8 surprisingly effective LA Rams who could do better in 2022

Mad scientist Morris

I don’t believe that the hiring of LA Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris was very well received by the fanbase. But where the ability of former defensive coordinator Brandon Staley to make halftime adjustments helped that season out, Morris’ ability to continuously improve the defense with unexpected performances from the most surprising players is not talked about nearly enough.

If you have ever tried to pick up the inbox of someone else, tried to finish a letter or story that someone else started, or worst of all, tried to work through a spreadsheet that someone else had created, you quickly learn that it is sometimes easier to start from scratch than jump into the middle of someone else’s work.

But that is exactly what Morris was called upon to do with the Rams’ defense. He was handed a roster that may or may not have been built with players who could deliver what he wanted to do, and yet he was expected to pick up where former DC Brandon Staley left off.

The problem? By the second half of the 2020 NFL season, the Rams’ defense was finding it to be more and more difficult to hold the lid on opposing offenses. Shrewd offensive coordinators discovered that the Rams defense was very vulnerable to plays that attacked the middle linebacker.

And so, the first order of business for Morris was to fill the donut hole. While he did his darnedest in 2021, I suspect that the new ILB tandem of Bobby Wagner and Ernest Jones will be able to take the play of the defense to an entirely new level.

The LA Rams really didn’t build the defense to optimize Morris’ designs, but slowly tweaked the roster to more aptly align with what Morris wanted to do. Over time, that meant that the Rams would trade for OLB Von Miller, add rotational players via the NFL waiver wire, and even trade away veterans who were not a great fit for what Morris planned for the defense.

The roster is much more aligned this year. And Morris has a year, and an NFL Championship, under his belt. I don’t believe we’re going out on a limb to look for an even better Rams defense in 2022.