St. Louis Rams Closing Evaluations: What Grades Do the Defensive Linemen Receive?

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Alex Carrington: Honestly, it’s difficult to understand why Carrington remained on the roster for the entirety of 2014, or even made it in the first place considering his relatively expensive $1.5 million-dollar salary.

The Rams brought in Carrington, who had four seasons under his belt with the Buffalo Bills, as a free agent in March to boost their interior pass rush. However, the need for him was significantly lessened in May when they selected Aaron Donald with the 13th pick in the draft.

Despite his failure to stand out in training camp practices or preseason games, the Rams continued to try to find ways to get him into the mix, even giving the 300-pounder some time at defensive end near the end of the preseason. At the beginning of the regular season, the coaching staff even made a departure from their traditional roster construction philosophy, which has dictated that only three active defensive tackles are needed on gamedays, by having Carrington, Donald, Michael Brockers, and Kendall Langford all up on the active roster for games.

Once Carrington began to deal with injuries, his playing time lessened. He suffered a knee injury which kept him out of the fifth game of the season, and though he got back into the lineup after that, he later suffered a quad injury which kept him out beginning in Week 11. Even after he recovered from that ailment, Carrington was kept out of the lineup, as the Rams returned to their traditional complement of three defensive tackles on gamedays, and he was inactive for the last six games of the season.

Carrington ended the season with one tackle over eight games, plus a quarterback hurry according to Pro Football Focus. With Donald and Brockers sure to be back in the fold, it’s difficult to see how that performance could earn him another contract with the Rams, though it doesn’t really make sense how he stuck around through this season to begin with.

GRADE: F

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