It's only training camp, but Rams D must master this basic skill immediately

The Los Angeles Rams are older on the offensive side of the football, and much younger on the defensive side of the football. Said another way, the Rams have invested far more of the annual salary cap on the offense than defense. While we can list out many challenges that come with fielding seasoned veterans on one side of the football, are we effectively glossing over the nature of fielding so many players in a group who are still playing on rookie contracts?

And those challenges do not dissipate after young players return for Year 2.

But let's start off on the positive. The Rams are undeniably one of the most rapidly rising defensive fronts in the NFL. This is a group that took on two premier offensive lines in the 2025 NFL Playoffs and shredded them for 16 quarterback sacks in two games. Stated another way, the Philadelphia Eagles' pass rush needed twice as many playoff games simply to tie the number of sacks that the LA Rams generated.

Wow.

So it's no wonder that Pro Football Focus author Zoltan Buday ranks the LA Rams defensive line among the NFL's top 10 units for 2025.

DEFENSIVE LINE RANKINGS 📊https://t.co/sGkFvUodvX

— PFF (@PFF) June 25, 2025

In his writeup, Buday cited the Rams defensive line as exceeding expectations in 2024:

"Many expected the Rams defensive line to fall off following Aaron Donalds retirement, but the unit has remained above average thanks to its young players, including a pair of impactful rookies. First-year interior defender Braden Fiske generated pressure on 13.2% of pass plays in 2024, which ranked fifth at the position, while fellow rookie Jared Verse’s 89.3 PFF overall grade placed seventh among edge defenders."

PFF Zoltan Buday

And the Rams are positioned to perform even better this year. Still, one thing did not shine in his article, and it must be corrected immediately.

Rams have to tackle much better in 2025

While fans have every right to be optimistic about the Rams' defense, and in particular the defensive front for the team in 2025, let's not delude ourselves into the false confidence that the group has mastered all fundamental skills required of defenders. The defense is young, and no statistic screams inexperience like the ability to tackle.

In the Pro Football Focus article about ranking defensive lines of NFL teams, the Rams land at the ninth overall group. That's pretty complimentary. But when you dig into the details, the Rams players from last season have horrible grades at tackling. Seriously, horrible. Let's run down the numbers:

* Players who are no longer with the team are bolded and underlined.

If you average out the tackling grades for the remaining five veterans on the team, you calculate 37.8, which works out to a very bad tackling team. Keep in mind that this is the average on rote scores, and does not weigh the even more suspicious tackling of players likely to see much more action, like OLB Jared Verse and NT Kobie Turner.

Let's deep dive into the worst perpetrators of missing tackles in 2024, using statistical data as provided by Pro Football Reference.

• Jared Verse - 17 missed tackles - 20.5 %
• Kobie Turner - 3 missed tackles - 4.6 %
• Braden Fiske - 7 missed tackles - 13.7%
• Byron Young - 8 missed tackles - 11.4%
• Tyler Davis - 2 missed tackles - 6.5%
• Poona Ford - 2 missed tackles - 4.9%

As you can see, the date from a third party does not seem to support the detail that was presented via the Pro Football Focus data. Between the two conflicting data sources, the Pro Football Reference data seems to align far more closely to my own 2024 observations, so I wouldn't push the panic button just yet.

But it confirms the fact that the Rams are likely to start three players on the defensive front: OLB Jared Verse, OLB Byron Young, and DT Braden Fiske, who are missing more than 10 percent of their tackles. And that is not good.

How can the Rams fix this fundamental flaw?

Still, the Rams coaching staff has multiple options. The primary solution is to drill on tackling, repeating the process until players demonstrate an aptitude for the fundamental task. A secondary option is to increase the rotations to ensure that anyone on the football field is rested and fresh enough to ensure tackling is optimized.

And thirdly, there is always the option to hold defensive snaps for ransom, and pull players off the football field when they are noticeably missing tackles. This team is not as limited with rotations as last season. For example, rookie OLB Josaiah Stewart and DT Ty Hamilton will be pushing hard for playing time. If training camp emphasizes tackling as a prerequisite to earning playing time, they could add huge upticks in tackling proficiency.

But the bigger probability rests with returning veterans vying for larger roles. I love the chances for OLB Brennan Jackson, DL Desjuan Johnson, and DL Tyler Davis to show up big in tackling this season. But the team has many players on the roster who could climb the depth chart ladder with solid tackling and performances in training camp.

Ultimately, players do not need to be read the riot act. Whether fans believe it or not, every player on the Rams roster is acutely aware of those areas that they must work on and improve for 2025. And that self-discipline will motivate every player named in the data tables above to do better this season. Still, missing tackles is a luxury that this defense cannot afford, or even tolerate. Tackling is a fundamental part of every defender.

That means that in order for the team to have success this year, the Rams defense must master this fundamental skill. And I'm certain that every player on the defensive side of the football knows this as well.

As always, thanks for reading.