Rams News: Defensive Tackle Ethan Westbrooks Signs With Raiders
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The Oakland Raiders announced that they have signed former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Ethan Westbrooks to a contract.

Westbrooks went undrafted in 2014 out of West Texas A&M and spent his first five seasons with the St. Louis and Los Angeles Rams. In 67 career games (11 starts) for the Rams, Westbrooks had 79 total tackles, nine sacks and 20 tackles for loss.

He played in all 16 games in 2018 but didn’t start any and only had eight total tackles, one sack and one tackle for loss.

The Rams defensive line has undergone a few changes this offseason with the departures of Ndamukong Suh and now Westbrooks. Los Angeles brought back Dante Fowler Jr. and signed veteran Clay Matthews to play on the outside, so Michael Brockers is expected to see more time on the inside.

Additionally, the Rams drafted defensive tackle Greg Gaines out of Washington and he has impressed in workouts so far, so he will also see time on the inside along with Brockers and Aaron Donald, of course.

It was a bit surprising that they didn’t bring Westbrooks back on a team-friendly contract, although he will likely have a better opportunity to earn playing time in Oakland so it was not that surprising to see him sign there.