Rams Roster Preview: S T.J. McDonald...Pro Bowl Safety in the Making?

Though he struggled early in 2014, no safety had a higher grade from Weeks 9 to 17 than Rams safety T.J. McDonald. pic.twitter.com/1yxOEy7fwg

— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) June 8, 2015

That's the kind of play McDonald is capable of in Gregg Williams' defensive scheme. Williams has made a habit out of churning out elite safeties in his scheme. He molded Sean Taylor's incredible talent into an All-Pro, helped Roman Harper make 2 Pro Bowls, and revitalized a long-in-the-tooth Darren Sharper.

T.J. Mac is - and will continue to be - the latest beneficiary of Williams' defensive scheme. Williams has helped T.J. turn into a fiery leader of the defense and it has been fun to watch.

Roster Battle

As far as competition goes, T.J. won't have much to worry about in 2015. He will be THE MAN in the secondary. He will play every role imaginable for Gregg Williams. You'll see him in coverage, being a boomer in run support, blitzing, and everything in between. The competition that he will run into is with other Safeties around the NFL as he stakes his claim to be listed among the elite.

Expectations

If you can't tell by now, I think pretty highly of the Rams starting Strong Safety. I also have pretty high expectations of him. He has the potential to be an All-Pro safety and is heading into his 3rd NFL season. That, combined with the aforementioned Gregg Williams factor, leads me to expect great things from McDonald

DB stats are wildly unpredictable so I'm not going to throw any stats out there, but instead I'll say this: if T.J. can show his pundits that his coverage ability is improved, he'll garner a lot of love when Pro Bowl voting comes around. That's been the one knock against him in his first 2 seasons. I expect him to improve in that area and finally get some of the national attention that he was so deserving of late last season.

Chances of Making Roster (10/10)

Is this even a question?