Kobie Turner was overlooked in the pre-draft process, as well as in the lead up to the 2023 season. He was a third-round pick, but no one expected him to have the season he’s put together thus far.
He has nine sacks and 57 tackles, both of which are more than Aaron Donald has this year. His nine sacks are tied for the Rams rookie record and the most by any rookie defensive tackle in the NFL.
Despite having the best numbers of any defensive rookie this year, Turner isn’t the favorite to win Defensive Rookie of the Year. He has the third-best odds and was only available to bet this week after getting inexplicably left out of the conversation.
Turner was asked about his candidacy for the top rookie award and he feels he’s done enough to be in the race, but there’s still work to be done.
“I definitely think that I have put in the work to put myself into the conversation, but that’s not for me to decide, of course,” Turner said, via ESPN. “All there is for me to do is just keep working, take it each day by day and just put out tape that’s going to make it not questionable that that’s where I should be. So I don’t have any say as far as I should be this, I should be that.
“What I know that I should be doing is getting right back to work, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do throughout this next week and now throughout the next week after that as well.”
Turner has one game left to prove he’s the best rookie defender in the NFL this season. He also has one game left to break Donald’s rookie sacks record, potentially reaching double-digits if he can add one full sack to his resume in the finale.
Turner will need a big game if he’s going to overtake Jalen Carter and Will Anderson Jr. for DROY, but he has his sights set on helping the Rams win.