There are a lot of reasons to be concerned about the Rams defense heading into the 2023 season after they split with all of their stars outside of Aaron Donald. However, Cobie Durant gives fans plenty of reasons to be excited about the defense, too.
Durant didn’t get a lot of playing time as a fourth-round rookie, playing just a third of the defensive snaps, but he absolutely made the most of his opportunities when they came. He picked off three passes, returned them for an NFL-high 151 yards and also had a sack.
He was particularly good in the slot, which is where he’s likely to play in 2023. In fact, there was no slot corner who allowed a lower passer rating in coverage last season than Durant. According to PFF, he ranked No. 1 in that category, allowing a passer rating of just 48.7 on 104 snaps in the slot.
Durant started off his career on the right foot in Los Angeles last season as a rookie. The 2022 fourth-round pick played just 281 snaps on the season, but 258 of those snaps came in the last six weeks. Primarily working from the slot, Durant posted a 74.3 coverage grade.
His best performance was against the Denver Broncos in Week 16, as he finished with a career-high 94.7 PFF grade. Durant played some in the slot as well as on the outside in that outing, in which he allowed just two receptions for 13 yards and also managed to snag two interceptions. With Jalen Ramsey departing to Miami, Durant will have his opportunity to shine in 2023.
Former Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey also made the top 10, coming in at No. 10 on the list with a passer rating of 79.7 allowed on 136 slot snaps last season. It would’ve been fun to see Ramsey and Durant play a full season as starters together, but that unfortunately won’t happen after Los Angeles traded Ramsey to the Dolphins.
Durant is all but locked in as a starter in the secondary but who starts alongside him remains to be seen. Derion Kendrick is having a strong offseason, Robert Rochell could be poised for a bounce-back season, Shaun Jolly is competing for snaps in the slot and rookie Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson – once he returns from his hamstring injury in training camp – will be in the mix, too.
It’s a young, unproven cornerback group, but one that could surprise a lot of people in a positive way.
