Rams secondary makeover perfected with Kamren Kinchens at 99

When the LA Rams started the 2023 NFL season, the team's secondary consisted of Ahkello Witherspoon and Cobie Durant at cornerback, and Jordan Fuller and John Johnson III at safety. While not a particularly expensive secondary, they did make a rather effective secondary. But that was then, this is now.

The team loaded up with defensive backs during the 2022 NFL Draft, adding CBs Durant and Derion Kendrick, as well as safeties Russ Yeast and Quentin Lake. But the group appears to be a temporary segue for 2023. You see, the team allowed the contracts of Fuller, JJIII, and Witherspoon to expire. In their place, the Rams have signed former Rams CB Darious Williams, former Buffalo Bills CB Tre'Varios White, and even former Washington Commanders S Kamren Curl.

But the team felt like they would be adding at least one more defensive back to the team. And with the 99th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the team selected 5-foot-11 and 203-pound Kamren Kinchen out of the University of Miami. So what can we tell you about him?

Well, he was the fifth safety selected in the 2024 NFL Draft, and was chosen long before some defensive backs I thought may be targeted by the Rams like Washington State Jaden Hicks. But he could be a huge upgrade on the backside of this defense. You see, throughout the draft coverage, former coaches like Bill Belichick and Nick Saban have talked at length about the quality of a defensive back being measured as elite if the guy can pick off passes. In Kinchens case, he outshines the rest with his cutpurse qualities.

Kamren Kinchens is a pickpocket defensive back, hauling in 11 interceptions in his last two seasons with Miami. But he is so much more. He has averaged 59 tackles, 2.0 tackles for a loss, 5.5 pass break ups, 5.5 interceptions, and one pick-six per season in his final two years of college football.

The LA Rams secondary was not particularly good at creating turnovers in 2023, but that does not appear to be the case in 2024. With Kinchens prowling around in the secondary, his teammate Kamren Curl can unload the pain with devastating tackles. He delivers that ball hawking skillset that the secondary has needed so desperately, and his vision and football IQ makes him ideally suited to complement Curl's ferocity with the ability to be in perfect position to grab the football and take it the other way for the score.

I love this pick. Kinchens may not be as touted as other safeties, but he is an incredible fit for what this secondary needs and is building.

Grade: A+