We all know the big names in tonight’s 2022 NFL regular-season opener pitting the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams against the Buffalo Bills — the trendy pick to unseat the Rams and take the Lombardi Trophy at the end of Super Bowl LVII.
Aaron Donald. Von Miller. Matthew Stafford. Josh Allen. Stefon Diggs. Jalen Ramsey. On and on. These two teams didn’t get here by accident — they each have among the league’s most talent-rich rosters.
But hidden in those rosters are players you may not know (or may not know enough about), and that’s where we come in with five players you’ll want to keep an eye on when this game kicks off at 8:20 p.m. EST.
Kaiir Elam and Christian Benford, CB, Buffalo Bills
The Bills are dealing with the fact that star cornerback Tre’Davious White will be out at least the first four weeks of the 2022 season with the torn ACL he suffered in Week 12 of the 2021 campaign. That’s a big hit, and while Buffalo’s secondary has nice depth, there’s nobody else on the roster with White’s footwork, transition ability, and route understanding.
So, head coach Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier will have to do with a different group against a Rams offense that runs 11 personnel (three receivers, one tight end, one running back) more than any other team in the league. Last season, Matthew Stafford had 583 dropbacks in 11 personnel, and he threw 37 touchdowns out of it, also leading the league.
Veterans Dane Jackson and Taron Johnson, and rookies Kaiir Elam and Christian Benford, will have to team with safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer to stop the damage. Elam was a first-round pick, while Benford was selected in the sixth round. Most likely, it’ll be Jackson outside, Johnson in the slot, and according to McDermott, some combination of the two rookies opposite Jackson outside. Whoever starts opposite Jackson, he’s going to get Cooper Kupp in his face — last season, Kupp played at least 11% of his snaps in six different positions — left and right outside, left and right outside slot, and left and right inside slot.
“We’re still working through that,” McDermott said Tuesday, when asked if refusing to name a starting cornerback among the rookies was a tactic to gain some kind of competitive advantage. “And I’ll tell you what, those two young players have worked extremely hard. And this, again, trying to do right by them and our team first and foremost. And then, if it becomes a competitive advantage, it becomes a competitive advantage. But that’s not really the intent to why we’re doing it.”
In the preseason, Elam allowed three catches on six targets for 30 yards, 13 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, no interceptions, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 64.6. Benford gave up one catch on two targets for nine yards, one yard after the catch, no touchdowns, no interceptions, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 62.5.
Elam (No. 24) has already showed in the NFL what he proved at Florida — he’s a sticky, aggressive defender who has no fear pressing receivers at the line, and he excels in man and match concepts. This PBU against fellow rookie Alec Pierce of the Colts shows all his traits in a positive sense.
Benford, the Villanova alum, is another guy who isn’t afraid to press and attack receivers right from the snap. His pass breakup this preseason came against Colts veteran Michael Pittman, and it was impressive to see how Benford (No. 47) recovered from Pittman’s initial charge to reset and bat the ball away.
If there is a positive aspect to losing one of the five best cornerbacks in the NFL for at least the first month of the season, think about how formidable this secondary could be when White returns, and the kids have all those regular-season snaps under their belts.
Allen Robinson II, WR, Los Angeles Rams
The Rams no longer have Odell Beckham Jr. on their roster, and speedster Van Jefferson is out for this game with a knee injury. There’s still Cooper Kupp, the NFL’s most prolific receiver in 2021, and it’s likely that Robinson, signed to a three-year, $46.5 million contract with $30.25 million guaranteed this offseason, will add a lot to the picture sooner than later.
Robinson has certainly earned some time with Sean McVay as his offensive shot-caller and Matthew Stafford as his quarterback. Outside of Andre Johnson, no receiver in the 21st century has had worse quarterback luck. At Penn State, his primary quarterbacks were Matt McGloin and Christian Hackenberg. In the NFL? Woof. From Blake Bortles and Chad Henne in four seasons with the Jaguars, to Mitch Trubisky, Chase Daniel, Nick Foles, Andy Dalton, and Justin Fields in four seasons with the Bears, Robinson has never had a quarterback throwing him the ball who could be said to play at an above-average level. Robinson has also had a crazy quilt of play-designers throughout his career — his last in 2021 was Matt Nagy, which kind of says it all.
Robinson didn’t play any snaps in the preseason with his new team, but he’s already made statements in practice that he’ll be able to win in the red zone, and in contested-catch situations.
This angle of Matthew Stafford's no-look pass, Pt. II. 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/y4BIwoxbtx
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) August 7, 2022
“I think just being able to get him those targets,” McVay said on August 1, when asked what excited him about adding Robinson to the roster. “He can really run a bunch of different types of routes down there. You saw there was a great job. Matthew kind of working through a progression… big, strong physical guy working across the back of the end zone. You talk about big catch radius where it doesn’t even feel like he has to leave the ground to really be kind of right at that goalpost.”
Robinson should also be effective on the dig route — one of the Rams’ favorite routes. Last season, only the 49ers, Bengals, and Vikings had more attempts to receivers running dig routes than the Rams’ 50. Stafford threw all 50 of those passes, completing 26, for 345 yards, 283 air yards, two touchdowns, for interceptions, and a passer rating of 58.8, which ranked 19th among quarterbacks who had at least 25 attempts on that route.
Robinson, even with the Bears last season, proved able to make the most out of that.
And yes, in the red zone, the 6-foot-3, 211-pound Robinson has shown force when catches count the most.
When Jefferson returns, and perhaps when Beckham is healthy and does the same, the idea is that Robinson will have already entrenched himself as a major part of the Rams’ passing game.
Rodger Saffold III, OG, Buffalo Bills
Speaking of new additions, the Bills signed Saffold, who has played nine years with the Rams, and his last three seasons with the Titans, to a one-year deal this offseason. It was an attempt to shore up a group of guards that could be seen as one of Buffalo’s very few weak spots. The Bills swapped out a bunch of players at both positions last season, and Safford should provide some stability there. Last season, he allowed two sacks, eight quarterback hits, and 18 quarterback hurries on 494 pass-blocking snaps. Last season also, the Bills’ left guard rotation of Ryan Bates, Jon Feliciano, and Ike Boettger were… not as effective.
That would not have boded well for the season opener. The Rams have this defensive lineman named Aaron Donald. Word is, he’s got a future in this nosiness.
Saffold played just 10 snaps in the preseason, but he showed enough to make people happy, especially in the run game. This 18-yard Devin Singletary run against the Broncos in Week 2 wouldn’t have happened without Saffold (No. 76) helping Denver defensive tackle McTelvin Agim right out of the gap.
Not that McTelvin Agim is Aaron Donald, but… if Saffold can not only improve Buffalo’s interior protection, but also expand a power run game that has been focused too much on Josh Allen, he’ll prove to be one of the most valuable under-the-radar signings of the 2022 season. And he’ll get the most formidable test he can possibly face right out of the gate.
Robert Rochell, CB, Los Angeles Rams
The Bills aren’t the only team in this game trying to deal with a wide-open passing offense with a cornerback group in flux. The Rams, unlike the Bills, do have their best cornerback (Jalen Ramsey) on the field for this game, but beyond that? There be questions. Underrated outside cornerback Darious Williams left for Jacksonville in free agency, and David Long Jr. is probably a better slot defender than anything else. Troy Hill, back from a year in Cleveland, projects as a decent inside/outside defender.
So, that leaves an opportunity for someone new to show force against a Bills team that will empty the backfield and throw all kinds of stuff at you that spreads the field. Buffalo actually had 10 snaps last season in which they had five receivers on the field — no other team had more than three.
Second-year man Robert Rochell might be the best candidate to take Williams’ old spot. The 2021 fourth-round pick from Central Arkansas didn’t play much in his rookie season, but he did allow just 13 catches on 20 targets for 176 yards,56 yards after the catch, one touchdown, one interception, four pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 88.8 on 146 coverage snaps.
That had Sean McVay wondering what Rochell could do in his second NFL season. Rochell was going to get a ton of snaps this preseason, for sure.
“I look at Robert Rochell in a lot of instances as a rookie because he did some really good things, but I don’t think anybody understands all of the things he was pushing through – whether it’s the wrist injury, he ended up having the lung/rib type of deal,” McVay said in May, during the team’s OTAs. “He’s a guy that made a great play in 7-on-7 today. You can see the communication in that meeting room with [coaches] Chris Shula, Jonathan Cooley and Raheem [Morris] and Lance Schulters has been excellent. Being able to identify some of those younger guys, they fit the mold and looking forward to seeing those guys continue to evolve for us on the back end.”
Well, in his second NFL preseason, Rochell allowed no catches and had two pass breakups on six targets and 26 coverage snaps. Unless he had intercepted some of those targets, that’s about as good as it’s going to get.
This deflection against the Texans and veteran receiver Chris Cooley shows how Rochell (No. 31) has learned to take a target through the route in off-man coverage. Rochell gave Conley space to start on the in-cut, helped to diagnose whether he had to take the slot receiver instead of the outside guy, and then closed with quickness and authority to force the incompletion.
Somebody is going to have to come out of nowhere in that cornerback group if Raheem Morris’ defense is to play at a championship level again, and Rochell has as much of an opportunity as anybody.
