The secondary of the Los Angeles Rams has undergone some alterations this season, especially with Darious Williams on injured reserve. With more opportunities to go around, Dont’e Deayon made his season debut for the Rams in Week 6 versus the New York Giants.
Following Sunday’s rout of the Giants on the road, Sean McVay had glowing remarks about Deayon’s outing in Week 6.
“Double D is a really smart, instinctual player, great competitor,” McVay said. “He did a great job being able to play outside. He played some inside, played over 50 snaps for us and was a heavy contributor in a big way. I thought he did a great job. Definitely wasn’t too big for him, came up and made some tackles as an enforcer in some of the run fits. He did a really good job. I was really pleased with him.”
Besides the injury to Williams, David Long Jr. was struggling at cornerback for the Rams. As a result, Long has seen fewer than 30% of the defensive snaps in the past two weeks.
On Sunday, it was Robert Rochell and Deayon who saw the most time alongside Jalen Ramsey at the cornerback position. With Ramsey being moved around constantly in the defense, Deayon did see some playing time on the outside.
Despite him being an undersized defensive back at only 5-foot-9, Deayon wasn’t afraid to get involved in making tackles, combining for four tackles on Sunday. Deayon saw a career-high 88% of the snaps on defense for the Rams and seized the opportunity he was given.
Given the success the secondary of the Rams had in Week 6 against the Giants, I’d expect Deayon to continue seeing an increased role until Williams is able to return to the secondary.
