Here's why rookie Jared Verse can lead 2nd wave of Rams D dominance

The LA Rams may have caught lightning in a bottle for two consecutive seasons.

Infectious enthusiasm. Pure passion. The love of football is a trait that is often overlooked by NFL teams in their quest to find their next start. Some teams chase those collegiate players who exhibit such outstanding production that they seem to be locked to starting in the NFL as well. Other teams focus on a player's physical attributes, believing that if they get a prospect that is tall enough, muscular enough, fast enough, and powerful enough, the coaches can develop the football into them

But you can lead that horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.

It may be that in his final season with the LA Rams, All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald did more than suit up and perform on a football field. In his request of the team's front office to 'make sure they care,' he highlighted the very factor in his own NFL career that separated him from the rest of the field. It's the passion, the hunger, the burning desire of the game of football that compels players to become the best versions of themselves.

It was that list of one new item introduced to the team's scavenger hunt in the 2023 NFL Draft that allowed the team to find some of the best rookies in the class without a single Round 1 selection. It was that same goal that may have led the team to another top performing rookie class in 2024.

Of course, let's not pretend that the team did not fall upon hard times. It was the disappointing fall after the team won Super Bowl LVI that led the front office to divest of veterans and highly compensated players, knowing that the road back would take time. And it was that depleted roster that afforded so many young players opportunities to make their presence felt on the Rams roster last season.

Those same opportunities will be fewer and more competitive to come by this year.