The Los Angeles Rams struck gold with their selection of defensive tackle Kobie Turner in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Turner was quickly one of their most impactful rookies in years and ended up finishing third in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.
Now with Aaron Donald's retirement, the torch has been passed to Turner to help replace the massive void left behind. It starts with Turner being utilized all over the formation, similar to how the Rams used Donald throughout his decade-long career.
New Rams' defensive coordinator Chris Shula outlined his plan for Turner in a recent interview with FOX Sports.
"He's going to be a guy who's on the field a ton. We love to have the flexibility to move those guys around, depending on the personnel group that's in the game. We're lucky, because he can play multiple spots pretty easily, whether it's physically or mentally. We can keep people guessing where we can kind of move him around. And the nice thing about Kobie is he's so selfless, he's always going to do what's best for the team. So it will be fun to use that chess piece accordingly....It's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out."
Given what we know about how the Rams' defense works, Turner will likely be playing every alignment from a 5-technique to a 4i/4, 3T, and even 1T. Turner didn't play in base formations last season, but he'll take one of the team's defensive end spots in their base defense.
The Rams have invested plenty of talent around Turner, unlike much of Donald's tenure (that perhaps pushed him into an even earlier retirement), adding first-rounder Jared Verse, as well as bringing back key players like Byron Young and Michael Hoecht, but there will still be plenty of responsibility on Turner's shoulders this season.