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.
Kobie Turner: 93.2 Run Defense Grade this season
Led all Power Five DTs🎩 pic.twitter.com/vswwdlAgi8
— PFF College (@PFF_College) December 23, 2022
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.
Wake Forest and Richmond Transfer Kobie Turner is a good player. pic.twitter.com/g8oBjDhDnf
— Cory (@fakecorykinnan) October 22, 2022
