For the most part, it’s been an up-and-down season for Derion Kendrick at cornerback. The second-year defender has been a starter for all but one game in 2023, and while he’s had some excellent performances and made big plays, he’s also made too many mistakes in coverage.
His worst performance of the season came on Sunday against Washington when he allowed seven receptions on eight targets for a total of 153 yards and two touchdowns. He also committed a pass interference penalty in the end zone that helped set up the Commanders’ last touchdown.
Penalties and big plays have plagued Kendrick all season, often being the blemishes on what might’ve been solid outings. He’s been called for 11 penalties and has given up receptions that went for 38 yards, 39 yards, 42 yards and 48 yards.
His 566 yards allowed in coverage are the 17th-most among all cornerbacks this season, landing him a 59.9 overall grade this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
After Sunday’s performance where he allowed two long plays and committed a pass interference penalty, several Rams fans were calling for him to be benched – and understandably so. Sean McVay was asked about whether changes will be made in the secondary amid Kendrick’s struggles but he was non-committal on shaking things up.
“We’re just in the early parts of getting ready,” he said Monday. “You kind of accelerate your postgame process. I thought our defense played really well. There were those two drives that could make it feel a lot different than what it was. There were a lot of good things. We had some communication things on their first touchdown we got to do a better job of. And then you just mentioned it, (Commanders WR) Terry McLaurin is a baller and there were some isolation situations where sometimes it’s not going to go down for you and he ended up making some good plays. What I think we need to be able to learn from, and I want ‘DK’ to be able to learn from and not exclusive to him, us overall, is okay on the first touchdown, how do we make sure with a tool that we play that better so we don’t leave the corner route open? When we get them in a fourth down and seven, how can we make sure that we’re not giving ourselves a chance to foul and give them a fresh set of downs playing with the good techniques?”
It sounds like the Rams will probably stick with Kendrick as a starting cornerback again this week when the Saints come to town. McVay still wants to see him improve, particularly in the mental aspect of the game.
“Some of the things that we can control above the neck and being smarter situationally, those are the things that we want to improve upon,” McVay continued. “He’s shown that he can respond to that, but I think there’s a tendency, and I felt this way too, that oh man, it felt a lot different than what the totality of the game was because it was that most recent exposure in regards to when (Jacoby) Brissett comes in and manufactures two scoring drives and the way that it went down. And it seemed like ‘DK’ was in the middle of that action, but he’ll learn from it. He’s a mentally tough guy and we’ll figure out what we think is the best way to try to defend a really good team that’s playing at a high clip on Thursday.”
If the Rams wanted to make a change at cornerback, there aren’t many options available. Duke Shelley is on injured reserve and Tre Tomlinson has a thigh injury, so he may not be healthy enough to play on Thursday night.
It’s possible the Rams could go with a starting lineup of Ahkello Witherspoon, Cobie Durant and Quentin Lake, along with Jordan Fuller and John Johnson III, but there’s been no indication that a change like that will be made.
It might be time to shake things up, though, because the playoffs are approaching and Kendrick hasn’t always been reliable in big moments.