The Los Angeles Rams have very little choice but to rely heavily on their rookies and second-year players this season. They just don’t have the proven talent that they’ve had in recent years, thus pushing younger guys into the starting lineup.
Two players the Rams are expecting to step up are Byron Young and Kobie Turner, their two third-round picks from this year. Needing help along the defensive front, both Young and Turner should be able to help the Rams out early on.
They made their preseason debuts on Saturday night against the Chargers and though both of them had pretty quiet stat lines, Sean McVay liked the effort they showed.
“I think it’s just continuing to understand how the urgency is required, what kind of conditioning you need to be in when you are playing real tackle football,” McVay said of the two rookies on Sunday. “Byron ended up playing 23 snaps. It was unfortunate to get the face mask because I thought that was a great effort where he worked an edge on the tackle, bulled him, and he’s trying to fight to get free and not connected to that guy as he is trying to make a great play and ends up kind of just clipping the face mask. With Kobie, I thought he did a really good job as the game went on. He only got 20 snaps, but he’s a guy that plays with the relentless motor and effort, understands the techniques and the fundamentals that (defensive line coach) Eric Henderson and (assistant defensive line coach) AC Carter are teaching and think he’s only going to get better. But both of those guys are guys that we are counting on, and I think that experience that they accumulated last night and moving forward will be very beneficial to them for them being ready to go for the season.”
Young didn’t record any pressures on the stat sheet but he nearly had a sack. He brought down the quarterback in the first half but inadvertently grabbed his facemask and was called for a penalty. Turner didn’t record a pressure or tackle in the game either but it was his first NFL action so it was a chance for him to get his feet wet.
Young is listed as a starter on the Rams’ depth chart and Turner is a co-starter at nose tackle with Bobby Brown III, so they’re both on track to contribute right away.
