Joyner to FS

Rams’ Lamarcus Joyner happy he pushed for move from cornerback to free safety

Gary Klein

http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-sp-rams-lamarcus-joyner-20170524-story.html

The scene was among the most compelling in last year’s “Hard Knocks” series about the Rams.

Lamarcus Joyner, a slot cornerback, met with former coach Jeff Fisher to explain his absence from a training camp workout. The second-round pick in the 2014 draft was frustrated about his lack of a starting role.

“I wanted a chance at something I wanted to do that I felt like I worked for,” Joyner said this week, “but it wasn’t my time.”

It is now.

With a new defensive staff led by coordinator Wade Phillips, Joyner is working at free safety, the position he said he has longed to play.

“This is really a dream come true,” Joyner said after the Rams’ first organized team activity workout. “To get into that driver’s seat of being where you want to be is a great feeling for me.”

Joyner, 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds, played safety and cornerback in youth leagues and high school. He played cornerback as a freshman at Florida State, moved to safety for the next two seasons and then earned All-America recognition as a senior cornerback.

With the Rams, Joyner played as a hybrid corner and inside linebacker in former coordinator Gregg Williams’ 4-3 scheme. Last season, he made 50 tackles, forced a fumble and deflected five passes.

Joyner said Rams general manager Les Snead and Kevin Demoff, vice president of football operations, knew of his desire to play safety.

“It’s been something I’ve been working toward my whole career,” Joyner said. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t be put in this position with the old staff.”

When new coach Sean McVay and Phillips were hired in January, Joyner said he repeated his desire to play safety. Phillips is installing a 3-4 scheme.

“I’m more of a ‘find-ball-see-ball’ guy,” Joyner said, “and coach Wade Phillips’ philosophy is: ‘The ball is the most important thing: Get to the ball.’

“And that’s what I like doing. At safety, I can see the whole field. I’m not in man-to-man every play. I get to use my strengths to run and hit, or run and go get the ball out of the air, things that I like doing.”

Maurice Alexander, the starting free safety last season, is expected to move to strong safety as a replacement for T.J. McDonald, who signed with the Miami Dolphins. Alexander did not participate in an April minicamp because of an unspecified injury. He also sat out the first organized team activity workout.

Veteran Cody Davis and John Johnson, a third-round draft pick from Boston College, are among other safeties on the roster.

The Rams signed Nickell Robey-Coleman to play as a slot corner, but Joyner still could play as a cornerback in certain packages.

“You want to find as many ways to get him on the field as possible,” McVay said of Joyner. “Whether that’s him at nickel — which I think he’s one of the elite players at that spot in this league — or the safety, I think you see an instinctual player that has a great feel for the game.”

Joyner is happy for the new opportunity at safety.

“It’s been something I’ve been doing all my life, preparing to be a pro,” he said. “Now I actually have the opportunity to do it at the pro level, which is a blessing from God for me.”

Lamarcus Joyner on bigger role with Rams: ‘A dream come true’

By Alden Gonzalez

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/33989/lamarcus-joyner-on-bigger-role-with-rams-a-dream-come-true

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Practice was over, several of his teammates had showered up and driven away, and Lamarcus Joyner remained on the field, all alone, jogging laps, dripping sweat. After three years of proving himself in a part-time role, the Los Angeles Rams are finally giving Joyner the opportunity he always wanted — to be on the field at all times, as both a free safety and a slot corner.

Joyner calls it “a dream come true.”

“A lot of people make it to the league,” he said upon finally coming off the field on Monday. “Some guys don’t pan out; some guys never get what they want. And to be in the driver’s seat of what you want to do as a professional football player, that’s really a dream come true.”

Lamarcus Joyner was able to impress in 2016 despite playing for much of the season with a broken toe. Keith Birmingham/Zuma Press/Icon Sportswire
Joyner is only 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds, but few are tougher; few are more passionate about football.

The Rams drafted him 41st overall out of Florida State in 2014 and steadily grew to love him as a slot corner. But Joyner wanted to be more than a guy who played in sub packages. At one point during training camp last year, he skipped a workout and threatened to quit because he was dissatisfied with his role. Former head coach Jeff Fisher had to talk Joyner out of it by convincing him of how important an elite slot corner was to his defense. It was caught on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

“A lot of people may have looked at that wrong,” Joyner said, “but I don’t think a guy going to his boss wanting to play more, the way he’s putting in work, is disrespectful or arrogance or anything wrong. It’s just passion. It’s a guy that loves football and wants to help the organization that drafted him to win.”

Joyner played safety as a sophomore and junior for the Seminoles, a two-year stretch that was sandwiched between time at corner. Joyner often told Fisher and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams that he wanted to also help at safety, “But the scheme didn’t allow it,” Joyner said. “I had to master nickel in that scheme. That’s what I did.”

Joyner played in 1,349 snaps over the past two years, fifth-most among Rams defensive players and trailing only Trumaine Johnson among cornerbacks. But that was largely due to Joyner’s own durability and stability, not necessarily the magnitude of his role. Last year, Joyner finished 30th among 111 qualified corners by Pro Football Focus despite playing most of that season with a broken toe. When it was over, the Rams grew motivated to open up more playing time for him.

T.J. McDonald was allowed to leave via free agency, which moved Maurice Alexander to strong safety.

The plan now is for Joyner to play free safety in base sets and go back to his role as a slot corner on nickel downs. But nothing is guaranteed. The Rams also signed Nickell Robey-Coleman, another excellent slot corner. And they drafted John Johnson, who excelled as a high safety and and in man coverage at Boston College. Joyner can’t let up.

“The difference between the league and high school and college is availability, accountability and dependability,” Joyner said. “Some guys get fed with the golden spoon, some guys don’t. Unfortunately, I had to take the path where I had to prove myself year in and year out. It’s been paying off.”

It could pay off even bigger. The Rams are trying to figure something out with star defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who hasn’t shown up for organized team activities while hoping for a restructured contract. But they also have several defensive players who are only one season away from free agency. The priorities among that group — even more so than Trumaine Johnson, who is set to play under his second consecutive franchise tag — are inside linebacker Alec Ogletree and Joyner.

The Rams are confident Joyner can take to free safety and impact their defense on every snap, a responsibility that he is embracing.

It’s been long enough.

“A career in the NFL is like a lion,” Joyner said. “It’s vigorous and violent, but it’s short-lived. Glory don’t last that long in the league. That’s just the nature of the beast. So, three years is a long time off my career to be waiting. But patience is everything.”

Lamarcus Joyner was one of the NFL's best run-stopping CBs in 2016

Now in his fourth year in the league, Lamarcus Joyner is finally coming into his own as a pro defensive back. Last season the former second-round draft pick was one of the best situational cornerbacks in the NFL, particular against the run.

Per Pro Football Focus, he was No. 1 in the league among all qualifying cornerbacks in terms of run stop percentage.

Lamarcus Joyner was a force against the run last year pic.twitter.com/RXBZJVonVJ

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) July 25, 2017

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