When news broke that the Los Angeles Rams were replacing departing defensive tackle Bobby Brown III with cross-locker room rival Poona Ford, formerly of the Los Angeles Chargers, it seemed like a good enough move.
Sure, Ford is five years older than Brown, has more tread on his tires, and holds the rare distinction of being a sub-6-foot tall defensive lineman, but the pride of Texas does have 11.5 sacks over his seven-year career and could provide some pass-rushing abilities out of the middle of Chris Shula's defense.
And the best part? His unique size makes him a monster to block for opposing linemen when he's logging snaps against opposing centers.
Need proof? Well, look no further than Jason Kelce, the former Eagles All-Pro center who gave the now Rams rusher a pretty incredible compliment on Pardon My Take.
“I was always, for some reason, like not the best guys sometimes who gave me issues like Poona Ford. Like backup nose guards sometimes gave me the most fits out of anybody,” Kelce declared.
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“Poona started in Seattle, played really good this year, kinda had a down year in Buffalo, but he had longer arms than me and he's shorter than me. So, like, for me, it's like, alright, at least when I play a bigger guy, I can get up under them and win the leverage battle. And if I play a shorter guy, at least I have long arms, so when you play somebody shorter with long arms, it's negated every technical advantage I have, I have no mass advantage so it's tough.”
While Kelce was willing to call Ford the “Jason Kelce stopper,” he wasn't the only Rams player, past or present, to get a compliment out of the Eagles Super Bowl Champion, as the future Hall of Famer had some very nice things to say about Aaron Donald, too.
“The best player I ever played against was Aaron Donald, for sure,” Kelce said. “Luckily, he chose to be a nightmare for the guards more than he was for the centers, so I didn't have to deal with that too much. But he was a freak.”
Welp, there you go, folks; Donald and Ford are being mentioned in the same breath by a Hall of Famer, and thus, the Rams have to be considered heavy favorites to win the NFC West once more, right? While I maybe wouldn't go that far, it is encouraging to learn that Ford is such a tough player to guard and could not only help the Rams' run defense issues but improve their pass rush, too.
