Rams: Ranking the Last Seven First Round Picks Heading into the 2017 NFL Draft
By Jason Reed
4. Michael Brockers – 14th Overall 2012
Quite frankly, it was a toss up between Michael Brockers and Tavon Austin on who deserved the fourth spot on this list. The deciding factors were first, Brockers has been more consistent with his approximate value (a statistic used by Pro-Football-Reference.com to grade a player’s value) showing that. The other reason is the expectations of Brockers vs. Austin, with more people expecting greater things out of Austin.
However, that is not to say that Brockers has not been good at the NFL level. Brockers has shown extreme potential and has put together a decent career thus far. Although last season was a dud, Brockers has done as much as he can playing sidekick to Aaron Donald. While he may not be the pro bowler that people might have expected, he is still a solid contributor.
2016 was a dud year for Brockers, who only picked up 19 total tackles with no sacks. However, his presence rushing the quarterback was still prevalent for the Los Angeles Rams. The years prior Brockers had 3.0 sacks, 2.0 sacks, 5.5 sacks, and 4.0 sacks.
It is apparent that Brockers knows how to get to the quarterback, and as the stats show, he had registered more sacks before Aaron Donald had arrived. With an increased workload and being the number one options Brockers may be a top ten defensive tackle in the league.