The Rams were heading into last season with Cory Littleton and Micah Kiser penciled in as their starting linebackers. Then, Kiser suffered a pectoral injury that required surgery and was ruled out for the year.
It was a crushing blow to a defense that was seriously lacking talent at linebacker next to Littleton, leaving the Rams to start a combination of Bryce Hager and Troy Reeder the rest of the way.
Heading into the 2020 season, Kiser remains in the mix at linebacker, especially with Littleton set to hit free agency. General manager Les Snead mentioned Kiser on the Rams Revealed podcast as someone to buy stock in because of his work ethic.
“From a conscientiousness standpoint, whatever you’re rating in – I don’t know if ‘Madden’ can give a perfect score – but in conscientiousness and saying, ‘Hey, I’m going to be one of the best linebackers in the Rams organization, I do know this: His vision to be that, the conscientiousness matches that,” Snead said. “I don’t know if there’s been a day he’s missed here. Buy stock in Micah Kiser. Don’t want to interfere with his relationships, but if you have a daughter, see if you can somehow set them up because you just want to buy stock in that man.”
Kiser said recently that he’s healthy and ready to contribute on defense next season. Having two years under his belt now, Kiser is focused on the little things that come with playing the linebacker position.
“Right now, stuff is slowing down,” he said last month. “You can pick little specific things to focus on instead of having such a wide view of the game, you can focus in on more of the little intricacies and little details. So that’s where I’m at right now.”
Kiser was lauded for his football intelligence and character coming out of Virginia, which the Rams loved in him as a prospect. Hopefully he can stay healthy and contribute next season because the Rams need linebacker help in the worst way.