LOS ANGELES — Despite his preseason successes, despite proclamations about him being a potential Week 1 contributor, despite the Rams trading away their top returning linebacker before the season started, Omar Speights was still waiting for his opportunity to play on defense.
The undrafted rookie had played on a variety of special teams units, but the Rams had stuck with Troy Reeder and Christian Rozeboom exclusively at linebacker.
But as so often happens in the NFL, injury opened a door. Reeder suffered a hamstring injury in the Rams’ Week 7 win over the Las Vegas Raiders. He finished the game, but had to be put on injured reserve.
So on a short week ahead of Thursday night football, Speights found himself preparing for an expanded role. But as game time approached, the pregame butterflies weren’t as intense as one might have expected.
“It was nervousness, because like you want to go out there and you want to be perfect and make plays,” Speights said. “But it was more so like, ‘I’m ready.’ I’m ready to get on the field and just trust my training and everything I’ve seen throughout the week. I’m ready to go out there and cut it loose.”
Speights played 22 snaps in the Rams’ base defense in the victory over the Minnesota Vikings; 14 in run defense, eight in pass coverage. He made three solo tackles, one assisted and was not targeted on a passing down. He did a good job shooting the gap on a first-and-10 run to hold Aaron Jones to a 2-yard gain.
“You could see he was in the right spots,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “He had a couple of those plays where he is arriving violently at the point of attack. Good recognition of some of the concepts that they were doing, whether that be run or play action. I was pleased with Omar.”
“I was really detailed in just my mental process as far as knowing what I got and different things like that,” Speights added. “I think it was a solid day. Stuff to improve, but I think it was just me getting my feet wet.”
With the condensed week, Speights knew he had to make the most of the time available to him. The nature of life as a professional, not student, athlete, allowed him to watch more film and take care of his body more than when he was playing at Oregon State or LSU. He tried not to take any rep during walk throughs for granted without full practices that week.
And he has appreciated how collaborative the linebacker room has been, not only in the build up to the Vikings game but in general this season as he’s learned the Rams’ system. Veterans like Reeder and Rozeboom have been willing to answer questions, and to point out miscues they see to help the rookie along the way.
“Even though it was a short week, just spent a lot of time really trying to be detailed and mastering my role,” Speights said. “It made me more comfortable in my role, knowing where everyone’s going to be and stuff like that. And when you get to the game, you gotta just like let it free. Just trust the way you prepared and just let it loose.”
Reeder will be out at least the next three games, including Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks (4-4). So the Rams (3-4) will continue to look to Speights to build on his wet feet.
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“He’s been a pro since the day he got here,” defensive coordinator Chris Shula said. “Wasn’t surprised to go out there and see him perform well and he was ready to go. Obviously, he’s still a young player and I’m sure there’ll be some growing pains as we get going, but really not surprised with how he performed.”
BRIEFLY
Rams punter Ethan Evans is dealing with an illness, special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn said. While the team is hopeful he can play against Seattle, the Rams signed punter Ryan Sanborn to the practice squad on Thursday.