Ram Digest

Aaron Rodgers Reveals What he Saw From the Rams in How They Deployed Jalen Ramsey

Aaron Rodgers analyzes the Rams' usage of Jalen Ramsey.

Nicholas Cothrel

The Los Angeles Rams defense has seen regression this season after finishing last year as the No. 1 unit in the NFL.

While the defense has played up and down periodically throughout the first 12 weeks, cornerback Jalen Ramsey has been a constant bright spot in providing his efforts in pass-defense as well as contributing in run support.

However, one question that has lingered over defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has been the way in which he's attempted to use Ramsey's skillset. Ramsey has played the star position at great lengths this season and rightfully so – he's a fundamentally sound tackler that can aid the defense in stopping the run in addition to his coverage from inside the slot.

The one downfall of Ramsey being used like this, however, is it takes away his coverage against the opposing team's No. 1 receiver who generally lines up along the outside. Last week in Green Bay, the Packers had far too many opportunities to target Davante Adams without Ramsey in his hip pocket. 

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers made his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show and he weighed in how he saw the Rams use Ramsey.

“He’s been playing a lot of nickel, actually, for them," Rodgers said. "Probably because he’s such a great player and you can maybe at times lose him in games if he’s playing outside and teams are just gonna ignore that side of the field. So he started playing inside more and he’s a really good blitzer and he can cover inside or outside. But with Davante, he was doing some traveling but he wouldn’t sometimes travel on motion from one side to the other.”

“He’s a great player. You have to be wary of certain routes that you throw on his side because he’ll bait you into throwing certain things and sit on routes from time to time, and there is a little bit of a guessing game," Rodgers said. "But it also depends on the guy who’s over there on his side. We had a good plan with trying to get the ball out quickly.”

Rodgers specifically stated that when he hit Adams on a 43-yard catch-and-run, he motioned tight end Josiah Deguara, drawing Ramsey to follow him in motion, taking Adams off of Ramsey in coverage. 

Ramsey still had his fair share of opportunities against Adams, but typically when you’re facing one of the game's best wide receivers, it's probably best to have your top cornerback covering him for the vast majority of the contest. Adams logged five grabs for 41 yards across five targets with Ramsey lined up across him.

Ramsey finished the game, logging six tackles in Week 13. Collectively, this season, he's registered 56 tackles, eighth TFLs, three interceptions, 10 pass breakups, one forced fumble and one quarterback hit.

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Nick Cothrel is the Publisher of Ram Digest. Follow Nick and Ram Digest on Twitter @NickCothrel & @RamDigestSI for more Rams coverage.

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Nicholas Cothrel
NICHOLAS COTHREL

Nick Cothrel covers the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated.

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