This LA Rams sleeper could steal a key starting spot at training camp

What went wrong for the LA Rams in 2023? Well, besides the fact that the team opened the season with a pedestrian 3-6 record before their Week 10 BYE? For starters, the secondary failed to generate many takeaways. That often translated into long drives that led to scores. And as effective as the offense was in 2023, that's a tough habit to break.

Well, was a tough habit to break.

While the team's front office paid a great deal of attention to adding talented players to the secondary, perhaps none are as intriguing as former Miami Hurricanes' DB Kamren Kinchens. If the Rams secondary suffered a drought of creating takeaways last season, then Kinchens is monsoon rains in 2024.

What makes Kamren Kinchens able to steal a key starting spot?

While just a rookie, defensive back Kamren Kinchens is not simply a bawk-hawking defender. Rather, he is a well-rounded defensive back who is able to make every play expected of him. But he is a bloodhound at sniffing out the football, and is so good at creating turnovers that he becomes a true weapon in the secondary.

He makes quarterbacks nervous, and nervous quarterbacks make mistakes.

Of course, the Rams are loaded at safety, which is where Kinchens will likely compete for a starting role. The team signed a very impressive run-stuffing safety in Kamren Curl, re-signed veteran safety John Johnson III, and already had the opportunity to expand the roles of returning safeties Quentin Lake and Russ Yeast.

But this is a secondary that wants to load up on playmakers. And yes, Kamren Kinchens is a bona fide playmaker. While the expectation at this point in time is for the team to start Quentin Lake and Kamren Curl at safety, with John Johnson III filling in as a rotational player, that could all change if Kamren Kinchens has a better than expected training camp.

Lake has been deployed in a variety of roles in the secondary in the past, and the Rams seem to have a greater surplus of playmakers at safety than cornerback. Could Lake be rolled into a slot rotation once more, allowing the team to put both Kamren Kinchens and Kamren Curl on the football field simultaneously?

You know, that could work.

Lake proved to be one of the team's best coverage defensive backs in 2023. And that continues the trend begun when the team placed Jalen Ramsey into the team's star coverage role. Is that the best way to use Quentin Lake in 2024? If Kinchens delivers this season, it may very well be.

If the goal this season is to manufacture turnovers on defense, the team has got to find some way to get and keep Kamren Kinchens on the football field. Will that play out in training camp? I think it could happen. Kinchens will work his magic as the pads go on, and that starts now.

Thanks for reading.