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.
Highest career PFF grades among draft eligible DTs💪 pic.twitter.com/5Tr7x4IZnR
— PFF College (@PFF_College) March 28, 2023
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.
