Rams are sitting on a breakout star and the league has no idea

it's unusual for Rams rookies to impact the team significantly. That is why the second year of this young Rams rising star is so vital for the team's success in 2025.

The Los Angeles Rams are not one of the NFL teams that is bereft of elite talent. This is a team that always seems to have elite talent at key positions that are vital to a team's success. That is due to the constant vigilance of Rams GM Les Snead, the brains behind the brawn of HC Sean McVay. Snead is not content to kick back and relax. He urges his personnel and scouting departments to continue their quest for roster upgrades, even after the roster has been saturated with talent.

And it was the team's search for something better that led them to the Miami Hurricanes to select safety Kamren Kinchens in the 2024 NFL Draft. Kam Kinchens was among the Top 10 safeties of the rookie class, and he was a young man with a proclivity to turn forward passes into interceptions.

Despite a Rams roster that already boasted veterans Russ Yeast, Quentin Lake, and fan favorite John Johnson III. The team has also added ex-Washington Commanders safety Kamren Curl. But the team had promoted positional coach Chris Shula to Defensive Coordinator. And one of Shula's corrective plans for a young and star-deficient new defense was to emphasize creating turnovers.

Curiously, that is where Kamren Kinchens comes in. You see, his final two seasons of college football resulted in 11 interceptions. The Rams needed interceptions, so the team needed Kinchens on the roster, regardless of anyone else on the team.

Kinchens was not a plug-and-play starter in the Rams' defense in his rookie season. He appeared in all 17 games, but started just four. He did not see his first start until Week 10 and did not start past Week 12 until Week 17. Curiously, he earned the starting role after his two-interception performance in Week 9 against the Seattle Seahawks, including a game-winning pick-six. But of the more than 1100 defensive snaps in 2024, Kinchens was on the football field just 50 percent of the time.

You see, Kamren Kinchens was eased onto the football field. He only saw action in 93 defensive snaps in the team's first seven games. For a player whose prowess was generating turnovers, he was severely handicapped as the coaching staff learned to entrust him with a modest workload. But by the time the season had ended and all the smoke had cleared. Kam Kinchens was tied as a team leader for interceptions with four. That tied him with teammate S Jaylen McCollough as the 10th-ranked NFL interception leader.

Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph led the NFL with nine interceptions. But he played 1085 defensive snaps. But Rams rookie safety Kamren Kinchens was on pace to match Joseph's performance. And you have to factor in his rookie status, a handicap that required mid-season to truly overcome. This season, Kinchens arrives already familiar with the team, his teammates, and the coaching staff.

Best of all, he has a proven track record of delivering turnovers, the area that attracted the team to him in the first place. So it falls to reason that he will see a heavy workload in this secondary right out of the gate, even if he is not a weekly starter.

Kamren Kinchens is set up to be a breakout NFL star in 2025. He is returning for his second NFL season, but he is positioned to place his stamp on this secondary. He has continued to grow in pass coverage, as a defender, and now as a future NFL star.

Kinchens does not need to shatter any records. He simply needs to show up and do what he's done since arriving in the NFL. He needs to shunt receivers, improve his pure pass coverage (he allowed four touchdown passes and a 73.2 percent completion rate), but keep on snagging passes.

Kamren Kinchens was a rookie who needed time to acclimate to his surroundings in 2024. He knows the lay of the land now. And with familiarity with these surroundings comes the next tier of NFL performance. Kinchens is a defensive back on the cusp of taking it to the next level. Meanwhile, other NFL teams have no idea that he is ready to upgrade, at their expense.

As always, thanks for reading.

Here are other recent Rams roster articles you will enjoy