Cory Littleton has manned the middle of the Rams defense for the last two years, hardly ever coming off the field and never missing a game. Next to Aaron Donald, he was arguably the team’s most consistent defender since becoming a starter in 2018.
Now, the Rams must get used to life without him at inside linebacker. On Tuesday, Littleton agreed to a three-year deal with the Las Vegas Raiders, a deal that can become official when the new league year begins Wednesday.
What hurts Rams fans even more is the fact that Littleton’s contract has a base value of just $11.75 million per year, which is well below the salary many projected Littleton to get in free agency.
It’s somewhat of a puzzling move for the Rams to pass on re-signing Littleton after having the chance to do so the last two offseasons, but there’s no fixing that mistake now. The next step is finding a replacement at inside linebacker.
Unfortunately for the Rams, that’s no easy task. Here’s how their the depth chart at linebacker currently looks:
- Travin Howard
- Micah Kiser
- Kenny Young
- Troy Reeder
Those aren’t exactly recognizable names, nor proven starters in the NFL; they have 14 combined starts as a group. None of them are even locks to make the final roster next season, either.
So what exactly is the Rams’ plan at linebacker? That’s a good question. Behind closed doors, they obviously have one. But in the public’s eye, it looks like the team is ignoring the position as linebacker after linebacker gets scooped up on the free-agent market.
The Rams passed on Christian Kirksey and Nick Kwiatkoski before letting Littleton leave. They haven’t signed Tahir Whitehead, who’s been available for more than a week. Blake Martinez and Jamie Collins each got about $10 million per year from the Giants and Lions, respectively, while A.J. Klein signed a three-year, $18 million deal with Buffalo.
All of those players would’ve been viable replacements for Littleton, but the free-agent market has dried up on the second day of the legal tampering period. Among the best options left are Joe Schobert, Patrick Onwuasor, Darron Lee, Kamalei Correa, Josh Bynes and Kevin Pierre-Louis. Still quality players, but none are as good as Littleton has been the last two years.
Of course, there’s still the draft, where players such as Jordyn Brooks, Troy Dye, Akeem Davis-Gaither and Patrick Queen could all be options. And the Rams are no strangers to making trades, which opens a pandora’s box of possibilities.
But as of now, inside linebacker is currently one of the weakest spots on their roster – if not the weakest.