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So Rams DC Brandon Staley brought the "star" position - which is the variation of the nickel that we see CB Jalen Ramsey in at times - with him to LA from John Carroll after going back through Ramsey& #39;s high school and college tape. The way he saw it, it would be crazy to not
have a guy like Ramsey playing in what is, in Staley& #39;s defense, one of the most important positions on the field and a space where he can cover a lot of different things including blitz packages and run support as a very sure tackler. Of course, this package can vary if, say,
Ramsey is needed against a true WR1 on the outside. At that point we have seen Troy Hill in there. Additional depth includes David Long, who would play it in a prototypical "nickel" type of role, and Terrell Burgess, who plays it in more of the hybrid safety/linebacker role.
This is something they were able to install immediately in Staley& #39;s first year, and is unfolding more and more as the season continues, because of the versatility and all-around savvy within the defensive backs room.
To me this says a few things - one, scheming your players for the range of their abilities, which we see McVay do on the offensive side, and two, giving pretty much complete autonomy to your first-year NFL DC (though he would remind us that he& #39;s been doing this for awhile, ha)
Anyway, a lot of the time we don& #39;t always have all the answers/see the whole picture right away - especially when you factor in gamesmanship and keeping things held back -but the best part of beat writing is putting all of the little clues and details together bit by bit.
