There was boundless excitement and boundless potential for this young man on the Rams roster when the LA Rams selected former Texas Longhorns defensive tackle Bobby Brown III. Playing defensive line with All-Pro DT Aaron Donald is, after all, a privilege that not many people get to experience. And with DL Coach Eric Henderson at the controls, this Texas tornado was virtually a sure thing, according to his draft profile.
But me simply showing up was never going to be enough to earn me playing time on this team. Coach Henny’s catchphrase was #DAWGWORK, and Brown appeared to suffer under the hierarchy of “grind first, compete second.” In his rookie season, he played in just 22 defensive snaps.
Bobby Brown III, nose tackle, fourth quarter | Texas Los Angeles Rams logo
NFL Draft Profile
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In his second year in this defense, there was a resurgence of optimism. However, the young man was suspended for the first six games of the season before it even started. Everything was destroyed by that suspension, if he had managed to gather any encouraging momentum during his second training camp. You see, for six weeks he was not allowed to communicate with the team and was not allowed to play in the first six games.
This was a serious setback to his second season, given how difficult it was for him to get any playing time as a rookie. He played in just nine games by the time it was over, but he was involved in just 164 defensive snaps. Just nine tackles and no quarterback sacks were to his name two years into his career.
Some of that is to be expected, of course. Following an injury in 2021, Brown served a one-and-a-half-month suspension the following season. It’s no walk in the park to earn the right to play in the NFL. It is a taxing ascent up a steep mountainside. Suspensions and injuries don’t stop that ascent. They have the effect of making one have to ascend the mountain again from its base.
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