The Los Angeles Rams continue to bolster their defensive front seven in the 2021 NFL draft. At No. 174 overall, the Rams selected Northwestern defensive lineman Earnest Brown.
Brown is 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, but he’s not the best athlete. He has the size to play defensive end or outside linebacker in the Rams’ 3-4 scheme, however, giving Raheem Morris another versatile player to work with.
The Rams announced the pick as Brown being a defensive lineman, so the plan might be to play him in Michael Brockers’ spot. But he’s somewhat of a tweener like Morgan Fox was, carrying a similar frame to the former Rams defensive end (6-foot-3, 275 pounds).
Brown had just seven sacks in four seasons at Northwestern, with his sack total decreasing in each of the last two years. However, he had 8.5 tackles for a loss and batted four passes in 2020 alone; he only had one sack in nine games last season, though.
In 2019, Brown missed the final six games of Northwestern’s season with a pectoral injury, but he rebounded to play and start all nine games in 2020. Last year was his only season as a starter.
