4 LA Rams players who will make plenty of noise in 2022

II – DB Robert Rochell

I won’t lie. I believe that Robert Rochell has NFL starting DB potential this year, and will be a bit surprised if he is not getting playing time. While the LA Rams front office traded for a very inexpensive defensive back Troy Hill who is every bit capable of starting in the Rams secondary, I would not rule out Rochell winning a starting job outright at some point in the season.

Rochell is nearly as athletically gifted as All-Pro defensive back Jalen Ramsy. But, much like Jacob Harrise mentioned earlier, he is simply raw and inexperienced. He suffered a setback last year with an injured wrist, but still managed to see action in 11 games, and start in five contests.

Injured but not forgotten

He was placed on injured reserve after injuring his top rib, near the collar bone. That kept his sidelined throughout the rest of the 2021 NFL season. Even in limited play, he managed to record 14 tackles, broke up four passes, and picked off one pass. Despite being targeted 23 times, he only allowed 14 completions, good for a 60.9 percent completing rate on his receiver.

Some have been critical of his rookie season, but he played just 234 defensive snaps and always seemed to be shaking off some form of injury. He suffered a wrist injury, a rib injury, illness, knee injury, and even tested positive for COVID-19 during the team’s outbreak.

That is quite a bit on the plate for a rookie. He handled it all like a pro, and is back this year to pick up where he left off last year.