The Rams are having seller’s remorse when it comes to trading Ernest Jones, but issues at LB go beyond that.
Needing a stop after the Los Angeles Rams offense scored on the opening drive of the second half, the Chicago Bears offense marched down the field. D’Andre Swift for nine yards, Roschon Johnson for eight yards – the Rams defense was getting gashed in the run game. On the opening drive of the second half, the Rams allowed 26 rushing yards on five carries before facing 3rd-and-5 from the nine yard line.
With the Bears in 11 personnel, the Rams correctly matched with 4-2-5 nickel look. They had the defensive backs to matchup with the Bears wide receivers. Instead, DJ Moore lined up as the furthest inside wide receiver for the Bears and matched across from Rams linebacker Christian Rozeboom. That’s a matchup an opposing offense will take 10 out of 10 times. The result was what anyone would expect. Moore beat Rozeboom down the seam in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.
On the next possession, quarterback Caleb Williams found tight end Cole Kmet in the middle of the field, throwing the ball over Troy Reeder for a 22-yard gain. The very next play, Reeder and Rozeboom were completely blocked out the play and Swift scampered for a 36-yard touchdown run.
Coming into Sunday’s game, D’Andre Swift wasn’t even averaging two yards per carry and there were conversations about whether or not he should be benched. Swift scored twice and averaged 5.8 yards per carry on Sunday.
The Bears came out with a plan in the second half and that plan was to exploit the Rams linebackers and that’s exactly what they did. The duo gave up 11 receptions on 11 targets for 101 yards and a touchdown. The linebacker position has been an issue for the Rams through the first three weeks, but it was never more evident than on Sunday against the Bears.
What’s most troubling about the entire situation is that the Rams created it. They have nobody to blame but themselves. Right before the season, the Rams made the puzzling decision to trade away linebacker Ernest Jones. This isn’t to say that Jones would solve all of the Rams’ problems on defense, but he is an improvement over both Reeder and Rozeboom. Against the run, his 7.7 stop percentage and 3.2 yards in average depth of tackle are both better than the Reeder-Rozeboom duo. Almost a month after trading Jones, that decision is just as confusing now as it was when the deal was made.
It’s hard to blame Reeder and Rozeboom for their play. At the end of the day, both are limited players and have been put in an unfair situation. Neither player should be relied on consistently on a full-time basis. Reeder has almost as many snaps in four weeks as he’s had in the past two years combined. It is not their fault that they are being set up to fail.
The Rams traded Jones without any real backup plan. Omar Speights played well in the preseason, but has yet to earn a single defensive snap. The regular season is also much different than preseason snaps. Even then, there is no guarantee that he’s better than Reeder or Rozeboom. Reeder and Speights are both very similar players. Both are run-stopping linebackers that can be exploited in coverage. If Speights were to get inserted into the lineup, it couldn’t realistically be next to Reeder, but instead replacing him. However, Reeder wears the green dot in the defense.
That leaves Jake Hummel who is in year three in the defense. Like Speights, Hummel performed well in the preseason, but again, it’s not the regular season. Hummel has 43 defensive snaps in his career. While he may be an upgrade in coverage, he’s also almost 10-pounds lighter than Rozeboom. At 229-pounds, that leaves him susceptible to getting pushed around in the run game.
With that said, new defensive coordinator Chris Shula should have known all of this. When Shula was hired, he had an advantage that other candidates did not and that was knowing the personnel.
If Rams needed a different “type” of linebacker than Ernest Jones in Shula’s defense, that should’ve been something that was known and addressed during offseason. Unless something completely damaged the Rams relationship with Jones beyond repair, the decision to trade him remains inexcusable. If Jones wasn’t a fit, the linebacker position should’ve been addressed in free agency or the draft with Jones on last year of his rookie contract.
That brings up the second important point here. Under Sean McVay, the Rams have never invested heavily in the linebacker position. They maximized Cory Littleton’s value as an undrafted free agent in 2018 and 2019. In 2020 and 2021, they got by with players like Micah Kiser and Reeder. The Rams did sign Bobby Wagner in 2022, but that was more about an opportunity presenting itself and the player wanting to be in Los Angeles than it was about the Rams going out and actively investing at the position.
In the McVay era, the Rams have never spent a top-100 pick on a linebacker. That’s not to say that they need to spend a second-round pick on a linebacker, but it only underlines the lack of draft investment at the position. The Rams took Ernest Jones in the 2021 NFL Draft. From 2022-2024, they had 32 draft picks. Not one of those selections was used on a linebacker.
It’s not that the Rams simply haven’t invested draft capital in the linebacker position, but it’s hard to say that they’ve even tried. That was evident in the most recent draft. With Jones on the final year of his contract, the team should have taken a linebacker. Instead of selecting someone like Payton Wilson in the third round, they currently have a running back that can’t get snaps over Ronnie Rivers. The lack of investment at the position is evident on the field.
The fact of the matter is, the Rams are very limited at the linebacker position. Behind Reeder and Rozeboom are more undrafted free agents. If it’s not Speights and Hummel, the Rams are looking at Elias Neal and Olakunle Fatukasi.
With the personnel decisions during the draft, free agency, and trade market, the Rams have made their bed and now have to lay in it.
Over the past few years, the value of the linebacker position has shifted dramatically, becoming the running back of the defense. It’s easier to find replacement level players at that spot. However, this is a position that’s been completely ignored.
It’s also worth noting that the linebackers are only part of the issue. The Rams also don’t have the size or bodies up front to help them and eat blockers. This is a defense with a 3-man front base. Typically in a 3-4, the the player at the 1-tech spot will take a double team which tends to be a guard and center in the run game.
The Rams have invested in smaller players at the position and therefore don’t have the size to take on multiple blockers. This allows linemen to get to the second level and bully the linebackers. Multiple things are true here. The Rams linebackers aren’t shedding blocks and navigating through traffic, but additionally, they aren’t getting help up front.
Still, one of the biggest issues on the defensive side of the ball right now is the linebackers. This is a position that has been completely mismanaged from the front office and coaching staff. If the thought was that Troy Reeder and Christian Rozeboom would be enough to get by on defense, that’s a failure in talent evaluation and process.
Through four weeks, there is no doubt that the Rams are probably having seller’s remorse when it comes to trading Ernest Jones. However, the issues at linebacker goes beyond the Jones trade. The Rams haven’t valued the linebacker position and because of that, they haven’t invested at that spot. Trading Jones has proven to be a mistake, but the decisions outside of that move is just as much of a reason for the position being in its current state.
