Tag: Kobie Turner

Draft reaction: Los Angeles Rams select DL Kobie Turner No. 89 overall

Draft reaction: Los Angeles Rams select DL Kobie Turner No. 89 overall

The Los Angeles Rams select their second straight defensive lineman in a bid to retool their defensive line that suffered heavy losses moving into the offseason with the selection of Wake Forest defensive lineman Kobie Turner.

A fifth year senior for the Demon Deacons, Turner made the most of his transfer from Richmond after being a contributor for the Spiders for the four previous seasons. In his final year of college football Turner made an immediate impact for his new team, putting together 25 tackles, 28 quarterback pressures, and two sacks on the season. Turner’s quick twitch style of play makes him a perfect rotation piece for future hall of famer Aaron Donald should he need a breather or miss time similar to last season.

Turner will not be a starter right away, and will be a rotational lineman behind the likes of Aaron Donald and Marquise Copeland. Learning from Donald can only benefit the rookie, and if Turner can absorb everything from his teammates, he could find himself opposite of Donald in the following season.

Kobie Turner ‘spent a lot of time’ studying Aaron Donald in college

Rams rookie Kobie Turner learned a lot from Aaron Donald before even becoming teammates this year

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When it comes to playing defensive tackle, there are few players – if any – in NFL history better than Aaron Donald. That makes him the perfect player to study for young prospects who are trying to reach their potential.

Rams rookie Kobie Turner is now teammates with Donald but he learned a lot about the All-Pro’s game before he even landed in Los Angeles. While in college at Richmond and Wake Forest, Turner studied Donald’s game a bunch.

“I watched him every year. I remember multiple years with different coaches having film studies on his work and just the way he approaches the game, his hand placement and the moves that he’s done,” Turner told Heavy.com this week.

Like Donald, Turner isn’t a the biggest defensive tackle. Donald has made a living by using his leverage and quickness to beat offensive linemen, and Turner – who’s listed at 6-foot-2 and 288 pounds – will need to do the same.

Despite being undersized, Turner plays with good power and a high motor, never giving up on a play even when he’s blocked initially. Having watched Donald for years, he’s tried to take a similar approach, particularly when it comes to his hand usage and placement.

“I’ve emulated or have tried to emulate the best that I could and incorporate into my own game,” Turner said. “When you’re the best to ever do it, I’ve definitely spent a lot of time learning from him before even getting here.”

Turner will have a chance to start right away with the Rams after Los Angeles lost Greg Gaines and A’Shawn Robinson in free agency, but he’ll need to earn that role in practice – beginning now in OTAs and eventually in training camp and the preseason.

Watch highlights of Rams rookie DT Kobie Turner

Check out some of Kobie Turner’s best plays from Wake Forest last season

When he was selected at No. 89 overall, Kobie Turner was just the second player in the draft to come off the board after not receiving a combine invite. Of the 88 players selected before him, 87 were invited to Indianapolis where they went through drills and got to meet with teams around the league.

That made Turner a sleeper in this class but the Rams didn’t let him fall out of the third round. They’re getting an undersized defensive tackle with good quickness and a knack for disrupting things in the backfield, which sounds a lot like Aaron Donald’s game.

That’s not to say Turner will become the next Aaron Donald, but he’ll greatly benefit from learning under the future Hall of Famer. And he’s already a solid player on his own as he joins the Rams.

Check out highlights from Turner’s one season at Wake Forest in 2022, during which he had two sacks, 10 tackles for a loss and three forced fumbles.

Rams added 2 of PFF’s 6 highest-graded DTs in 2023 NFL draft

Kobie Turner and Desjuan Johnson were among PFF’s highest-graded DTs in college before being selected by the Rams.

Throughout the 2023 NFL draft, the Los Angeles Rams made a concerted effort to improve in the trenches on both sides of the ball. And with the selections of Kobie Turner and Desjuan Johnson during this year’s draft, the Rams added two of PFF’s highest-graded interior defenders in terms of career grades.

With the 89th overall pick in the third round of the draft, the Rams took Turner out of Wake Forest. Turned transferred from Richmond to Wake Forest in 2022, where he would produce 38 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, and two sacks.

The Wake Forest product had the highest career grade among interior defenders, according to PFF. Turner even had a higher grade than guys like Jalen Carter and Calijah Kancey, who were both taken in the first round.

After making a trade with the Houston Texans on Day 3 of the draft, the Rams ended up having the final pick in the 2023 NFL draft. With that, they selected Johnson out of Toledo with the 259th overall pick.

Johnson finished with the sixth-best PFF grade among the draft-eligible interior defensive linemen, putting him only two spots behind Carter. In his final two seasons at Toledo, Johnson accumulated 135 tackles, 29 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, and two forced fumbles.

While PFF grades aren’t the end-all, be-all for players, the Rams certainly got two interior defenders that have upside.

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2023 NFL draft: Players selected with picks the Giants traded

The New York Giants made three trades this offseason, including two during the draft, so what became of the picks they dealt?

The New York Giants made several draft day trades to move up and secure the players they coveted in this year’s NFL draft.

The Giants traded up one spot in the first round, swapping picks with the Jacksonville Jaguars — from No. 25 to No. 24 — to prevent against being jumped for Maryland defensive back Deonte Banks. They also sent the Jags a fifth (No. 160) and a seventh (No. 240) to seal the deal.

On Day 2, the Giants sent a third-round pick (No. 89) and fourth-rounder (No. 128) to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for the 73rd overall pick, which they used to select Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt.

And let us not forget the Giants sent a third-round pick (No. 100) to the Las Vegas Raiders for tight end Darren Waller earlier this offseason.

The total cost of moving up during the draft was a net three picks. Here’s a quick rundown of who was selected with the picks the Giants traded away.

Watch Rams’ Kobie Turner sing a beautiful rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’

Kobie Turner has some serious pipes and he showed them off with a beautiful rendition of “Amazing Grace” last year

By now you’ve probably heard that Kobie Turner is a disruptive defensive tackle who should help the Rams as a pass rusher next season. What you may not know about him is that he’s a fantastic singer.

While at Richmond, Turner actually sang baritone in the choir. That’s not a skill that will help him on the field, but it makes him even more likable off the field.

Last year at Wake Forest, Turner sang a beautiful rendition of “Amazing Grace” during an interview with the Winston-Salem Journal. You can check out Turner’s voice in the video below.

Turner also sang “Long Time Coming” during a Martin Luther King Day performance in 2020 while at Richmond, which you can watch below.

He’s got power on the field and pipes off it.

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4 things to know about new Rams DT Kobie Turner

Get to know Rams rookie Kobie Turner, who’s a fantastic singer and disruptive defensive tackle

Kobie Turner wasn’t as well-known as the Rams’ first two picks in the draft, Steve Avila and Byron Young, but he’s a disruptive player on the defensive line and should have an impact in a rotational role. Like Young, he’s on the older side as a prospect, being 24 years old already, but that didn’t deter the Rams from selecting him on Day 2.

Turner will be an easy player for fans to root for once he suits up for the Rams and shows off his ability on the interior. Off the field, he also has an unexpected skill: singing.

Here are four things to know about Turner, the Rams’ new defensive tackle.

Instant analysis of Rams drafting DT Kobie Turner: A disruptor next to Aaron Donald

The Rams added a disruptive defensive tackle in Kobie Turner, who should get even better playing alongside Aaron Donald

The overwhelming sentiment is that the Rams nailed their first two picks in the draft by taking Steve Avila and Byron Young. Their third selection, however, had some fans wondering what the Rams are getting with Kobie Turner.

He’s a lesser-known prospect because he didn’t receive an invite to the combine despite being a standout player at Wake Forest in 2022. In his one season with the Demon Deacons, he had two sacks, 10 tackles for a loss, three forced fumbles and two batted passes.

In other words, he stuffed the stat sheet.

Turner is a similar size to Aaron Donald, coming in at 6-foot-2 and 288 pounds. Obviously, no one is going to confuse him for the future Hall of Famer, but Turner is a disruptive force on the interior like Donald.

He’s a little bit undersized but finds ways into the backfield with his quickness and get-off when the ball is snapped. At 288 pounds, he’s not going to overpower many bigger guards and centers on the inside, but he can beat them with his agility and hands.

No one should expect him to replace Greg Gaines at nose tackle because that’s not the position he plays. More likely, he’ll rotate with Donald as the 3-technique at defensive tackle, lining up in the B gap, as he did most of the time in college. However, at Wake Forest, he also aligned as the 5-technique at times and showed the ability to rush the passer against the tackle.

He’s great as a run defender, too. According to PFF, he led all Power 5 defensive tackles with a run defense grade of 93.2 last season.

With Donald helping coach Turner up, the sky is the limit for the incoming rookie. He could even be the team’s succession plan at defensive tackle in the event that Donald retires after the 2023 or 2024 season.

Turner will be a rotational player early on with the chance to get snaps at defensive tackle or end, but don’t expect him to necessarily be a starter out of the gate. He needs some refinement but there’s a lot to work with here.

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Twitter seems to think the Rams got an underrated prospect with Kobie Turner

Twitter reacted to the Rams selecting Kobie Turner out of Wake Forest with the 89th overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.

The Los Angeles Rams had a few needs on the defensive side of the ball and they’ve used two straight picks in the 2023 NFL draft on defensive players. After bolstering their pass rush by selecting Byron Young out of Tennessee with the 77th overall pick, the Rams have now taken Kobie Turner out of Wake Forest to strengthen the interior of their defensive front.

Turner transferred to Wake Forest in 2022 after spending a few years at Richmond in college. In his lone season at Wake Forest, Turner notched 10 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, and two sacks.

With the Rams making another pick to improve their defensive front, fans and analysts alike reacted on Twitter to Turner’s selection.

Rams select Wake Forest DT Kobie Turner with 89th overall pick

The Rams continued to bolster the trenches, selecting Wake Forest DT Kobie Turner at No. 89 overall

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With their second pick in the third round, the Los Angeles Rams selected Wake Forest defensive tackle Kobie Turner at No. 89 overall.

Turner wasn’t invited to the NFL scouting combine, making him the second player in this class to be drafted despite not going to Indianapolis. That made him a little bit of a sleeper, but he’s an impressive player.

At 6-foot-2 and 288 pounds, he’s not the biggest defensive tackle, but he’s a disruptive force on the interior, using his power to get into the backfield and push back blockers.

Last season was Turner’s first at Wake Forest after transferring from Richmond. He had 10 tackles for a loss and two sacks in 2022 after recording 10.5 tackles for a loss and four sacks in 2021.

Turner joins Steve Avila and Byron Young as the Rams’ third pick on Day 2.