What should fans know about the latest Rams addition to the roster?

III: Rams are not clear about the upside of Omar Speights

Despite his promising debut, it's clear that the Rams football team is hedging their bets on undrafted rookie Omar Speights. While it's an understandable reaction, the swiftness of front office action to fill in the void of Troy Reeder's absence is very curious indeed. After all, the team has carried a surplus of five inside linebackers on the roster for weeks.

Only recently did the team release undrafted inside linebacker Elias Neal, signing him to the team's practice squad after he cleared waivers. So long before the team signed Fields, this team had plenty of depth at the inside linebacker position to draw upon. And the front office is not always so eager to take action. After the team lost both DB Derion Kendrick and DN Darious Williams, the team still hesitated to sign last year's starting cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon.

Fantastic move. Horrific timing.

So what prompted the team to act so quickly on this occasion? The first clue lies in the fact that the team hesitated to offer any defensive snaps to Omar Speights prior to Week 8, despite the clear and obvious struggles of pairing Christian Rozeboom and Troy Reeder side by side. The problem is that both Reeder and Rozeboom are far better suited playing prevent defense. They remain back, letting the action come to them.

Speights is one tough son-of-a-gun who initiates contact, eats roofing nails for breakfast, and spits fire. He is ideally suited top pair up with a prevent-defense teammate. And the results of Week 8 clearly indicate that he knows how to stuff runs. Tony Fields arrives to round out the defense on the pass defense side of the equation.