Kobie Turner is a sleeper to win Defensive Rookie of the Year and his case just got a little bit better, as the NFL honored the L.A. Rams defensive tackle with NFC Defensive Rookie of the Month honors for the final month of the regular season. If you thought that Turner would be overlooked for any awards because he wasn’t a first round pick or because he plays next to Aaron Donald, you were wrong.
The whole NFL was wrong about Turner leading into the draft though, so don’t feel too bad.
In even less surprising news, Puka Nacua was the NFC Offensive Rookie of the Month. Shockingly, Puka had not won the award yet this year. Despite Nacua’s record-setting rookie season, most still expect Texans QB C.J. Stroud to be the Offensive Rookie of the Year.
ProFootballTalk has also named Kobie Turner as his pick for Defensive Rookie of the Year, so at least one person in the media with some influence has decided that he should win it over the likes of Devon Witherspoon, Jalen Carter, and Will Anderson.
With these honors, Turner and Nacua can prove that they’re being recognized for their efforts and maybe that swings back around when the yearly honors are announced the week before the Super Bowl.
Turner had 10 tackles for a loss and two sacks in his senior season at Wake Forest and then was drafted into the NFL as a 24-year-old third round pick. He tied Aaron Donald’s franchise record for rookie sacks with nine, totaling seven in the final nine games of the season.
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