Rams’ Hollins claims inside track to start at outside linebacker
As the Rams prepare to begin the next phase of spring workouts next week, they’re a team with plenty of changes on the roster but few looming battles for starting roles.
One position where there should be competition is the outside linebacker spot left with a Pro Football Hall of Fame-shaped hole when Von Miller departed as a free agent, as did Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Justin Lawler.
On Thursday, Justin Hollins laid down a marker. The three-year backup, now listed first on most unofficial depth charts, said the Rams have capable replacements for Miller. And he said he’s confident he’ll be the starter when the season opens in September.
“Very confident,” Hollins said in a Zoom chat with L.A. reporters. “It is a position up for grabs at the moment. We’re going to
compete in the room, with Chris, T-Lew, some of the rookies coming in. We’re just going to try to do the best we can.”
T-Lew is Terrell Lewis, the 2020 third-round draft pick who has struggled to stay healthy. Chris is Chris Garrett, coming into his second season after playing 10 snaps in 2021.
Rookies include Daniel Hardy (Montana State), a seventh-round draft pick, and Benton Whitley (Holy Cross), ranked fifth among undrafted players at the position by NFL.com analyst Chad Reuter.
Anthony Hines, a practice-squad member last year, was kept on a reserve/future contract.
Will one of them be the starter on the edge across from Leonard Floyd, or should the Rams go out and get someone more proven?
“I think we’ll be just fine,” Hollins said. “I don’t think we need to go find anybody new, nothing like that. It would be kind of crazy if I said we did, anyway.
“We were fine before, so we’ll be good.” Hollins, 26, a 2019 fifth-round draft pick from Oregon, was picked up on waivers in 2020 from the Denver Broncos because Rams coach Sean McVay and then-defensive coordinator Brandon Staley liked his ability to play outside or inside linebacker.
Hollins played in 12 games last season, and started in Weeks 2 and 3 when Okoronkwo was hurt and Miller had yet to arrive. The Rams won 11 of Hollins’ 12 games.
He had one tackle in the Super Bowl victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, and made it count. Stopping Joe Mixon for no gain on second and 2 helped to force the punt that set up Matthew Stafford’s game-winning drive.
“I think he really established himself as a legitimate outside backer,” McVay said in November.
Hollins is no Miller — or Floyd — as a pass rusher. He has six sacks in 45 career games. That has to improve if he’s going to be the answer.
He hopes to show what he learned from Miller in the active NFL sacks leader’s half-season with the Rams.
“Definitely some of his pass-rush moves,” Hollins said. “There’s some things he was able to teach a lot of us in the room along the way, about little moves here and there and how things really work.”
And Hollins must stay healthy after missing nine games last season with a pectoral muscle tear. Hollins has been in the weight room, doing “prehab” to prevent another injury.
Opening night on Thursday, Sept. 8 against the Buffalo Bills at SoFi Stadium is more than 100 days away. The Rams open two weeks of organized team activities Monday in Thousand Oaks. Minicamp is June 7-9.
Training camp, at UC Irvine, starts in July. “I just want to get to the season, ball out each game, have double-digit sacks, a great year, the whole nine,” he said.
Hollins has a long way to go but big goals in sight.