The Los Angeles Rams took a hit the day after losing in overtime to the Detroit Lions.
Star wideout Puka Nacua will miss at least four games due to a PCL injury suffered in the loss.
The NFC West team has put the second-year WR on IR.
#Rams WR Puka Nacua’s PCL injury will land him on IR, Sean McVay clarifies, so he’ll miss at least four games. It’s a new, more significant injury to the same ligament he’d previously injured.
Why are defensive tackles more important in today’s NFL than they’ve ever been before? Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar are here with the answers.
In today’s NFL, with as much quick game as teams are using, it’s more important than ever to get to the quarterback as quickly as possible. Often, the shortest distance between the line of scrimmage and the quarterback is a straight line, and when your edge-rushers don’t have time to get home, it’s up to your interior defensive linemen to make those sacks and pressures happen.
It’s why the NFL has placed an increasing importance on those inside guys, and the money has gone up accordingly.
In 2019, there were 15 interior defensive linemen with in-season cap hits of more than $10 million, led by Aaron Donald at $17,108,000. In 2024, there are 22 such players. Now, a lot of those contracts are ones in which the cap hit happens to explode in this league year, but the point still stands – the NFL is placing an increased financial priority on interior defensive linemen.
It’s also why NFL is paying more centers and guards more money and selecting more higher in the draft, as well.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into all the reasons why interior defensive linemen are of such crucial importance, the techniques they use to pester enemy quarterbacks, and the best players at creating pressure in the shortest possible time.
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:
You can also listen to and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
Cornerback Darious Williams has returned home to the Rams, and he’ll make that secondary a lot better — again.
Who says you can’t go home again?
The Ravens were the first team to display an interest in UAB cornerback Darious Williams, signing the undrafted free agent to a contract in 2018, and then waiving him when Jimmy Smith returned from a four-game suspension. The Rams picked Williams up on waivers, and over the next four seasons, Williams worked his way up from roster afterthought to top-tier defender. In 2022, the Jaguars stole him away with a three-year, $30 million contract, but released him from that contract in March. That’s when the Rams came charging back in, signing Williams to a three-year, $22.5 million contract.
Williams is built like a slot-only cornerback at 5-foot-9 and 187 pounds, but he’s been a great outside cornerback for years, and that was just as true in 2023, when he allowed 51 catches on 86 targets for 613 yards, 178 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, four interceptions, 18 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 69.6. Through his NFL career, Williams has allowed 10 touchdowns to 11 interceptions, and has a lifetime opponent passer rating of 76.7. It’s safe to say that nobody expected that when he came out of college.
Darious Williams is a scheme-transcendent (now free agent) cornerback. Man, zone, match, inside, outside… he's on the ball. Four interceptions and 18 PBU for the Jaguars last season. Don't look at the size; watch the tape. pic.twitter.com/58X8UqtMaA
Can the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive line actually be better in 2024 without Aaron Donald? Les Snead has prepared the team for minimal dropoff.
Remember when the Oakland A’s lost Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi, and Jason Isringhausen in free agency, and general manager Billy Beane had to replace them in the aggregate? Beane’s successful path led to Moneyball, and now, Rams general manager Les Snead and his crew are having a bit of the same issue.
When Aaron Donald retires, you do not replace him with one human being, because Aaron Donald is not a human being — he is an alien from the planet Destructo. The Rams don’t have Beane’s financial limitations; it’s simply a matter of fact that you don’t ever get an Aaron Donald unless you’re exceedingly fortunate, and when you don’t have an Aaron Donald anymore, you have to replace him in the aggregate.
So in this draft, the Rams set out to do exactly that. They started out by selecting Florida State edge-rusher Jared Verse with their first first-round pick since 2016. Then, in the second round, they took Verse’s teammate, defensive lineman (and combine star) Braden Fiske. Then, with the 154th overall pick in the fifth round, they took Washington State edge-rusher Brennan Jackson, and rounded it all out with Clemson defensive tackle Tyler Davis, taken with the 196th overall pick in the sixth round.
“Yeah, I mean I think when you look at it, to be able to get two guys on the edge, two guys inside that we feel like can affect the game in a positive way, that was something that we had identified,” head coach Sean McVay said after the draft came down. “Obviously Aaron creates a big void. You’re never going to ask somebody to replace that void he created, but you can do that by the unit. So to be able to get Jared, to be able to get Brennan on the edges. The way that they play the game. Then to be able to add Braden and Tyler, we were really excited about that.”
Well, it’s easy to see why. These four players work well on their own, and have the potential to really ace it playing together.
Fiske and Verse already have a serious chemistry, as they showed throughout the 2023 season — especially against Louisville, when they were either stunting or collapsing the pocket together, and nobody had a solid idea of how to stop them from doing it.
“Yeah, if you’re ever bored go start to finish Florida State at Louisville, whatever ACC Championship game,” general manager Les Snead said. “Obviously, Florida State didn’t have a quarterback. They may have been down to their third and it was just pure defense to win the ACC Championship, get their ring, get their trophy because it could have easily gone the other way. It would’ve been a season for naught had they lost it. So, if you’re ever bored, watch those two players in that game. You’ll come back and do a rerun.”
“I think it was interesting because this was Braden’s first year at Florida State so it did take probably, let’s call it first four or five weeks for them to get in tandem, in sync,” Snead said of the on-field link between Verse and Fiske after Fiske transferred from Western Michigan. “And I know even Florida State adjusted a little bit their defensive scheme or what they allowed Braden to do and attack the line of scrimmage, attack some edges. What’s interesting as you watched that team evolve over the course of season and become… when they finished that night in Louisville, one of the really dominant defenses. But you saw that group get in tandem. That was a good defensive line.
“But those two doing their thing, again, with Florida State and allowing them and designing those stunts, twists, whatever we call them. It’s fun to watch.”
As for Brennan Jackson, the Washington State alum had nine sacks and 40 total pressures last season, and while he needs to refine his handwork as most collegiate defensive lineman do, he already brings an inside counter, a formidable bull-rush, and a snatch-and-shed move than can be lethal.
Washington State edge-rusher Brennan Jackson, who the Rams somehow got in the fifth round. Eight sacks and 40 pressures in 2023, and he already brings a bull-rush, an inside counter, and a snatch-and-shed move to the table. Get his hands more involved, and he could be a DUDE. pic.twitter.com/o0kxSi6948
Finally, there’s Tyler Davis, the 6-foot-2, 301-pound fire hydrant who amassed two sacks and 22 total pressures in just 277 pass-rushing reps last season, and did it everywhere from head-over nose tackle to the edge.
The @RamsNFL's most interesting defensive sleeper pick might be DL Tyler Davis from Clemson. Attacked everywhere from head-over nose to edge at 6-foot-2 and 301 pounds. Usually from the edge, he was demolishing some poor offensive guard on the way to the quarterback. pic.twitter.com/JCv7sZof52
And when you add these four gentlemen to last year’s draft picks Byron Young (who had eight sacks and 51 total pressures last season) and Kobie Turner (who was my choice for Defensive Rookie of the Year with his 12 sacks and 50 total pressures), new defensive coordinator Chris Shula has a lot of options in his rotations.
So yes, the Rams’ defensive line has the potential for overall improvement even without the greatest defensive player of his generation. Not a bad outcome, really.
The Rams got Michigan RB Blake Corum in the third round of the draft, and Corum fits Sean McVay’s offense as well as he possibly can.
In 2023, the Rams and head coach Sean McVay decided to engineer a drastic change in their overall run game. McVay had been one of the NFL’s most effective proselytizers of the zone run game for years. But last season, McVay (and primary running back Kyren Williams) called and ran more gap power stuff than any other team in the NFL — on Wham and Duo alone, the Rams gained 510 yards and 284 yards after contact, and scored eight touchdowns, on 115 carries. The Patriots ranked second with 82 carries, so this was a Real Thing for McVay.
Now, when you look at backs in this draft class with the most success in those concepts, you can start with Michigan’s Blake Corum. In the 2023 NCAA season, no back ran more out of Wham and Duo than Corum, who gained 276 yards, and 81 yards after contact in those two concepts, scoring three touchdowns on 38 carries. Notre Dame’s Audric Estime, who went to the Broncos in the fifth round, ranked second with 27 such carries. Troy’s Kimani Vidal ranked third with 24 such carries. So, Blake Corum to the Rams with the 83rd overall pick in the third round is one of the tighter scheme fits you’ll see in any draft.
Moreover, McVay isn’t bringing Corum in to replace Williams — he sees them as two backs who already know how to do what he wants his backs to do.
This, BTW, was a big change-up from the Rams' previous run schemes under Sean McVay. Kyren Williams fits it, and so does Corum. https://t.co/bgbmcJP2vu
“For me, one of the things that jumped off is there’s a lot of traits that reminded me of Kyren Williams,” McVay said of Corum after the pick was made. “Obviously I love Kyren and he’s been so important and just the human being, but then also when you just look at the way he works at it, the production and the things that he was able to bring to our offense last year and even really some of the things that he worked through his rookie year. I think there’s a lot of similarities.
“Kyren will put Blake under his arm and be a great mentor and kind of a leader but [running backs coach] Ron Gould was really excited about him, [Offensive Coordinator] Mike LaFleur, I obviously loved his game and he’s got a bunch of tape to be able to evaluate. He’s been a part of an incredibly successful program. He’s been the bell cow for them in the midst of the successful runs that they’ve had the last few years. And so we’re really looking forward to getting to work with him.”
From Jayden Daniels to Xavier Worthy, Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar get into the best offensive scheme fits from the 2024 NFL draft.
There are at least two stages of evaluation when dealing with draft prospects. There’s the work you do watching tape of a player in a vacuum pre-draft, when you’re looking at a player’s attributes and liabilities overall. Then, when the player is drafted, you’re trying to figure out why the team selected the player, and how that player best fits in his new home from a schematic and performance perspective.
With the 2024 NFL draft in the rearview, it’s time for Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, to determine the best scheme fits from this class.
Greg and Doug begin on the offensive side of the ball, with these players:
Jayden Daniels, QB, Washington Commanders
Bo Nix, QB, Denver Broncos
Troy Franklin, WR, Denver Broncos
Blake Corum, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Jonathon Brooks, RB, Carolina Panthers
Brian Thomas Jr., WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Xavier Worthy, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Ladd McConkey, WR, Los Angeles Chargers
Kimani Vidal, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
You can watch this week’s Xs and Os right here:
You can also listen and subscrive to the Xs and Os podcast on Spotify…
On the occasion of Aaron Donald’s retirement, it’s time to revisit Nolan Nawrocki’s scouting report on Donald, which might be the most hilarious you’ve ever seen.
If there’s one thing we know about evaluating NFL draft prospects, it’s that nobody really knows anything. You do this long enough, and you’re going to swing and miss. I, for example, was sure that Aaron Curry was going to be the next LaVar Arrington.
Whoops.
That said, there are some prospects who do enough on collegiate fields to make them seemingly ding-proof. Pitt’s Aaron Donald, who retired today after a remarkable 10-year career with the Los Angeles Rams, was one such prospect. I mean, look at these plays from his Pitt career and tell me that No. 97 didn’t have a more than reasonable chance in the pros.
As if Donald’s 29.5 sacks and 66 tackles for loss in his four collegiate seasons weren’t enough (his 29 tackles for loss in 2013 ranked first in the entire NCAA, and he ranks fourth all-time in TFL), there was the sheer brutality he unleashed at the 2014 Senior Bowl.
No surprise here…
Aaron Donald was a BEAST at the 2014 @seniorbowl 😤 (via @NFLThrowback)
What about his combine measurables, you ask? Well, Donald couldn’t help the fact that he stood 6-foot-1 and weighed 285 pounds with short arms and small hands, but everything else looked like science fiction.
Those unmoved also included former NFL.com analyst Nolan Nawrocki, most famous for his incendiary scouting reports of Black quarterbacks (most notably Cam Newton and Geno Smith). Fortunately, NFL.com’s current draft scouting department is run by actual professionals like Lance Zierlein and Chad Reuter. It’s not that Nawrocki got his Aaron Donald scouting wrong; it’s just how unbelievably wrong it turned out to be.
Short, scrappy, instinctive, highly productive defensive lineman who does not look the part, but inspires confidence he can be an exception to the rule. Is the type you root for and has the quickness, athleticism and motor to earn a spot as a rotational three-technique in a fast-flowing 4-3 scheme.
An exception to the rule? The rule of what? Smaller defensive tackles kicking the asses of every offense they faced at the NFL level? Hall of Famer John Randle, all 6-foot-1 and 290 pounds of him, would be flabbergasted to hear such a thing. Hall of Famer Steve McMichael, who played at 6-foot-2 and around 270 pounds, might object as well. How about six-time Pro Bowler La’Doi Glover, who stood 6-foot-2 and weighed 285 pounds and went to the Pro Bowl in 2008 as a freaking nose tackle? And Bills tackle Ed Oliver, who somehow managed 11 sacks and 72 total pressures last season despite not looking the part at 6-foot-1 and 287 pounds… well, he’d probably just ride away from Nawrocki on one of his horses.
But wait, as they say… there’s more! Here are the negatives in this scouting report.
Marginal height and frame is nearly maxed out
Hands are more active than strong — could play with more pop and power
Overpowered in the run game and ground up by double teams
Gets snared and controlled by bigger, longer blockers
Not a two-gap player
Has some tweener traits — lacks ideal length and bend to play outside
We’re sure the Rams were concerned all the time about the fact that Donald’s frame was “maxed out.” As for his hand strength, ask the literally thousands of offensive linemen who tried to double-team Donald, only to fail miserably. As far as the two-gap thing, who really gives a crap… but here’s Donald last season in a tight nose shade alignment, beating yet another double-team, and coming down with Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson as the prize.
The “lacks ideal length and bend to play outside” thing is most hilarious. Just ask Zack Martin, the Dallas Cowboys’ nine-time Pro Bowl, seven-time First-Team All-Pro, and future Hall of Famer Zack Martin about that.
"Has some tweener traits — lacks ideal length and bend to play outside"
But this… well, this is the best part without question.
I’ll give you this, Mr. Nawrocki — it takes some real stones to put your name on that.
So, when you’re reading any one of however many draft scouting reports over the next six weeks (including those from your good friends on the USA Today SMG network), remember that we’re not always going to get it right, but it’s highly unlikely that any of us will release a howler of a report like this.
Aaron Donald was always great, but he saved one of his most amazing plays for the biggest moment of his NFL career.
It was nearing the end of Super Bowl LVI, and the Los Angeles Rams were sweating the result more than a little bit. They were up, 23-20, but the Cincinnati Bengals had fourth-and-1 from the Rams’ 49-yard line with 43 seconds left in the game. Joe Burrow had already completed 22 of 33 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown, so the Rams knew that Burrow had to be respected. They also knew that their defenders had sacked Burrow seven times in the game, so there was the vulnerability to exploit. If the Rams could prevent the Bengals from getting a first down here, it was game over.
And there was only one man to make that happen, as Rams head coach Sean McVay made very clear.
"Aaron Donald's gonna make a play here.'
One of the greatest players ever, who always came through when it mattered most 💍 pic.twitter.com/YxkvA3c5KF
The Rams rushed just four defenders at the snap, while putting seven in coverage. But as it turned out, they could have put one guy against Burrow, and it probably would have worked out just fine.
Super Bowl LVI. Fourth-and-1 for the Bengals, down 23.-20. 43 seconds left in the game. Sean McVay tells Aaron Donald that he HAS to blow this play up.
Edge-rusher Leonard Floyd took left tackle Jonah Williams from a wide-nine alignment, forcing a single-team between Donald and left guard Quinton Spain. And no offense to Quinton Spain, but everybody in the universe knew how that was going to go. Had center Trey Hopkins aligned more quickly to help Spain with Donald, that probably wouldn’t have mattered, either. Donald had his assignment, and he was going to fulfill it no matter what.
On the occasion of his retirement, it’s nice to remember that one of Donald’s most amazing plays — one that shows his unearthly attributes — came in the biggest moment of his Hall of Fame career.
“I dreamed this, man!”
Aaron Donald was overcome with emotion after becoming a Super Bowl champion. 👏 pic.twitter.com/M25vSh3qMq
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) March 15, 2024
Things didn’t work out for Steve Spagnuolo with the Rams, but the Rams’ COO thinks Spags deserves another chance to be a head coach.
Say all you want about Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, and the Kansas City Chiefs’ amazing secondary, but the Chiefs wouldn’t have their second straight Super Bowl win — and their third in five years — without the efforts of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Spags was especially in his bag in the biggest game, throwing stuff at Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers that they had no way to expect.
The Chiefs blitzed on 27 of their snaps. They played man behind it on 23 of them. You only do that if you are preposterously confident in the abilities of your defensive backs to jam receivers at the line of scrimmage, and plaster them all over the field. pic.twitter.com/sa3ulCCjTm
From 2009 through 2011, Spagnuolo was the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, and that didn’t go so well — he compiled a 10-38 record in those three seasons. But Kevin Demoff, currently the COO of the Rams, who started that role in 2009, thinks that Spagnuolo got a bit of a raw deal back then, and is more than deserving of another chance.
It is well past time to see Spags get another head coaching opportunity.
The team & organization he inherited in STL was a mess, nobody could have had success. Yet he changed the culture/staff & players believed. An amazing human deserving of the real shot we couldn’t give him https://t.co/d82dXjC3W4
4) We outperformed expectations in 2010 only to have a lockout in 2011 and have no offseason to build upon that success
5) Hired a terrific OC in Josh McDaniels in 2011 who didnt meet players or install offense until training camp. That hampered Sam Bradford tremendously https://t.co/4VWVNl1OZH
That’s a remarkable statement for any executive to make, but the Rams were in a bad way back then from a personnel perspective, and sometimes, you find yourself in a situation that just doesn’t work.
Spagnuolo didn’t have any opportunities in this head coach hiring cycle, but as he said last week, he wouldn’t shy away from the right situation.
“I would love doing it, just because I think you always want another chance. And I Love having a whole team. But listen – I’m blessed. I work for a great coach – a Hall of Fame head coach. I’ve got great players. I’m enjoying it right now, and I’m okay with continuing to go to Super Bowls.”
Fair enough, but it would be nice for the NFL’s best defensive mind to get one more shot at the biggest possible job.
In this week’s “4-Down Territory,” the guys get into Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McCarthy, Nick Sirianni, and the Worst of the Week for the wild-card round.
Now that the wild-card round of the playoffs is over, it’s time once again for Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire, and Kyle Madson of Niners Wire, to come to the table with their own unique brand of analysis in “4-Down Territory.”
This week, the guys have some serious questions to answer:
What should the Miami Dolphins do with Tua Tagovailoa?
Should this be the end for Mike McCarthy in Dallas?
Has Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni become more an liability than an asset?
What was our Worst of the Week?
You can watch this week’s “4-Down Territory” right here:
