Rewind Brian Baldinger break down this LA Rams DBs debut

One of the critical positional groups that will surely get a lot of attention in the offseason, both by the LA Rams front office and the Rams fanbase, is the team’s secondary. While the Rams were consistent in their pass defense throughout the season, they struggled to hold the line on those nuisance short passes that moved the chains.

In short, the Rams simply did not have that John Johnson III type of safety who excelled at clamping down on opposing receivers, knew when to pick them up, and when a catch was made, dropped them like a sack of grain to the football field.

And they will be looking for one in the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft.

But not all is lost for the Rams’ secondary. This team has an incredible knack for finding talented defensive backs in the NFL Draft, no matter what round the team selects, and that has helped keep this team quite competitive.  The LA Rams loaded up on defensive backs in the 2022 NFL Draft, four defensive backs to be exact. The one player that this team was highest on is South Carolina State’s Decobie Durant, a.k.a. Cobie Durant.

Brian Baldinger calls it, Rams strike gold again

You know that the LA Rams have found a diamond in the rough when his NFL debut warrants the best NFL breakdown analyst in the business, Brian Baldinger, featuring Cobie Durant‘s first game in the LA Rams secondary.

Why rewind all the way back to September 2022? Simple. To recapture the thrill of witnessing just how effective Cobie Durant played in his rookie season.

The Rams have work to do, certainly. But let’s not get so wrapped up in calling for heads to roll and for changes to be made that we fail to stand up and applaud great football. Cobie Durant played just 281 defensive snaps in 14 games and started 13 of those contests. He came onto the field in sub packages, so he was not tasked often with run support, nor did he carry the full weight of a starter. But he did manage 22 tackles, three interceptions, and one quarterback sack. Among those three picks, he returned the football 151 yards and even scored a pick-six for a touchdown.

Sure, the Rams’ pass defense needs some tweaking in the offseason. But Cobie Durant is a key cog in that machinery and gives this Rams defense a true play-maker to look forward to next year.

And let’s be clear. He passed the Baldy’s Breakdowns sniff test in his first NFL game. That shows that he will be even better in 2023.