What the NFL doesn't know about the young Rams DL can hurt them, badly

Distributing defensive snaps

While the Rams must attempt to backfill the 867 defensive snaps that Aaron Donald played in 2023, he is not the only defender the team must absorb in terms of snaps. The teams must also fill 598 defensive snaps in 2024 as well, played by starting DE Jonah Williams. Now, you can also shave off 169 defensive snaps from OLB Byron Young, as well as 162 defensive snaps from OLB Michael Hoecht (placing both OLBs at a base number of 800 defensive snaps for 2024).

So how many players can the Rams use to fill nearly 1800 defensive snaps?

Well, We can expect that rookie OLB will split time with Hoecht, so lets go with 500 defensive snaps apiece. That puts the total of defensive snaps in play at 1640. If the Rams start DT Braden Fiske, we can expect him to play 640 defensive snaps. Increasing the workload of NT Bobby Brown and DE Desjuan Johnson can consume an additional 400 defensive snaps.

That leaves 600+ defensive snaps to distribute among DT Tyler Davis and OLB Brennan Jackson.

While that gives both players a modest rotational role, other rotational players were involved in the defense last season. And this distribution of defensive snaps is not intended to be hard and rigid limits. Rather, this slide is intended to illustrate how a distribution of defensive snaps may play out in 2024. If a player gets red hot, it would be nearly impossible to justify benching them simply to hit arbitrary snap counts.

But at the same time, to foster a discussion of how the team may strategize for the upcoming season, we need to deploy the same methods that house assessors use. That is, take what we know and project them into the unknown. The Rams have some seriously talented newcomers joining the mix in 2024.