Final 53 (Defense)

[den-the-coach]

Keeping with my theme on offense and the numbers breakdown that I will illustrate below, I had trouble at Linebacker with only keeping eight. If the Rams only keep three TE's, I could see adding a linebacker, however, I stuck to my number breakdown of the following:

9 Offensive Line

6 Wide Receivers

2 Quarterbacks

4 Tight Ends

3 Running Backs

1 Full Back

3 Special Teams


8 Defensive Line

8 Linebackers

5 Corner Backs

4 Safeties

Defense:

Defensive Line (8)

LDE…Damien Easley, Ethan Westbrooks

NT…Michael Brockers, Mike Purcell, Tanzel Smart

RDE…Aaron Donald, Matt Longacre, Louis Trinca-Pasat

I like Purcell over the others with experience at the Nose and his ability to be a run stuffer. Trinca-Pasat holds off the others, but that could go either way.


Linebackers (8)

SLB…Connor Barwin, Carlos Thompson

ILB…Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest

ILB…Mark Barron, Corey Littleton

WLB…Robert Quinn, Samson Ebukam

Really tough cuts here as Bryce Hager & many others I like including draft choice Ejuan Price, but I’m betting on him to be put on IR. Hager could beat out Littleton as Littleton was liked by the previous staff, but seems like a natural back up to Barron. If Rams shave from another area, they could keep another LB.

Corner Backs (5)

LCB…Trumaine Johnson, Arion Penton

RCB…Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines

NCB…Nickell Robey-Coleman

Troy Hill is suspended for two games which gives others a shot of making the team for the first two games and I went with Penton based on his rating in college and the fact he as a chip on his shoulder. Coleman an under the radar signing enabling the Rams to move Joyner to his natural position.


Safeties (4)

FS…Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson

SS…Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis

Alexander & Joyner now are playing their natural positions and IMO, this could be a huge upgrade especially with Joyner coming on the safety blitz, which Phillips disguises much better than his predecessor...Davis very good on special teams like it or not.


Special Teams (3)

P…Johnny Hekker

PK…Greg Zuerlein

LS…Jake McQuaide

In the words of Meat Loaf, two out of three ain’t bad and in this case, Zuerlein came back nice last season to improve his accuracy. Hekker best punter in the NFL and McQuaide is so good most Ram fans don’t know who he is.

 

[Memento]

Here's how I would do it:

LE - Dominique Easley, Tanzel Smart.
NT - Michael Brockers, Louis Trinca-Pasat, Mike Purcell.
RE - Aaron Donald, Morgan Fox.

LOLB - Connor Barwin, Ejuan Price.
LILB - Mark Barron, Cory Littleton, Bryce Hager.
RILB - Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest.
ROLB - Robert Quinn, Samson Ebukam.

LCB - Trumaine Johnson, Michael Jordan.
RCB - Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines.
SLCB - Nickell Robey-Coleman.

FS - Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson.
SS - Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis.

-

I don't think that Longacre and Westbrooks are going to make the cut, and we don't need to have many defensive linemen anyway. Fox is cheaper than both Longacre and Westbrooks, and you don't lose out on skill, in my honest opinion; Fox is very talented.

I think that Ejuan Price will be healthy enough to make this roster. I'm going with nine linebackers because I don't think that we need eight D-linemen. No other comments necessary.

At cornerback, I'm not sure that we keep Troy Hill. He has a history of getting into trouble, and that could clash with McVay's philosophy of "We, Not Me." And I like Michael Jordan more than most.

As for Aarion Penton, I'm a Mizzou fan, and there's no way Penton plays in the NFL anywhere other than slot cornerback, which is already more than admirably filled in by NRC. Add in his obvious issues with marijuana, and I don't think that Penton sniffs our roster.

 

[Ramstien]

I look for them to only keep 7 on the DL and carry 9 LBers with this defense, Trinca-Pasat will be released. Also I'm not sure that Smart is a NT in this defense. At CB I look for Michael Jordan to beat out Penton who lands on the PS.

 

[den-the-coach]

And I like Michael Jordan more than most.

As for Aarion Penton, I'm a Mizzou fan, and there's no way Penton plays in the NFL anywhere other than slot cornerback, which is already more than admirably filled in by NRC. Add in his obvious issues with marijuana, and I don't think that Penton sniffs our roster.

Jordan big guy could stick, just think he's a tad slow and you have a huge leg up because I did not see much of Penton, but I know some had him rated high as a press corner and that is what Phillips defense is all about at CB, whereas, IMHO, Jordan played off the WR to cover for his speed, but does close on the ball very well.

COLUMBIA, MO. • There were 43 scouts and coaches from 30 NFL teams on hand for Thursday’s pro day at the University of Missouri.

And the Aarion Penton they watched in Mizzou’s indoor practice facility wasn’t exactly the guy they saw two months earlier at the Senior Bowl. To be precise, there was more of him — a surprising 21 pounds more.

The All-Southeastern Conference cornerback weighed in at 177 pounds on his 5-foot-9 frame in January in Mobile, Ala. But he was a 198-pounder at Thursday’s pro day weigh-in. A chiseled 198-pounder, but 21 pounds is a lot to gain over two months during the pre-draft process.


Even though 177 pounds is not ideal size for an NFL cornerback, Penton said teams didn’t say too much about his weight — or lack thereof — at the Senior Bowl. They did ask him about his weight gain Thursday.

Penton said he didn’t purposely gain weight. But he did hit the weight room harder than ever after the Senior Bowl.

“And I guess muscle just piled up on me,” Penton said. “I mean, I pushed 225 more than I ever did.”

As in the 225-pound bench press. The result was a pretty good showing there, with 13 reps, unofficially. He also did a personal best in the broad jump at 10 feet 2 inches. But his 40 time was in the high 4.5s. He almost certainly would’ve been in the 4.4-second range at his Senior Bowl weight, maybe lower.

“Basically a 20-pound difference,” Penton said. “Running with a 20-pound weight is a little harder, but I didn’t feel like I was straining or anything, or a little slower getting in and out of stuff. I still felt explosive.”

A 4.58 in the 40 won’t kill Penton’s chances of getting drafted. Nonetheless, the plan by Penton’s representation team is to have him drop about 10 pounds, and perhaps run another 40 at that weight and send tape of it to teams.

“Nickel (back) is going to be his sweet spot, especially early on,” said Tyler Gabbert. “For him, his production on the field speaks volumes. The tape doesn’t lie. These pro day numbers are more like supporting evidence. But at the end of the day, it’s can you play ball or not?”

Gabbert, the younger brother of NFL and former Mizzou quarterback Blaine Gabbert, works for the St. Louis-based National Sports Agency headed by veteran agent Harold Lewis. They represent Penton, who has a pre-draft visit scheduled for April 5 with his former hometown team — the now-Los Angeles Rams.

Even with the added weight, Penton moved well during drills Thursday. And as Gabbert mentioned, his tape speaks volumes.

In three years as a starter for Mizzou, he intercepted 10 passes with 31 pass breakups. He led the SEC with five interceptions last season, including a “pick 6” against Vanderbilt.

An all-state high school player at CBC, Penton participated in the East-West Shrine Game, and was impressive enough there to get an invitation to the Senior Bowl the following week. Surprisingly, he wasn’t invited to the NFL Scouting Combine.

“It’s politics and I know it,” Penton said. “Sometimes you get the call, sometimes you don’t. I got the other two calls for the bowl games, and I felt like that was better for me because they could actually see me play.


“Not just film, but actually they’re watching how I practice every day, watching how I compete every rep. It don’t get any better than that.”

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/coll...cle_adb35ec0-8e57-5b1c-8d74-392c9876b946.html

 

[TexasRam]

Hard to call it until preseason kicks in. Some injuries will decide fate and some kids are going to step up and play their way onto the roster to the shock of some.

Not sure you need 8 Dlineman in 3 man front. That seems a little over kill. But who knows.

 

[Rams43]

Here's how I would do it:

LE - Dominique Easley, Tanzel Smart.
NT - Michael Brockers, Louis Trinca-Pasat, Mike Purcell.
RE - Aaron Donald, Morgan Fox.

LOLB - Connor Barwin, Ejuan Price.
LILB - Mark Barron, Cory Littleton, Bryce Hager.
RILB - Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest.
ROLB - Robert Quinn, Samson Ebukam.

LCB - Trumaine Johnson, Michael Jordan.
RCB - Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines.
SLCB - Nickell Robey-Coleman.

FS - Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson.
SS - Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis.

-

I don't think that Longacre and Westbrooks are going to make the cut, and we don't need to have many defensive linemen anyway. Fox is cheaper than both Longacre and Westbrooks, and you don't lose out on skill, in my honest opinion; Fox is very talented.

I think that Ejuan Price will be healthy enough to make this roster. I'm going with nine linebackers because I don't think that we need eight D-linemen. No other comments necessary.

At cornerback, I'm not sure that we keep Troy Hill. He has a history of getting into trouble, and that could clash with McVay's philosophy of "We, Not Me." And I like Michael Jordan more than most.

As for Aarion Penton, I'm a Mizzou fan, and there's no way Penton plays in the NFL anywhere other than slot cornerback, which is already more than admirably filled in by NRC. Add in his obvious issues with marijuana, and I don't think that Penton sniffs our roster.

Very nice list, Memento. Nice work, sir!

Just a few thoughts...

I kinda agree on the 7 DL concept.

But not necessarily the 9 LB.

The "extra" player picked up by going with 7 DL could also be a S, or even a 6th CB. The reason I say this is that we don't quite know what Wade intends with his overall scheme. It could be a constant mix and match hybrid shape shifting D from series to series, much less game to game. An extra player with certain specific skills in his secondary for spot duty might have great appeal to Wade. Just spitballing here, of course.

As an aside, it's gonna be up in the air for quite a few final spots on this D, huh?

7th-9th DL
8th (or maybe 9th) LB
Last 2 outside CB candidates
4th (or maybe 5th) safety

There is no way for anyone to know how these final 7-9 will shake out. I suggest we expect the unexpected on about half of them. Gonna be a fierce camp and PS for these final candidates on D.

Can't wait to see how it unfolds.

 

[DaveFan'51]

Keeping with my theme on offense and the numbers breakdown that I will illustrate below, I had trouble at Linebacker with only keeping eight. If the Rams only keep three TE's, I could see adding a linebacker, however, I stuck to my number breakdown of the following:

9 Offensive Line

6 Wide Receivers

2 Quarterbacks

4 Tight Ends

3 Running Backs

1 Full Back

3 Special Teams


8 Defensive Line

8 Linebackers

5 Corner Backs

4 Safeties

Defense:

Defensive Line (8)

LDE…Damien Easley, Ethan Westbrooks

NT…Michael Brockers, Mike Purcell, Tanzel Smart

RDE…Aaron Donald, Matt Longacre, Louis Trinca-Pasat

I like Purcell over the others with experience at the Nose and his ability to be a run stuffer. Trinca-Pasat holds off the others, but that could go either way.


Linebackers (8)

SLB…Connor Barwin, Carlos Thompson

ILB…Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest

ILB…Mark Barron, Corey Littleton

WLB…Robert Quinn, Samson Ebukam

Really tough cuts here as Bryce Hager & many others I like including draft choice Ejuan Price, but I’m betting on him to be put on IR. Hager could beat out Littleton as Littleton was liked by the previous staff, but seems like a natural back up to Barron. If Rams shave from another area, they could keep another LB.

Corner Backs (5)

LCB…Trumaine Johnson, Arion Penton

RCB…Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines

NCB…Nickell Robey-Coleman

Troy Hill is suspended for two games which gives others a shot of making the team for the first two games and I went with Penton based on his rating in college and the fact he as a chip on his shoulder. Coleman an under the radar signing enabling the Rams to move Joyner to his natural position.


Safeties (4)

FS…Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson

SS…Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis

Alexander & Joyner now are playing their natural positions and IMO, this could be a huge upgrade especially with Joyner coming on the safety blitz, which Phillips disguises much better than his predecessor...Davis very good on special teams like it or not.


Special Teams (3)

P…Johnny Hekker

PK…Greg Zuerlein

LS…Jake McQuaide

In the words of Meat Loaf, two out of three ain’t bad and in this case, Zuerlein came back nice last season to improve his accuracy. Hekker best punter in the NFL and McQuaide is so good most Ram fans don’t know who he is.

I like your Roster set-up Coach! I really like Ejuan Price too, Why do you see him being put on IR!? Something happen to him!?

 

[den-the-coach]

Why do you see him being put on IR!? Something happen to him!?

His injury history in college.

 

[Memphis Ram]

I'll play.

DEFENSIVE LINE (7)

LE - Michael Brockers, Casey Sales
NT - Mike Purcell, Not on Roster Yet, Omarius Bryant
DT - Aaron Donald, Tanzel Smart

Going with 7 DLineman. Michael Brockers appears slated to perhaps be the highest priced NT in the league. Most will probably disagree with me, but IMO he should be moved LE to free him to make more plays and better justify his contact. Besides, Purcell might just represent the teams 3rd best 3-4 DLineman.

Due to salary cap implications, I guessing that both Westbrooks and Easley ($1.797 base salaries) may have to be clearly better than the cheaper competition in the new defense to make the final roster and I'm guessing that doesn't happen. The 7th DE probably needs to be able to play both inside and outside without being too much of a liability so I'm just guessing Bryant might fit the mold.

LINEBACKERS (8)

LOLB - Connor Barwin, Ian Seau (after he's released)
LILB - Mark Barron, Samson Ebukam
RILB - Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest
ROLB - Robert Quinn, Ejuan Price

Wasn't at training camp last year, but I still believe that Ian Seau would be a perfect fit for Wade Phillip defense. Hopefully, they can get him back if he's released by the Bills this offseason. Most, if not all, believe that Ebukam should play OLB, but I'd groom him to eventually replace Barron while getting a few reps rushing from OLB.

SECONDARY (10)
CBs - Trumaine Johnson, Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines, Nickell Robey-Coleman, Michael Jordan, Troy Hill
FS - Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson
SS - Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis

Troy Hill will be suspended for the first couple of games, but I still think that he makes the team. They player who has his roster spot for those first couple of games I guess will be Blake Countess.

Side note: Joyner is a fan favorite for some, but I'd rather have more of a ball hawk at FS. I'm hopeful that Phillip had Johnson initially taking reps at SS just due to Alexander being injured at the time.

 

[BonifayRam]

Here's how I would do it:

LE - Dominique Easley, Tanzel Smart.
NT - Michael Brockers, Louis Trinca-Pasat, Mike Purcell.
RE - Aaron Donald, Morgan Fox.

LOLB - Connor Barwin, Ejuan Price.
LILB - Mark Barron, Cory Littleton, Bryce Hager.
RILB - Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest.
ROLB - Robert Quinn, Samson Ebukam.

LCB - Trumaine Johnson, Michael Jordan.
RCB - Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines.
SLCB - Nickell Robey-Coleman.

FS - Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson.
SS - Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis.

-

I don't think that Longacre and Westbrooks are going to make the cut, and we don't need to have many defensive linemen anyway. Fox is cheaper than both Longacre and Westbrooks, and you don't lose out on skill, in my honest opinion; Fox is very talented.

I think that Ejuan Price will be healthy enough to make this roster. I'm going with nine linebackers because I don't think that we need eight D-linemen. No other comments necessary.

At cornerback, I'm not sure that we keep Troy Hill. He has a history of getting into trouble, and that could clash with McVay's philosophy of "We, Not Me." And I like Michael Jordan more than most.

As for Aarion Penton, I'm a Mizzou fan, and there's no way Penton plays in the NFL anywhere other than slot cornerback, which is already more than admirably filled in by NRC. Add in his obvious issues with marijuana, and I don't think that Penton sniffs our roster.

I think this is a good guess I do have a different tilt on a few of her listed & positioned players.

DL {#7}
5T>DE- Westbrooks/ (Fox or{Longacre})
NT/DT- Brockers/ Purcell
3T>DE- Donald/ Easley/ Smart
DL PS Prospects DT's Trinca-Pasat & O.Bryant

* DE/OLB-Quinn (would be the # 8 DL'er) will line up @ both DE posts in this DL front a major amount of time in passing situations. Smart was drafted to take up Easley's roster spot in 2018. I would not list Easley as a starter @ the 5 tech DE post due to the fact that Donald along with Quinn will be used often on the opponents RT's, thus Easley will be inserted often in the 3 tech post. Easley will not see every-down usage. Matt Longacre might end up @ SSLB reserve behind Barwin. Matt is very active & smart best to keep a eye on this.

LB'er unit{8}
WOLB- *Quinn / Ebukam / Price
WILB- Barron/ Hager
SILB- Qgletree/ Forrest
SOLB- Barwin/ {Longacre}
LB PS prospects ILB Davis & OLB McKinzy

Corners {5}
#1CB- Johnson/ Robey-Coleman
#2CB- Webster/ Gaines/ Penton
Nickle- {Joyner} / {Countess}

Safety{5}
SS- Alexander/ Johnson {Barron}
FS- Joyner/ Davis / Countess

*NOTE-If Wade continues with what he has previously stated ref Joyner is our Nickle-Back... then Cody Davis will be seen as the 5th DB in the Nickle. Veteran of 58 NFL games Davis when used deep with his 4.4 40 speed & near 42 inch vertical in the DB-field is a good turnover maker.

 

[Ram65]

DEFENSIVE LINE (7)

LE - Michael Brockers, Casey Sales
NT - Mike Purcell, Not on Roster Yet, Omarius Bryant
DT - Aaron Donald, Tanzel Smart

Did you miss Dominique Easley or was that on purpose?

I can see Brokers playing both LE and NT.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Did you miss Dominique Easley or was that on purpose?

I can see Brokers playing both LE and NT.

On purpose, partially due to salary cap implications as stated in comments.

 

[Ram65]

Here's how I would do it:

LE - Dominique Easley, Tanzel Smart.
NT - Michael Brockers, Louis Trinca-Pasat, Mike Purcell.
RE - Aaron Donald, Morgan Fox.

LOLB - Connor Barwin, Ejuan Price.
LILB - Mark Barron, Cory Littleton, Bryce Hager.
RILB - Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest.
ROLB - Robert Quinn, Samson Ebukam.

LCB - Trumaine Johnson, Michael Jordan.
RCB - Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines.
SLCB - Nickell Robey-Coleman.

FS - Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson.
SS - Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis.

-

I don't think that Longacre and Westbrooks are going to make the cut, and we don't need to have many defensive linemen anyway. Fox is cheaper than both Longacre and Westbrooks, and you don't lose out on skill, in my honest opinion; Fox is very talented.

I think that Ejuan Price will be healthy enough to make this roster. I'm going with nine linebackers because I don't think that we need eight D-linemen. No other comments necessary.

At cornerback, I'm not sure that we keep Troy Hill. He has a history of getting into trouble, and that could clash with McVay's philosophy of "We, Not Me." And I like Michael Jordan more than most.

As for Aarion Penton, I'm a Mizzou fan, and there's no way Penton plays in the NFL anywhere other than slot cornerback, which is already more than admirably filled in by NRC. Add in his obvious issues with marijuana, and I don't think that Penton sniffs our roster.

I copied and pasted yours. I like Morgan Fox too. Easley starts but gets plenty of rest to keep up his quickness. Hard to tell what Troy Hills fate will be. He messed up but, is still around so maybe he got a pass. Two game suspension so Jordan will be around at the beginning.

LE - Dominique Easley, Tanzel Smart.
NT - Michael Brockers, Louis Trinca-Pasat, Mike Purcell.
RE - Aaron Donald, Morgan Fox.

LOLB - Connor Barwin, Ejuan Price.
LILB - Mark Barron, Cory Littleton, Bryce Hager.
RILB - Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest.
ROLB - Robert Quinn, Samson Ebukam.

LCB - Trumaine Johnson, Michael Jordan.
RCB - Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines.
SLCB - Nickell Robey-Coleman.

FS - Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson.
SS - Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis.
EDIT:Westbrooks could still make the team. He cost more but, he could be the best backup paa rusher.

 

[Memphis Ram]

I copied and pasted yours. I like Morgan Fox too. Easley starts but gets plenty of rest to keep up his quickness. Hard to tell what Troy Hills fate will be. He messed up but, is still around so maybe he got a pass. Two game suspension so Jordan will be around at the beginning.

LE - Dominique Easley, Tanzel Smart.
NT - Michael Brockers, Louis Trinca-Pasat, Mike Purcell.
RE - Aaron Donald, Morgan Fox.

LOLB - Connor Barwin, Ejuan Price.
LILB - Mark Barron, Cory Littleton, Bryce Hager.
RILB - Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest.
ROLB - Robert Quinn, Samson Ebukam.

LCB - Trumaine Johnson, Michael Jordan.
RCB - Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines.
SLCB - Nickell Robey-Coleman.

FS - Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson.
SS - Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis.
EDIT:Westbrooks could still make the team. He cost more but, he could be the best backup paa rusher.

Other may disagree, but I can't see Easley or Smart playing LE.
IMO, if anything, both have to play DT as a 3 Tech like Donald. Smart at least has a shot to play some NT.

In fact, they might want to consider trading Easley for a LE, IMO.

 

[OldSchool]

Shocked at the number of you thinking we'll carry more DLine than corners. Especially when you consider a CB is more likely to contribute on ST than a dline.

 

[BonifayRam]

Shocked at the number of you thinking we'll carry more DLine than corners. Especially when you consider a CB is more likely to contribute on ST than a dline.

It might be posters are taking into the fact that Wade has discussed heavily utilizing safety Lamarcus Joyner to cover the slot & thus using either rookie safety John Johnson or veteran safety Cody Davis as his 5th DB with the 2 outside corners. If you consider Blake Countess a CB instead of a FS/Nickel then he could slide into the overall corner numbers.

Your ST comment has some good merit. I have been concerned since the first of the year over just how good are the CB's behind Trumaine Johnson/Webster/NRC ?

 

[Riverumbbq]

DL 7
LE - 1) Dominique Easley, 2) Tanzel Smart, 3) Morgan Fox
NT - 1) Michael Brockers, 2) Omarius Bryant or cap cut/waiver claim
RE - 1) Aaron Donald, 2) Trinca-Pasat

Omarius Bryant was also effective as a 3-4 DE with WK.
It should be all about his injury recovery with Trinca-Pasat, if he performs as well this pre-season as he did in the 2015 pre-season, he'll be a slam dunk. Big motor, very strong, played well inside and outside.

LB - 8
LOLB - Connor Barwin, Ejuan Price.
LILB - Mark Barron, Bryce Hager.
RILB - Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest.
ROLB - Robert Quinn, Samson Ebukam.

Morgan Fox as tweener DE/OLB on obvious rush plays.

CB - 6
LCB - Trumaine Johnson, Michael Jordan.
RCB - Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines, Countess or Penton
SLCB - Nickell Robey-Coleman.

S - 4
FS - Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson.
SS - Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Shocked at the number of you thinking we'll carry more DLine than corners. Especially when you consider a CB is more likely to contribute on ST than a dline.

Has any team ever carried more than 5-6 CBs on their rosters during the season?

 

[OldSchool]

Has any team ever carried more than 5-6 CBs on their rosters during the season?

Has any 3-4 team carried 7 DLine? Three NT? One other thing most of the people here have posted their lists with 26 defenders also posted 25 offense leaving room for a punter and kicker but no long snapper, for the sake of argument your offense and defense should balance to 50.

 

[JKBOGEN]

Keeping with my theme on offense and the numbers breakdown that I will illustrate below, I had trouble at Linebacker with only keeping eight. If the Rams only keep three TE's, I could see adding a linebacker, however, I stuck to my number breakdown of the following:

9 Offensive Line

6 Wide Receivers

2 Quarterbacks

4 Tight Ends

3 Running Backs

1 Full Back

3 Special Teams


8 Defensive Line

8 Linebackers

5 Corner Backs

4 Safeties

Defense:

Defensive Line (8)

LDE…Damien Easley, Ethan Westbrooks

NT…Michael Brockers, Mike Purcell, Tanzel Smart

RDE…Aaron Donald, Matt Longacre, Louis Trinca-Pasat

I like Purcell over the others with experience at the Nose and his ability to be a run stuffer. Trinca-Pasat holds off the others, but that could go either way.


Linebackers (8)

SLB…Connor Barwin, Carlos Thompson

ILB…Alec Ogletree, Josh Forrest

ILB…Mark Barron, Corey Littleton

WLB…Robert Quinn, Samson Ebukam

Really tough cuts here as Bryce Hager & many others I like including draft choice Ejuan Price, but I’m betting on him to be put on IR. Hager could beat out Littleton as Littleton was liked by the previous staff, but seems like a natural back up to Barron. If Rams shave from another area, they could keep another LB.

Corner Backs (5)

LCB…Trumaine Johnson, Arion Penton

RCB…Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines

NCB…Nickell Robey-Coleman

Troy Hill is suspended for two games which gives others a shot of making the team for the first two games and I went with Penton based on his rating in college and the fact he as a chip on his shoulder. Coleman an under the radar signing enabling the Rams to move Joyner to his natural position.


Safeties (4)

FS…Lamarcus Joyner, John Johnson

SS…Maurice Alexander, Cody Davis

Alexander & Joyner now are playing their natural positions and IMO, this could be a huge upgrade especially with Joyner coming on the safety blitz, which Phillips disguises much better than his predecessor...Davis very good on special teams like it or not.


Special Teams (3)

P…Johnny Hekker

PK…Greg Zuerlein

LS…Jake McQuaide

In the words of Meat Loaf, two out of three ain’t bad and in this case, Zuerlein came back nice last season to improve his accuracy. Hekker best punter in the NFL and McQuaide is so good most Ram fans don’t know who he is.

Good stuff. I only disagree with LTP making it, Mike Jordan not making it, Aarion Penton making it and Ejuan not making it. Other than that I think we are in similar thoughts. I predicted Purcell to beat out Walker which looks to be all for certain now lol.