RAMS in the Spotlight

The Defensive Secondary and Special Teams

This is the fourth and final part in a series of positional analyses of the current state of the Rams...

The Cornerbacks

The Rams SHOULD have two returning starters playing cornerback this year. Whether they will or not still remains to be seen and is contingent on the return of last year's late FA signee Ryan McNeil. Ryan signed a one year deal just before training camp last season and paid big dividends for the Rams. He led the league with 11 interceptions and many felt he should have been invited to the pro-bowl. Ryan's pure cover skills are average to good, but he proved last year that he is a valuable playmaker due to his nose for the ball. He was designated as the Rams Franchise Player over the offseason and is scheduled to make $3.2 million for one year as such, but he has not agreed to the deal because he is looking for a long term contract, which is understandable considering he is coming off a career year in `97. The Rams have offered him a 5 year deal that averages $3.2 million as well, but he continues to hold out seeking a more lucrative deal. Based on their first three preseason games, it appears that the Rams could really use McNeil in the secondary.

The Rams other starting cornerback is Todd Lyght. Lyght from Notre Dame is one of the few players on the roster who was a LA Ram and is still with the team. Todd has good size and decent speed and usually better than average cover skills, but he does occasionally get burned for the big play. 1997 was somewhat of an off year for him, but look for him to step up his game this year. He has shined thusfar throughout the preseason and has rarely been challenged in the absence of McNeil on the other side.

Backing up Lyght and McNeil are two second year men, Dexter McCleon, last year's 2nd round pick out of Clemson, and Taje Allen who was drafted in the 5th round last year. The Rams knew that McCleon was a bit of a project when they picked him last year, he had only played CB for two years after starting his career at Clemson as a QB. The guy has alot of potential, however, and his pure cover skills are already probably superior to Ryan McNeil's. He should battle Allen, who took over as the Rams nickel back midway through the 1997 season, for that title this year and should start if McNeil doesn't come to terms. He has had good coverage throughout the preseason despite little safety help and being picked on ALOT, but he has thusfar failed to make the big play because his ball awareness is not yet what it should be. As additional insurance against an extended holdout by Ryan and added competition for the nickel slot, the Rams recently signed CB Willie Clark a FA who played with the Eagles last year. Willie has been in the league three years and he has great speed and alot of upside, but his coverage skills are questionable.

The Safeties

At Free Safety, the Rams have returning starter Keith Lyle who is widely regarded as one of the best young safeties in the game. Lyle resigned with the Rams to a long term contract so we can count on him roaming in the Rams secondary for years to come. Lyle always manages to make alot of interceptions... he led the team for the two years prior to `97 and last year he was second on the Rams in that category with 9 picks. Keith Lyle should finally begin to get the respect he deserves and could very likely be a strong Pro Bowl candidate for years to come.

On the strong side, fan favorite Toby Wright is recovering from offseason surgery to his torn ACL. Toby was considered a hard hitting up and coming young safety and wowed the crowds with his bone jarring hits during the Rams first year in St.Louis, but injuries have slowed him considerably for the last couple of seasons. Last year he sat out the start of the season with a hamstring pull and it took him quite awhile to get up to speed, although he still managed to dole out a few of his trademark sticks to opposing RB's... just ask Tiki Barber of the Giants, who was knocked nearly unconscious last year by T'Rock in his first game back, a Rams victory. Toby has been working hard in the offseason conditioning program to return as soon as possible from the injury that he suffered on a game ending interception near the end of last year, and he is expected to be ready to return to the starting lineup by opening day. Expect T'Rock to be hungry and make the league pay!

In case Toby progresses slower than expected, the Rams have a true diamond in the rough backing him up at Strong Safety. Second year player, Billiy Jenkins, Jr. was picked up as an undrafted free agent discovered by Rams linebackers coach and co-defensive co-ordinator John Bunting at the black college all-star game. Jenkins proved to be a steal, stepping in for Wright without a hitch, he resembles Toby's hard hitting smash mouth style, and should help make the Rams secondary one of the strongest units on the team and perhaps one of the better defensive backfields in the league in 1998.

Special Teams

The Rams special teams units suffered through an absolutely horrific year last season, but ST coach frank Gansz should get these guys back on the right track in `98. After cutting veteran punter Sean Landetta in order to make salary cap space, the Rams went into training camp with two promising rookie punters. Will Brice earned the starting job, but couldn't consistently maintain feild position for the Rams and was replaced by stop-gap veteran Mike Horan by midseason. Over the offseason, the Vermeil took care of the situation by going out and signing FA punter Rick Tuten formerly of the Seahawks. Tuten had a groin injury last year, but is fully recovered and could be one of the most important offseason acquisitions for the Rams, as he may not generate much fan excitement but he will help us win football games if he can reverse the Rams horrendous field position deficit of a year ago.

Field goal kicker Jeff Wilkins also suffered the worst year of his career after the Rams stole him from the 49ers during free agency last year. Wilkins started strong, wowing Rams fans during the preseason and first half of the year with 50+ yarders and amazing accuracy, but he slumped midway through, at one time missing on 9 of 15 chances. Wilkins is just too good, however, to let that affect his status with the team, and recognizing this, Vermeil will not even invite any other kickers to camp this year. There is NO WAY that Jeff will not have a better year in `98.

It took the Rams a few weeks to find a good kickoff returner last year, but when they did, they found a VERY good one in late addition David Thompson. Thompson came off the practice squad to make the return game very exciting for the Rams. He will backup Moore and Holcombe at the tailback position and continue to present a home run threat on returns. Starting wideout Eddie Kennison returned punts last year, but due to injuries and slumping play in the offense, was unable to duplicate much of the excitement of his rookie season on special teams. Look for Eddie to focus solely on offense this year with punt return duties being taken over by exciting rookie WR Az Hakim. Hakim was a fourth round steal who is known for his speed and crisp route running. He should see some action on offense as well as special teams.

Gansz must also work hard on improving the Rams punt and kickoff coverage units during training camp. These units gave up far too much yardage in `97 and lost perhaps their best performer in Keith Crawford, who left for Atlanta, seeing a better chance to start as a WR in the Falcons offense.

Thanks for reading my preseason analyses of all the units of the Rams team, hope they may have answered some of the questions you may have had or at least that you enjoyed the pictures... I have to thank Martin Ryder for sending me a few of them that were used to better illustrate these pages. Look for more focus on individual players in this spotlight section after training camp and the regular season get under way

ROSTER

HOME