Los Angeles Rams: Ndamukong Suh firmly establishes defense as elite

The Los Angeles Rams are signing Ndamukong Suh to a one-year deal, and his presence firmly establishes a now star-studded defense as elite.

Teams have been courting Ndamukong Suh in 2018 NFL free agency essentially since the moment that he was cut by the Miami Dolphins. In recent days, he had narrowed his list of potential teams to sign with down, and the New York Jets also reportedly took their hat out of the ring. On Monday, however, the 31-year old defensive tackle made his ultimate decision: He’s going, going,

back, back,

to Cali, Cali.

As reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Los Angeles Rams and Suh have agreed to a one-year deal that will pay the big lineman $14 million. This comes after the veteran had said basically that he was interested in the highest bidder and not as much about the team he played for. In the end, Suh will now line up for a potential contender while also getting a nice one-year payday.

More importantly, however, the arrival of Suh in Los Angeles makes Sean McVay’s Rams a viable contender in not just the NFC West, but in the conference and league as wholes.

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Last season as the Rams made their jump from bottom-feeder to division champions, the improvement was on both sides of the ball with McVay largely helming the offense and Wade Phillips manning the defense. According to Football Outsiders’ DVOA metrics measuring overall efficiency, LA jumped from the 30th-ranked team in that overall metric in the 2016 season to the second-ranked team in the 2017 campaign.

And while most people focused on the improvement of Jared Goff and the offense this past year, the defense was far from a slouch. They ranked sixth in the NFL in Defensive DVOA, anchored by Aaron Donald at defensive end in Phillips’ 3-4 base defense. Donald registered a near-perfect grade of 99.7 from Pro Football Focus Edge in 2017, the highest-graded player in the league bar-none.

Now he will joined by Suh on that front in Los Angeles. And that has the potential to be an unholy duo getting after opposing offensive lines. After all, Suh graded out as the fifth-best interior defender last season while in Miami, per Pro Football Focus Edge.

However, that is not the only addition and/or change that the Rams have made this offseason. While they’ve lost Trumaine Johnson in free agency, they’ve more than replaced him with two trades that landed them the elite cornerback duo of Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters. With Kayvon Webster being re-signed also at corner and LaMarcus Joyner being hit with the franchise tag, their secondary is almost as fearsome as the combo of Donald and Suh.

Granted, the Rams defense isn’t perfect. There is a hole at linebacker following the team trading Alec Ogletree to the Giants. Meanwhile, trading Robert Quinn to the aforementioned Dolphins leaves them in need of more help on the edge. These are concerns, however, that can be addressed in the draft. More importantly, they are also concerns that the defensive stars around them can mask.

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What the Rams have built this offseason (and around Donald) is a collection of elite players and star-power that will be feared around the entirety of the league. Yes, they aren’t perfect — but no defense is. And where they have their imperfections, they have talent elsewhere in the scheme to make plays before they are exploited. That’s how you build a successful defense, one even better than before.

And considering that this team won the NFC West with a second-year quarterback in 2017, it’s safe to say that the rest of the league is on notice about the Rams with the arrival of Suh in LA — if they weren’t already.

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