A crazy proven way to bolster the Rams pass rush without overspending

1 of 3

The case for the LA Rams pass rush situation is viewed by many fans to be a critical need for the team's offseason strategy. After all, the Rams typically Top-10 pass rush fell to the bottom half of the league, generating only 41 quarterback sacks in 2023. which was ranked 23rd out of 32 teams for the season. But before that reinforces the cries to spend lavish amounts of money on a veteran pass rusher, keep in mind that the Rams typically rush four defenders after the quarterback.

What that translates into is that the Rams may add a veteran outside linebacker and tag him with a all-out pursuit of the opposing quarterback. But what of the team's other pass rushers? Do you want to put a very promising pass rusher like rookie outside linebacker Byron Young in coverage to allow the veteran to grab the spotlight on the Rams defense? Worse yet, do you intend to drop Michael Hoecht into coverage?

Or is the plan simply to cut Hoecht (and lose his 6.0 quarterback sacks) for the hope of spending top dollar on a veteran pass rusher who may or may not work out for the team?

The quest to find a solid and complementary group of pass rushers has been an elusive quest for many NFL teams, and one that the Rams have been fortunate enough to master at times. But let's be fair, the Rams' pass rush has not been dominating every year for the team. Let's look over the team's pass rush statistics since 2017:

Year	QB Sack total	NFL Ranking team sacks	Top QB sack player	Top player QB sack total	# players at/over 5.0 QB sacks	Team record / playoff record
2017	48	4th	Aaron Donald	11	4	11-5/0--1
2018	41	15th	Aaron Donald	20.5	1	13-3/2-1
2019	50	4th	Aaron Donald	12.5	3	9-7
2020	53	2nd	Aaron Donald	13.5	4	10-6/1-1
2021	50	3rd	Aaron Donald	12.5	3	12-5/4-0
2022	38	21st	Leonard Floyd	9.0	3	5-12
2023	41	23rd	Kobie Turner	9.0	4	10-7/0-1

So what can we conclude from the above data table? One fact is the changing role of Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald in the teams' quarterback pressure. He led the team in sacks for five seasons, but that ended with his injury-shortened season in 2022. In 2023, he competed all season long, but the team had a new group of young players, allowing offenses to divert attention to him in pass protection.

But was that truly the case? Per the 2023 ESPN Analytics article that summarized pass rush win rates for defensive linemen. LA Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald did indeed face double teams more than 50 percent of the time (63 percent of the time). But his teammate, nose tackle Kobie Turner, had to fight through two or more blockers 72 percent of the time. And yet, it was Turner who led the Rams in quarterback sacks.

Home/Rams News