Among the positions that suffered a lot of turnover for the Rams this offseason was safety. Nick Scott and Taylor Rapp both left in free agency after starting for most of the 2022 season, meaning Los Angeles will have two new starters this year.
One of them will be a familiar name, Jordan Fuller, who’s healthy again after missing 14 games last season. The other spot is still up for grabs, but both Quentin Lake and Russ Yeast are getting opportunities to work with the starters in training camp.
Raheem Morris talked about Lake’s skillset after practice on Thursday, specifically pointing out his position flexibility. The Rams are moving him around the defensive formation, allowing him to play both safety spots and some dime linebacker when they go with a lighter package on passing downs.
“He’s getting to move around a little bit for us. He’s playing safety. He’s able to play in the box, a little bit of dime linebacker for us. He’s able to play either side at safety, all those things,” Morris said. “It’s just nice to have him out here. At this time last year, he wasn’t even participating. We got him throughout the season, the middle of the season when he got healthy, he was able to do some things. His dad was out here yesterday, tried to show out, and now we got him in a nice spot. We’re able to move him around, do some different things with him and I’m really excited where he can go.”
Lake missed significant time last offseason and into the regular season with a knee injury, limiting him to only nine games. It wasn’t the rookie year he or the Rams envisioned but he has some upside heading into 2023 despite being a former sixth-round pick.
He has the size to play either safety or dime linebacker, standing 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, which is only 15 pounds lighter than former Rams linebacker Travin Howard – a safety-turned-linebacker in the NFL. That doesn’t mean Los Angeles will consistently put Lake in the box as a linebacker, but given the lack of depth at inside linebacker behind Ernest Jones, Lake could be a unique player to deploy in the middle of the defense.
The Rams love three-safety sets and have used them often on third down, which should allow Fuller, Yeast and Lake to get on the field together a bunch this season.
