Do The Los Angeles Rams Have A New Secret Weapon On Defense?

Do The Los Angeles Rams Have A New Secret Weapon On Defense?

[Music] yo what’s going on los angeles welcome to the rams skinny here on the lab network this is your daily dose of rams news and uh some real positive comments skinny about one of the rams newest additions defensive tackle puna ford the great mina was raving about puna ford and uh fans should be excited about this guy he had a fantastic year cross town with the la chargers and now comes the rams and i think there’s a lot to be excited about what uh what did mina have to say about one puna she went all all out on the superlatives she said one of the most underrated players of his generation uh she labeled them as the missing piece to the rams defense uh fantastic fit for the rams scheme and it solves a lot of their problems and i believe in most of what she says not everything i don’t know if he’s one of the greatest uh or most underrated players of his generation um that’s uh i mean i think he’s i think he’s underrated i think uh he proved that last year with what he did with the the chargers um you know 23 run stops got himself an interception couple of sacks um and really did a a great job clogging clogging up the middle for the run which to her point um was a big problem for the for the rams last season so i mean specifically kobe turner and and braden fisks are they’re they’re a bit lighter weight uh much more in the pass rush uh expertise and this guy just brings in you know we were talking about emanuel forbes and i said he was in the zeroth percentile in weight um this guy’s kind of the complete opposite he’s in the zero percentile in height he’s just 5’11 yeah yeah 5’11 310 so uh you know they they needed to to drop a guy in there uh and they and and they committed to him three years $27 million uh so nothing exorbitant but you know that’s you know that’s going to take him into his 30s so you know they’re committed to him for a while they obviously have a lot of belief in him and so i think i think mina’s uh kind of right on right on the money here she she’s a she’s a seahawks fan and uh they were drafted he was drafted by the seahawks so you know maybe maybe she’s leaning into that a little bit yeah i think leaning in a little bit uh i agree i think maybe a little high too high praise um but certainly very good i think what’s what’s most exciting to me is while he had a great year with the chargers last year and we saw how important he was to that defense he did put some great things on on tape when he was with the seahawks he was with the seahawks for what almost five years and you know had a had a 53 tackle season with the seahawks always averaged around you know two sacks from the interior had kind of six to eight tackles for loss in that six to 10 t uh cubic quarterback hits so has been really consistent kind of since being drafted outside of an injured 2023 season with buffalo he’s he’s been really consistent his whole career so it seemed like he got a lot more praise last year since being with the chargers obviously part of that’s probably because we cover him so we cover the chargers as well so maybe we heard more part of that being in la we heard more versus seattle but i mean rams played seattle they’re in the division and so we obviously saw puna ford twice a year when he was with the seahawks and uh mcvey obviously saw what he liked and what he’s able to do against his offense and being able to add that my question for you skinny maybe maybe we’re being like mina kimes here and going a little too too crazy but obviously take out aaron donald i know he’s interior technically but obvious obviously take him out when you look at interior defensive linemen do you think in the mcvey era does puna ford have the ability to potentially be one of the best when you look at the likes of michael brockers who’s kind of that that tween interior edge kind of that three tech five tech when you look at greg gaines when you look at sebastian joseph day um when you look at aan robinson like those guys obviously now with the emergence of kobe uh turner like do you think puna ford has the ability to maybe be the best of all those guys you know for the thing that they’re going to ask him to do which is play early downs run run run downs i think he’s going to be invaluable um you know there’s there’s a problem when assessing the rams defensive line you’ve already touched on it it’s aaron donald it’s like he made everybody around him a lot better um so taking that calculus out you know i think that he has the ability to really put himself on the map in terms of rams defensive linemen in this era um you know you look at what aan robinson did in the championship season and you know he he eclipsed anything that puna ford had had done from a run stopping perspective but also from a pressure perspective so i think you know but but again you’re you’re weighing that against what donald was doing on the other side of the line and that freed up aan to be able to do more um but yeah i think that you know if if they can if they can raise raise their level of run defense to a certain to a certain echelon um where it’s not a liability anymore i mean this i mean we’re talk i’m talking super bowl i’m talking super bowl roster again and and if if if he if he’s what kind of pushes them into that realm if he can get them over the hump the hump that we saw last year the saquon barkley hump then absolutely i mean that role player you know he’s going to play what like 600 five 600 snaps for him probably if as a role player if you can just lock that down that that that’s that’s super bowl winner right there yeah that’s what you need you need guys in their role doing their job as set pieces and if he can have the same success or greater success than what those before him did with aaron donald next to them which he will not have then i think you could absolutely put him in the conversation as best interior dlineman of the shawn mcvey era um now we got to see him do it because he hasn’t started yet but just based on his history in the league he’s done some very good things and obviously the body type fits the need he knows that’s his role like what made it so tough with um i’m blank his name now who’s no longer there who wanted to be like a pass rusher but they oh brown thank you yeah um you know he he obviously never really voiced anything till after the season but clearly did not like what his role was and you know to each their own like we all have jobs where you’re think you maybe are doing something that you shouldn’t be doing and you’re better at something else but clearly that was a discontent or not on the same page ver with brown and the organization and hence why he’s no longer here whereas puna ford i think will know like my role is run stopping like cool if i get to the quarterback that’s a cherry on top but my role is plugging holes stopping the run freeing up guys like jared verse and byron on the outside or even allowing kobe turner to rush from the inside while i am taking on double teams and and get being gap sound and so the fact that he will know that role embrace that role i think will only benefit the team better and will hopefully aid in this epidemic of run stopping that they seem to have down the stretch against elite running backs so yeah i think he absolutely has the ability to be great with this team with this current roster construction with this defensive scheme and while maybe saying he’s the most underrated player his at his position of his generation is a bit high i will say i think this is maybe the most underrated signing of this free agency class in the nfl period because of what he will be asked to do with the rams is exactly what his skill set has proven to be throughout his career so i mean i can’t wait i think there was a home run signing and can’t wait to see it yeah it’s like one of those instances where you know the speaker says “look to your left look to your right tell me what you see.” you know it’s like you look around the the defensive line it’s like pass rusher pass rusher pass rusher all at fist i mean kobe turner you know is a bit of an exception um byron young jared verse these guys are all interested in getting at after the quarterback that’s where all their skill set is and and it’s great that that those are gamechanging plays sacks stop drives dead in their tracks negative plays great just got to get a little bit more gap sound that’s what that’s what he’s here for so i think i think 100% most underrated free agent signing i think this is better i think this is better than dvonte adams to be honest with you i think they could have had a great offense without uh dvonte adams i don’t think they can have a great defense without a guy uh like like puna ford in the middle perfectly said i i totally agree so uh so not only underrated maybe the signing for the rams of free agency their best signing let us know what you guys think drop a comment below on the ramslfb youtube channel you can head to our forum message board rams message board on lfnetwork.com or always hit us up on social rl anderson lfb at ryan dy lfb at lfb network is the main channel this is your daily dose of rams talk on the rams skinny we’ll be back soon with plenty more for skinny t i’m ryan d everyone be well be safe talk to you’all soon [Music]

The Los Angeles Rams’ defense was certainly better than expected last season, but they need to improve mightily in the run game.

Did they potentially solve this issue with the signing of Poona Ford?

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Sean McVay is the Los Angeles Rams’ Football Head Coach as the team heads into the 2025 NFL Season, looking to build upon their playoff divisional appearance from one year ago. Matthew Stafford is back at quarterback, and he will lead the Rams throughout the season with Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, and Kyren Williams. Jared Verse and Braden Fiske will look to build upon stellar rookie campaigns on defense for the Rams.

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