TST: Signing a NT: Sylvester Williams, Jonathan Hankins, & Bennie Logan...

FANPOST:
Sylvester Williams, Jonathan Hankins, & Bennie Logan...
By Fishkiller on Mar 17, 2018, 9:42pm CDT

The Rams made some serious upgrades to their secondary in the last 3 weeks. While making those upgrades the Rams created some holes in their roster, specifically at OLB and ILB, by trading away Robert Quinn, their top edge-rusher (in terms of total sacks), and Alec Ogletree, a team captain, their leading tackler, and the defensive signal-caller. Add in the Rams need for a bona fide NT to help shore up a run defense that ranked 28th in the NFL last year, and a defense-centric draft looks to be on the horizon.

The Rams were fairly quiet at the onset of free agency, smartly choosing to focus on re-signing their own free agents. The result is that the Rams will return all but 1 of their starters from an offense that finished #1 in scoring in 2017. The Rams were smart to keep Joyner in the fold, and made an excellent decision in re-signing NRC to a 3-year deal, putting the finishing touches on a secondary that looks to be one of the Leagues best heading into the 2018 season. But what of the holes at NT and LB? The Rams have smartly avoided signing free agents from other teams, and are set to receive at least 2 high-value compensatory draft picks for the losses of Sammy Watkins & Trumaine Johnson. The Rams must take into consideration the potential impact signing any outside free agents could have on those compensatory picks. Successful teams tend to sit out the initial free agency frenzy at the start of each new League year, waiting instead for the dust to settle before finding better value with the remaining, lower cost free agents and players that are inevitably released by their former teams. Remember, players released by their former team do not count against the team that signs them when awarding compensatory draft picks. This is where the Rams find themselves at this point in free agency. So let's take a look at three players the Rams may have interest in - two that have recently been released and one that is a UFA.

While Ndamukong Suh has garnered the most attention since being released by the Dolphins, the reality is he's not coming to LA. However, there are a couple of young, recently released players that fit the NT profile the Rams could be interested in bringing in.

#1 - Johnathan Hankins. Hankins, all 6'3" and 320 lbs. of him, has been a quality interior defender in his four seasons as a starter. Drafted by the Giants in 2013, Hankins played in a 4-3 scheme until this past season, when he played for the Colts and their 3-4 front. Playing primarily as a DE in their 3-4 scheme, Hankins posted his best overall season since his second season in the League, coming in 14th among all 3-4 DEs vs. the run (Brockers was #2) and 26th in PRP (Brockers was 19th). Looked at as an ideal candidate for a 0 or 1 gap NT coming out of college, and producing very well in his first year in a 3-4, he's a good candidate to make the switch to NT in Wade's scheme as a 2 down run stopper at the very least, with some upside as a pass rusher. Hankins would be an upgrade over Tanzel Smart, and I think the two could make for a nice 1-2 punch at NT, but Hankins might be too expensive. He's headed to Washington for a visit with the Redskins.

#2 - Sylvester Williams. Williams played DT in a 4-3 defense for Broncos coach Mike Fox in his first 2 years in the NFL. When Wade Phillips was hired, Williams played NT for him in 2015 & 2016. Williams played OK versus the run in his first year under Phillips, ranking 46th among all interior D-lineman but he offered little as a pass rusher. In 2016, he was horrible versus the run (71st) but had one of his best seasons as a pass rusher, ranking 27th in PRP. Denver chose to let him walk, and he signed with the Titans last offseason. His one season in Tennessee saw him play better against the run (47th) but decline even further as a pass rusher (63rd in PRP). For comparison, Tanzel Smart graded out at 54th vs run and 56th in PRP. Tyrunn Walker was 70th vs run, and didn't play enough passing snaps to even get into the PRP rankings. In my opinion the Rams would be better served to stick with Tanzel Smart than bring in Williams.

#3 - Bennie Logan. Logan, coming off a 1 year, $8 million contract with KC, actually has the best tape of the 3 mentioned here, but if the Rams were to sign him, it could negatively impact their compensatory draft pick calculations, dependent upon the contract amount and some other nebulous factors used to decide who gets compensatory picks and which round they get those picks in. Logan has consistently grade out as a top 15 interior run defender, including 7th in 2017. While not a terror in the passing game, he ranked a respectable 36th in PRP last season. He had his best seasons playing next to Fletcher Cox in Philadelphia, and the Rams can do one better by pairing him with Aaron Donald. Maybe the Rams can get him in for a reasonable 1 year "prove it" deal.

Despite some potential to mess with the compensatory pick formula, I think Bennie Logan would be a nice addition to the Rams front 7. He shouldn't cost much and it would give the Rams more flexibility in the draft in addition to a solid, proven commodity at NT to help shore up the run defense in 2018.

POLL
Should the Rams bring in Hankins, Williams, or Logan to play NT? If so, which one?

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RFS69



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2018 02:45AM by RamsFanSince69.