Undrafted rookies have an impact in the NFL each season. It’s not often they become one of the best players at their respective positions, though.
Cory Littleton signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent out of Washington in 2016 and has slowly worked his way to become a top linebacker in the league right now. He has a Pro Bowl on his resume from 2018, but that was as a special teams player.
In 2019, he’s deserving of making it as a linebacker.
He’s a do-it-all player for the Rams, playing every single snap in each game but two: blowout wins over the Falcons and Cardinals. He’s doing everything at a high level, too, from defending the run to dropping back in coverage to rushing the passer.
Just look at his stats: 102 tackles, 2 INTs, 8 PBU, 2 FF, 2.5 sacks and 4 TFL.
He ranks among the best linebackers in the league in all four of Pro Football Focus’ major categories, too.
Littleton has improved significantly in the tackling department, which was sometimes a weakness for him in 2018. He’s missed just four tackles this year, good for a missed-tackle rate of only 3.8% – nearly half of his mark from last season (7.4%).
Even better for him, he’s doing all of this in a contract year. Littleton returned to the Rams as a restricted free agent this year, but he’ll be an unrestricted FA in 2020. That’s great news for him and bad news for the Rams.
With Los Angeles having very little cap space next year, re-signing him to the contract he’s going to command will be difficult. It will likely prevent the Rams from keeping Dante Fowler Jr. and Michael Brockers, who could both depart after this season.
The coaches have to love what they’re seeing from the former undrafted free agent, but the front office will have a hard time keeping him around on an affordable contract after his breakout campaign.
