DB Kamren Kinchens could end up being the ideal keystone for Rams secondary

The LA Rams had to be pleased with the performance of their bargain basement secondary in the 2023 NFL season. By all accounts, the team spent next to nothing to staff their defensive backs on the roster, and still ended up with a pass defense that was respectable, if not exemplary, by the end of the year. But not even that overachievement was enough to prompt the team to extend players for another season.

Instead, the team's front office is taking a rather unusual and novice approach for a playoff team. The team has completely retooled the secondary by signing a new group of veterans who are presumed to be plug-and-play starters in this secondary for 2024. All but one position, that is. The Rams allowed one safety staring role to be unaddressed from the 2024 NFL Free Agency market. But that role may have been addressed as well, as soon as the team drafted former Miami rookie defensive back Kamren Kinchens.

Kinchens was the only defensive back chosen by the team in the 2024 NFL Draft, a draft that was bursting with talent for secondary-needy teams. But after the dust has now settled, he may prove to be the only defensive back needed by this team for 2024.

For all of the pieces that must fall the right way for this defense to make noise in 2024, the role of a ball-hawking safety may turn out to be the most important role for the team. We can tout run-stuffers on the defensive front line, or pass rushers scaring the daylights out of opposing quarterbacks by collapsing the pocket off the edge, but does any position steal the souls from the offense faster than a defensive back who can create turnovers? In 2024, that was one area that the defense seemed to struggle at all season.

Turnovers win championships

I cannot emphasize enough that turnovers are the easiest and most certain way to propel a team into the NFL Playoffs and the NFL Championship game. Unless you are the Kansas City Chiefs, the fortunes of NFL teams often coincides to the net turnover statistic by season's end. When the LA Rams won Super Bowl LVI, the Rams held a +2 net turnover statistic. Since that season, the Rams have fallen to a net turnover stat of -1 in 2022, and -3 in 2023.

In 2017, the 11-5 Rams net turnovers stood at +7. In 2018, the 13-3 Rams rose to a net turnover of +11. In 2019, the team's net turnover fell to 0. That same year, the Rams struggled to end the season with a record of 9-7.

There are two ways to impact a team's net turnover statistic. The first method is to rapidly improve ball security on the team's offense. That translates into mitigating fumbles and trying to throw as few interceptions as possible. In 2018, the Rams allowed 19 turnovers. But in 2023, the Rams allowed just 18 turnovers, the fewest number of giveaway turnovers by the Rams since hiring HC Sean McVay in 2017. So why did the Rams end last season with a net turnover statistic of -3?

That is due to the fact that the team's defense created just 15 takeaway turnovers throughout the entire 2023 season. Just ot place that number into perspective, that was 15 turnovers in 17 regular season games. That number was just half of the number of turnovers that the defense created in 2018, a year in which the team played just 16 regular season games.

So it turns out that the Rams front office is onto something by emphasizing ball-hawking defensive backs for 2024.

It takes a thief

When the Rams signed defensive back Kamren Curl from the 2024 NFL Free Agency market, the team landed one of the hottest free agents available. He is a punisher, a hard hitting defense back who love to lay the smackdown on opponents. In 2023, he recorded 115 tackles, 74 of which were solo tackles. But he is more than a tackling machine, as he broke up five passes and allowed just 69.6 percent of passes targeting his receivers to find their mark.

But he only created three interceptions in four NFL seasons.

For turnovers, the Rams re-signed former DB Darious Williams to the roster, a player who put up four interceptions in 2023. The team also signed former Buffalo Bills DB Tre'Davious White. White had one interception in 2023, but played in just four games. If White can return to his 2019 form, the team would gladly welcome his six interceptions in one season.

But the true master thief could prove to be rookie DB Kamren Kinchens. He had six interceptions in 2022, and five more interceptions in 2023. Not only did he create an incredible number of turnovers, but he was good for one pick six in each of the past two seasons for the Miami Hurricanes.

Standing 5-foot-11 and weighing 205 pounds, Kinchens does not give the sillouette of a thumping-style defensive back. But as soon as you see him on the football field in pads, you will get a completely different impression.

Kinchens is not a diva by any stretch of the imagination. He loves to tackle, putting up 162 tackles in three seasons at Miami, including 99 solo tackles. He also loves to get his hands into the passing lane, denying completions 15 times by breaking up the pass over the same three seasons. But he has an uncanny knack of being where the football is when the pass ends, and the Rams would love to see more of that in 2024.

In the end, Kinchens has the type of ball-hawking mindset that this secondary sorely needs. Keep Kamren Kinchens on your radar. He has a date with destiny for this defense in 2024.

As always, thank you for reading