2020, managed to put together a 17 game season that almost was injury-free. But a concussion in Week 17 placed him into the NFL concussion protocol, necessitating the Rams to persuade two-year retired veteran Eric Weddle out of retirement to lead the Rams through the playoff to a Super Bowl LVI victory.

It was the sensational performance of Weddle and Nick Scott at the back end of the defense that raised so many questions about the Rams’ secondary. If a retired veteran and a bench player could combine to play that well in the playoffs and Super Bowl, perhaps the team was not getting as much as originally believed out of Taylor Rapp’s play? Of course, Rapp could play lights out in 2022. But that will also serve to raise the interest of other teams.