This fierce edge rusher is growing more popular among Rams fans

The LA Rams are expected to address the defense more thoroughly than the offense in the 2024 NFL Draft. After all, the team has spent nearly three times as much on offense as on defense. That complicates questions that are lingering about the defense for 2024. Questions like who will start, will the team add depth, and who will step up next season.

In other words, it's a typical period for fans, a time of so many questions before the annual NFL Draft arrives.

While so many NFL teams have restocked their roster via the import of new talent from the NFL Draft, the LA Rams football organization had opted for lesser-used sources of talent in the past. While some teams treated Round 1 draft picks like sacred icons, the Rams merely viewed them for what they actually are: Currency to use in the draft in the hopes of adding talent.

Eventually, other teams saw what the Rams were doing, and began to mimic the two-time Super Bowl team. and treat draft picks like currency. Without a favorable conversion rate, the Rams find that they may be better off in the 2024 NFL Draft to simply use their Round 1 pick, the first time that will happen since the team selected QB Jared Goff with the first overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft. But with the 19th overall pick, who will be selected?

One area that the Rams may give strong consideration to a pass rusher who can join second-year players NT Kobie Turner and OLB Byron Young as a young posse who will pursue oppposing quarterbacks relentless. The front office not only need to add production, but they need to pursue a player who is quite passionate about playing football. But before we get right to the player, let's talk about the Rams approach to the 2024 NFL Draft.

Rams Round 1 pick could land this ferocious edge rusher

1. The road back to the Super Bowl
2. Rams fans warming up rapidly to this Nittany Lion
3. Devastation, incorporated? Chop Robinson plays like the Tasmanian Devil

The road back to the Super Bowl

The opportunity to actually tune in for a Day 1 pick is a unique experience for fans. It's a bittersweet moment, a time to add a true starter to open the 2024 NFL Draft. But the fact is that it comes with a heavy toll. The Rams have lost perennial All-Pro DL Aaron Donald to retirement. So the opportunity to add talent has been tainting by the fact that the roster has lost one of the greatest players to play the game.

As much as Donald had done for this defense, and this team, the front office cannot simply stop trying to build the most competitive roster possible for 2024. In fact, the best thing that the players, coaches, and front office staff can do is to go out and win another Super Bowl in Aaron Donald's honor.

Impossible? I don't see it as unlikely as the team without money to spend or a first-round draft pick trying to turn around a 5-12 season to play in the 2024 NFL Playoffs. Yet, that is exactly what this team did. Now, coming off a 10-7 season that ended with a 7-2 run, the team has been restocking and upgrading the roster for another Super Bowl run.

The Rams will get more in 2024 from their existing pass rushers. That included ILB Ernest Jones, OLBs Michael Hoecht and Byron Young, and NT Kobie Turner. But there are opportunities for new contributors in 2024. This team has unequalled success at developing two Round 3 prospects into the best rookie pass rushers of their class. Now, the front office hopes that the tracks have been laid, and that the 2024 development of new rookie pass rushers can be equally amazing.

But who will the team add in Round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft?

Rams fans warming up rapidly to this Nittany Lion

The positions that the Rams are expected to target on Day 1 has been all over the place. There is not even a true consensus among fans over whether the team will draft on the offensive or defensive side of the football. But there is one prospect who is sneaking his way into the hearts and minds of LA Rams fans, and he is Penn State edge rusher Chop Robinson:

Chop Robinson is a tall and ferocious DE/OLB who will almost certainly play as an outside linebacker for this defense. He has admirable size at 6-foot-3 and 254-pounds, certainly a prospect who is big and powerful enough to play all three downs at the position.

No, he is not UCLA edge rusher Laiatu Latu, nor do I portray him as such. While Latu is perceived as the best outside linebacker in this rookie class, the Rams cannot count on Latu to fall to them at the 19th overall pick. He is not even Florida State's edge rusher Jared Verse.

But while Latu and Verse are more polished, there are no equals to Chop Robinson in terms of pure passion. Robinson gives his all on each and every play. He is a fit for this team's defensive front because he can match the intensity and football field fierceness of the teams defensive front. With Robinson, the question is never if he will get to the opposing quarterback, but how quickly will he get there.

With his athleticism, it's a footrace to get to the quarterback. If he is added to the roster, his speed will toss the gauntlet at the feet of Byron Young and Kobie Turner, a challenge that will elevate their game as well.

He is a bit raw in terms of all responsibilities as a complete NFL outside linebacker. That need to set the edge, shed blockers, turn runners inwards, and bring down ball carriers quickly. Still, he has all of the tools to be effective instantly.

Devastation, incorporated? Chop Robinson plays like the Tasmanian Devil

It's tough to view the impact of PSU Nittany Lion's edge rusher Chop Robinson, and not smile at the consistent effort that blows up offensive plays. The fun part of Robinson when imagined in the Rams' defensive front is the ease of viewing his speed as a reasonable surrogate for Aaron Donald's speed at getting to the opposing quarterback.

He is the Eveready Bunny in terms of a player who keeps going and going.

When I see Chop Robinson play, he reminds me of the style of play of former Rams OLB Von Miller. Miller stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 250 pounds, can get as low to the ground as possible, and can make that hairpin turn to come at the quarterback from the sideline. Robinson stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 254 pounds. He can get as low to the ground as possible and make that hairpin turn from a Stretch Armstrong ability to bend.

But he has a long way to go to become the equivalent of Von Miller:

Do the Rams need a highly-refined outside linebacker who comes with all of the moves and techniques required to start, but who plays without passion? Or do the Rams need a player whose passion for the game fuels his performance, and who will learn and refine his game as the season goes along?

I will let you make that decision. Yes, he has bust potential. But he has one of the highest ceilings, and the team seems to be saturated with technique. Robinson continues the trend of selecting passionate players who are not viewed on par of more refined peers. The team has learned that passionate players have a strong likelihood of beating even optimistic projections.

If Chop Robinson continues that trend in Horns, he will push hard for 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Based on the comments on social media growing more and more favorable over Chop Robinson, it's clear that he is winning over fans steadily. Does the Rams front office share their affinity for Chop Robinson?

Thanks for reading.