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Samson Ebukam will 'certainly' be starting OLB for the Rams in 2018
Cameron DaSilva
[
theramswire.usatoday.com]
It’s only June but the Los Angeles Rams’ defense is beginning to take shape. We know who the starters on the defensive line will be, as well as in the secondary, but the linebacking corps is a major question mark. Mark Barron is locked in as one of the starters inside, but the other three linebacker spots are up in the air.
Or are they?
With the Rams breaking for summer on Thursday, Wade Phillips’ plan at linebacker is becoming clearer – at least on the outside. Phillips said on Wednesday that Samson Ebukam has looked good in practice thus far and will begin training camp as one of the starting outside linebackers.
He went as far as to say he will “certainly” be with the first-team defense moving forward.
That’s great news for the former fourth-round pick. He only has two starts and two sacks under his belt up to this point, but he flashed plenty in limited action last season. That gave the Rams the confidence necessary to move on from both Robert Quinn and Connor Barwin, their two starters from 2017.
As for the other spot outside, that’ll likely go to Matt Longacre. The fourth-year pass rusher has played 25 games the past three seasons with his best obviously coming in 2017. Last season, he recorded 5.5 sacks and led the team in that department for a few weeks early in the year.
Ebukam and Longacre may lack experience and overall production, but it’s obvious the Rams feel good about both players breaking out next season. It’s a significant risk to take, but with such a strong defensive line and secondary, they hope their edge rushers won’t need to generate too much pressure in order to have success.
Inside, it’ll most likely be Barron and Cory Littleton, who’s been working as the Mike linebacker in practice. That comes with play-calling duties, so he’ll be going from backup to one of the most important players on defense.
