St. Louis Rams: Darian Stewart the New Starting Safety?

Yesterday at St. Louis Rams practice, the coaches made somewhat of a surprising move. Second year, undrafted free agent Darian Stewart was getting reps with the first team defense at strong safety.

The 5'11", 215 pound safety out of South Carolina was getting the staring reps over Craig Dahl. Stewart has a lot of college experience as he started for three seasons at South Carolina. He also played in 13 games a season ago with the Rams, but he was used primarily as a special teamer.

So why the sudden change for the Rams?

Craig Dahl wasn't a slouch at the strong safety position a season ago. He wasn't spectacular either, but I'm sure most coaches would be happy with a 98 tackle, 2 interception season. His size is very similar to Darian Stewart's as well. Dahl is 6'1" and 210 pounds.

The Rams' coaching staff must see a lot of potential in Darian Stewart for them to put him ahead of veterans Craig Dahl and James Butler. The two have played a combined 56 games in the past two seasons. Both of them had opportunities to start a season ago also.

Last February, Rams GM Bill Devaney gave Stewart his vote of confidence. "He showed a lot of promise last year when he was on the field," Devaney said. "He's got a lot of upside." That's a pretty good confidence boost for a young player. The coaches must have seen the same thing when they decided to give him playing time at safety at the end of the 2010 regular season. 

This offseason, the changes the Rams have been making have been primarily to improve their run defense. Through the two preseason games, Darian Stewart is tied for second on the team in tackles with six and one of those being for a loss. He's a physical safety rather than a cover safety. Playing him alongside Quintin Mikell would give the Rams two safeties that are comfortable playing in the box.

Stewart's work isn't done yet. He still has to beat out not only the veterans Dahl and Butler, but also rookies Mikail Baker and Jonathan Nelson. Nothing is set in stone in the NFL. Stewart may be starting for now, but he should know better than most, being an undrafted free agent, that things don't always go as expected.

It remains to be seen if Darian Stewart will hold onto the job or if the Rams just wanted to give him a look. It'll be interesting to see if Stewart continues to get first team reps this week, and if he gets to start in the preseason game Friday against the Kansas City Chiefs. A good performance on Friday and Stewart could be looking at a shot to make a name for himself in this league.