The St. Louis Rams defense received a boost by signing former New England Patriots linebacker Akeem Ayers. The contract is reportedly two years, worth $6 million with $3 million of it guaranteed according to St. Louis-Post Dispatch writer Jim Thomas. His contract could be boosted to $10 million through incentives.
Ayers was originally drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round (39th overall) in the 2011 NFL Draft. The Titans traded him to the Patriots after linebacker Chandler Jones went down with an injury. He performed much better in New England and recorded four sacks and one interception starting in just four games with the Patriots.
Ayers’s short stint with the Patriots has revitalized his career after having an unsuccessful run with the Titans. In three and a half seasons with the Titans, he recorded 171 tackles, 16 pass deflections, 13 sacks and had three forced fumbles. Part of the problem was that the Titans continuously shifted him around at linebacker attempting to use him in the middle. Ayers is bettered suited to the outside, which the Rams did have a vacancy for.
St. Louis has fielded a reliable linebacker in James Laurinaitis, and Alec Ogletree has progressed well in his second season with the Rams. However, the Rams just haven’t had a quality linebacker to play the opposite end of Ogletree and have tried to fill the position with the likes of Ray-Ray Armstrong and Jo-Lonn Dunbar.
There aren’t many needs on the defensive side of the football, but expect depth to be addressed as well. Ayers allows the Rams to check off linebacker from the list of needs this offseason.
Source: Pro-sports-reference.com, Sportrac.com
You can follow Johnny Gomez on Twitter @Johnny5not6. Be sure to follow Rams Talk on Twitter @TalkRams.
