Comparing this years vs last years defense, i think we upgraded !

[Dodgersrf]

I think some may be underestimating the potential Easley impact, and so long as his knees/quad hold up, we've made a huge F/A acquisition here for very little cost. Agree with most all you say, although i'll withhold on the Gaines > Jenkins comment until I see a bit more. Really like what i've read about UDFA FS Randolph as well. Our already excellent pass rush should become elite with Hayes, Donald, Easley & Quinn operating at the same time.

Here's a little something from PFF on the Easley pick-up :

"The Rams’ interior pass rush gets even better with Dominique Easley signing: It came as something of a surprise when the New England Patriots released Easley, their first-round draft pick from 2014. The move was reportedly more due to off-field reasons than his play on the field, which makes sense given that, when healthy, Easley was a pretty good defensive lineman for New England. He had the 12th-highest grade among defensive tackles in 2015, playing just 275 snaps.

While he graded positively against the run, it was as a pass-rusher where he really made his mark. Rushing the passer on 210 of his 275 snaps, Easley had the highest pass-rushing productivity of any defensive tackle in the NFL at 12.9. With three sacks, eight hits and 24 hurries, not even new teammate Aaron Donald was as productive on a per-snap basis. That’s not to say he’s better than Donald, who was the best player in football last year, and dominated across a much higher sample size, but it’s an indication of how good Easley was in limited action.

The knock on Easley is that, at 6-foot-2 and 290 pounds, he’s considered undersized for his position. That was the same knock on Donald coming into the league, and was the same knock on Nick Fairley, who played in St. Louis with the Rams last year, and recently signed with the New Orleans Saints. Fairley played 427 snaps for the Rams last year, and that’s the kind of role that we can expect to see from Easley, with Donald and Michael Brockers seeing the bulk of the snaps in the interior of the Rams defensive line.

That’s the beauty of this signing for the Rams. They don’t need Easley to come in and be a superstar, they just need him to be productive as part of a defensive line rotation, and replace Fairley’s production".

PFF's 2015 Run-stop grades :

Easley - 15'th
Fairley - 32'nd

PFF's 2015 Pass Rush production grades :

Easley - 1'st
Fairley - 18'th

I didn't realize Easley was that effective against the run.
He could back up Donald and Brockers.

 

[ramsman34]

O. Tree played middle/inside backer at Georgia

 

[Adi]

My slightly more optimistic view of the '16 D vs the '15 version...

I think (hope) that Quinn is back to 100%. If so, clear advantage '16 version.

Hayes/Coples>Long/Hayes

Easley>Fairley in terms of DL impact.

Donald? Same, maybe even slightly better due to other improvements on DL.

Brockers? Same

Ogletree>J Lau at MLB for the 35% of snaps in the 4/3 D.

Barron? Same

TruJo? Same

Gaines>Jenkins in overall effectiveness. There, I said it.

Joyner? Might be slightly better in his 3rd season.

McDonald? Probably the same.

That leaves McLeod's old position as the only possible regression. And I'm hardly willing to concede that, frankly. I really like the possibilities with Alexander, Bryant, Davis, and Randolph back there. Plus Whitner signing after June 1 might happen, if you're all hung up on experience.

Bottom line? If Quinn comes back healthy, we are an IMPROVED overall D vs '15.

I like that you said it about Jenkins, I think a lot of people forget he gave up big plays at the worst times and admitted himself that he was not playing hard in the last moments of games. He did make a lot of big plays but he is not elite to me and I think losing him will not hurt the secondary.

 

[DickersonGurley]

I think Barron plays a lot better. He's 100% in at LB where last year was kind of hybrid new to him. It's his spot, his alone, personally I think he kills it this year.

Run D will be ok. Donald all but eliminates whatever gap he shoots, and commands double or triple teams. That and the BIG guy will keep blockers off our track team of LBers to seek and destroy.

 

[BonifayRam]

Let see where do we have known departures & changes....I'll do upgrades first:

#1-MLB- JL vs Ogletree, a Major Upgrade.
#2-LDE- Long vs Hayes, Loose some on pass rush gain some on the run support gain on a healthier stronger player. Upgrade.
#3-Reserve 4th LB'er- Bates vs Hager/Lynch/Forrest, Upgrade.
#4-Reserve LDE- Hayes vs Westbrooks, When I look at a Hayes/Westbrooks rotation in comparison to a Long/Hayes rotation I prefer the Hayes/Westbrooks/Longacre, Upgrade.
#5-Reserve 4th corner- Patterson vs Sensabaugh. Upgrade.

#1-WSLB- Ogletree vs Barron, Even.
#2-Reserve DT's- Westbrooks/Fairley vs { Easley/Coples/ Tricant-Pasat}, Even.

#1-CB- JJ vs Gaines, I prefer Gaines general all around effort better than JJ- Slight Diminished.
#2-FS- Rod McLeod vs Unknown Prospects,{McDonald, Davis, Bryant, Randolph,Jordan} Slight Diminished.
#3-Reserve NT- Fairley vs Worthington, Major Diminished.

Overall this early 2016 season, I would say the Ram org has made a slight upgrade to the defense overall. The interior DL run defense after Brockers is highly questionable.

 

[Rams43]

Let see where do we have known departures & changes....I'll do upgrades first:

#1-MLB- JL vs Ogletree, a Major Upgrade.
#2-LDE- Long vs Hayes, Loose some on pass rush gain some on the run support gain on a healthier stronger player. Upgrade.
#3-Reserve 4th LB'er- Bates vs Hager/Lynch/Forrest, Upgrade.
#4-Reserve LDE- Hayes vs Westbrooks, When I look at a Hayes/Westbrooks rotation in comparison to a Long/Hayes rotation I prefer the Hayes/Westbrooks/Longacre, Upgrade.
#5-Reserve 4th corner- Patterson vs Sensabaugh. Upgrade.

#1-WSLB- Ogletree vs Barron, Even.
#2-Reserve DT's- Westbrooks/Fairley vs { Easley/Coples/ Tricant-Pasat}, Even.

#1-CB- JJ vs Gaines, I prefer Gaines general all around effort better than JJ- Slight Diminished.
#2-FS- Rod McLeod vs Unknown Prospects,{McDonald, Davis, Bryant, Randolph,Jordan} Slight Diminished.
#3-Reserve NT- Fairley vs Worthington, Major Diminished.

Overall this early 2016 season, I would say the Ram org has made a slight upgrade to the defense overall. The interior DL run defense after Brockers is highly questionable.

Nicely outlined, Bonifay.

We're on the same page, yet again.

 

[FrantikRam]

I think it'll be a major win if our defense is as strong as it has been.

The problem as I see it with that is, our defense still hasn't been good enough - for this team to make noise, it has to field a top 5 defense.

I think we're on our way, but losing half your starters in the secondary won't help - and what we're doing at LB could almost go down as an experiment.

The offense has to improve and if they do, it'll help the defense too.

 

[FrantikRam]

Let see where do we have known departures & changes....I'll do upgrades first:

#1-MLB- JL vs Ogletree, a Major Upgrade.
#2-LDE- Long vs Hayes, Loose some on pass rush gain some on the run support gain on a healthier stronger player. Upgrade.
#3-Reserve 4th LB'er- Bates vs Hager/Lynch/Forrest, Upgrade.
#4-Reserve LDE- Hayes vs Westbrooks, When I look at a Hayes/Westbrooks rotation in comparison to a Long/Hayes rotation I prefer the Hayes/Westbrooks/Longacre, Upgrade.
#5-Reserve 4th corner- Patterson vs Sensabaugh. Upgrade.

#1-WSLB- Ogletree vs Barron, Even.
#2-Reserve DT's- Westbrooks/Fairley vs { Easley/Coples/ Tricant-Pasat}, Even.

#1-CB- JJ vs Gaines, I prefer Gaines general all around effort better than JJ- Slight Diminished.
#2-FS- Rod McLeod vs Unknown Prospects,{McDonald, Davis, Bryant, Randolph,Jordan} Slight Diminished.
#3-Reserve NT- Fairley vs Worthington, Major Diminished.

Overall this early 2016 season, I would say the Ram org has made a slight upgrade to the defense overall. The interior DL run defense after Brockers is highly questionable.

JJ vs Gaines is a no contest. Gaines is a complete unknown at this point. Our CB group is considerably weakened.

At FS, again, it's considerably weakened. I think you underrate both Jenkins and especially McCleod.

I would argue both of this losses were FAR bigger than losing Fairley. I have no issue with our DL depth.

 

[DaveFan'51]

Every body is talking pass defense. I'm scared that whee the defense will regress is in stopping the run. Outside of Brockers everyone on the defense is built for speed. (a case could be made for Ayers too....but he's not an every down LB anyway.....). But if we can't hold up against the run. We'll get grinded on and take our running game away. And our offense isn't up to task yet for winning games totaly through the air.

Ogletree is the key. If he can hold up against the run (make plays in the hole instead of 7 or 8 yds down the field....ala JL last year.....) we'll be alright....but that is a very big question.

I think with our newer, younger players like Trinca-Pasat clogging up the middle, the outside run game, letting them get around the edges, is were we have to be careful! Other than that, I think we're in fine shape!!JMHO

 

[DaveFan'51]

JJ vs Gaines is a no contest. Gaines is a complete unknown at this point. Our CB group is considerably weakened.

At FS, again, it's considerably weakened. I think you underrate both Jenkins and especially McCleod.

I would argue both of this losses were FAR bigger than losing Fairley. I have no issue with our DL depth.

JMO But I think you'll be proven wrong, on most of this! We'll see!

 

[FrantikRam]

JMO But I think you'll be proven wrong, on most of this! We'll see!

I would love to be proven wrong on this...but, right now there's not much of my post that you can disagree with.

McCleod developed into a good starting FS - to suggest that replacing him with a complete unknown is only a minor upgrade is...well, homerism at its finest.

Same with Jenkins - love him or hate him, he's better than EJ Gaines right now - even more so because Gaines was hurt all of last year - that will have stunted his development and IMO we'd be lucky for him to pick up where he left off his rookie year....which would be good.

All in all our best bet in having a better defense lies with our DL - Quinn hopefully back to 100% will change this defense tremendously. The biggest concern in all this is our run defense because it was mediocre at times last year....and we got smaller at LB.

 

[BonifayRam]

JJ vs Gaines is a no contest. Gaines is a complete unknown at this point. Our CB group is considerably weakened.

At FS, again, it's considerably weakened. I think you underrate both Jenkins and especially McCleod.

I would argue both of this losses were FAR bigger than losing Fairley. I have no issue with our DL depth.

I will certainly bookmark your thoughts here & will entertain them with you this 2016 mid season.

I did laugh at your claim that the 2014 starting CB & entering the 2015 season was our starting CB EJ Gaines being considered a "complete unknown" by you. EJ Gaines is a complete corner one who can play both sides of the defense the nickel & dime positions very well. While he may not be the big play artist that JJ was he was certainly more well rounded & more versatile in the secondary than JJ ever was. I am very happy with Snead's & Fisher's decision on the selection of retaining Trumaine Johnson's services over JJ. I never said that EJ Gaines was an equal to JJ talents. In fact I listed this particular change as a non positive.

Reference the loss of Rodney, like JJ was going to happen no mater what because of the salary cap demands. Once again I listed this personnel change as a non positive too, however if TJ McDonald talent was put into Rodney's post as I expect I would expect my non positive rating to be way off & more closer to an upgrade.

Can you tell me which Ram DL'er beside Brockers who has lined up & played nose tackle in the base run defense?

 

[FrantikRam]

I will certainly bookmark your thoughts here & will entertain them with you this 2016 mid season.

I did laugh at your claim that the 2014 starting CB & entering the 2015 season was our starting CB EJ Gaines being considered a "complete unknown" by you. EJ Gaines is a complete corner one who can play both sides of the defense the nickel & dime positions very well. While he may not be the big play artist that JJ was he was certainly more well rounded & more versatile in the secondary than JJ ever was. I am very happy with Snead's & Fisher's decision on the selection of retaining Trumaine Johnson's services over JJ. I never said that EJ Gaines was an equal to JJ talents. In fact I listed this particular change as a non positive.

Reference the loss of Rodney, like JJ was going to happen no mater what because of the salary cap demands. Once again I listed this personnel change as a non positive too, however if TJ McDonald talent was put into Rodney's post as I expect I would expect my non positive rating to be way off & more closer to an upgrade.

Can you tell me which Ram DL'er beside Brockers who has lined up & played nose tackle in the base run defense?

EJ Gaines has to be considered an unknown...he played well his rookie year and then had a serious injury - I think he can still be good but to say he is anywhere close to Jenkins? Makes no sense at this point. You labeled this as "slight diminished", I would label it as major.

Same for McCleod. I was not as happy with them franchising TruJo because he's been hurt too many times...if that happens this year we are in serious trouble...but I love TruJo as a player so I'm fine that Jenkins is gone.

But relying on starting CBs who only played in 14 out of a possible 32 games last year is a bit troubling, yes? Even if they stay healthy, there's still a big drop off between Jenkins and Gaines, unless Gaines takes a major step forward.

McCleod was better than McDonald last year, so I'm not sure what you mean by that comment. I'm hoping that Alexander or Joyner can play FS.

Fairley is more known for his prowess rushing the passer than he is stopping the run. I don't think he played particularly well for us outside of a few plays here and there...I'm excited about the young guys we have as depth and think that in the long run, we'll be better off without Fairley. Worthington, Trinsica-Pasat, Westbrooks, Coples, and Sims will all line up inside at some point or another - and playing next to Aaron Donald won't hurt any of them. I like our ability to use those guys on a situational basis as needed.

 

[FrantikRam]

I will certainly bookmark your thoughts here & will entertain them with you this 2016 mid season.

I did laugh at your claim that the 2014 starting CB & entering the 2015 season was our starting CB EJ Gaines being considered a "complete unknown" by you. EJ Gaines is a complete corner one who can play both sides of the defense the nickel & dime positions very well. While he may not be the big play artist that JJ was he was certainly more well rounded & more versatile in the secondary than JJ ever was. I am very happy with Snead's & Fisher's decision on the selection of retaining Trumaine Johnson's services over JJ. I never said that EJ Gaines was an equal to JJ talents. In fact I listed this particular change as a non positive.

Reference the loss of Rodney, like JJ was going to happen no mater what because of the salary cap demands. Once again I listed this personnel change as a non positive too, however if TJ McDonald talent was put into Rodney's post as I expect I would expect my non positive rating to be way off & more closer to an upgrade.

Can you tell me which Ram DL'er beside Brockers who has lined up & played nose tackle in the base run defense?

BTW...I would love to be wrong about this. I am just expecting a small step backward before a giant leap forward in 2017. Tempering my expectations with all of the craziness this offseason has brought.

 

[Shoman01]

Jenkins is the only player that was lost that has all-pro potential....He's the only real loss.....

If we go with this....then Bryant, Mo Alexander, or Brian Randolph are my top picks to play FS.
If I go with my gut, Mo Alexander will move to SS, with TJ McDonald as the new FS.....

McDonald maybe suspended for a couple games at the beginning of the year due to his arrest. Hopefully they have a backup plan for replacing him.