The Los Angeles Rams seem to have hit another home run in the draft with their 2024 class, starting at the top of the draft with Jared Verse and Braden Fiske – two former Florida State teammates who have brought their dominance from the Seminoles to the NFL.
Verse and Fiske rank first and second among all rookies this season in pressures and they’ve each had multi-sack games already, showing they were well worth the cost of first- and second-round picks.
The Athletic released its midseason All-Rookie team for 2024 on Wednesday and both Verse and Fiske were selected. They were obvious choices, too. Verse was picked as the top edge rusher and Fiske was chosen as the No. 1 defensive tackle.
Here’s what Dane Brugler wrote about Verse.
There have been a couple slam-dunk picks in this exercise (Daniels, Bowers), and I would also include Verse, too.
With 39 pressures in eight games, Verse has almost doubled the number of pressures produced by Laiatu Latu (20, on almost the same number of pass-rush snaps). He also leads all rookies with 9.0 tackles for loss, which ranks top 10 in the NFL.
Fiske is coming off a two-sack performance against the Seahawks in a game where he lived in the backfield and was dominant against not only the run, but also as a pass rusher. His game against the Seahawks put him over the top for Brugler, saying Fiske is “running away with the top spot.”
Just like at edge rusher, a Rams rookie from Florida State is running away with the top spot. Fiske passes the eye test — you can’t watch the Rams’ defense without noticing No. 55 chasing the football. He also shows up in the stat sheet, with 26 pressures through eight games (no other rookie DT has more than 12).
Though Verse and Fiske were the only two Rams selected, there were a bunch of others who received honorable mentions: Jordan Whittington at wide receiver, Beaux Limmer at interior offensive line, Kamren Kinchens and Jaylen McCollough at safety and Joshua Karty at kicker.
It’s still early but the Rams’ 2024 draft class looks like another slam dunk by Les Snead and Sean McVay.