Now
Joseph Noteboom Jersey , let me preface the entire article by saying this: the Los Angeles Rams have never indicated that they’re going to trade CB Marcus Peters, it’s purely speculation and an interesting idea that I think is worthy of discussion. Anyways, lets jump into it.The Rams traded for Peters nearly a year ago, acquiring him from the Kansas City Chiefs for a second and fourth-round pick. Peters is a mercurial cornerback talent who’s play garners a lot of attention (both good and bad) and his antics are unmatched in the league. Now, his “antics” aren’t really an issue — at least not under Head Coach Sean McVay — so that isn’t the reason for the idea that he could potentially be moved. The question is strictly raised because of performance concerns and even more so about the pending contract expiration.Peters is currently slated to play on his fifth-year option, or in other words, the last year of his rookie contract. Under his fifth-year option, Peters is due $9.1m this year, meaning he’s slated to be a free agent at this time next season (2020). Now, that begs a few questions in my mind that only the Rams know the answers to:Is Peters a long-term answer at the CB position?Does his play warrant a massive contract extension ($14m+/year)Is he a franchise cornerstone piece?His 2018 season was a complete tale of two halves as the first half of the season was incredibly rough for Peters, though things ultimately turned around in the back-half of the year. This article by the guys over at PFF truly shows how big of a performance spike there was from Peters before and after the bye week.Things started well the first two or three weeks in the season, though Peters sustained a calf injury in week three versus the Los Angeles Chargers that ultimately could have hampered his performance in the following weeks. That’s likely true because those next few weeks were some of his worst games all year (Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks). Ironically, Peters’ running mate in CB Aqib Talib also sustained an injury in week three though he was placed on the injured reserve list and held out for majority of the year until the Detroit Lions game in week 13. The downfall of Peters coincided with Talib’s injury as Peters was now hurt and asked to travel with #1 receivers, when he’s clearly more comfortable on his half of the field on the right side. Not only that
Jack Youngblood Jersey , but Peters was now being asked to play closer to the line of scrimmage, more press-man coverage, and offered less help from a safety on the backend. Talib’s return to the lineup meant Peters could go back to his half of the field and focus primarily on whoever lined up across, meaning he no longer needed to travel all over the field. That coupled with more off-coverage and spurts of zone coverage proved to be very helpful to the performance from Peters.That begs the question, what will the Rams do with Marcus Peters?Peters only has one year left on his contract, so will the Rams simply allow him to play it out and leave via free agency? They’ve been no strangers to letting DB’s hit the market as Rodney McLeod, T.J. McDonald, Trumaine Johnson, Janoris Jenkins, (and potentially) Lamarcus Joyner will all have left/hit the market since General Manager Les Snead took over. The cornerback market tells us Peters will likely top Trumaine Johnson’s contract from this past free agency period, and Johnson pulled himself a five-year $72.5m contract with $34m in guaranteed money, or an average of $14.5m per year. Should the Rams pay this amount to a guy that isn’t consistently great? Or will they even be willing to buck their trend of letting DB’s walk for Peters?The last viewpoint which I find incredibly interesting is the idea of trading for OLB Khalil Mack. The Rams were rumored to not only have interest in the star pass rusher when he was made available in Oakland, but they reportedly made a strong and competitive offer for the pass rusher. The interesting part about the Mack situation is that the Rams offered a first and third-round pick for his services, but actually had the intention to only use him for the 2018 season prior to trading him this offseason as they simply knew they wouldn’t be able to afford both he and Aaron Donald. Why’s that interesting? Well, could they be deploying the same strategy with Marcus Peters?What do you guys think is the most likely scenario? Only two games have been played
Torry Holt Jersey , yet the Rams defense is living up to its lofty expectations.Los Angeles put on a dominating display in Sunday's 34-0 victory over Arizona as it gave up only five first downs and didn't allow the Cardinals to cross midfield until the final minute of the game."If we can play elite defense like that and put up zeroes across the board and let our offense just run up and down the field, so be it," defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said.The Rams ended up making the Cardinals a one-dimensional team. Arizona averaged only 2.6 yards on first-down plays and often found itself getting behind schedule on second and third down.David Johnson also was never able to find any consistency as he was held to 48 yards on 13 carries. While the Rams had 10 plays in which they gained 17 yards or more, Arizona's longest play went for 15 and it had only three of 10 yards or more."I can't remember the time I've seen a defense play that complete from whistle to whistle," Rams coach Sean McVay said. "We're playing good situationally, stopping the run on early downs and getting ourselves into situations where you can really dictate things."The Rams haven't allowed a point in their last six quarters and have only given up one touchdown, but they face a larger challenge next week against the Chargers and Philip Rivers.Even though things are clicking right now, defensive tackle Aaron Donald thinks there still is a lot ahead of them."I think we can even get better. That's the scary thing," he said.LONG TIME COMINGThe Rams are 2-0 for the first time since 2001, when they made their third Super Bowl appearance.What made McVay even more pleased was how his team responded on a short week following last Monday's 33-13 win at Oakland. The Rams had only one day of a regular game week practice, using Wednesday as more of a walkthrough instead of what is normally one of the toughest practice days of the week."When you've got mature players that know how to take care of themselves, but also get them ready physically and mentally you can take those types of approaches," he said. "Really for the players to be able to handle this week the way that they did says a lot about our team and hopefully we'll continue to take steps."BACKUP PLANGreg Zuerlein's status is questionable after he strained his groin during pregame warmups and was unable to play. Punter Johnny Hekker handled kickoff duties and was good on a 20-yard field goal and extra point. Hekker is normally the holder on field goals and extra points, but wide receiver Cooper Kupp handled that on Sunday."I can't imagine thinking you're going to punt the whole game and then like, 'Hey
Orlando Pace Jersey , Johnny (Hekker) you're going to kick field goals, too.' I don't think anyone flinched," quarterback Jared Goff said. "We love Greg and we need him out there and we want to have him back as soon as possible, but stuff like that may happen."If Zuerlein has to miss any more games, the Rams are likely to give Sam Ficken a call.Ficken was with the team during training camp before being released and was with the team for three games last season, including the playoffs, when Zuerlein suffered a season ending back injury. He was 4 of 5 on field goals and 5 of 6 on extra points.STUCK IN NEUTRALThe Cardinals have scored only one touchdown in their first two games and have just two plays of 20 yards or more, which came in their Week 1 loss to Washington.Coach Steve Wilks said he didn't consider replacing quarterback Sam Bradford with first-round pick Josh Rosen during the game and ran down a long list of problems that he has to solve before next week's game against Chicago."I don't even know where to start right now. We've got to do a much better job running the football. We've got to do a much better job protecting. Receivers got to get off the jam at the line of scrimmage," Wilks said. "I think you have to find ways, number one, you have to find a way to generate positive plays on first and second down, so we don't find ourselves in a third-and-long type situation."INJURIESCardinals: WR Larry Fitzgerald injured his hamstring during the fourth quarter and did not return. Fitzgerald said after the game that he could have continued to play but that he didn't know how effective he would have been.Rams: RB Todd Gurley did not play during the fourth quarter due to cramping but was fine in the locker room after the game.Follow Joe Reedy at joereedy
