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These 2 Rams rookies are starting to flex alongside Aaron Donald

By Bret Stuter

Kobie Turner LA Rams
Kobie Turner LA Rams / Harry How/GettyImages
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LA Rams, Rams News, Rams roster, Byron Young
Los Angeles Rams v Cincinnati Bengals Byron Young / Dylan Buell/GettyImages

Opportunity knocks

The Rams rookie draft class of 2023 is showing up in a huge way on defense. In fact, despite selecting the 12th pass rusher off the board, the Rams have landed am outside linebacker who truly checks all of the boxers. That's right, Rams rookie outside linebacker Byron Young is the stud pass rusher from the class of 2023 so far. So how good is he? Let's take a look:

While we have witnessed some debate over the LA Rams ability to draft successfully in recent years, it was clear that the Rams needed to hit big at their outside linebacker position. Thankfully, that is exactly what the LA Rams front office did. Even though the Rams did not address the position until later on Day 2, they emerged with a rookie who is arguably the best of the rookie class of 2023.

So let's compare how Byron Young compares to the 11 other edge rushers chosen in the 2023 NFL Draft before him:

Name

Team

Pick

Snaps

Tackles

QB sacks

QB Pressures

Will Anderson Jr.

Texans

3rd

133

13.0

1.0

6.0

Tyree Wilson

Raiders

7th

81

3.0

0.0

0.0

Will McDonald IV

Jets

15th

24

1.0

0.0

0.0

Myles Murphy

Bengals

28th

39

0.0

0.0

0.0

Nolan Smith

Eagles

30th

19

1.0

0.0

1.0

Felix Anudike-Uzomah

Chiefs

31st

60

7.0

0.5

4.0

Derick Hall

Seahawks

37th

77

5.0

0.0

1.0

Isaiah Foskey

Saints

40th

23

4.0

0.0

0.0

B.J. Ojulari

Cardinals

41st

40

1.0

0.0

0.0

Keion White

Patriots

46th

60

0.0

0.0

5.0

Tuli Tuiloputu

Chargers

54th

135

13.0

2.0

8.0

Byron Young

Rams

77th

166

14

2.0

10.0

That is proof right there that he is showing up better than any other rookie so far.

Best of 2023. What about 2022?

Okay, so far it appears at though the LA Rams have the cream of the crop from the 2023 NFL Draft class. But what about the best from 2022? The Detroit Lions landed DE/OLB Aidan Hutchinson in 2022. How well did Hutchinson do in his first three NFL games last season? Well in three games, he had put up the following stats:

  • Name ------------| snaps | tackles | ---TFL --- | QB sacks | QB Pressures
  • Hutchinson -----| 186 | 7.0 tackles | 3.0 TFLs | 3.0 QB sacks | 4.0 QB Pressures
  • Young ---------- | 166 | 14.0 tackles | 0.0 TFLs | 2.0 QB sacks | 10.0 QB Pressures

I'm not asserting that LA Rams OLB Byron Young is going to finish this season with 9.5 QB sacks, but it's clear that Young is having a very comparable start in his rookie season to that of Lions standout pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson. Better yet, the Rams selected Byron Young with the 77th overall pick, and not the 2nd overall pick of the draft.

If you wanted the LA Rams to build a strong foundation for the 2024 NFL season and beyond, that is exactly what these LA Rams young stars are doing right now. This is more than just padding stats. The Rams young defenders are playing fundamentally sound football. It's that early attention to solid football basics that has this Rams defense quietly outperforming expectations.

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