The Los Angeles Rams set out this offseason to improve their defense by find players better suited for Wade Phillips’ scheme.
They succeeded in upgrading their secondary with trades for Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters and bolstered the defensive line by signing Ndamukong Suh to play alongside Aaron Donald and Michael Brockers.
But after trading veteran Robert Quinn to the Miami Dolphins and letting Connor Barwin depart in free agency, the Rams are still searching for solutions at outside linebacker.
The position battle has become the most intriguing, and perhaps the most confusing, since training camp opened three weeks ago.
“It’s very interesting,” said Samson Ebukam, one of the many trying to hold down a spot. “You just got to be ready for whatever.”
The competition has featured a dizzying number of candidates — Ebukam, Matt Longacre, Ryan Davis, Ejuan Price, Justin Lawler and John Franklin-Myers — moving interchangeably between the strongside and weakside positions, with some also playing the inside linebacker spots.
And on Monday, a new name, but familiar face for some members of the coaching staff, was added to the mix: Junior Galette. The Rams brought in Galette for a workout and coach Sean McVay said pending a passed physical that there was a “good possibility” that they would sign him.
“You can’t find enough guys that can rush the passer, create that pressure and make the ball come out a little bit earlier than offenses would like to do with the time, the rhythm and the pass game,” McVay said. “There are some guys that are doing a good job, but I think it’s really important for us to kind of tailor in, find out who we think those guys are.”
After Quinn and Barwin’s departures, Longacre and Ebukam were penciled in as starters.
Ebukam, a second-year pro who stood out last season on special teams, has seemingly solidified a spot despite being the only projected starter to play on defense through the first two weeks of the preseason.
“I have something to prove to the coaches,” said Ebukam, who recorded two sacks in two starts in place of an injured Barwin in 2017.
“He’s such a young player that didn’t play really one of those roles last year that we felt like it was important for us to continue to evaluate specific to our outside linebacker position,” McVay said. “Then we wanted to continue to get him some experience where we felt like that experience for him is at a premium.”
Longacre said he’s maintained the mentality of an “undrafted guy,” which he was in 2015 out of Northwest Missouri State. But he proved himself as a playmaker last season with 5 ½ sacks during spot opportunities.
“I’m more focused on making the team,” Longacre said. “I know I keep saying that, but I’m never going to lose that edge.”
It’s best he doesn’t. Although McVay said the decision to bring in Gallete was “independent” of Longacre’s situation, it seems probable that it played a role.
Longacre underwent season-ending back surgery after a Week 15 victory in Seattle last season. His integration through training camp has been slow because of a strict rep-count, and when he was inserted into team drills, he suffered a biceps injury that slowed him for a few workouts.
On Saturday against the Texans, Longacre could see his first game-action since Dec. 17, 2017. “I’m looking forward to building off of what I started building last year,” Longacre said. “And kind of continue to grow.”
After Ebukam and Longacre, the situation becomes even murkier.
The Rams signed Davis, a seventh-year pro, two days before the start of training camp. Price spent last season on the practice squad. Franklin-Myers and Lawler are rookies.
At any given practice, one has been opposite of Ebukam, or tucked on the inside of the line. Each has made a case for a role.
Davis played four seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars before spending a season each with the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills. He has 14 career sacks and four forced fumbles. Davis was bound for a workout with Detroit, he said, when he received a call from the Rams. Almost instantly he changed course, deciding he wanted to play for Phillips despite a requirement that it would include a switch from defensive end to outside linebacker.
“I played [defensive] end my whole career in the league and I didn’t have to drop and cover so much,” Davis said. “The transition has been good so far.”
Coaches have been impressed. “He’s really shown up,” McVay said.
Price, a seventh-round pick from Pittsburgh in 2017, has elevated his profile over the past week. He started opposite of Ebukam against the Raiders.
Franklin-Myers, a fourth-round pick from Stephen F. Austin, has been used as both an interior lineman and on the edge.
Lawler, a seventh-round pick from Southern Methodist University, flashed during the offseason program, and despite dealing with a sore hamstring during camp has seen plenty of time with the starters. In a preseason game against the Raiders, he recorded a sack-fumble.
“There’s a couple of guys that have some versatility,” McVay said.
Galette, 30, played five seasons in New Orleans before he was released and acquired by the Washington Redskins. He was sidelined in 2015 and 2016 after suffering back-to-back season-ending Achilles’ injuries and played in a backup role last season. He has 34.5 career sacks.
There’s also Ogbonnia Okoronkwo. A standout at Oklahoma, the Rams placed the fifth-round pick on the physically-unable-to-perform list when camp started after he underwent foot surgery in May.
McVay said Okoronkwo’s recovery has taken longer than anticipated, but did not rule out the possibility that he could return in time to join the fold.
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