The Los Angeles Rams’ leader in sacks – no, it’s not Aaron Donald this season – will be out at least a month after suffering a broken jaw on Thursday night against the Seahawks. Clay Matthews was injured late in the game and will undergo surgery to repair the injury, sidelining him for an extended period of time.
It’s terrible news for the Rams, who appear to have gotten a bargain with Matthews after they signed him to a two-year deal this offseason. He already has six sacks in five games, surpassing his total of 3.5 with the Packers last year.
With Matthews out, the Rams need someone to step up in his place. That someone will need to be Samson Ebukam.
Sean McVay said Friday that Ebukam will get the first shot at the starting job, but he doesn’t sound overly confident in the young pass rusher.
“He’s played OK. I think he’s done some good things. Samson’s been a productive player for us over the last handful of years. I think he’s done a nice job really supplementing Dante (Fowler) and Clay on the edge. But now he will be asked to step up in a bigger role, play more snaps,” McVay said. “We’ve seen him do that last year when he ended up making a big impact. We’ll certainly miss Clay, but it will be something that Samson will have to step up and we have confidence that he can do that.”
That’s not exactly high praise from McVay, who often has nothing but great things to say about his players. Ebukam is athletic and explosive off the edge, but he needs to refine his pass-rushing moves.
Hopefully he can do that sooner rather than later and prove to be a reliable replacement for Matthews. His numbers this season as a part-time player are unimpressive (nine tackles, two QB hits, zero sacks) but his role will be significantly larger moving forward.
