Entering the 2019 draft, the Los Angeles Rams didn’t necessarily have any truly pressing needs. They traded back several times before making their first pick and bolstered the weaker areas of the depth chart with future starters, adding players such as Taylor Rapp, David Edwards and Darrell Henderson.
All three have made an impact as rookies, even if the rest of the draft class for Los Angeles has not. Rapp has filled in for John Johnson, Edwards has replaced the injured Joe Noteboom and Henderson has been a perfect complement to Todd Gurley.
Sean McVay has been pleased with the way all three rookies have played this season, and Les Snead shares that same feeling. Snead was on the Rich Eisen Show recently, where he discussed the performance of Henderson and Edwards thus far.
He began with Henderson, saying he expects to see more of the rookie as time goes on and he gains experience.
“The last couple games, he has played more. So any time the game is starting to slow down for him, that’s just natural course,” he said. “I think we’ll see more and more of him both running the football and catching the football. But what we do know is when he does have space, he’s proven to be an explosive player, he can break tackles and he can gain yards at a fast rate.”
Marshall Faulk mentioned the importance of having multiple running backs who can handle big workloads, which the Rams have with Gurley, Henderson and even Brown. Snead agreed, mentioning the impact running back tandems can have when working in harmony.
“We’ve always seen nicknames like ‘thunder and lightning’ when there’s these dynamic duos that earned those nicknames based on their play. But I think the different styles, whatever the runner brings in his style definitely can help, as well,” Snead said.
As for Edwards, Snead mentioned him as a pleasant surprise, stepping in for Noteboom at left guard after playing right tackle in college.
“Because of Joe Noteboom’s injury, we inserted him [Edwards] in as the starting left guard for the last two weeks, and in those two weeks, we’ve played Grady Jarrett, Geno Atkins – who he’s had to go against and has performed admirably. So that’s a very nice, late surprise for us, a fifth-round pick,” Snead said.
The Rams haven’t gotten a lot out of their other rookies, but the impact already made by Henderson, Edwards and Rapp has been encouraging.
