The Los Angeles Rams are set to begin training camp on Tuesday and they’ll have a plethora of first-year players competing for starting jobs. In Doug Farrar and Kyle Madson’s training camp preview piece for Touchdown Wire, they named Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson and Byron Young as late-round rookies that could be surprise starters in 2023.
Farrar and Madson prefaced their picks by defining a late-round rookie as a player that wasn’t selected in the first or second round. Young was the 77th overall pick in the third round, while Hodges-Tomlinson was selected in the sixth round by the Rams.
Entering training camp, Young certainly has a path toward being named a starter off the edge. The Rams moved on from Leonard Floyd this offseason, and the edge rushers on the current roster have only 4.5 career sacks in the NFL (all of them belong to Michael Hoecht).
Despite being an older rookie at 25 years old, Young is an athletic edge rusher that totaled 12.5 sacks and 23.5 tackles for loss in his two seasons at Tennessee. With a strong showing at training camp, he’ll make a case to be one of the two starting edge rushers in Week 1.
Meanwhile, Hodges-Tomlinson also has a somewhat clear path to being named a starter to begin the upcoming season. Hodges-Tomlinson fell to the sixth round in the draft due to his size, but he has the skill set to excel as a slot cornerback in the NFL.
Jalen Ramsey and Troy Hill are no longer with the Rams, leaving the top two spots on the depth chart open for competition. Cobie Durant and either Robert Rochell or Derion Kendrick will likely start on the outside.
However, Hodges-Tomlinson has a chance to be the starting nickel cornerback when the season kicks off. Considering that the Rams are in a transitional period, there’s undoubtedly a scenario where Young and Hodges-Tomlinson are both starters to begin the 2023 campaign.
