Turf Show Times
How much playing time will Josaiah Stewart get as a rookie in Rams defense?
The Los Angeles Rams are considered to have one of the best young pass rushes in the NFL. A big reason for that has been Byron Young who has done nothing but impress since being drafted in the third round in 2023. As a rookie, Young finished with eight sacks which was just one fewer than Kobie Turner. Young followed up his rookie campaign with another impressive 7.5 sack season in 2024.
An initial look would suggest that Young has had two impressive seasons to start his NFL career and that wouldn’t be wrong. Young has served his role extremely well since the Rams drafted him. Taken as an older, more developed prospect, Young hit the ground running and has become an important piece of the Rams pass rush. After moving on from players like Leonard Floyd, the Rams didn’t just need cheaper, younger talent, but talent that could contribute right away. That’s exactly what Young has been able to do.
At the same time, two years into Young’s career, it’s fair to wonder how much more untapped potential is available. As I wrote last summer, it’s worth wondering if Young has hit his ceiling. With most rookie edge rushers, especially those taken in the third round, many would be elated with 15.5 sacks worth of production over two years. That’s obviously extremely impressive. However, when the Rams took Young out of Tennessee, they did so knowing that his ceiling wasn’t as high as other mid-round edge rushers. As a 25-year old prospect, Young was being drafted as a player that was more ready and could handle starting right away.
While Young has had 15.5 sacks over the last two years, it is important to add context to those stats. Out of Young’s 15.5 sacks, 11 of those have come in Weeks 1-11. Contrarily, Young has hit a wall in each of his first two seasons. In Weeks 12-18, Young has just 4.5 sacks. To put that in perspective, Young has 0.55 sacks per game in Weeks 1-11 compared to 0.32 sacks per game in Weeks 12-18.
It’s not just the sack production that has faltered for Young late in the year. Young went from a 12.7 percent win rate and 11.6 pass rush productivity in 2023 in Weeks 1-11 to a 9.1 percent win rate and just 4.8 pass rush productivity in Weeks 12-18 via PFF. It was the same story last year. Young started the year strong with a win rate of 12.4 percent and pass rush productivity of 9.5 in Weeks 1-11 to a win rate of 9.2 percent and pass rush productivity of 5.3 in Weeks 12-18. For clarity, pass rush productivity is a formula from PFF that combines sacks, hits, and hurries relative to how many times the player rushes the passer.
A player hitting a rookie wall isn’t uncommon and it was seen with Jared Verse this past season. Verse...
