St. Louis Rams Sign Free Agent LB Akeem Ayers

The St. Louis Rams dipped into the outside free agent pool for the first time during the 2015 offseason, as they reached an agreement with former New England Patriots linebacker Akeem Ayers. Ayers played in nine games with the Patriots with four starts last season after being traded to New England by the Tennessee Titans.
Terms of Ayers’s contract have yet to be disclosed, but they should provide a good indication as to how big his role will be. Ayers’ playing time in New England came mainly as a blitzer in sub-packages, as evidenced by the fact that he had four sacks but just 20 tackles in his time with the Patriots last season. Ayers has shown the ability to be an effective three-down linebacker before–he collected a career-high 104 tackles in 2012 with Tennessee–but the Rams had already filled the traditional strongside linebacker role for the most part in 2014 by plugging in former Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Mark Barron, who had 23 tackles and three sacks over nine games with the Rams.

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With Ayers in the fold, the Rams have an opportunity to get more of a substantial pass rush from the linebacker position. Gregg Williams seemed to want to get that pass rushing ability from

Alec Ogletree

early on in the 2014 season, but after apparently coming to the realization that Ogletree would be better utilized by roaming the field coverage and dropping back in coverage, he didn’t line up Ogletree on the edge nearly as frequently as the season went on. Now with the combination of Ayers, a talented pass rusher, and Barron, who can effectively contribute as a “rover” and step in if the Rams feel uncomfortable having the 6-foot-3, 255-pound Ayers drop back in coverage, the Rams have an even more talented linebacking corps.

The addition of the 25-year-old Ayers almost certainly spells the end of the road for

Jo-Lonn Dunbar

, who was basically replaced by Barron after the Rams acquired the former seventh overall pick at the trade deadline. Dunbar is owed a $999,999 base salary this season, plus $345,543 in bonuses. With

James Laurinaitis

, Ogletree, Ayers, and Barron in the fold plus backup linebackers and special teams contributors such as

Daren Bates

Korey Toomer

, and

Marshall McFadden

in the fold, the Rams no longer have much of a need for Dunbar on the roster.

Next: Reports: Rams Interested in Trade for Eagles OG Evan Mathis

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