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Getty The Los Angeles Rams defense versus the Seattle Seahawks on December 21, 2021.
The Los Angeles Rams produced 62 total sacks during their run to Super Bowl 56, including the dozen they snatched in the playoffs.
Von Miller was responsible for nine of those sacks from the time period of December 21, 2021 to February 13, 2022. But when Miller left for the Buffalo Bills on a blockbuster six-year, $120 million deal during the March 2022 free agency period, it left a significant void in the pass rushing department.
While the Rams have a player in Justin Hollins who’s confident that the team never needed to replace Miller, and while Leonard Floyd remains on the opposite side of the spot Miller bequeathed, there are those analysts who believe the Rams could use one more bolstering on the edge.
And as NFL analyst Maurice Moton of Bleacher Report noted on Tuesday, May 31, there’s one name still available on the open free agent market that he cites as the “one move” the Rams still need to make.
Multiple Pro Bowler Still Available
Moton has urged the Rams to look into four-time Pro Bowler Justin Houston.
The 33-year-old was last seen with the Baltimore Ravens, where he started in 15 games. Moton is a believer that should the Rams revert to free agency to fill the spot vacated by the two-time Super Bowl winner, the 6-foot-3, 270-pounder is the guy.
“The Los Angeles Rams lost a key playmaker in free agency when edge-rusher Von Miller signed with the Bills,” Moton wrote. “Though the Rams went 7-2 last season before they acquired Miller from the (Denver) Broncos, he became a prominent closer late in the 2021 season. He logged at least one sack in seven out of the last eight outings, including the postseason, and he sacked Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow twice in the Super Bowl. Without Miller, the Rams have to fill a void on the edge opposite of Leonard Floyd.”
Houston is most likely best remembered for his 22 sack season in 2014 — which included six games of surpassing one sack and closed out that season with four against the San Diego Chargers.
However, Houston has seen a decline in his sack totals since then: Just one double-digit sack season (11 with the Indianapolis Colts in 2019) in his next seven seasons after his breakout 2014. In his one season with the Ravens, he reached just 4.5 sacks.
He did hit one career milestone while with the Ravens:
But, there’s still some leverage that the Rams may have in considering Houston, which includes a notation made by one Rams insider.
Depth Chart Projection From Insider Indicates One More Addition to Edge Rush Spot
On May 2, The Athletic’s Jourdan Rodrigue believed that the Rams will eventually add to the edge rushing lineup.
“As stated many, many, many times, I do expect the Rams to continue to aggressively explore their options in adding to this group, whether via the post-draft wave of free agency or via trade later in the year,” Rodrigue wrote in her post draft depth chart projections.
With Miller again gone, plus with the Rams also losing situational rusher Ogbonnia Okonronkwo to the Houston Texans, Moton mentioned who the Rams are left with outside of Floyd.
“Edge-rushers Terrell Lewis, a 2020 third-rounder, and fourth-year pro Justin Hollins could compete for the starting spot, but they have only 11 sacks and six starts combined,” Moton said.
The team also has seventh rounder Chris Garrett from the 2021 draft, who could see an increase in snaps if the Rams don’t add another piece.
Moton concludes that while there may not be much financial room left in the team’s salary cap, it could still be enough to bring in a veteran who knows a thing or two about bringing heat to the quarterback.
“While the Rams don’t have a ton of remaining cap space ($5.2 million), they should use some of it to sign Justin Houston,” Moton said. “The 33-year-old dropped from eight sacks in 2020 to 4.5 last year, but he could give the Rams’ pass rush a boost in a designated edge-rushing role.”
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Rams Urged to Sign Free Agent 4x Pro Bowler: Analyst