NFL Safety rankings: Where do Rams stack up in NFC?

NFL safety rankings: Where do Rams currently stack up in NFC?
The Rams may have the least-experienced safeties unit in the NFL right now

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Kenneth Arthur



The Los Angeles Rams will be overhauling their safeties group, as has clearly been the case with many units on the roster for 2023. After Taylor Rapp signed with the Buffalo Bills and Nick Scott joined the Cincinnati Bengals, it is not clear who Sean McVay and Raheem Morris plan to start in their places next season.

What else isn’t new?

Scott played 984 snaps and Rapp played 977, ranking third and fourth on the defense. The top-two (Bobby Wagner, Jalen Ramsey) and the next two (Leonard Floyd, Greg Gaines) are also departed.

After reviewing the NFC’s probable cornerbacks units for 2023 and comparing them to L.A.’s current situation, where does the other half of the secondary rank next season for the Rams? A look around the rest of the conference may help bring even more perspective and clarity to where the 2023 L.A. Rams may rank going into the draft.

Some guides:

New Player in 2023

2021 or 2022 FIRST, SECOND, or THIRD ROUND PICK

*2021 or 2022 Pro Bowl

I will list defensive coordinator in parentheses, then which first round pick(s) that team has this year

Safeties

Bucs (Kacy Rodgers/Larry Foote) - FS Antoine Winfield, Jr.*, SS Ryan Neal, Nolan Turner (First round pick: 19)

49ers (Steve Wilks) - FS Tashaun Gipson, SS Talanoa Hufanga*, George Odum (First round pick: None)

Seahawks (Clint Hurtt) - FS Quandre Diggs*, SS Jamal Adams, Joey Blount (First round picks: 5, 20)

Commanders (Jack Del Rio) - FS Darrick Forrest, SS Kamren Curl, Percy Butler (First round pick: 16)

Falcons (Ryan Nielsen) - FS Jessie Bates III, SS RICHIE GRANT, Jaylinn Hawkins (First round pick: 8)

Cardinals (Nick Rallis) - FS Jalen Thompson, SS Budda Baker*, Josh Thomas (First round pick: 3)

Lions (Aaron Glenn) - FS Tracy Walker III, SS C.J. Gardner-Johnson, KERBY JOSEPH (First round picks: 6, 18)

Bears (Alan Williams) - FS Eddie Jackson, SS Jaquan Brisker, Elijah Hicks (First round pick: 9)

Vikings (Brian Flores) - FS Camryn Bynum, SS Harrison Smith*, LEWIS CINE (First round pick: 23)

Cowboys (Dan Quinn) - FS Malik Hooker, SS Donovan Wilson, Jayron Kearse (First round pick: 26)

Eagles (Sean Desai) - FS Reed Blankenship, SS Terrell Edmunds, K’Von Wallace (First round picks: 10, 30)

Packers (Joe Barry) - FS Tarvarius Moore, SS Darnell Savage, Rudy Ford (First round pick: 15)

Saints (Joe Woods) - FS Marcus Maye, SS Tyrann Mathieu*, Johnathan Abram (First round pick: 29)

Panthers (Ejiro Evero) - FS Xavier Woods, SS Vonn Bell, Eric Rowe (First round pick: 1)

Giants (Wink Martindale) - FS Xavier McKinney, SS Bobby McCain, Jason Pinnock (First round pick: 25)

Before we get to the Rams current safeties unit, let me say that ranking these units is extremely difficult for two reasons: There’s a lot of change every year at the safety position, which you can see from the number of new starters. And also because we are in an era of “position-less” football in which I might not even be listing a guy who could be a safety, he just happens to be listed as a corner. Or a corner who is listed as a safety. Teams will often play three safeties and we won’t know until the end of the year which of these names above ends up getting the most playing time.

Rams (Raheem Morris) - FS Russ Yeast, SS Jordan Fuller, Quentin Lake (First round pick: None)

It seems unlikely that the Rams will use their first pick on a safety, as teams rarely invest that early and L.A. has many other pressing needs right now. So who will actually start at safety coming out of training camp? Yeast, Fuller, and Lake? The only other player on the team listed as a safety is Richard LeCounte III.

Most teams at least have experience at safety. The Rams have Fuller’s 29 career starts, but he only appeared in three games and made one start in 2022. Lake appeared in nine games. Yeast appeared in 15 games but only played 113 snaps on defense.