Post OTAs analysis of LA Rams 2024 NFL Draft strategy with Les Snead

Defensive depth players could hold major rotational roles in 2024

Even after the team selected OLB/DE Jared Verse in Round 1, the shopping list for pass rushers was not satisfied. The team doubled down on the position by adding Washington State OLB Brennan Jackson late in Round 5. Jackson may be the next Round 5 player who steps up to become a major starter for the team in the future.

The links to Brennan Jackson were very real. Not only did we mock Brennan Jackson to the Rams in our Final Rams Mock Draft with the 196th overall pick (the team drafted him with the 154th overall pick), but Brennan Jackson was the only rookie prospect chosen by the team in the 2024 NFL Draft who met with the team before the draft took place. Yet despite his selection in Round 5, I am confident that Jackson will earn an ever-greater share of defensive snaps in 2024.

Jackson was consistently projected to come off the draft board somewhere between Rounds 3 through 5. So the fact that the team was able to claim him late in Round 5 suggests that the chances for a bargain are pretty good. But beyond mere projections, Jackson is a physical rough-'em-up type of player who loves to hit hard and bring down opposing quarterbacks. Standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 263 pounds, he has an ideal size to come screaming off the edge to lower the boom on unsuspecting quarterbacks.

The other Day 3 prospect who is a double-down player is former Clemson defensive tackle Tyler Davis. Similar to NT Kobie Turner's rookie profile, Davis is a 6-foot-2, 299-pound rookie who has all the makings of a surprise rookie performer on this young defensive front. Davis is all about being a thinking man's defensive lineman. While, as Snead puts it, he may not stand out on one-on-one videos, his game-day production exceeds expectations.

Davis is a football player who loves to put on the pads, step onto a football field, and play the game the way it was meant to be played. Even as the team scrambles for players to step into the team's DL rotation, I cannot envision how Tyler Davis does not earn a turn at rotating in for the Rams defensive front in 2024.

He has enough skills to make life for opposing offenses quite uncomfortable right out of the gates. And as he earns more experience, I expect his ability to tackle for losses and get quarterback sacks to improve over the course of the season.

We'll talk some more about this Rams draft class. But don't be surprised if all ten players make the team's 53-man active roster.

As always, thanks for reading.