There are two distinct moments in which the Los Angeles Rams defense took a step forward during the 2024 season. With a younger group combined with a first-year defensive coordinator, the Rams started the season ranked 31st in defense EPA per play through Week 6. At that point, there were questions about what Chris Shula was as a defensive coordinator and just how much maturing the defense had to do.
However, following the bye week, the Rams defense turned a corner. They held the Las Vegas Raiders
to 15 points and had four turnovers in Week 7. The defense then took another step forward when undrafted free agent rookie Omar Speights got his first snaps at linebacker.
After struggling to stop the run, Speights became one of the best linebackers in that regard. From Weeks 8-17, the Rams ranked 12th in run defense success rate. Additionally, Speights ranked fifth against the run via PFF with a grade of 82.1. His 8.9 percent stop rate also ranked 10th.
Despite impressing as a rookie, Speights’ spot as the team’s top linebacker heading into 2025 seems far from guaranteed. During free agency, the Rams signed linebacker Nate Landman from the Atlanta Falcons. Landman has gone on to impress the coaching staff in training camp and taken on a leadership role. As described by The Rams’ Stu Jackson,
“Landman set the defensive sideline into uproars when he punched the ball out of tight end Davis Allen’s hands during red zone drills, and the fumble was recovered by cornerback Darious Williams. He was a leader in the huddle once again and McVay was complimentary about his leadership skills.”
Landman has been a training camp darling up to this point, consistently making plays and frequently drawing praise from the coaching staff. It wouldn’t be a surprise for Landman to see a prominent role in 2025 that is more than just playing second fiddle to Speights.
Throughout the offseason, the Rams took the approach of ‘raising the floor’ at a few positions. It was a reason for signing Coleman Shelton to start at center over Beaux Limmer and it’s possible that was also the idea behind the Landman signing.
While Speights showed promise as a rookie, he still had some moments in which his lack of size and limitations in coverage were obvious.
Everything started to change for the Rams mid-2nd quarter. Started to lose the battle up-front.
— Blaine Grisak (@bgrisakTST) November 27, 2024
Tyler Davis pushed back 4 yards and Omar Speights gets absolutely yeeted. pic.twitter.com/nuyKDIKLqV
While Landman may not have the ceiling that Speights does in the run game, he does raise the floor. In Landman, the Rams get a player who is more experienced with less variance in his game. It continues with the idea that the Rams simply need their defense to do just enough and not break while the offense carries the load.
This isn’t to say that Landman is going to replace Speights completely. Much like Speights, Landman’s strength is against the run. The former Falcons linebacker ranked last in coverage and allowed the highest completion rate when targeted. That could mean that the Rams may continue using dime packages with Jaylen McCollough as the Dime linebacker as they did last season.
Additionally, the Rams tend to operate with two linebackers on the field. From Weeks 8-17 last year, Christian Rozeboom had 557 defensive snaps to Speights’ 375. During those weeks, Speights played more than 75 percent of the snaps just once while Rozeboom did so eight times.
While it seemed as thought Speights may becomes the centerpiece of the Rams defense in 2025, he simply may remain in his same rotational role that puts him in the best position to succeed. Landman would then take on Rozeboom’s role which is more of the full-time linebacker in the defense.
For the first time in a while, the Rams finally have some depth and options at the linebacker spot. There is still a lot to be excited about when it comes to Speights entering year two. At the same time, it is good to see Landman impressing and being somebody that the Rams coaching staff can trust. He raises the floor and provides a steady presence.
We’ll have to wait and see what the linebacker rotation looks like once the season starts, but the early days of training camp suggest Landman could develop into the leader of that group.
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