The Los Angeles Rams put an emphasis on defense during the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft when they selected cornerback Robert Rochell and defensive lineman Bobby Brown III.
The pair already got well-acquainted when they were both working out at the EXOS facility in Arizona ahead of the draft. Both rookies now find themselves as the new members of a defense that finished as the No. 1-ranked group in the league last season.
It did not take long for them to realize they were cut from the same cloth throughout the draft process. The friendship between the new teammates continued to grow through organized team activities and mandatory minicamp.
Brown detailed how their similar upbringing helped them hit it off right away, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“Me and Scoot – I don’t call him Robert, I call him Scoot – we kind of got a similar background,” Brown said during a June 4 video conference. “He’s from Louisiana, I’m from Mississippi, kind of hard upbringing, real close-knit to our moms and everything. So like, it’s crazy that I’ve been training with him since EXOS for the draft and everything, we got cool there and then we both get drafted here. And he’s been my friend since then.”
Rochelle added that having a teammate like Brown has paid some dividends for their transition to the next level.
“That’s a funny guy, man,” Rochell said during a June 4 video conference. “A guy that can make you laugh all day. Big character. A guy that loves this game just as me, so he’s a guy that I be with both on the field and off the field. Just having a guy around that’s similar to me in characteristics is everything. We enjoy the game together, we live life outside of this together, so having him around is great.”
Despite being taken in the fourth round, both players make for some intriguing additions to the defense. Reports indicate that they each managed to follow up on their promise in the early portions of offseason workouts.
The pair also have a unique advantage of getting to learn from players they idolized firsthand. Brown’s reaction to meeting defensive tackle Aaron Donald for the first time made its rounds on social media.
Meanwhile, Rochelle noted that cornerback Jalen Ramsey is the player he models his game after the most. It will be interesting to see the kind of impact these rookies can make on a team with Super Bowl expectations.
