Kiser to have surgery - Out indefinitely

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Well that escalated quickly.

Good thing we got Matthews and Littleton.

Kiser didn't look like a world beater in preseason though.
 
Bummer bout Kiser. Re: Patrick would be nice to see more of him at ILB in the next game, because at this point he's flashed as an edge moreso.
 
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Well shit! Hate it for Kiser. Was looking forward to seeing how he developed this year. But I must say I'm impressed by how Patrick has shown. I think we have a lot of young sleeper LBs on the roster right now. Who's going to step up? We definitely need a couple of them to do so.
 

Rams LB Micah Kiser out indefinitely with left pectoral injury, will undergo surgery Tuesday

The Rams announced today that second-year linebacker Micah Kiser is out indefinitely after sustaining a left pectoral injury in Saturday night's 14-10 preseason loss to the Dallas Cowboys in Hawaii. The injury will require surgery, which is scheduled to take place Tuesday.

A fifth-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Kiser collected four total tackles while playing in all 16 games during his rookie season. He was slated to start at the other inside linebacker spot opposite Corey Littleton based on the team's unofficial depth chart released earlier this month.

More to come later on therams.com.
 
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Rams LB Micah Kiser needs surgery on pectoral, out indefinitely
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By: Cameron DaSilva | 5 hours ago

The Los Angeles Rams suffered their first major injury blow of the year on Saturday night. Linebacker Micah Kiser left the game early with a pectoral injury, limiting him to just nine snaps against the Cowboys.

The team announced on Sunday that Kiser will undergo surgery on Tuesday and is sidelined indefinitely.

Kiser was projected to be the Rams’ starting linebacker next to Cory Littleton, stepping in for Mark Barron. The second-year player out of Virginia looked the part in the preseason, even making two tackles in just nine plays on Saturday.
As for who will fill in for Kiser, Sean McVay said it’ll be Bryce Hager.

“It would be Bryce that would play that Mike linebacker spot in our base defensive structures. We’ve got some good guys that have shown that they can play football. (Travin Howard) is a guy that has continued to improve. Really, he’s playing that inside linebacker spot. We’ve got a Mike and a Mo linebacker, but a lot of their responsibilities end up being interchangeable. We know what a great player Cory (Littleton) has been. Then in some different sub-packages, you could see some of our safeties potentially drop down into those linebacker locations. But it would be Bryce that would end up being in that Mike linebacker role if that’s the case with Micah.”

Kiser hasn’t yet started a game in the NFL, but replacing him won’t be easy for the Rams. Hager has primarily been a special teams player during his career and Howard hasn’t played a single regular-season snap.


 
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Options for the Los Angeles Rams to replace injured ILB Micah Kiser

With the injury to Kiser, could the Rams look out-of-house for a replacement?

By Sosa Kremenjas@QBsMVP Aug 18, 2019, 9:08pm CDT
NFL: Washington Redskins-Minicamp
Scott Taetsch-USA TODAY Sports
With the recent pectoral injury to current starting inside linebacker Micah Kiser, the Los Angeles Rams could look in free agency for a replacement option. Luckily for the Rams, there are some suitable options, both in-house and in free agency.
Let’s take a look at the players available:

Roster Veteran
ILB Bryce Hager
Hager has been with the Rams for four years now, mainly contributing as a special teamer and reserve linebacker. Throughout his career, Hager has collected only 22 tackles and four quarterback hits. Hager will likely be the first option for Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips as Hager and Kiser were in a battle for the starting inside linebacker spot, rotating for first-team reps.

Roster Rookie
ILB Dakota Allen
Allen may only be a late-round rookie, though he has done a great job impressing thus far. Through two preseason games, Allen has a combined 12 tackles, though he’s been around the ball damn near every snap. Allen’s play speed, tackling ability, and physicality stand out when he’s on the field. Allen could very well outplay Hager as a starter if given the chance.

Free Agency
ILB Mason Foster
The 30-year old veteran has competed in 107 career games, totaling 661 tackles, 41 tackles-for-loss, 8.5 sacks, eight interceptions, and 23 quarterback hits. Foster spent the first four years of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the last four with the Washington Redskins. Both Head Coach Sean McVay and Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers Coach Joe Barry have experience with Foster, spending two seasons with him in Washington. Foster isn’t dynamic in coverage in any way, though he can still offer help in run support as a tough and physical linebacker capable of making tackles all over the field.

ILB Will Compton
Like Foster, Will Compton is a veteran (30-years old soon) who’s spent significant time with both McVay and Barry in Washington, playing there for five seasons. Compton played for the Tennessee Titans in 2018, mainly as a special teams reserve. Compton doesn’t have a ton of production for a veteran, though he has totaled 286 tackles, six tackles-for-loss, three interceptions, and six quarterback hits. Compton only has 35 starts in his six-year NFL career.




While I understand we'll need to explore all options, i'm hoping we can keep this 'replacement' in house.
 
Ya hafta wonder if the people who write articles like these even follow the team much less watch the games. Kiser was getting outplayed by Hager and Patrick. Now add in Dakota Allen and his injury probably will have no impact. Why would they need to shop for a replacement when they already have 3? Patrick is an ILB more than OLB.

That position was never going to be a fulltime position. It's primarily an early down position that will get pulled on many passing downs to make room for the passing defense sub-package. Patrick is fine with that because he's more of a run stopper, who has some pass rush in him than an all-purpose athlete. Because of his lack of speed I see him as a liability on passing downs when Hager would probably play if the position isn't pulled. It was probably going to be played by committee even before Kiser's injury.
 
I'm sure Hager will get the nod, but I would suggest having Dakota Allen and Taylor Rapp platooning at ILB.

That seems to have been the plan with Kiser and Rapp anyway, but now I would just play Rapp there more often.
 
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I'm sure Hager will get the nod, but I would suggest having Dakota Allen and Taylor Rapp platooning at ILB.

That seems to have been the plan with Kiser and Rapp anyway, but now I would just play Rapp there more often.

I tend to agree here, I could see Rapp moving into that position along with Allen & Patrick, but Hager will get the nod early. Never been crazy about Bryce Hager and that angle he took in the early series against the Cowboys that led to a big run can be a concern, but Patrick looked good at OLB, but he played ILB in college and now I'm intrigued by the Dakota Allen story.
 
Ya hafta wonder if the people who write articles like these even follow the team much less watch the games.

And of course, while they cite his 4 tackles last season, there seems to be zero awareness that they were all on special teams. He had zero snaps in the defense last year, though he was a good special teamer.
 
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I’ve said it in other posts that Hager is decent at plugging a hole (ala goal line stance). Otherwise he is too slow and non-athletic to start at ILB. The Rams better hope someone like Allen or Patrick exceeds expectations or we will have a big hole in our run defense.
 
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I almost wonder if Rapp can just start at ILB and play most of the snaps there? That's what's going to happen in our sub packages, we already know that based on what we did last year and him playing there in the preseason.

But our run defense was elite once the playoffs started (the numbers in the Super Bowl were skewed - run d played well for most of the game and broke down on the Patriots last drive), and that was with Mark Barron at ILB. Granted, he's bigger than Rapp - but that makes me think it was more of an effort thing in the regular season.

SJD/Gaines will be in the game almost solely for defending the run, and Rapp will obviously be putting forth more effort than Barron who needed to save himself from getting re-injured.

In our base defense, we would have:

Fowler-Brockers-SJD-Donald-Ebukam

We know all of those guys play the run well except for SJD, who we're not sure about yet. Makes me think our run defense might be okay with Rapp starting.