Los Angeles Rams kickstart new year with first domino falling in key offseason of extensions
The Los Angeles Rams have inked star defender Quentin Lake to a contract extension ahead of the playoffs, and they were wise to do so.
Not much has gone right for the Los Angeles Rams over the last three weeks or so, falling from atop the NFL and the NFC’s No.1 seed to being on the outside looking in for the NFC West title and having to spend their playoffs on the road. However, they did kickstart the new year with some great news of their own, hopefully setting the tone for the remainder of this season.
The Rams have locked up STAR/safety Quentin Lake to a deal on Thursday afternoon, the team announced.
Quentin Lake extension is well-deserved
Lake was the lynchpin holding the Rams’ defense together through their strong start to the season. Occupying the STAR role as a hybrid nickel/safety, Lake was the captain of the defense and was a standout run defender and shutdown coverage option who played a key role in several of the Rams’ best defensive performances and plays.
In his absence, the Rams have fallen apart defensively, as their run defense and pass defense have completely collapsed. His replacements have fallen short, and haven’t come close to replacing him. Fortunately, the same day he announced his extension, the Rams also opened up his practice window to return just ahead of their playoff run.
Quentin Lake the first of many must-have extensions for Rams
The Rams are focused on a Super Bowl run for this season, but to ensure future Super Bowl runs, they have to keep several key players around who are eligible for extensions in the upcoming offseason. One of those must-keep players was Quentin Lake, who the Rams wisely went ahead and locked up before he could even entertain free agency.
He’s not the only one the Rams have left to extend this offseason. Several key players have to be extended now before their deals get even more expensive. Steve Avila, Puka Nacua, Kobie Turner, and Byron Young are all eligible to be extended this offseason, and the Rams might want to get a deal done with some younger players like Warren McClendon as well. They have wisely accumulated plenty of cap space to pull this off, so there’s little worry in my mind of them getting these deals done.
Getting a deal done this early for Lake is a prudent choice on the Rams’ part, and they were wise to ink him to that deal ahead of free agency before the rest of the league had a chance to try.
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