5 surprising Rams rookies who will make a difference in the playoffs

(2) - Rookie inside linebacker Omar Speights

If the performance of one player correlates the the Rams uncanny ability to turn their 2024 NFL season around, then the decision to start undrafted inside linebacker Omar Speights must take center stage. The team ended the season with a final record of 10-7. But of the 10 games that Speights started, the team played to a record of 7-3, including the final game of staring junior varsity players.

That means that the Rams only won three of seven games without Speights starting.

No, this is not some grasping at straws effort to explain the unexplainable. The Rams defense was a bit less physical and intimidating without Speights terrorizing opposing offenses. In 10 starts and appearances in all 17 games, Speights brought an angry lesson of punishing tackles to opposing running backs. In 67 tackles, of which 37 tackles were solo, he only missed three tackles all season. That 4.3 missed tackle percentage was a marked improvement over veteran ILB Troy Reeder (11.5 percent missed tackles) and ILB Christian Rozeboom (8.8 percent missed tackles).

But it was not simply his ability to offer outstanding run defense that made Speights so effective in this defense. Almost from the instant of his arrival, Speights triggered a level-up for teammate Christian Rozeboom. Rozeboom matched Speight's bold ferocity, and began to commit to meeting running backs in the hole.

Rozeboom lowered his missed tackles rate from 15 percent to 8.8 percent over the span of time playing alongside Speights. At the same time, he put up most of his five tackles for a loss over that period as well. Rozeboom recorded 135 tackles in 2024, by far a career high, even though he sat out in Week 17.

But as the season wore on, Speights climbed to higher heights:

We shared Kamren Kinchens' honors. So we are compelled to share the fact that Omar Speights was honored by MLFootball with the All-Rookie Defensive team honors. And to nobody's surprise, he was joined by DT Braden Fiske and OLB Jared Verse on this roster as well:

Speights is a throwback to the inside linebacker physicality that fans appreciate. He is a slugger, a guy who meets and sheds blockers routinely to get to the running back. He is not perfect, yet. But his rookie season established a phenomenal foundation for an exciting NFL career.