Rams’ ILBs named one of the weakest position groups in the NFL
It was quite remarkable that the Los Angeles Rams were able to finish with the NFL’s No. 1 defense despite struggling to find a consistent pairing at inside linebacker. Micah Kiser, Troy Reeder and Kenny Young were all starters inside, yet Reeder was the only one to earn an overall grade above 40 from Pro Football Focus; his grade was 61.3.
The Rams have continued to ignore the position for a second straight offseason, though, and haven’t added any notable help since Cory Littleton left. As a result, it’s one of the weakest position groups in the NFL, according to PFF.
Ben Linsey of PFF listed 10 of the weakest position groups in football this week and the Rams’ inside linebackers were unsurprisingly among them.
The Rams had the 28th-highest-graded linebacking corps in the NFL last season, but that didn’t stop them from leading the league in expected points added allowed per play on defense. They did a good job of masking that weakness, rarely playing more than one off-ball linebacker on the field at a given time. The team’s 16.1% base defense rate was the fifth-lowest mark in the league.
Just because the weakness at linebacker didn’t hurt Los Angeles in 2020 doesn’t mean the team shouldn’t look to improve at the position heading into 2021.
There hasn’t been much personnel movement at linebacker for the Rams, largely because they have been contending with one of the NFL’s tightest salary cap situations. Micah Kiser (40.0 PFF grade), Troy Reeder (61.3) and Kenny Young (38.1) each played between 500 and 600 defensive snaps in 2020. The Rams will also get Travin Howard back from a knee injury that kept him out of the 2020 season.
Howard could be a dark horse to start for the Rams next season after missing all of 2020 with a knee injury. He was in line to start next to Micah Kiser before getting hurt, and the Rams brought him back as an ERFA this year.
Los Angeles should also draft a linebacker sometime in the first three or four rounds, needing an injection of talent at this position. The team would be unwise to go into the regular season with the same group it fielded last year.
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Projecting Rams' defensive depth chart ahead of 2021 NFL draft
