A couple of Jourdan excerpts from her latest article…

Through conversations with Rams personnel over the last few weeks, I believe that while the defense will look a bit different this season (just as it did from 2020-21), we’ll definitely see schematic tweaks and different evolutions or removal of certain concepts. This could manifest in more 4-2-5 (obviously with outside linebackers, not defensive ends up front), but they still want to find a way to utilize their 5-1 fronts and that could mean at times moving Wagner or Jones up to the line of scrimmage, or spelling one of them. Further, they particularly found success late in the year with a three-man front composed of Aaron Donald, Greg Gaines and A’Shawn Robinson and that’s something they’ll continue to explore, among other avenues. The point here is that they’ll continue to be multiple; it’s no longer accurate to confine them to a “base” (although they’re most often in nickel, and although they have outside linebackers and not defensive ends) and more accurate instead to categorize them within a philosophy. In that sense, their Vic Fangio/Staley philosophy becomes a Fangio/Staley/Raheem Morris philosophy in 2022.

And this one…

There has been some speculation by fans of the team that, due to the addition of Wagner, the Rams will make large-scale philosophical changes to their defense just two seasons after switching it under Brandon Staley. This simply isn’t true, although parts of their defense will certainly change in reaction to how teams countered it last season and what the coaching staff expects those counters to be in 2022.

The Rams signed Wagner because of the chance to add Wagner specifically, not necessarily a scheme-altering inside linebacker. They would have needed another player to step in alongside second-year starter Ernest Jones regardless because they did not extend Troy Reeder. While tendering restricted free agent linebacker Travin Howard was a priority for the team, having Wagner become that player over Howard was certainly an opportunity the Rams wanted to take. Adding his leadership qualities and future Hall of Fame ability to direct the defense further moved the team in expressing their mutual interest in signing him. Wagner’s contract does not reflect a holistic defensive shift (nor does it totally reflect a long-term financial shift as the Rams haven’t historically invested in the position).