NFL Rumors: Rams to likely franchise tag Trumaine Johnson

As the Los Angeles Rams look to shift the culture, they’re aiming to keep Trumaine Johnson around.

For the first time in 22 years, the Rams played their home games in the beautiful city of Los Angeles. Unfortunately, it didn’t lead to much success as the team finished with a dreadful record of 4-12.

In hopes of turning things around, the Rams hired former Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Sean McVay. This past season, Los Angeles ended up averaging the least amount of points per game with 14. The belief is that McVay is the guy to turn things around offensively.

The Redskins averaged 24.8 points per game while ranking second in passing yards per game (297.4).

On the other side of the ball, the Rams are looking to franchise tag veteran cornerback Trumaine Johnson for the second straight year. If this indeed goes down, Johnson would hit $16.7 million against the salary cap during the 2017 campaign.

In 14 games, Johnson totaled 57 tackles, 11 pass deflections, and one interception.

As a defensive unit, the Rams allowed 24.6 points per game, which ranked 23rd in the league. Sure, that ranking doesn’t look appealing to the naked eye, but it’s important to realize this defensive group was on the field way entirely too much.

The Rams offense had way too many three-and-outs, and short drives in general, which put tons of pressure on the defense to perform at a high level. From a talent standpoint, this defense is much better than they showed this past season, but when you’re on the field as much as they were, you’re going to wear down eventually.

With the Chargers in Los Angeles now as well, the Rams have some competition in town. This may end up being a good thing considering how poor this franchise has been in recent years.

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The NFL Draft starts April 27.