Although the Los Angeles Rams were looking toward the future with their 10-player class in the 2024 NFL draft, they also landed a handful of instant-impact rookies. Several of their selections will have a chance to play right away, potentially supplanting veterans ahead of them on the depth chart.
Whether it’s in a starting role or as a primary backup, multiple rookies will get a chance to earn meaningful playing time immediately. That’ll come at the expense of these five veterans, who could all lose snaps to rookies in 2024. It doesn’t mean these players will become backups, but their playing time could be reduced.
Everyone knew the Rams were going to target an edge rusher at some point in the draft, likely early on. And that’s exactly what they did by selecting Jared Verse at No. 19 overall. While he won’t be handed a starting job, he has a great chance to replace Hoecht right away as the outside linebacker opposite Byron Young.
He has the length, power and athleticism to be an early impact player, with several analysts pegging him as their Defensive Rookie of the Year pick. It would be a huge surprise if Hoecht ends up playing as much as he did last year when he started all 17 games.
Brown is going to face some competition from Tyler Davis at nose tackle. Last season, the Rams didn’t have a defensive lineman who came close to Brown’s size, so he was their primary option on running downs. However, with Davis and his 300-pound frame now in the mix, the Rams have a quality option behind Brown.
Not to mention, Los Angeles also added Braden Fiske in Round 2, who could indirectly impact Brown’s playing time. With Fiske on the depth chart, the Rams could feel comfortable keeping Kobie Turner at nose tackle more often with Fiske at defensive tackle where Aaron Donald used to play.
Yeast’s stock took a big hit when the Rams selected Kamren Kinchens in the third round, making it unlikely that he’ll get another chance to start in 2024. Yeast was already benched last season for John Johnson III so he fell out of favor mid-year, but Kinchens’ range as a free safety makes him a much more intriguing option alongside Kamren Curl.
Yeast is still a good backup to have on the roster and he does have some position flex as a slot defender, but Kinchens is going to be an early contributor as a rookie and that’ll come at the expense of Yeast’s snap count.
Skowronek had his role reduced last season, playing only 19% of the snaps after playing 82% in 2022. He’s not only in danger of losing snaps to rookie Jordan Whittington, but he could lose his roster spot altogether to the Texas wideout. Whittington is a willing and able blocker like Skowronek, so he could immediately take snaps away from him on run plays. He also provides special teams value, which is primarily where Skowronek contributes. Whittington was only a sixth-round pick so he’s not guaranteed to even make the roster, but he has a similar skill set to Skowronek’s, which may not be a coincidence.
Williams is not going to be replaced by Blake Corum in the starting lineup. Let’s just make that clear. He was one of the best backs in the NFL last season and no matter how impressive Corum is in practice this summer, the Rams would be crazy to bench Williams for him.
That being said, Williams played an unsustainable number of snaps last season, handling a much larger workload than the Rams would like him to have. Given his injury history and heavy share of touches last season, Sean McVay will want to keep Williams fresh by giving Corum opportunities to play some meaningful snaps.
We still don’t know how the carries will be split up between the two, but expect to see Corum play significantly more than Ronnie Rivers, Royce Freeman or any of the Rams’ other backups played in 2023.