Between the re-signing of veteran safety John Johnson III, the addition of Kam Curl in free agency and Quentin Lake entering his third season, the path to playing time for Rams rookie safeties was murky at best – even in a rotational capacity – given the returning experience.
Johnson's shoulder injury in Week 2, Los Angeles' decision to re-shuffle and increase competition within the secondary after Week 4, and Curl's knee injury against the Vikings in Week 8, changed that. And there was no bigger beneficiary than 2024 third-round pick, Kamren Kinchens.
The safety out of Miami (Fla.) immediately saw an uptick in playing time, but with that also came some early-season challenges. Still, he rebounded from those struggles to become an important contributor to the safety rotation, and in turn created some timely turnovers, especially throughout the second half of the regular season.
Stats
All stats from the regular season and via Next Gen Stats (^ = team-high). Stops are defined as tackles that result in a successful play for the defense.
| Season | Games played (starts) | Tackles | INTs | Stops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 17 (4) | 57 | 4^ | 9 |
Bouncing back from early struggles
The team-high tying four interceptions rightly defined the story of Kinchens' first NFL season, but equally important was his resolve and resilience to become that kind of playmaker.
After playing 38.5% of the Rams' defensive snaps in Week 3 against the 49ers and 61.1% of their defensive snaps in Week 4 against the Bears, he saw zero defensive snaps in Week 5 against the Packers and just two in Week 7 against the Raiders. The bulk of his playing time came on special teams, receiving six snaps in that phase against Green Bay and Las Vegas. Curl's knee injury was largely responsible for the outlier of 28% of defensive snaps played in Week 8 against Minnesota in that three-week span where he had a reduced role.
Kinchens said Rams coaches emphasized "being intentional with everything," and it was clear he took that to heart.
"Because first it was my technique, my technique was kind of going away because my mind was going on what I'm doing in the play, because I wasn't comfortable in the playbook yet," he said. "It was just more of, kind of juggling everything at once instead of honing in on each thing and letting it build upon itself."
Kinchens responded to that demotion with two interceptions – one of which he returned 103 yards for a touchdown – in what later proved to be a critical Week 9 road win over the Seattle Seahawks. From that game on, he played at least 51% of L.A.'s defensive snaps; the exception was 42.6% against the Saints in Week 13.
That increased comfort and confidence carried over to securing the game-clinching interception against the Patriots in Week 11 – and also a pick against the Cardinals in Week 16. The Week 16 interception was a learning moment for Kinchens, as the Rams would've been better served by batting Kyler Murray's fourth-down heave down because of the more optimal field position from the turnover on downs. But, the rookie's confidence in the moment was understandable given his previous success in returning. To his credit, Kinchens admitted postgame that it was a mistake and learning moment.
Self-reflection and growth were a big part of his rookie season, so that honesty came as no surprise.
"The coolest thing about that is for the last four or five weeks, he's been coming in and meeting with (pass game coordinator/assistant head coach Aubrey Pleasant) 'Aub' and (safeties coach Chris) Beake extra. Almost every single night, every single morning, he's in there," defensive coordinator Chris Shula said in late November. "You just see that progression and how he's becoming more and more comfortable and you can see him communicating more comfortably. (Safety) Kam Curl ended up missing some practice with the knee injury, so he ended up getting a bunch of practice reps. It was after the Vikings game when Kam went down with the knee and he ended up getting a bunch of practice reps. You just saw the growth throughout practice, and then he ends up going into the Seattle game and making plays and gaining confidence. So I think it's just the confidence, the hard work that he's put in and he's seeing that hard work pay off and that just continues to elevate his performance."
