Can St. Louis Rams CB Janoris Jenkins rise to elite level of NFC West counterparts?
By Ted Bryant
http://cover32.com/rams/2014/05/26/...rise-to-elite-level-of-nfc-west-counterparts/
As it stands, the St. Louis Rams boast one of the youngest secondary units in the league. Cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson are each entering their third season, which makes them the veterans among the starting unit. It’s no secret that much of the Rams’ defensive success in 2014 will hinge on their continued development in year three.
On that note, former Rams defensive tackle D’Marco Farr and Rams insider Tony Softli discussed the chances of Jenkins reaching the same level as NFC West colleagues Patrick Peterson of the Cardinals and Richard Sherman of the Seahawks on 101 ESPN Radio on Friday. Here’s Softli’s take on the subject:
“I think that Janoris has that skillset. He showed it in his rookie year. I thought he should have been Rookie of the Year. Last year there was no pressure in the pocket. They couldn’t squeeze the pocket. They had (defensive end Robert) Quinn and (defensive end Chris) Long came from the outside but they couldn’t squeeze it from up the middle on a continuous basis. There wasn’t a lot of blitz packages. This year’s defense will look totally different. It’ll look like 2012 when (former defensive coordinator) Blake Williams was running it and it was just a shell of his dad’s defense. This one will have a lot of pressure in your face and force quarterbacks to either throw the ball away or bait them into throwing it up. Look for (cornerback Trumaine) Johnson and Janoris to have, I think, a pretty good year.”
While not directly answering the question, Softli does have a point regarding the Rams interior pressure. Starting defensive tackles Michael Brockers and Kendall Langford registered just eight and 16 quarterback pressures respectively in 2013, compared to the 97 combined from Quinn and Long. The addition of 13th overall pick Aaron Donald should provide that interior pressure and make life easier on Jenkins, Johnson, and Co.
Should Jenkins and Johnson stumble out of the gate, they’ll need all the pressure they can get to compensate. For the Rams’ sake, here’s hoping Jenkins plays more like this Sherman and less like this one.