The Los Angeles Rams’ move for Roger McCreary at the NFL’s trade deadline was a head scratcher from the start. It was clear LA needed help in the secondary. At the time this group simply was not playing well. McCreary—who came from the Titans—was not an easy projection on the depth chart because the Rams needed an outside corner while he primarily played in the slot over the last couple of seasons with the Tennessee Titans.
When LA’s slot corner, Quentin Lake, suffered an extended injury you would think the path to playing time for McCreary would become more clear. It didn’t.
McCreary watched Josh Wallace get the first look at replacing Lake in the second half against the Seattle Seahawks. With a full week to prepare for Sunday Night Football versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, McCreary left after a single defensive snap with a hip injury.
McCreary has now been placed on injured reserve, which guarantees at least a four game absence.
Sean McVay said McCreary would have been able to return against the Bucs, which raises the question of whether the injury was more serious than the team realized or if they see the writing on the wall that the recently acquired corner doesn’t fit into the picture in the short-term.
One thing is clear at least: the trade for McCreary made bigger headlines than an impact on the field. The move was a total dud.
Rams are getting reinforcements at corner
Emmanuel Forbes and Cobie Durant are playing at a high level over the last few weeks.
Ahkello Witherspoon is slated to return as soon as this weekend’s game against the Carolina Panthers. The team also signed Derion Kendrick, who similar to McCreary has inside/outside versatility.
Would the Rams insert Witherspoon into the rotation at outside corner and risk upsetting the current balance between Forbes and Durant? As well as the duo has been playing lately, earlier in the season the Rams had no answers to big, physical receivers. Witherspoon is a handy player to have in this regard, and we could see the team deploy him this week in order to slow down the talented Tetairoa McMillan.
The Rams suddenly have the luxury of playing to matchups and the threats on opposing matchups. The secondary has quickly gone from a major weakness to a point of potential strength, if they can sustain their current level of play.
Kendrick coming into the picture is also insurance for Wallace, who simply did not play well against Tampa Bay. It seems Lake will return ahead of the playoffs, but the Rams still need Kendrick/Wallace to hold water in key remaining matchups against the Seahawks and Detroit Lions—as these are important NFC conference matchups against two potential contenders.
The corner depth chart for the rest of the season currently looks up in the air; however, it’s a bonus as the Rams maybe have more answers in the secondary than they’ve had at any point in the season to date.
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