General manager Les Snead and Sean McVay built the Los Angeles Rams‘ defensive line the right way: With a bevy of draft picks.
As Snead has said before, it took five top-100 picks to create only part of what legendary defensive lineman Aaron Donald did before his retirement.
But the results speak for themselves between the effectiveness of Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske, Jared Verse and Byron Young. That quartet combined for 28.5 sacks, 43 tackles for a loss and 234 combined tackles in 2024.
This unit is young, but they still came in at No. 9 of Pro Football Focus’ defensive line rankings ahead of the 2025 NFL season.
“Many expected the Rams’ defensive line to fall off following Aaron Donald‘s retirement, but the unit has remained above average thanks to its young players, including a pair of impactful rookies,” PFF’s Zoltán Buday wrote. “First-year interior defender Braden Fiske generated pressure on 13.2% of pass plays in 2024, which ranked fifth at the position, while fellow rookie Jared Verse’s 89.3 PFF overall grade placed seventh among edge defenders.
“Los Angeles added interior defender Poona Ford in the offseason, and he brings an 85.3 PFF overall grade that ranked fifth among interior defenders this past season.”
The Rams are one of the lone teams in the top 10 to feature an extremely youthful unit. Fiske and Verse are in their second seasons, while Young and Turner enter their third. Ford is a veteran, but he is the outlier of this group that will continue to develop and grow together under Chris Shula’s direction.