How much playing time will Josaiah Stewart get as a rookie in Rams defense?
The Los Angeles Rams are considered to have one of the best young pass rushes in the NFL. A big reason for that has been Byron Young who has done nothing but impress since being drafted in the third round in 2023. As a rookie, Young finished with eight sacks which was just one fewer than Kobie Turner. Young followed up his rookie campaign with another impressive 7.5 sack season in 2024.
An initial look would suggest that Young has had two impressive seasons to start his NFL career and that wouldn’t be wrong. Young has served his role extremely well since the Rams drafted him. Taken as an older, more developed prospect, Young hit the ground running and has become an important piece of the Rams pass rush. After moving on from players like Leonard Floyd, the Rams didn’t just need cheaper, younger talent, but talent that could contribute right away. That’s exactly what Young has been able to do.
At the same time, two years into Young’s career, it’s fair to wonder how much more untapped potential is available. As I wrote last summer, it’s worth wondering if Young has hit his ceiling. With most rookie edge rushers, especially those taken in the third round, many would be elated with 15.5 sacks worth of production over two years. That’s obviously extremely impressive. However, when the Rams took Young out of Tennessee, they did so knowing that his ceiling wasn’t as high as other mid-round edge rushers. As a 25-year old prospect, Young was being drafted as a player that was more ready and could handle starting right away.
While Young has had 15.5 sacks over the last two years, it is important to add context to those stats. Out of Young’s 15.5 sacks, 11 of those have come in Weeks 1-11. Contrarily, Young has hit a wall in each of his first two seasons. In Weeks 12-18, Young has just 4.5 sacks. To put that in perspective, Young has 0.55 sacks per game in Weeks 1-11 compared to 0.32 sacks per game in Weeks 12-18.
It’s not just the sack production that has faltered for Young late in the year. Young went from a 12.7 percent win rate and 11.6 pass rush productivity in 2023 in Weeks 1-11 to a 9.1 percent win rate and just 4.8 pass rush productivity in Weeks 12-18 via PFF. It was the same story last year. Young started the year strong with a win rate of 12.4 percent and pass rush productivity of 9.5 in Weeks 1-11 to a win rate of 9.2 percent and pass rush productivity of 5.3 in Weeks 12-18. For clarity, pass rush productivity is a formula from PFF that combines sacks, hits, and hurries relative to how many times the player rushes the passer.
A player hitting a rookie wall isn’t uncommon and it was seen with Jared Verse this past season. Verse didn’t have a sack from Weeks 11-18. However, his win rate remained 20 percent which was about the same as his win rate of 19.2 percent in Weeks 1-11. The pass rush production was still there even if the sacks weren’t.
This is partially what makes the selection of edge rusher Josaiah Stewart so interesting in the NFL Draft. While the Rams do overload frequently with three edge rushers on passing downs, having the ability to rotate and keep Young fresh could have an impact on his production over the course of a season.
Not only do Stewart and Young have a similar undersized build, but the third round pick out of Michigan led the FBS in pass rush win rate last season at 27.7 percent. His 11.4 pass rush productivity also was inside the top-10 at number nine. Stewart has an advanced pass rush arsenal and has a savviness to his game which should help him contribute immediately. While the Rams made it work with Michael Hoecht as the third edge rusher, that was never his natural position as much as he embraced that role. Stewart is much more natural and should be able to not only play in the Cheetah package, but hopefully take some pressure off of Young as the lone complement to Verse.
This isn’t to say that Stewart should or will replace Young during his rookie season. However, Young played the fifth-most defensive snaps in 2023 and seventh-most last season. Only Quentin Lake and Kam Curl in the secondary played more snaps for the Rams defense in 2024.
It’s important to temper expectations when it comes to rookies, but the hope will be for Stewart to show enough during the offseason program that he earns playing time. If that happens, the Rams can keep a fresh rotation of pass rushers and that includes Young.
Additionally, Stewart should give the Rams some flexibility post-2025 and 2026. With as many stars as the Rams have defensively, it will be impossible for them to re-sign everybody. When it comes to Young, Verse, Turner, and Braden Fiske, the Rams are going to have to make some difficult decisions.
This past offseason, Josh Sweat got $19 million per year from the Arizona Cardinals. Harold Landry also got $14 million per year from the New England Patriots. It’s unlikely that the Rams will get close to those numbers with Turner and Verse also needing contracts. Stewart may play in a more rotational role over the next two years, but ideally he is able to step in Young’s role once his contract is up after 2026.
It’s going to be interesting what the Rams pass rush rotation on the edge looks like in 2025. The Rams drafted Stewart and will also hope for Brennan Jackson and Nick Hampton to take a step forward. Whatever the rotation ends up being, the Rams need more consistent production from Young over 18 games even if that means Stewart cutting into some of his snaps.
