What some considered a risky trade during the free agency frenzy of the Los Angeles Rams may have come to fruition, as cornerback Marcus Peters looks to be more bust than success.
The Los Angeles Rams went on a free agency tear this past offseason, and while the jury may still be out on the 2018 NFL season as a whole, one acquisition made via trade that looks to be either a disappointment or a bust is that of cornerback Marcus Peters.
Peters, who the Rams traded a 2019 second round pick for, has been part of a defensive backfield that has failed as equally as they’ve succeeded. While some fans have gone out of their way to defend his sometime poor and lackadaisical play, a lot have said, begrudgingly, that he’s disappointed if not failed.
That’ll better be determined when the offseason eventually rolls around, but for now it’s completely fair to say he hasn’t provided the kind of pass coverage LA fans and certainly the organization has hoped for.
The bottom line is that his over-aggressiveness has too often led to big plays going the over way, especially against the New Orleans Saints when the Rams still had an opportunity late in the game to steal a big one on the road. For his efforts, Peters has allowed a 100.0 passer rating in six of eight games where he was the designated defender in coverage.
He’s clearly trending towards a bet the Rams had wagered and lost on.
Even with three interceptions, Peters and the Los Angeles defense has been burned with great regularity. With fellow cornerback Aqib Talib out for a chunk of the season, his limitations became an obvious and clear liability even with an offense clicking on all cylinders. Most troubling however may be some of those issues that led the Kansas City Chiefs to trade him without a second thought, as witnessed in their last home game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
To his credit and that of head coach Sean McVay, it may be an issue dealt with, but if his spotty play is any indication, the Rams may be getting burned in other ways beyond how he performs on the field.
Source: “Los Angeles” – Google News