Turf Show Times
Kobie Turner enters a significant year three...
I should have prefaced in yesterday’s article Buying or Selling: Rams offensive players for 2025 season that a “buy” indicates individual improvement moving forward. A “sell” classifies that a player is likely to regress in availability and/or performance. In short summary, I am buying stock in a lot of offensive players for the Rams offense to improve across the 2025 season. With Sean McVay and Les Snead committed to diversifying the offense, I believe the Los Angeles Rams offense will find itself improving its points per game and its overall efficiency as a unit. But the focus of this article goes to the defense, Chris Shula’s group. A unit in which Sean McVay shared plenty of names as making impressions in front of the coaching staff.
The Rams defense began gelling very late in the year, but it still had its cracks. Have the Rams patched enough of those areas? Let’s look...
If you break Fiske’s season into halves. His first half: 3.0 sacks, 4 tackles for loss, and 3 quarterback hits. His second half: 5.5 sacks, 6 tackles for loss, and 7 quarterback hits. Fiske’s presence was definitely felt more down the stretch. I get the feeling that he will be motivated and productive after missing the majority of the divisional game against Philadelphia.
Kobie Turner finds himself as one of the core pieces for Chris Shula’s defense entering year three. Without Aaron Donald, Kobie Turner proved he could still hold his own. He faced a league-leading set of double teams and still managed 8 sacks. With there being no moving parts except Poona Ford taking Bobby Brown III’s spot, I believe the defensive line led by Kobie improve and become a top-5 line.
As stated, Poona Ford takes Bobby Brown III’s spot along the line. I think Ford solidifies the front especially in the run game. I’m betting though that year one is satisfactory, not remarkable. I’ll take the upside in his year two for what it’s worth...
Unfortunately, I think BY0 has shown his ceiling. I don’t see him as a double-digit sack artist and often times he is bullied by bigger offensive tackles. I will buy stock in Brennan Jackson’s ascension. I believe he will assume the third edge rusher spot in the defense’s cheetah package.
Verse was dominant in year one. He paced the defense with 77 pressures but only generated 4.5 sacks. It was frustrating for Rams fans early on when he missed so many sacks. I don’t expect that to happen again. I think Verse has fully acclimated to the speed and shiftiness of NFL playmakers on offense. While Josiah Stewart was drafted to add to the ferocity of the Rams front, I think Jackson is getting the nod over him....
