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

Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

William Hayes: When Chris Long went down in the initial minutes of the Rams’ season opener, they were forced to give a bigger role to William Hayes, which wasn’t really fair considering that the 29-year-old end had missed the entirety of the preseason while recovering from three surgeries and hadn’t really gotten up to speed. While his effort in plugging the gap under dire circumstances for the 10 games that Long missed must be admired, it was clear that Hayes’ performance wasn’t quite up to the level that had made him such a valuable player in his first two seasons as a Ram.

Despite being in on roughly 200 more snaps than he had in each of his first two seasons in St. Louis, Hayes had just four sacks, the lowest season total of his Rams career. After Long had provided at least eight sacks in every season since 2010, it was a rough drop-off for the Rams’ pass rush with Hayes struggling to get to the quarterback on the left side.

On the bright side, he did lead the team in QB hurries with 31 (according to Pro Football Focus). He also was solid as a run defender, picking up 42 tackles.

WIth Hayes entering the final year of his contract and all his guaranteed money already paid out, it should be interesting to see if the Rams bring him back during his 30-year-old season. Eugene Sims has emerged as a reliable number 3 end and Ethan Westbrooks has the skills to replace Hayes, but the Rams may opt for the comfort of having Hayes’ veteran presence behind Long and Robert Quinn once again.

GRADE: C

Next: Eugene Sims