Los Angeles Rams select Kamren Kinchens in third round of 2024 NFL Draft

Miami defensive back Kamren Kinchens has found an NFL home after he was selected by the Los Angeles Rams with the No. 99 pick in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

The Miami native was a First-Team AP All-American for the Hurricanes in 2022 after totaling six interceptions before notching five more this season. He’s also appeared in 33 games through his three years with the program.

On top of his team-leading interception totals, Kinchens finished the regular season as the team’s third-leading tackler on the season with 59 total tackles to go along with one sack, five pass breakups, a fumble recovery — and that’s not even including one of those interceptions going for a touchdown. Oddly enough, he also finished 2022 with exactly 59 total tackles.

Before committing to the Hurricanes, Kinchens played high school football at Northwestern (FL) High, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 350 overall recruit in the 2021 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services.

What NFL Draft analysts are saying about Kamren Kinchens

Lance Zierlein of NFL.com went through many of the draft-eligible prospects and sketched out a small profile of each guy, highlighting strengths and weaknesses while addressing how the player translates to the next level.

Here was his scouting report on the Miami safety:

“Safety prospect with the toughness, instincts and ball skills to handle NFL work, although his lack of speed could give teams pause. Kinchens is a willing run supporter near the box, hits with message-sending purpose over the middle and plays with outstanding range as a high safety. Despite the positive tape and attributes at his disposal, he made mistakes in run support and coverage that led to big plays and, in some cases, touchdowns.

“If he can eliminate the mental mistakes and take better angles to the ball as an open-field tackler, he will improve his consistency, but Kinchens’ poor speed testing at the NFL Scouting Combine could limit how teams will want to use him.”

Well, it appears Kinchens’ NFL combine outing probably dropped his stock a bit on a lot of NFL Draft boards after he finished in the lower tier of both the speed and agility drills. For DBs, it’s crucial to the hit marks on those, and it’s cause for pause that the Hurricane safety came in below what’s expected.