The Los Angeles Rams have been arguably the busiest team in the offseason as they have transformed their defense in a matter of weeks. The Rams made the first blockbuster move of the offseason by trading for Marucs Peters, but then later executed another deal to land Aqib Talib.
Both corners will now be coached by Wade Phillips and opposing offenses will have a nightmare trying to throw the ball with those two lurking on the backend. However, Los Angeles also shipped away several players, including Alec Ogletree.
In an interview with the Around the NFL Podcast, Les Snead discussed why Ogletree was moved as transcribed by Chris Wesseling of Around the NFL:
Great leader, great human. We re-signed him because he was one of our best football players,” Snead explained. “But when we went back and really analyzed, talked about, discussed what makes Wade’s defense go, it’s the corner position.
“And interestingly we did the Marcus Peters trade before we did the Aqib Talib trade. But once Aqib became available, how do you fit him within the parameters of your salary cap, with other things like Aaron Donald extension, things like that, coming down the line? Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to get gains. … Once we came up with that vision, that goal, we attacked the offseason.”
The Rams now have an issue at the linebacker position given that they also traded away Robert Quinn and have yet to re-sign Connor Barwin. The Rams, however, do not seem too concerned given that the 2018 NFL Draft is coming up and there are still players on the market that they could potentially sign.
With a retooled defense headlined by Peters, Talib, and recently signed Ndamaukong Suh, the Rams have to be considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender once the 2018 NFL season begins. It will be interesting to see if this team can live up to its potential and take the next proverbial leap.
