Is LA Rams OLB Terrell Lewis in the best shape of his career?

The LA Rams have patiently worked with outside linebacker Terrell Lewis in his rookie season as he was in and out of the rotation battling an ongoing knee injury. The team showed patience once again during the 2021 NFL season, as Lewis showed more resiliency, but eventually succumbed to the same knew injury plus a back injury.

Now, in his third NFL season, it appears that Terrell Lewis may be in the best playing shape of his NFL career, and may be ready to deliver on all of that NFL promise that he showed at Alabama.

At least, that is the early training camp assessment of veteran outside linebacker Leonard Floyd, who heaped on the praise of his teammate as the LA Rams training camp opened.

Lewis has been a mixed selection for the LA Rams so far. Over his first two NFL seasons, he has played 19 games and started four games. That’s pretty good for a Rams player in his first two seasons, a team that frequently redshirts rookies and limits their playing time.

But Lewis was chosen in the 2020 NFL Draft with the intention of bolstering the Rams’ pass rush. When he’s healthy, he does exactly that. Five sacks in less than his first 500 defensive snaps is a pretty impressive pace he is setting. Couple that with 27 tackles, six tackles for a loss, and seven quarterback hits and you can see why the Rams are interested in keeping the young man on the football field.

The LA Rams need players to absorb the defensive snaps vacated by Von Miller and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, and a healthy Terrell Lewis would be ideal for the team in 2022. Just for comparison’s sake, Miller converted 434 defensive snaps for the Rams into five quarterback sacks, while Lewis converted 367 defensive snaps for three quarterback sacks, in just his second season.

I’m not suggesting that Lewis is at Von Miller’s level. But I am saying that a healthy Lewis will help this team make up for the fact that they don’t have Miller rushing the quarterback any longer. Is LA Rams OLB Terrell Lewis’ in the best shape of his career? If he is, this LA Rams defense could flirt at becoming the top-ranked defense in the NFL.