DROY for this Rams rookie seems more and more likely with latest news

Even as the LA Rams pivot from the 2024 NFL season to the 2025 NFL Playoffs, fans continue to have reason to keep the 2024 NFL season in their rearview mirror. After all, we all learned bitter lessons about how the NFL overall views the Rams roster, particularly when it came to how it overlooked the sensational rookie season of NT Kobie Turner in the 2023 Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. Houston Texans rookie defensive end Will Anderson Jr. was bestowed the honor.

That honor ignored the fact that Kobie Turner held statistical advantages over all rookies in many categories.

Fast forward one year later, and the Rams once again have more rookies in the running for the 2024 Defensive Rookie of the Year. While the team has many outstanding and talented rookies on defense, the best of the bunch are the two rookies added to this defense out of Florida State: Outside linebacker Jared Verse, and defensive tackle Braden Fiske.

DT Braden Fiske led all rookies in quarterback sack in 2024 with 8.5 sacks. He also had 44 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

His teammate, OLB Jared Verse, led the NFL with 70 QB pressures (see graph below), and was third in the NFL with 32 high-quality pressures, behind Chris Jones (45 HQ pressures) and Myles Garrett (34 HQ pressures).

Of course, every measurement in the NFL has some subjectivity to it. The same statistic, as measured by Pro Football Network, views Verse as having 77 quarterback pressures this season. In their stats, that places his fourth among all NFL players, trailing Trey Hendrickson, Myles Garrett, and Jonathan Greenard.

That earned him Pro Football Network's Defensive Rookie of the Year.:

Now that the season is over, the opportunity to influence voters in NFL DROY honors is limited. So honors like the DROY honors for Rams rookie OLB Jared Verse hold significant weight as post-season honors are determined. The Rams were shut out in 2023. Hopefully, that is not the case for 2024.

As always, thanks for reading.

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