Sean McVay breaks down what makes Micah Kiser a good linebacker
Cameron DaSilva
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theramswire.usatoday.com]
Among the young players expected to step up in 2019 is Micah Kiser, a fifth-round pick of the Los Angeles Rams last year. He didn’t play a single regular-season snap on defense, but he was a core special teams player and really showed up in the preseason with 26 tackles and two passes defensed.
He’s penciled in as Mark Barron’s replacement at inside linebacker, starting next to Cory Littleton. Kiser has been taking first-team reps on defense, which is a good sign for his chances of being a key player in 2019.
Kiser has always been a physical and smart player dating back to his days at Virginia, which stood out to the Rams before the draft. This week, Sean McVay talked about some of the traits that stood out to him about Kiser and what he likes about his game.
“One of the things that you loved about him was the instincts, the awareness, the ability to anticipate – especially when so much of defense is reactionary based on some of things you can gather before the snap and then once that thing happens post-snap, it’s how quickly can I adapt and adjust based on whatever that call is defensively and what the offensive set, whether running it or throwing it dictates,” McVay said.
Kiser may not be the best athlete at linebacker, but his instincts allow him to get in the right spot to make a play.
“He’s always had a good feel. I think he’s naturally a tough guy, he’s a great tackler,” McVay continued. “I think one of the things that showed up for him consistently was he found the role as the season progressed to be a core special teams player for ‘Bones’ and then he just got better and better on the defensive side of the ball.”
Playing in the preseason versus the regular season is a completely different story, given the plays used and the level of competition. However, Kiser was a standout player for the Rams last summer and the team hopes that can translate to next season.
McVay is excited to see what he can do when the regular season begins after seeing him improve already this spring.
“When he played in the preseason games last year, he was active. He’s one of those guys, you hear us talk about it all the time, you feel players on defense. He arrives, he’s violent, he gets guys down in a hurry,” McVay said. “I think Joe Barry does a great job getting all these inside linebackers up to speed and really having an ownership of the system and Micah’s definitely showing why he’s a pro and he’s gotten a lot better in Year 2 and we’re looking forward to seeing it translate when we actually play real football.”
