The Rams will be without starting cornerback Darious Williams for the next three games after he suffered an ankle injury in Week 5. Williams is currently on injured reserve and the Rams didn’t bring anyone in to help replace him during this absence.
That means their younger defensive backs will need to step up and play larger roles in his place. That includes Robert Rochell, David Long Jr. and possibly guys from the practice squad such as Kareem Orr and Donte Deayon.
Jalen Ramsey will still be the leader at cornerback and there’s not much else he can do to help replace Williams, but he’s confident in the Rams’ younger defensive backs after seeing them work in practice and on Sundays.
“I think we’re cool. We’re solid, you know,” he said Thursday. “We’ll see how things shake out on Sunday, how well guys play, and how well the group in total steps up and fills that void of “D-Will” being out for a few weeks. But, confident. I’m super confident in what we can do. So, we’ll see how things shake out on Sunday.”
Rochell and Long haven’t had the best performances as of late, but Ramsey is around them every day in practice and likes what he’s seen. He feels good about their ability to step up against the Giants this weekend, explaining the reason for his confidence.
“I mean, I’ve been around the guys, you know what I mean?” he said. “I’ve been around the guys. I’ve worked with them, grind with them, seeing them put the work in, challenged them myself, had them challenge me, and that’s it. So, I’m confident going into the game.”
Ramsey says the Rams will have some guys “step into roles that they haven’t been in yet,” though he wouldn’t say whether that group includes Terrell Burgess when asked if the second-year DB could play a bigger role. He sees it as a group effort that will get the job done because as fans and analysts know, replacing Williams one-for-one is difficult to do.
“Like I said, everybody’s got specific roles this week,” he said. “So, as a group, collective guys coming in, filling certain roles will hopefully be able to help me still be able to play at certain times and in different areas of the scheme. But you know, we’ll figure it out on Sunday. I mean, we figured it out right now, but we’ll see on Sunday how it shakes out.”
Fortunately, the Rams won’t be facing any prolific offenses in the coming weeks, going up against the Giants, Lions and Texans. But that doesn’t lessen the difficulty of replacing a player like Williams, especially given the Rams’ lack of experience at cornerback.
