The Los Angeles Rams are enjoying their offseason after a successful 2023 campaign that saw them buck expectations of being a rebuilding team in order to make the playoffs and fall one point shy of beating the Detroit Lions to go to the Divisional Round. Very few people on the Rams had a more successful and surprising 2023 season than defensive tackle Kobie Turner.
Turner was the Rams’ third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and wound up being one of the team’s most impactful defenders. It took him some time to get into the rhythm of the Rams defense and playing alongside Aaron Donald, but by the end of the season, he had put himself next to Donald in the history books. He tied Donald’s NFL record of nine sacks, the most by a rookie defensive tackle in over a decade.
And so with his place as a cornerstone of the Rams defense cemented, he’s free to have a little fun in the offseason. One way he’s doing that is by showing off his vocal ability at an L.A. Kings game. On Monday, to kick off the Kings’ 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks, Turner unveiled his rendition of the national anthem to celebrate Rams Night:
.@TurnerKobie with an INCREDIBLE National Anthem at tonight’s @RamsNFL Night 🤩 pic.twitter.com/pMxrPfGsPQ
— LA Kings (@LAKings) January 23, 2024
Turner is far from the first NFL player to have impeccable singing chops. The Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line has released a Christmas album each of the last two seasons. But Turner’s moment is immensely impressive considering the live and high-pressure nature of singing the national anthem at a sporting event.
Turner is clearly having the time of his life as the Rams’ standout defensive rookie, and L.A. is excited to see what he has up his sleeve in Year 2.
Rob Havenstein believes young Rams will benefit from experience
The Rams roster was led by several rookies and new faces, including Steve Avila, Puka Nacua, Demarcus Robinson, Turner and Byron Young. There were also many returning veterans such as Aaron Donald, Rob Havenstein, Cooper Kupp and Matthew Stafford.
Havenstein, who just completed his ninth year with the Rams, believes the team will benefit from the highs and lows of the 2023 season:
“As a lot of people take this time to reflect, myself included, there’s a lot of confidence that we can draw from this past year,” Havenstein said. “I’ve always been a big believer in, whenever a new year does start, last year is all experience. There’s never picking up right where you left off just because of the nature of the NFL, there’s going to be different players, different coaches, you might do things a little bit differently to adapt to a changing NFL game.
“But it’s all experience, and so the more of that you can get in a positive way, I think that’s what (head coach) Sean (McVay) created – a culture, this year especially, of just going about things the right way and just working on playing better football, being a better football player, being a better teammate and keeping everything a positive environment around.”
