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Coy Bacon
JY, so if I understand you correctly you're saying we need a faster/quicker ILB instead of a run-stuffing ILB that Wagner is supposed to still be?
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What I am saying is when an team runs a 5-1 or even a 4-2 they are light in the box and they are kind of "giving up" the run to some degree. When they are playing the 4-3, 3-4, 6-1 (which is a form of the 4-3) they are playing the "straight". When they play the 46 or any 8-man front they are "taking away the run"
So, with exceptional play a team can slow the run playing with a six-man box. I am saying the last 2 years the Rams have done that. Playing the run with 6 men is like playing with one arm tied behind your back and in doing sow Rams have been top 5 both in 2020-2021, better in 2020.
Versus run-heavy teams Rams play the 3-4 or 6-1, when teams go with 21 or 12 personnel. If we get gashed which happens once in a while, they walk up a safety and go 8-man front and that stops the bleeding.
But the more men in the box, the fewer to cover and if their QB is hot and you are covering with 3 or 4 then it's not your day. You lose unless your offense is also hot---then you have a shootout.
SO, yes, a 5-1 requires a quicker LBer.... I'd take a 2016 Bobby Wagenr or a 2022 Jones...or a 2000 Ray Lewis... just not a 2021 Reeder.
I saw what you saw in Wagner. A good, not great player when I watched parts of 3 games recently. He;s good and if we get him he'd be playing only in the 4-2 or 3-4. Jones, IMO, would still be the "1" in the 5-1 and the 6-1...that is my guess.
Wagner would be the backip "1" and one of the "2" in the 3-4. And in the "heavy" 4-2 he's be one of the "2". In the light 4-2 a safety would be there in his place.
