Raheem Morris breaks down each of the Rams’ 5 starting DB’s…

Raheem Morris breaks down each of the Rams' 5 starting DBs

[theramswire.usatoday.com]

Cameron DaSilva

One of the major strengths of the Rams defense last season was the secondary, led by All-Pro Jalen Ramsey. It was a unit that made throwing the ball against Los Angeles incredibly difficult, finishing first in the NFL in passing yards and touchdown passes allowed.

Troy Hill and John Johnson both left in free agency, but the Rams’ secondary still looks like one of the best around. They’ll benefit from having Raheem Morris coaching them, too, given his history of working with defensive backs.

The Rams’ new defensive coordinator loves the way his corners and safeties have progressed throughout the offseason in advance of Week 1 against the Bears. On Thursday, Morris went player by player and broke down each of the Rams’ five starters in the secondary, analyzing their strengths and skill sets.

It’s worth noting that he mentioned Taylor Rapp and not Terrell Burgess, which confirms the expectation that it’ll be Rapp starting next to Jordan Fuller. Burgess will still get opportunities, but those will likely come in nickel and dime packages rather than in the base defense.

CB Jalen Ramsey


(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
Morris: “He’s just extremely smart, extremely talented. Right now, he has shown me nothing but how hard he practices and how hard he is willing to go for his teammates and all the things that he’s been able to do since I’ve been here. Just a wonderful pleasure to be around. A wonderful guy to work with. A wonderful guy to coach. He’s with you when you’re right. and if he has an opinion of his own, he’ll say it. If he has a problem, he comes to my office, which I love. He goes to the people that can fix the problem instead of talking to people that can’t. Those are the things that I love about Jalen, and those are the things that I’ve watched him grow in just being here for the short amount of time that I have been.”

CB Darious Williams


Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Morris: “You talk about Darious Williams, ‘D-Will,’ you’re talking about an over-analytical guy who really dives deep into movement. He really dives deep into other people’s skillsets. He really dives deep into what we’re doing and how it’s going to affect him and his game moving forward. So, you want to be able to talk to him in an over-analytical way to give him a space to think about how he’s going to play it. Then have a little bit of leniency to fall back to say, ‘Hey, this is how we do it together.’ And I love that about him. It’s the beauty of learning how to work with different people. You know, treat people all with respect but not the same. It’s a great deal.”

CB David Long Jr.


Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Morris: “’D-Lo,’ when you’re talking about David Long, you’re talking about a guy that’s putting in so much work into his craft and what he wants to be and how he wants to grow. He’s definitely putting in a lot of investment into one of his really good buddies “D-Will,” and you see those two constantly talking about how they want to play, how they want to move, how they want to do things. They’re able to articulate that very well. So, it’s very fun to be around those three corners. When you’re talking about a starting standpoint – from your sub-packages and those guys getting out there and playing at a high level.”

S Jordan Fuller


(AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo)
Morris: “You’re talking about a guy well above his years, being voted captain. You’re talking about one of those serious guys that has got our green dot. That’s going out there and absolutely leading our group at a high level. That’s so much fun to be around. You’re talking about a young man who is well beyond his years when it comes to football maturity – well beyond his years when it comes to life maturity. He’s probably more mature than me when it comes to that. He’s awesome.”

S Taylor Rapp


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Morris: “You talk about Taylor Rapp, you’re talking about a violent football player who cannot wait to show his violence. You’re talking about a very easily ticked-off human. You’re talking about a very sawed-off, ready to go and go out there and create that play for us ­from a splash play, make-a-difference-play type of mentality that he gets really excited about that and those moments. And I can’t wait to see him go out and play. He’s one of the fun guys to tease, cause he doesn’t know whether he’s going to come over there and punch you or he’s going to go out there and execute something really well for you and I love that about him and I love that mentality that he brings to work every single day.”