The Los Angeles Rams offseason saw some very important players join the squad. Clay Matthews and Eric Weddle plugged some important gaps on the defensive end.
However, the 2019 offseason was largely marked by the loss of one player: Ndamukong Suh. Suh’s departure in free agency has created one of the most important gaps in the Rams defense. For much of the offseason, head coach Sean McVay has been figuring out who will start at nose tackle with Suh gone.
For the most part, there was a three-way competition between rookie Greg Gaines and returning players Sebastian Joseph-Day and Tanzel Smart.
Joseph-Day has always been the favorite to earn that starting role, and it looks as if that may be set in stone now. According to Stu Jackson of therams.com, McVay is choosing to sit out Joseph-Day in Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Houston Texans:
“He’s a guy that – unless something changes over the next 48 hours – is not going to play in this game.”
While this may not seem like much at first glance, it does help indicate that Joseph-Day will have a large role on the team, as no starters have played in preseason games. All three of those in competition for the spot have seen some time in the preseason already, however.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how much playing Gaines and Tanzel get on Thursday night and how they fare.
Joseph-Day was selected by the Rams in the sixth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. He spent all of last season with the team, although he did not receive any playing time. He spent five years at Rutgers University, where he totaled 47 solo tackles and 3.5 sacks.
Gaines is someone the Rams are very high on after they drafted him out of Washington in the fourth round. The rookie may not be listed as a starter, but he is still expected to see plenty of snaps behind Joseph-Day this season.
