LA Rams: 15 greatest linebackers of All Time

Sometimes, it feels as though the accomplishments of the NFL today are only possible because the NFL is comprised of far better athleticism in the rank and file. Was it really that much easier to be a star in the NFL  back in the day? Was the game simpler then, or have we simply forgotten just how physical this sport used to be over the course of time? How have the LA Rams changed over time?

At one point in the NFL, it was quite commonplace to witness players with blood on their uniforms, even trickling out of busted lips or busted noses, broken or busted fingers that were taped together braced with a popsicle stick, black eyes, and broken bones. Over time, rules changed and equipment improved to the point that players were not bloodied, battered, and bruised by the end of a game.

Still, there is a bit of nostalgia whenever I hear the pads pop. That throwback to yesteryear, when the linebacker was the guy who did more than stuff the run, he punished the running back. Small speedy rushers were simply no match against them, forcing offenses to go bigger in the backfield, and even to double up with fullbacks to block.

While those days are gone, and the game itself has changed, is the inside linebacker position getting a new lease on life in the LA Rams defense? After winning Super Bowl LVI with the help of rookie inside linebacker Ernest Jones, the Rams have definitely committed to the position by signing All-Pro veteran inside linebacker Bobby Wagner.

How will Wagner stack up to the legendary linebackers of yesteryear? For that matter, will Ernest Jones and his Super Bowl Ring earn a place among the All-Time Franchise best? Why not take a look at those linebacker greats from the past?

Beyond the immediate effect of making me a happy camper, it opens up the question about the linebacker position overall. Who were the best linebackers at their respective positions for the Rams franchise over the years?  How will the current group stack up against them? Let’s take a look because the organization has definitely witnessed some of the best linebackers in the game.

While some could argue that others are more deserving of being named to this list over inside linebacker Cory Littleton, I see it a bit differently. After all, he signed on with the LA Rams after the 2016 NFL Draft as an undrafted free agent rookie out of the University of Washington. His draft profile for 2016 was not very complimentary and outright declared him to be a long shot to make a roster.

Rather than just accept the poor reviews as his fate, Littleton made an immediate name for the LA Rams on special teams. As is often the case, special team standouts soon get playing time, and he found his way into the defensive rotation. It was on the defense that Littleton truly made a name for himself, using his incredible arm length to become the bane of NFL quarterbacks.

While Littleton may have benefitted by being the right guy at the right time, there is quite a bit to be said about an undrafted player showing up at each and every opportunity until the coaching staff had no choice but to play him. And then, no choice but to start him.

Cory Littleton signed on with the team as an undrafted rookie linebacker after the 2016 NFL Draft. In 2018, he earned his first Pro Bowl nomination and was one of the key contributors to the LA Rams Super Bowl LIII appearance. He duplicated his performance once more in 2019, all but ensuring that he had priced himself out of the Rams’ budget. While he has yet to have similar success elsewhere, his overall performance with the Rams was a solid showing that far exceeded expectations.

Los Angeles Rams linebacker Carl Ekern does not get nearly enough recognition for the performance and positive impact that he made on the Rams franchise. But perhaps we can change that here. The team drafted Ekern with the 128th overall pick of the 1976 NFL Draft out of San Jose State. He joined a roster already packed with Jim Youngblood, Jack Reynolds, and Isiah Robertson on the team. So he was no more than a backup.

His spotlight began to shine in 1981 when his special teams play finally earned him playing time on the defense. He played as the middle linebacker that season, but the following year he transitions to a 3-4 inside linebacker under head coach Ray Malavasi. It was that role that seemed to unlock his best football play.

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He played 12 seasons for the LA Rams and earned just one Pro Bowl honor. Ekern’s life was taken tragically in 1990 in an automobile accident. As a result, the team established the Carl Ekern Spirit of the Game Award that same year. The award is given to the player who best exemplifies sportsmanship, ethic, and commitment to his teammates.

Defensive tackles were not recorded statistics in the NFL during Ekern’s playing days. In fact, many defensive statistics like interceptions, quarterback sacks, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, tackles, and tackles for loss were only intermittently recorded during Ekern’s career, if at all.

But to appreciate the impact of Ekern, just roll a video of those games he played. You will find that he immediately catches your eye and attention. And the fact that he helped the Rams play in nine of his 13 NFL seasons tells you that he was certainly something special on the football field.

Back in the time when the LA Rams kept and used their first-round draft picks, the team added inside linebacker Mel Owens (1981-1989) with the ninth overall pick in the 1981 NFL Draft, with the intention of pairing him up with veteran Carl Ekern in the newly constructed 3-4 defense. Much like Ekern, Owens needed some time showcasing his ability on special teams before he was offered a starting role on defense in 1983. When that happened, he never looked back.

Owens was the prototypical outside linebacker for the LA Rams in that initial 3-4 defense. He ran a 4.65-second 40-yard dash and he could bench press 390 pounds. Powerful and fast, he set the bar for all of the LA Rams’ future linebackers at a very high standard.

He was the teammate of Carl Ekern, but unlike Ekern, this 6-foot-2, 224-pound backer played on the outside, where he chased down quarterbacks and flushed them out of the pocket. While he never earned a Pro Bowl nod, he was always capable of making momentum-changing plays in any game.

Despite recording nine quarterback sacks in his fifth NFL season, Ekern did not earn any NFL recognition. He did help the Rams to get to and compete in the playoffs that year.

Small by modern standards at the position, Owens was a huge brute of a player in his era and was incredibly adept at slipping past bigger offensive tackles en route to the pocket. The LA Rams loved to run the ball, and then beat the snot out of opponents defensively. Owens was a huge part of that dominating defense.

The Saint Louis Rams certainly had a very memorable middle linebacker named James Laurinaitis who was one of the most productive players in the history of the Rams franchise. Truth be told, he was the St. Louis Rams version of incoming inside linebacker Bobby Wagner, a 6-foot-2 255-pound linebacker who was as strong as an ox, as clever as a fox, and packed a wallop like a full-grown Ram (pun intended).

Not only did he record 854 tackles for the St. Louis Rams, but he chalked up 655 solo tackles over that same time frame.  While he did not accompany the Rams in their migration from Missouri to California, his NFL career set a standard that few have been able to match in their time with the franchise.

Laurinaitis, despite his proficiency on the football field, never competed in the NFL Playoffs. But his dominance on the football field certainly was enough to warrant a postseason appearance. But the truth is, his jack-of-all-trades play was enough to contribute significantly to the team, but not specialized enough to attract the type of attention that would lead to honors and awards.

854 tackles, 10 interceptions, 16.5 quarterback sacks, 34 passes deflected, 49 tackles for a loss, 40 quarterback hits, one forced fumble, and eight fumble recoveries over seven NFL seasons and 112 games for the Saint Louis Rams. While that was never enough to place him into the NFL Pro Bowl, it’s enough to earn him the 12th spot on this Rams Franchise All-Time List for Linebackers.

The LA Rams never drafted linebacker/placekicker Les Richter, but they certainly made it very known that they wanted him to play for the Rams. Richter was from a different era in the NFL when players were incredibly versatile out of a basic necessity. What positions did he play? He played linebacker on defense, offensive center on offense, and was the team’s placekicker too.

Richter was a veteran of eight NFL seasons, a remarkably long career in the NFL for his time. During his eight NFL seasons, he earned Pro Bowl honors in seven of those seasons. But he was indoctrinated into the NFL Hall of Fame in 2011.

The career of Les Richter is one worth telling. He loved the game of football, and it clearly loved him. In fact, Les Richter also appeared at the 30th spot in our 30 greatest players in franchise history.  Originally the second overall player drafted in the 1952 NFL Draft by the New York Yanks. That franchise folded and reformed as the Dallas Texans. The Rams traded 11 players to the new Dallas Texans franchise and never looked back.

While he played for the LA Rams for nine seasons, he was primarily a center/placekicker in 1956. He resumed his linebacker role in 1957 and subsequently surrendered his placekicking duties.

One of the most provocative quotes I’d ever read appears in Les Richter’s Hall of Fame biography:

"“Sure, I play rough. But that’s what the Rams pay me for, and that’s what the fans pay to see.”- Les Richter, as quoted on his Hall of Fame page"

Richter passed away at the age of 79 on June 12, 2010.

Defensive end/outside linebacker Robert Quinn was one of the players who welcomed rookie Aaron Donald to the team. Quinn, drafted in 2011 to play for the St Louis Rams, made the trek west to remain with the team through the 2017 NFL season. While you could argue that Quinn migrated between defensive lineman and outside linebacker, we’ll consider him as a linebacker in this feature because the two roles are so very similar.

Quinn played for the Rams during the migration to Los Angeles from Saint Louis, and as such was counted on to serve as the glue to the defense before, during, and after that long trek.  As such, Quinn played for the Rams for seven seasons and in 95 games on the team’s defense.

Of those games, Quinn managed 76 starts, 218 tackles, 62.5 quarterback sacks, 17 pass deflections, 21 forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries, 68 tackles for a loss, 68 tackles for a loss, and he even ran a fumble recovery in for a touchdown. He is a two-time Pro Bowler for the Rams, and he was an All-Pro in 2013, a season in which he racked up 19.0 quarterback sacks.

After his term with the Rams, he has played for three different NFL teams: The Miami Dolphins, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Chicago Bears. His greatest non-Rams performance has occurred with the Bears, but recent NFL rumors indicate that Robert Quinn is no longer patient enough to endure another Bears rebuild, and is demanded to be traded to a contender.

If the LA Rams do manage to re-add Quinn to the team, his presence on this list will almost certainly improve. As it stands now, he was the defensive monster who made way for Aaron Donald to take over.

LA Rams inside linebacker Jim Collins was an unheralded star of the 3-4 defense designed by the NFL legendary defensive guru, Fritz Shurmur. Shurmur was the Rams’ defensive coordinator from 1984 to 1990, and the reason for his success was due in large part to inside linebacker Jim Collins.

Collins was the perfect role player in Shurmur’s defense, a system that played less into allowing one or two players to crowd the highlight reels. Instead, Shurmur’s defense depended upon everyone playing their responsibility, and Collins was ideally suited for that task.

Collins was a teammate to Carl Ekern, and the pair of Rams linebackers had a healthy competition of who would lead the team in tackles. More often than not, Collins came out on top. The 6-foot-2 230-pound linebacker played a large role in the Rams’ defense, both figuratively, and literally.

Collins was incredibly versatile, a player who led the team in tackles, recorded a quarterback sack and intercepted a pass all in the same season. In 1984, Collins was voted in as an alternate to the Pro Bowl. The starter, New York Giants LB Harry Carsons, publicly stated that he felt that Rams LB Jim Collins was more deserving to start that game.  After that, NFL reporters and fans paid far more attention to Collins’ place.

Collins helped the Rams to get to the NFL Playoffs in four of his eight seasons with the team. Like many on this list, however, he never benefitted from winning the Super Bowl with the team.

Rams outside linebacker Roman Phifer was the inverse scenario to Robert Quinn. Phifer was tasked with serving as the defensive glue when the LA Rams moved to Saint Louis.  And just like Quinn, Phifer played well on both ends of that team-inspired journey.

Curiously, Phifer moved on from the Rams to sign on with the New York Jets in the year when the St. Louis Rams won the Super Bowl. Although he did not participate in the Super Bowl-winning team, Phifer did plenty on to set them up to win it all.

In eight seasons with the Rams, he started 109 games and competed in 120 contests. He managed to put up 696 tackles, 16.5 quarterback sacks, 11 interceptions, three forced fumbles, and four fumble recoveries for the team.

Phifer was a 4-3 outside linebacker for the Rams’ defense. He was a huge player, even a solid size for the modern version of football. Standing 6-foot-2 and weighing 248-pounds, Phifer was a fiercely competitive defender and had a good nose for the football. He eventually would end up playing for the New England Patriots, where he would win three Super Bowls.

Phifer would remain in football after his 15-year career, parlaying his NFL experience into a number of ever-increasing coaching roles. He then took on the role of NFL scout for the Detroit Lions, where he remained for three seasons before taking on a Senior Personnel Executive role with the Denver Broncos in May 2021. In addition to his football career, he produced a film entitled ‘Blood Equity’ which was a hard-hitting production looking at life after the NFL in 2009.

Having come to the seventh player on this list, right linebacker Isiah Robertson, we come to another player who made the Top 30. Robertson is the 20th-ranked player of All-Time. How did Robertson earn such a lofty place? Well, he earned a Pro Bowl nod as a rookie, and six such nominations in his eight seasons with the team.

He was one of three incredible linebackers for the LA Rams, playing alongside Jack Reynolds and Jim Youngblood. Robertson was one of the greatest linebackers in the NFL, not just the LA Rams.  Robertson was the NFL Rookie of the Year, six times Pro Bowler, and first-team All-Pro twice.

The Rams were one of the most successful (sans Super Bowl victory) of that time. With Robertson, the Rams made the NFL Playoffs six consecutive seasons. Of course, the success was under Rams HC “Ground” Chuck Knox. Knox left to take over the reins as head coach of the Buffalo Bills in 1978.  One year later, Knox orchestrated a trade to send Robertson to the Bills, where he would play his final four NFL seasons.

Robertson’s career compares very favorably to the careers of multiple NFL Hall of Fame linebackers. Unfortunately, Robertson has not been inducted into the NFL HOF, an honor that he is absolutely deserving of.

Tragically, Isiah Robertson died in a car crash on December 7, 2018.

Despite the fact that linebacker Mike Jones played his first six seasons with the LA/Oakland Raiders, he was still a potent addition to the St. Louis Rams defense. Jones played just four seasons for the Rams. He never earned the honors of Pro Bowl or All-Pro while playing for the team. So how did this guy jump up to the sixth spot?

It was Jones’s game-saving tackle that preserved the first Super Bowl victory for the St. Louis Rams. One historically epic game-saving stop one yard short of the end zone cemented Mike Jones’s place in the Rams franchise All-Time list for linebacker play.

That play may have only been one tackle, but the impact of that singular play helped to solidify the NFL Hall of Fame status of so many veterans from that team. But it was not his only tackle on the St. Louis Rams defense. In four seasons with the Rams, Jones recorded 314 tackles, eight quarterback sacks, seven interceptions, and two as pick-sixes. He deflected 17 passes, forced four fumbles, recovered two fumbles, and even returned one fumble for a touchdown.

Jones was a solid linebacker for the Rams, and his four years proved his defensive prowess. But his tackle of Tennessee Titans wide receiver Kevin Dyson was so textbook perfect that even if it were the only tackle Jones had made, he would still deserve to be included in this list.

There was no mistaking LA Rams middle linebacker Jack Reynolds when he stepped onto the football field. While he measured just 6-foot-1 and 232-pounds, in his time he was a massive defender in the middle of the Rams’ defense. Reynolds was a third of what many believe to be the Golden Age of the LA Rams linebacking corps, playing alongside Isiah Robertson and Jim Youngblood.

One of the most notable items from Jack Reynolds’s career is his nickname: Hacksaw. How did he get that nickname? By one of the most incredible stories I’d ever heard about an NFL player, that’s how:

"“I went to Kmart and bought the cheapest hacksaw they had, along with 13 replacement blades. I cut through the entire frame and driveshaft, all the way through the car … It took me eight total hours. I broke all 13 blades. When I finished, I got one guy from the dorm, Ray Nettles, to witness it. The next day we took the rest of our friends from the dorm up the hill to see it, and when we got there, both halves of the car were gone, with just the 13 broken blades lying on the ground. To this day, I don’t know what happened to that car.” – Jack Reynolds via LA Times as per Bradley Geiser of Sportcasting.com"

While Reynolds was a dominating linebacker for the LA Rams, he was never able to achieve his ambition of hoisting the Lombardi with the team.  The Rams constantly knocked on the door, appearing in postseason play for eight consecutive seasons with the Rams. In 1979, he even managed to compete in a Super Bowl, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL Championship Game.

Reynolds was a fierce and ferocious defender, standing 6-foot-1 and weighing a powerful 232-pounds. He played middle linebacker at a time when the linebacker was the main defender against the powerful rushing attacks of the two-back running offense. Reynolds was more than up to the challenge.

Whenever the subject of linebackers who dominated for the Rams franchise, I cannot help but recall the football heroics of  London Fletcher. a player who played for the St. Louis Rams for just four seasons. During that time, he only began to flash the brilliance that would result in one of the most durable and impressive NFL careers at the linebacker position.

But why is he so high on this list? Much like his teammate Mike Jones, Fletcher was the conductor of the St. Louis Rams defense, whose heroics sealed the team’s first Super Bowl victory.

Fletcher was the defensive equivalent to St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner, and his durability and dependability were perhaps his greatest NFL attributes. He only played 25 percent of his NFL career for the Rams, but he started off with a bang, getting a Super Bowl victory during his early reign.

Much like Warner, Fletcher was undrafted as well. He signed on with the Rams in 1998, but the 5-foot-10, 242-pound linebacker made his presence felt even in his rookie season. By 1999, he was the starter for the team that would go on to win the Super Bowl.

While London Fletcher never earned his way into the NFL Hall of Fame, it’s tough to argue over his overall NFL career statistics. And it’s that ironman durability and production that some argue make an undeniable case to nominate him for the HOF. He enjoyed a long and heralded NFL career. But it all began because the St. Louis Rams gave a young man a chance to prove himself in the NFL, even though he never heard his name called during the NFL Draft.

LA Rams linebacker Jack Pardee was a player who many have linked to his time as the head coach of the Houston Oilers, Washington Football team, or the Chicago Bears. But in his playing days, he was a dominating outside linebacker for the LA Rams defense, and he dominated for 13 years with the team.

Pardee was ahead of his time. While he lasted a Herculean 13 seasons with the Rams defense, perhaps his most iconic season occurred in 1967, the year he picked off six passes. That occurred in a 14-game season and is an outstanding mark for even a defensive back, let alone an outside linebacker.

Interceptions were no surprise to the 6-foot-2 225-pound defender, who was able to pick off 17 passes for the Rams over his 13-season career. He was able to return four of those interceptions for touchdowns. He was voted four times to All-Conference and twice made All-Pro.

Pardee was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986. Described as a man of character, honesty, and compassion. He was more than just a player, as he proved to be one of the best NFL offensive coaching minds of his generation. He was also more than just a linebacker, as he was also a very accomplished fullback in his college football playing days as well.

Pardee helped the Rams to three playoff appearances but was unable to help the team advance beyond the first round. Sadly, Pardee has passed away on April 1, 2013.

When you think of the old-school physicality of an NFL middle linebacker, the image of Jim Youngblood always seems to come to mind. Surprisingly, versatility was not often discussed and seldom praised during Youngblood’s playing days. But it was his ability to play both middle and outside linebacker that made him so effective.

His teammates were Isiah Robertson and Jack Reynolds, both of whom welcome Youngblood to the team with open arms. That trio helped to ensure the Rams made it to the playoffs each year. And it was the strength of the Rams linebackers that helped them compete in Super Bowl XIV, the one where the Rams nearly upset the Pittsburgh Steelers.

How good were the LA Rams linebackers? In Youngblood’s 12 seasons with the team, he helped the Rams to earn a spot in the NFL Playoffs in nine of those 12 seasons. While he shifted from a middle linebacker to the weakside linebacker role, Youngblood was a hulking defender who stood 6-foot-3 and weighed 235-pounds.  He was named All-Conference twice in his career, and All-Pro in one season.

Youngblood was another player who truly set the bar for outstanding linebacker play. He had 14 pass interceptions over his career and turned four of those into pick-six touchdowns. Youngblood has not yet been inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame, despite his performance as the leading tackler for the Rams for six seasons.

It is almost impossible to distinguish the impact of OLB Kevin Greene from that of Jim Youngblood. The difference here? Kevin Green defined and set the bar for the entire NFL at the outside linebacker position. He truly re-engineered the 3-4 defense, establishing the outside linebacker position as a specialty to counter advances in the NFL offense away from two running back formations to three-receiver sets.

Green’s ability to collapse the pocket rapidly forced offensive coordinators to re-strategize, either by committing an additional tight end to block on Green’s side, or committing a running back to pick him up as he cleared the offensive tackle.

Greene enjoyed an NFL career that continued on long after he left the LA Rams. But of the eight seasons with the Rams franchise, he helped the team earn a playoff berth in four of his first five seasons with the team.  In just eight seasons, he delivered play in 119 games with 77 starts. He racked up 375 tackles, 72.5 quarterback sacks, two interceptions with one pick-six, 13 forced fumbles, 11 fumble recoveries, three safeties, and a whole lot of terror on opposing quarterbacks.

It wasn’t as though Greene created the outside linebacker role. But before Kevin Greene, defensive coordinators leaned towards 4-3 defenses to put up an even front and generate constant pressure on the quarterback. Greene showcased the ability of defensive coordinators to weaponize 3-4 defenses, allowing them to create new coverages and pressures that were simply impossible from an even front.

Kevin Greene tops this list because he has set the bar for the entire Rams franchise in terms of excellence from the linebacker position. He was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2016. Unfortunately, Greene passed away on December 21, 2020.