Discuss the current Defenses depth chart

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OldSchool

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As I'm looking at it with the latest signing lets discuss the depth chart. The only thing IMO that is really up in the air is the LDE and NT and their rotations. I'm not really assigning roles to the CB group just top 3 and backups at any and all position. This is my take on it this is 31 people which is much more than we'll carry for a 53 man roster (likely 25ish).

RDE: Donald, Longacre
NT: Walker, Easley, Brockers
LDE: Brockers, Easley, Trinca Pasat

WLB: Quinn, Fox
ILB: Ogletree, Forrest, Grigsby
ILB: Barron, Hager, Northrup
SLB: Barwin, Thompson, Littleton

CB: Johnson, Jordan, Christian
CB: Webster, Hill, Countess
CB: Robey-Coleman, Gaines

FS: Joyner, Davis, Christian
SS: Alexander, Randolph, Johnson
 

Legatron4

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Okay seriously people. Michael Brockers WILL NOT PLAY DEFENSIVE END. I'm not trying to be a dick, but in the history of football there has NEVER been a 3-4 DE that weighed 330 pounds. Wade a Phillips likes his NTs to be finesse type guys. Not space eaters. It will be Donald-Brockers-Easley as of right now.
 

OldSchool

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Brockers not at NT?
Need more OLB depth for sure
As I said in the OP we really don't know the plan for NT and RDE. Brockers could end up at NT and Easley at RDE with the others I listed in rotation. And do you want more depth at OLB we have 3 guys there and some of the ILB can play there as well. Or do you want different/better depth there?
 

OldSchool

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Okay seriously people. Michael Brockers WILL NOT PLAY DEFENSIVE END. I'm not trying to be a dick, but in the history of football there has NEVER been a 3-4 DE that weighed 330 pounds. Wade a Phillips likes his NTs to be finesse type guys. Not space eaters. It will be Donald-Brockers-Easley as of right now.
Thank you Wade Phillips for joining the conversation! I didn't realize you'd joined our board and gifted us with your esteemed presence. For the record Brockers has been listed 320-322 lbs since the day we drafted him. That's still heavy but as I said in the OP we don't know their plan for the NT/RDE position as of yet. Until then feel free to speculate. Thank you for contributing to the thread :)
 

Mojo Ram

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Is Phillips a coach who likes to rotate alot on the DLine? (as much as GW did?)
I honestly don't know. If so we need more depth there.
 

OldSchool

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Is Phillips a coach who likes to rotate alot on the DLine? (as much as GW did?)
I honestly don't know. If so we need more depth there.
Don't know a lot about him and his DLine other than he's used smaller NT's in the past and late round ILB along with press/man corners.
 

StealYoGurley

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Is Phillips a coach who likes to rotate alot on the DLine? (as much as GW did?)
I honestly don't know. If so we need more depth there.

Does not rotate nearly as much. Posted something about this in my easily 3-4 DE thread.

Phillips has played with NTs of all different sizes. From the humongous Jamal Williams 6'3 348 to the slightly smaller Earl Mitchell 6'3 311. IMO he wont have a problem sticking with Brockers in a role where he has played well.

Walker played 3-4 DE and DT for our new DL coach Bill Johnson in New Orleans. IMO he will stick there as depth maybe even start depending on how they feel about Easily or what they do in the draft. I don't see Walker starting over Brockers at NT.

I also don't think Fox is a 3-4 OLB. He played undersized penetrating DT last year. If there is a fit for him it may be at 3-4 DE.
 

Rams43

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As I'm looking at it with the latest signing lets discuss the depth chart. The only thing IMO that is really up in the air is the LDE and NT and their rotations. I'm not really assigning roles to the CB group just top 3 and backups at any and all position. This is my take on it this is 31 people which is much more than we'll carry for a 53 man roster (likely 25ish).

RDE: Donald, Longacre
NT: Walker, Easley, Brockers
LDE: Brockers, Easley, Trinca Pasat

WLB: Quinn, Fox
ILB: Ogletree, Forrest, Grigsby
ILB: Barron, Hager, Northrup
SLB: Barwin, Thompson, Littleton

CB: Johnson, Jordan, Christian
CB: Webster, Hill, Countess
CB: Robey-Coleman, Gaines

FS: Joyner, Davis, Christian
SS: Alexander, Randolph, Johnson

Very nice effort, OldSchool.

No room for Westbrooks in that front 7? I think Westbrooks makes our 53, tbh.

A drafted CB, possibly early, seems quite likely, too.

Love the way this staff keeps finding and signing second tier FA's at numerous positions, but if a LB and/or a S were to fall into their laps, I do think that they would pounce in the draft.

FA has demonstrated three things to me.

1) They have a coherent Big Picture overall strategy for upgrading their roster.

2) They understand and recognize talent all up and down the roster positions, not just on one side of the ball or the other.

3) When they see an opportunity for a good player fit, they seize it.

All these things bode well for a successful draft, as well.
 

OldSchool

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Very nice effort, OldSchool.

No room for Westbrooks in that front 7? I think Westbrooks makes our 53, tbh.

A drafted CB, possibly early, seems quite likely, too.

Love the way this staff keeps finding and signing second tier FA's at numerous positions, but if a LB and/or a S were to fall into their laps, I do think that they would pounce in the draft.

FA has demonstrated three things to me.

1) They have a coherent Big Picture overall strategy for upgrading their roster.

2) They understand and recognize talent all up and down the roster positions, not just on one side of the ball or the other.

3) When they see an opportunity for a good player fit, they seize it.

All these things bode well for a successful draft, as well.
Yeah I left Westbrooks off with him being a free agent and no offer extended yet that we've heard plus with his off field incident though it looks like he'll be cleared of that. As it is I stated there are probably 6 or 7 guys on there that don't make the team. We have a 53 man roster and you take off Hekker, GZ and McQuaide all of a sudden we're down to 50 for defense and offense. Figure for the hell of it 25 each side I listed 31 people and left off Westbrook and there are no rookies listed. You add in the rookies and we could see 10 people I listed not back for the regular season.
 

Legatron4

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Thank you Wade Phillips for joining the conversation! I didn't realize you'd joined our board and gifted us with your esteemed presence. For the record Brockers has been listed 320-322 lbs since the day we drafted him. That's still heavy but as I said in the OP we don't know their plan for the NT/RDE position as of yet. Until then feel free to speculate. Thank you for contributing to the thread :)
Like I said, I wasn't trying to be a dick. But people keep making the assumption that Brockers will play end. When that simply won't be the case. I can guarantee you he will be our starting NT when the season starts. He's played that position his whole career. Why would they put him on the edge where he's never been.
 

OldSchool

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Like I said, I wasn't trying to be a dick. But people keep making the assumption that Brockers will play end. When that simply won't be the case. I can guarantee you he will be our starting NT when the season starts. He's played that position his whole career. Why would they put him on the edge where he's never been.
Again reread my OP the whole purpose of my post was to get people discussing the possible depth chart of the defense. I also said we don't know a lot about what Wade will do aside from what he's said about Donald and Joyner. This whole thing was to get discussion going not necessarily get snarky comments that I happen to agree with :)
 

BonifayRam

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Yeah I left Westbrooks off with him being a free agent and no offer extended yet that we've heard plus with his off field incident though it looks like he'll be cleared of that. As it is I stated there are probably 6 or 7 guys on there that don't make the team. We have a 53 man roster and you take off Hekker, GZ and McQuaide all of a sudden we're down to 50 for defense and offense. Figure for the hell of it 25 each side I listed 31 people and left off Westbrook and there are no rookies listed. You add in the rookies and we could see 10 people I listed not back for the regular season.

Found this OldSchool

It clearly states that DE Ethan Westbrooks is under LA Rams contract for the 2017 season & will be a UFA in 2018.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/los-angeles-rams/ethan-westbrooks-15106/

Ethan Westbrooks signed a 1 year, $1,797,000 contract with the Los Angeles Rams, including an average annual salary of $1,797,000. In 2017, Westbrooks will earn a base salary of $1,797,000, while carrying a cap hit of $1,797,000.

I can see Brockers playing a ton of LDE in Wades 34 defense myself. When we see him in camp & see just how he looks ....if he is cut & much thinner then that should tell us a lot. I am betting Brockers comes into camp under 320 pounds easy ready for whatever Wade wants him to do. I would also guess that that Brockers would love to start on the opposite side of Aaron Donald & get a chance to showcase his developing pass rush moves.
 
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fearsomefour

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As I said in the OP we really don't know the plan for NT and RDE. Brockers could end up at NT and Easley at RDE with the others I listed in rotation. And do you want more depth at OLB we have 3 guys there and some of the ILB can play there as well. Or do you want different/better depth there?
competition....a lot of unproven depth there if that makes sense.
I didn't read all those irritating words at the beginning of the post....my eyes are always drawn to a list or chart....
 

OldSchool

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Found this OldSchool

It clearly states that DE Ethan Westbrooks is under LA Rams contract for the 2017 season & will be a UFA in 2018.

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/los-angeles-rams/ethan-westbrooks-15106/

Ethan Westbrooks signed a 1 year, $1,797,000 contract with the Los Angeles Rams, including an average annual salary of $1,797,000. In 2017, Westbrooks will earn a base salary of $1,797,000, while carrying a cap hit of $1,797,000.

I can see Brockers playing a ton of LDE in Wades 34 defense myself. When we see him in camp & see just how he looks ....if he is cut & much thinner then that should tell us a lot. I am betting Brockers comes into camp under 320 pounds easy ready for whatever Wade wants him to do. I would also guess that that Brockers would love to start on the opposite side of Aaron Donald & get a chance to showcase his developing pass rush moves.
Good find! Hadn't seen him signing anything yet strange though that they show the contract info yet don't show him on the 2017 roster table. Overthecap.com does the same thing shows his contract but not on the roster.
 

Merlin

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Okay seriously people. Michael Brockers WILL NOT PLAY DEFENSIVE END. I'm not trying to be a dick, but in the history of football there has NEVER been a 3-4 DE that weighed 330 pounds. Wade a Phillips likes his NTs to be finesse type guys. Not space eaters. It will be Donald-Brockers-Easley as of right now.

The other DE will be a 5T. I'd personally start things out with Brock there and see how he does. But with Wade who knows.

Also at NT Wade has had guys run mostly one gap but not always. He's lined guys up and given additional responsibility at nose if they're powerful enough for it. Once again he's more about what his guys are capable of. Looking at the Rams' roster it's clear he'll run what he ran in Denver, but there's no telling what the draft will bring so let's wait and see.
 

LACHAMP46

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It's getting clearer for sure....I still don't see Barron as a ILB....and I really don't see Joyner as FS...

I loved Robey's game from college...

Draft a CB, LB, and.....something....I could tell who's starting. LOL
 

A.J. Hicks

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I absolutely think that Barron could be a great ILB. Sure he doesn't have great size to hold up those big offensive lineman coming at him. He however has great athleticism and is really long - length helps him get off of blocks.

The biggest worry I come to is Barron playing next to Ogletree. They are both undersized - weight wise. But both are tremendous football players.

I also think that our defense is going to be simplified to the point that our players can just play.
 

Picked4td

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Count me in the group of people confused why Brockers wouldnt stay at NT. My understanding is that Wade's D is a 1gap scheme so his NT is basically the same exact position Brockers has played since he was drafted, which is a position he has played incredibly well at. In fact, so well he earned himself quite the paycheck to continue playing that position.

Not that I doubt Brockers being able to play DE, but like the old saying goes, "if it aint broke, dont fix it." I guess its fair to speculate, but until theres a report saying he might change positions, I just dont see anyway it happens.