Ramik Wilson: The next man up
By Britt Zank
With the loss of Derrick Johnson, it’s time to introduce Chiefs fans’ to their newest “next man up,” Ramik Wilson. Can he do the job?
Ramik isn’t a complete unknown to Chiefs’ fans, but he is still a mystery. Most people know he got drafted by the Chiefs in the 4th round of the 2015. They’ve heard his name since then as he played in special teams and backup LB roles. Some may recall he recovered a fumble for a touchdown against the Bears in 2015 or the interception this year against the Jaguars. Otherwise, he’s just a guy whose name you’ve seen flash on the screen every so often.
He is much more than that, and with Johnson out, he’ll get his opportunity to shine. As a junior at Georgia, Ramik led the SEC in tackles with 133 while also chipping in four sacks. His production dropped a little in his senior season, but he still had a solid 110 tackles and two sacks. As a Mizzou fan, he was one of those players who frustrated me because his name popped up on every play.
It was this frustration that made me happy to hear his name called by the Chiefs in the fourth round. Draft experts agreed Ramik was one of the best tacklers in the SEC, but his coverage was suspect. They said he left big plays on the field in college by not being aggressive enough and trusting his instincts. It was these questions that caused him to drop to the fourth round despite the physical abilities.
Unfortunately for Ramik, he joined the Chiefs at a time when the middle linebacker position was deep with talent. Besides DJ the Chiefs had fellow starter Josh Mauga and solid backup Dezman Moses. That same year the Chiefs also drafted D.J. Alexander out of Oregon State. While I’m sure riding the bench wasn’t something Ramik enjoyed, it did give him a great chance to sit and watch one of the best in the game. He was able to sit and watch DJ be one of the team’s top leaders and most aggressive instinctive linebackers in the league.
Things didn’t go as planned though as the depth was so well maintained going into the 2016 season that Wilson went to the practice squad. This came as a surprise to myself as I thought he had earned at least a backup spot in the preseason. During the summer I was reminded of his days at Georgia in which he seemed to be around every play. But the team saw something different.
It didn’t take long for fate to step in though as Mauga and Moses both went down to major injuries. This caused Wilson to be back on the active roster in October and into the starting lineup next to DJ soon after. Since his call up Ramik has averaged almost five tackles a game logging valuable minutes. Those are solid numbers, but with DJ out now he’ll need to step up his game.
For the Chiefs to continue their strong defense and winning ways they’ll need Ramik to be the best he can be. He’ll need to start trusting his instincts and attack. DJ needs to take him to school on how to study offenses during the week so he can recognize plays on Sunday. If he can become even half as good at diagnosing plays before they happen as DJ than the defense shouldn’t miss a beat.
The playoffs are starting in four weeks and the Chiefs will need the defense to be as good as it can be. For that to happen Ramik will need to be able to cover backs in the flat and blow up running backs behind the line of scrimmage. If he can be a disruptive man in the middle, DJ can continue being the coach from the sidelines and the defense can keep dominating even the league’s best offenses.