The Rams were unable to retain Cory Littleton this offseason as he left in free agency to join the Las Vegas Raiders. With limited cap space, it was almost expected that Los Angeles would lose two of its biggest free agents, and Littleton was certainly among them.
What was more surprising was the Rams’ decision not to address the inside linebacker position in free agency or early in the draft. The only addition they made was by drafting Clay Johnston in the seventh round, but he’s not expected to contribute immediately on defense.
Micah Kiser is the primary candidate to replace Littleton, but he’s not the team’s only option. Linebackers coach Joe Barry shed some light on the competition during an appearance on the Rams Revealed Podcast with J.B. Long, and it sounds like it’ll come down to Kiser or Troy Reeder in the middle.
As of now, Kiser is working with the starters, while Reeder is on the second-team defense.
“It’s great to have Micah Kiser healthy and back out there. We were excited about him a year ago and hurt his pec in that preseason game, so it’s great to have him back out,” Barry said. “When Micah went down, we had an undrafted kid that stepped in and did a great job for us as an undrafted rookie, Troy Reeder, so both those guys are battling, but Micah’s working with the first group right now, Troy’s working with the second group in our acclimation phase. But it’s just great to have the guys out there as we start ramping things up. The great thing about Sean’s program is it’s all about competition. The way I coach guys, I always tell the room, ‘Hey, I don’t have starters and backups. I have starters and starters in waiting.’
“I’ve got a great group of young up-and-coming guys so I’m excited for all of them.”
Kiser was in line to start next to Littleton last year before he injured his pectoral in the preseason and landed on IR. He has yet to play a defensive snap in two seasons, but the Rams are relying heavily on him to come through in 2020.
Travin Howard, Kenny Young and Johnston would be the next guys up after Reeder, but the fact that Barry didn’t mention them suggests Kiser and Reeder are the Rams’ top choices right now.
The pads haven’t even come on in practice yet, which will help decide the competition. But by the sound of it, Kiser will get the first crack at replacing Littleton.
