Rams camp: Derion Kendrick showing pizzazz in training camp

He is the rookie who was drafted with the 212th overall pick in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft. That is not where many NFL teams find players worth talking about in the early days of their training camp. But these are the LA Rams, a team that found starting safety Jordan Fuller with the 199th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

So anything is possible. And it appears that the LA Rams may be on the scent of another miracle find in the back end of another NFL Draft. We talked about former Georgie cornerback Derion Kendrick before the LA Rams training camp began, and we talked about how he ‘adds pizzazz‘ to the Rams’ secondary. Now others are beginning to see what we were talking about.

Kendrick is a different sort of young defensive back. He was cited as slow, but he plays the role quickly on the field because he does not waste steps. In some draft projections, he was as high as round two because he is a ball-hawking big-bodied defensive back from the SEC who can play in both man and zone coverages.

He has excellent football IQ, a former wide receiver who left the Jedi order to become a Sith in the secondary. And yes, he is already looking great in camp.

It’s the stuff that LA Rams head coach Sean McVay loves to see. A rookie defensive back is battling hard already, fearless over the fact that he is covering NFL veteran wide receivers. That is not getting missed by McVay, who didn’t want to copy our pizzazz quality, so he says that Kendrick has some nice play swagger. Well played, Coach McVay, well played.

The young man is fearless so far, and that will serve him well. He’s starting camp well. Now he needs to improve just a little bit more each day.

I think the Rams may have discovered another late draft defensive back worth keeping on your radar.