After letting A’Shawn Robinson and Greg Gaines leave in free agency, the Los Angeles Rams are desperately looking for two players to step up along the defensive line. They added two rookies in the draft, selecting Kobie Turner in the third round and Desjuan Johnson in the seventh, but both players have a lot to prove before they’re handed starting jobs up front.
Turner is off to a good start in his first NFL training camp, impressing Aaron Donald through three days of practice so far. Donald spoke highly of the rookie out of Wake Forest, saying he’s looked good so far this summer.
“Yeah, he’s doing great. He’s a smart guy. He understands the schemes, he’s working hard,” Donald said. “So far, I think he’s been having a great camp. We get the pads on Monday and we’ll see how he does, but he’s been doing good so far. I’m confident with him being out there right now just from the knowledge he’s got and picking up the schemes and things like that. And what I’ve been seeing so far on film, he looks good.”
Turner was selected 89th overall after a successful career at Richmond and Wake Forest, consistently disrupting things on the interior for opposing offenses. He’s a similar size to Donald, standing 6-foot-2 and 288 pounds, so he could presumably back up the All-Pro when he needs a breather.
Turner doesn’t necessarily have the size to play nose tackle and the Rams might want some more length at defensive end, but with how often they rotate their defensive linemen and move them around, he could find a home somewhere up front.
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