All offseason, the Los Angeles Rams have operated on defense with the plan to have Ernest Jones wear the green dot on his helmet, making him the player who relays the play calls from Raheem Morris to the rest of the defense. It’ll be the first time he’ll have that responsibility after Bobby Wagner wore the green dot last year and Jordan Fuller the year prior.
Some fans probably wondered if John Johnson III might take that role from Jones after previously being the Rams’ signal caller in 2020 but Raheem Morris made one thing very clear: that’s not happening.
During his press conference Monday, Morris raved about Johnson but ensured everyone that Jones will keep the green dot because if Johnson took it, “Ernest would beat him up.”
“The intelligence, the smarts, the coach on the field, some of those types of things that he’s so accustomed to doing,” Morris said of Johnson. “He’s the guy that’s worn the green dot, so having two guys in the backend that has actually had the green dot before and being able to communicate throughout the defense only can increase that, especially with a young team, so that’s very helpful. Now he’s not getting a green dot from Ernest because Ernest would beat him up, but those two being back there and the potential of Russ (Yeast), helping him develop and Quentin Lake and all those guys, it’s some great competition so I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen today.”
Johnston is still getting up to speed in Los Angeles after only signing a week ago, so he hasn’t exactly cut loose in practice yet. It doesn’t help that he missed the entire offseason workout program while sitting on the market as a free agent.
Morris was excited to see him do a bit more in practice on Monday and he should continue to ramp up as the Rams practice with the Raiders this week and the Broncos the following week.
“It’s really been cool,” Morris said. “John is everything as advertised, that spirit, that fun loving guy and I’m really getting a chance to be excited today when we get a chance to watch him practice a little more and get more involved, so I’m really excited about that.”
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