We shouldn't go to sleep on Cory Littleton...

BY MARK WHICKER/ STAFF COLUMNIST


Whicker: Rams rookie LB Cory Littleton hopes to make the team - and the main locker room
Aug. 21, 2016 Updated 11:31 a.m.

[www.ocregister.com]



"Some days he's going to be all right and some days he's not going to. The good thing is that he stayed strong in there."
– Rams receiver Tevon Austin, on Jared Goff

LOS ANGELES – The Rams’ locker room has a story to tell, just like a totem pole.

Guys with their own lockers probably are OK. Guys who are splitting lockers with other guys might or might not be OK.

Then there’s The Closet.

You walk out of the main room and take a left, into what will probably be used as a storage facility when the Rams get down to a working regular-season number. There were about 20 Rams dressing in The Closet Saturday night, their clothes on chairs, getting in and out just to beat the claustrophobia.

No one has to tell these residents of The Closet that most of them won’t be hangering around. After all, they wouldn’t be in there if they weren’t spare parts.

But there is a way to escape The Closet, and it starts on the Coliseum field that the Rams find when they come down the tunnel. For Cory Littleton, that was a place where he could stretch out and be comfortable Saturday night.

Littleton is an undrafted free agent from Washington. He is the final name listed at linebacker on the Rams depth chart. However, Littleton was rushed into service and played most of the middle two quarters. No one knows what the coaches will glean from tape, but Littleton was active and visible. He turned in three solo tackles, one of which threw Darren Reaves for a 3-yard loss, and he hit Kansas City quarterback Nick Foles.

He’s looking for signs. The fact that he got early action could be a good one.

“We had a little depth issue, and I had an opportunity to play,” Littleton said. “I’ve never played linebacker in the box like that before. I’m not going to lie. You play athletes on this level like this, it’s different. You just play as fast as possible, and try to make as few mistakes as you can.”

Littleton smiled. “And if you do make a mistake, make it as fast as possible.”

There are some opportunities at linebacker, behind Alec Ogletree, Akeem Ayers and Mark Barron. Cameron Lynch and Bryce Hager are returning backups. The Rams’ only drafted linebacker this year was Josh Forrest.

But Littleton lost traction because Washington is on the quarter system, and he was finishing school when the Rams were in the middle of OTAs in Oxnard.

“I got there the last week,” he said. “It definitely put me behind. There was nothing I could do about that. But if you gotta do longer hours to learn the playbook, you have to do that. I’ve only got a quarter left to get my degree, which is good. But I’m not going to lie, I had to catch up on everything.”

In the end, he said, it was all about production, and he didn’t skimp on that.

“I got to play a lot tonight against some guys who will definitely be playing in the NFL this year,” Littleton said. “That’s the only thing I can control.”

The Rams came back to win, 21-20, as Jared Goff hit Malcolm Brown with the winning touchdown pass. “Jared put that ball where nobody else could get it,” Brown said, “and I was able to move around and get it. He told me good job, I told him good job. He just has to get his feet underneath him, get the jitters off.”

For the second straight week the starters looked a little shaky, particularly on pass defense, and Goff was patchy in the second quarter.

But Brown has been forceful in both preseason games. He had a strong career at Texas and made the Rams after he was undrafted in 2015. He picked up 68 yards in 12 tries against the Chiefs.

With Todd Gurley poised to become the next coverboy back, Brown and Benny Cunningham know that these are their Super Bowls. They will get repeated chances to build a rhythm, to inspire trust in either the Rams or any of 31 NFL teams who are looking for a runner/pass protector.

“From last year to this year, the biggest difference is where my head is,” Brown said. “I realized early on that it’s all about confidence in this league. It’s the NFL, it’s crazy when you get involved in it for the first time.

“I need to get it going,” Brown said. “This is my second year and I still remember I’m undrafted. In my mind I’m still trying to make this team.”

It should be noted that Brown was dressing in the big room, but he didn’t have his own locker.

Sometimes you have to deal with short yardage.