Nice post on Ram LB situation by BonifayRam...
| January 22, 2020 03:00PM |
Here’s BonifayRam...
Cory Littleton was my favorite defensive player.
I still believe CL @ 27 is an ascending NFL player. I expect when CL arrives @ his new team that the DC will tap CL's stealthy great interior pass rush skills.....something not done here the last 3 seasons. I will be very sad to see him depart this team.
This is one player who deserves a good increase in pay. Shame it will not be in LA. Rams salary cap funds have been mandated for other Rams making it mostly impossible to even consider making CL a new suitable contract offer. Demoff does have some mounting high cost contracts now & many are clear on the side of being overpaid vs present game day productions.
I believe that Snead has done a good job (y)
for this upcoming 2020 season @ ILB'er. I do not think that our new DC will be upset with his five ILB prospects
Micah Kiser who was to be the starting ILB'er in 2019 will return from the full season on the IR. He was injured early in preseason & had to undergo surgery on his left pectoral. Kiser has a good rookie season in 2018 as the MLB'er back up to Littleton. Kiser is only 24 yrs old. Kiser is considered much more MLB'er that WSILB'er.
Travin Howard who is only 23 yrs old was also drafted the same yr as Kiser had a good 2019 season as the top reserve WSILB'er. As the season went on Howard came on. In games in which he was on the field with the defense his impact was felt positively. He had late season surge & anticipate WSILB Travin Howard as a 2020 starter next to MLB'er Kiser in 2020.
MLB'er Troy Reader who was a 2019 UDFA was a 3 season starting college strong side OLB'er till became a Ram. Rookie Reader had over 8 starts & played in all 16 gms. Reader is not an athletic LB'er with much speed, but he is a deep football thinker that the Rams Org were fast to discover. As a part-time mostly run stopper Troy has over 52 involved tackles & 2 forced fumbles. Reader played @ 6-3 250 plus lbs is a force when assigned to back up the middle of the DL on run downs. Sadly Reader was assigned duties covering fast tailbacks & fast TE's way too often. I would expect that the next time we Troy... he will be different shredding pounds of excess fat & serious muscle tone MLB'er for serious 2020 bang time in the box.
Snead went hunting for some experienced ILB'er help after starter Kiser went on IR. WSILB'er Kenny Young became a Ram in the trade of Marcus Peters to the Ravens. Young is entering his 4th season has 30 NFL gms & 6 starts. Last season he played in 9 gms. Young is from LA & it is his home. He is a former UCLA LB standout. Snead scout team had eyes on Young before he was drafted early in the 4th round. Snead knew Young is really talented explosive athlete that was needed to added to the WSILB'ing positions. Young could easily end up as our starting ILB'er.
Lastly entering the ILB'er picture is UDFA Patrick Natrez. Natrez was a big surprise to make the 2019 roster & even a bigger surprise to do it as a edge rusher. Natrez was a trouble star MLB'er @ UGA. Appears to me that Natrez got his act together finally in 2019 & turned in some hard work for our team. NP played in 9 gms. Not sure where Natrez will end up yet either on the edge or inside, but he will be playing someone & just put him in he will give you all he has.
Cory Littleton was my favorite defensive player.
I still believe CL @ 27 is an ascending NFL player. I expect when CL arrives @ his new team that the DC will tap CL's stealthy great interior pass rush skills.....something not done here the last 3 seasons. I will be very sad to see him depart this team.
This is one player who deserves a good increase in pay. Shame it will not be in LA. Rams salary cap funds have been mandated for other Rams making it mostly impossible to even consider making CL a new suitable contract offer. Demoff does have some mounting high cost contracts now & many are clear on the side of being overpaid vs present game day productions.
I believe that Snead has done a good job (y)
for this upcoming 2020 season @ ILB'er. I do not think that our new DC will be upset with his five ILB prospectsMicah Kiser who was to be the starting ILB'er in 2019 will return from the full season on the IR. He was injured early in preseason & had to undergo surgery on his left pectoral. Kiser has a good rookie season in 2018 as the MLB'er back up to Littleton. Kiser is only 24 yrs old. Kiser is considered much more MLB'er that WSILB'er.
Travin Howard who is only 23 yrs old was also drafted the same yr as Kiser had a good 2019 season as the top reserve WSILB'er. As the season went on Howard came on. In games in which he was on the field with the defense his impact was felt positively. He had late season surge & anticipate WSILB Travin Howard as a 2020 starter next to MLB'er Kiser in 2020.
MLB'er Troy Reader who was a 2019 UDFA was a 3 season starting college strong side OLB'er till became a Ram. Rookie Reader had over 8 starts & played in all 16 gms. Reader is not an athletic LB'er with much speed, but he is a deep football thinker that the Rams Org were fast to discover. As a part-time mostly run stopper Troy has over 52 involved tackles & 2 forced fumbles. Reader played @ 6-3 250 plus lbs is a force when assigned to back up the middle of the DL on run downs. Sadly Reader was assigned duties covering fast tailbacks & fast TE's way too often. I would expect that the next time we Troy... he will be different shredding pounds of excess fat & serious muscle tone MLB'er for serious 2020 bang time in the box.
Snead went hunting for some experienced ILB'er help after starter Kiser went on IR. WSILB'er Kenny Young became a Ram in the trade of Marcus Peters to the Ravens. Young is entering his 4th season has 30 NFL gms & 6 starts. Last season he played in 9 gms. Young is from LA & it is his home. He is a former UCLA LB standout. Snead scout team had eyes on Young before he was drafted early in the 4th round. Snead knew Young is really talented explosive athlete that was needed to added to the WSILB'ing positions. Young could easily end up as our starting ILB'er.
Lastly entering the ILB'er picture is UDFA Patrick Natrez. Natrez was a big surprise to make the 2019 roster & even a bigger surprise to do it as a edge rusher. Natrez was a trouble star MLB'er @ UGA. Appears to me that Natrez got his act together finally in 2019 & turned in some hard work for our team. NP played in 9 gms. Not sure where Natrez will end up yet either on the edge or inside, but he will be playing someone & just put him in he will give you all he has.
