Los Angeles Rams: Potential draft replacements for Cory Littleton
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Rams are likely losing their best coverage linebacker in Cory Littleton and would be best suited to replace him in the 2020 NFL Draft.
The franchise tag window has passed for the NFL and the Los Angeles Rams, for the second season in a row, opted not to franchise tag and impending free agents. With very little cap room, the Rams simply could not afford to franchise tag a player, as there are other areas of the roster that need improvement.
The two notable names that the Rams could have franchise tagged were edge-rusher Dante Fowler Jr. and linebacker Cory Littleton. While the Rams could, in theory, still work out a deal with either player, that seems very unlikely, especially in the case of Littleton, because of the market price of both players.
So the Rams have some replacing to do and replacing Littleton is going to be important, although it will not be easy. Littleton, a Pro Bowler in 2018 who played well enough to earn Pro Bowl honors in 2019, was the team’s best coverage linebacker and is going to be a massive asset for any team looking for a strongside linebacker in free agency.
With little salary-cap space, the Los Angeles Rams might need to turn to the 2020 NFL Draft to replace Littleton. The one cheap option that the team could replace Littleton with is Thomas Davis, who was cut by the Chargers, but he should negative signs in slowing down and missing tackles last season.
The problem is that the Rams have backed themselves into a corner with their aggressive decision making in past years as the team has no first-round nor fifth-round pick, although they have two third-round picks.
Regardless, here are some options in the 2020 NFL Draft that the team could look at to replace Littleton.