Kobie Turner Complements Rookie Defensive Linemen

Turner, the 2023 NFL rookie sack leader, continued to lay Donald's foundation for what a Rams' defensive lineman should look like and how one should act, perpetuating Donald's attitudes towards hard work, commitment, and playing for his fellow man.

As Turner enters his third season, we have seen his work pay off as both Jared Verse and Braden Fiske had breakout seasons. Verse led the NFL in QB pressures en route to winning NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year while Fiske took Turner's place as the NFL's rookie sack leader.

While the team participated in minicamp out in Maui, Turner sat down with J.B. Long to talk about rookies Josaiah Stewart and Ty Hamilton.

“I’ve been able to see Josaiah a little bit from afar, just watching that he’s going to work off the edges and he’s winning consistently, so I'm excited to see that come to life once we put on the pads, once we get into our packages,” he said. “I mean, we have multiple packages to put people into positions to win and last year, we had a package where we had Michael Hoecht as the third guy. It’ll be interesting to just kind of see what other situations will come up that will be able to use Josaiah and use his strengths.”

While Stewart and Hoecht are built differently, Turner illustrated a positive point for the Rams. Chris Shula is all about putting players in positions to succeed instead of fitting them into a system. Stewart's straight-up aggressiveness makes him a desired tool for this defense.

“And then I can speak to Ty, him coming out and him learning the way – we have a group that’s not vet-vet, per se, and isn’t super experienced. But we’re really experienced, like we know how to work. And watching him continue to build up trust, watching him come in and stay after and get all the extra work that we do and to see how he’s grown from Day 1 to now is incredible. I’m excited to see the role he’s able to play and hopefully, have him help us win games on Sundays.”

Hamilton was brought in with Poona Ford to help sure up the defensive line rotation, but if Hamilton continues to grow at such a rapid speed, the Rams could be rotating fresh and effective pass rushers on every drive, giving them an advantage in the fourth quarter that most teams won't have.