[ramsman34]

There are a number of ILBs in the draft with high level skills. None are perfect. But that’s ok. Chris Paul Jr. looks like the real deal to me. Already talked about Jihaad Campbell but he will go in the first. Likely not what the Rams do. There are some run stop specialists/2-down backers like Danny Stutsman and Kobe King as well. Gonna dive deeper into the ILBS and corners between now and the draft.

[Elvis]

All options are no doubt on the table, and there are exceptions, but the Rams have a habit of fielding UDFAs and lower tier FAs when it comes to ILB...

[BobCarl]

There are a number of ILBs in the draft with high level skills.....

rr34 your insight into defenses goes beyond evaluating prospects. And your understanding of X's and O's go beyond anything we'll read by seasoned reporters in the media. That being said, what trends have you seen over the past few years on how the Rams use the ML?

Is the Mike always the green-dot? Or does it change from play to play? Is setting the edge and then plugging the gaps with everyone else the basic run plan? For passing plays do ILB's focus on man-to-man or zone, or a zone-man coverage?

Does consistency in reading the keys matter more than hitting as hard as Dick Butkus did?

From your optics, what made the Rams defense so successful in the last 1/3 of last season? (in relation to or in spite of the ILB)

[ramsman34]

rr34 your insight into defenses goes beyond evaluating prospects. And your understanding of X's and O's go beyond anything we'll read by seasoned reporters in the media. That being said, what trends have you seen over the past few years on how the Rams use the ML?

Multiple ways depending on the player. They liked to blitz E Jones, did that with Speights too end of this season. Standard run gap responsibilities, generally. Same for coverage. Rams don’t do much Tampa-2 (asking the Mike to drop into the deep middle). When they put Hoecht off-ball, they did a few exotics with him as the 5th rusher.

Is the Mike always the green-dot? Or does it change from play to play? Is setting the edge and then plugging the gaps with everyone else the basic run plan? For passing plays do ILB's focus on man-to-man or zone, or a zone-man coverage?
Rams have used the Mike or a safety as the green dot. It doesn’t change unless that player comes off the field. They use ILbs in both zone and man but much more in zone with Safeties in man.
Does consistency in reading the keys matter more than hitting as hard as Dick Butkus did? As far as basic run plan yes, outside players set the edge with the intent of spilling plays inside where more help is. All players have a run gap responsibility. That gets muddles when OLs change from a a man/power scheme to duo to zone as the gaps, in effect, move or shift depending on the strength of the play (typically where the TE is at the snap). I would say consistencies out weighs hitting power. With tackling fundamentals being paramount, pure hitting looks cool, but not that important.

From your optics, what made the Rams defense so successful in the last 1/3 of last season? (in relation to or in spite of the ILB)

Well, inside, Speights and Rozeboom played well together and inside the framework of the D. However, the collective weakness was against elite, fast RBs - as well as saw. Add to that big, powerful OLs and a QB that is a threat to run. Luckily, not many teams boast that combination of players. The cohesiveness of the front 3 and 2 edge players was a huge lift as was the creativity of Shula and his ability to identify what his players excelled at and to put them in positions to flex those skills more often than not. All the while he improved at pre snap disguise of what his D was actually doing. This is a general overview. If we all had the time and didn’t have responsibilities. We could watch tape together and see some of this in action. Not knowing the play calls makes that incomplete but we’d have a better understanding of the intent.

[ramsman34]

And I appreciate the kind words Bob. My responses are imbedded in your quoted post, BTW.

[BobCarl]

The cohesiveness of the front 3 and 2 edge players was a huge lift as was the creativity of Shula and his ability to identify what his players excelled at and to put them in positions to flex those skills more often than not. All the while he improved at pre snap disguise of what his D was actually doing.

Nice! The cohesiveness is a great way of qualifying the results, is this something that can be coached or something that the scouting dept looks for? ... and the pre snap disguise gives me something to watch in this upcoming season.

We could watch tape together and see some of this in action.

I wish! If you ever get a chance, put a video together and breakdown a play or two, I'm sure everyone here would love it.