Here’s oldnotdead...
Polite has a lot of flags on him and he will have to earn a spot. His attitude, work ethic and commitment are definitely in question. He's the kind of player you keep on the PS until he polishes his play and earns a spot to compete by showing good work ethic and commitment. Remember besides his attitude issues, he showed up to way overweight, and out of shape, the same with his Pro Day. Are you kidding me?!! Also Polite is an OLB in this defense.
I can see how they might platoon the ILBs rotating them in and out to keep them fresh. On early downs I can see Reeder at MIKE with Howard at MO. When they go to their passing sub package I can see Kiser at MIKE and Young at MO. If the Rams continue to rotate their players frequently, there really won't be much of a distinction between the so called starters and the rotational guys who should see significant playing time. I really feel these 4 guys give the Rams a good ILB unit.
They signed Floyd as a cheaper Fowler replacement. Floyd is slightly slower in terms of long speed compared to Fowler, but he might have a more explosive first step than Fowler. He also has exceptional bend for his length and good quickness and was highly thought of as a draft prospect. He validated his first round pick in his rookie with a 7 sack season. But his production fell off after that finishing with a total of 18.5 sacks over 4 seasons. Staley watched him for 2 years during his time in Chicago. IMO Floyd is Staley's choice for replacing Fowler. IMOl Floyd has the talent and the physical metrics to be a very good edge rusher. Now he's going to be playing with AD and I expect Leonard will enjoy the same jump in production as Dante did. Floyd has the talent to be a 9+ sack per year type of player. He's also more versatile than Fowler as he has the ability to drop into coverage allowing Ebukam the blitz opportunity.
I think it was a huge mistake in basically extending Brockers even at a discount. All it's going to do is retard the development of Okoronkwo. They did the same thing when they signed Clay Mathews to play in front of a proven Ebukam. That proved to be a big mistake.
IMO overall I think the Rams improved their front 7 this year. I like the addition of Robinson over SJD as an early down run stuffer. Unless they draft someone to play behind AD I could very easily see Gaines in that role. Gaines is your classic one gap DT who's game is penetration who can play both 1T and 3T. I think Floyd gives them as dangerous of an edge rusher as they had in Fowler. Remember that Fowler also graded out a marginal edge rusher when he was with the Jags. The improved secondary they have is going to pay dividends up front. OC's won't know in advance what scheme the Rams will be playing if they decide to pass. With Phillips it was almost always zone because Phillips lacked the LB's to play man. Staley now has those LBs. This could be a top 10 unit with the talent they have.
