PHOENIX – Read any of the recent mock drafts published or free agency report cards, and you will find the Rams – to borrow the phrase from Voice of the Rams J.B. Long on the latest episode of Between the Horns – at the top of the class, or without a glaring hole on their roster.
The acquisitions of Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson addressed the secondary in a major way, and in the case of the trade package for McDuffie, leaves the Rams with the 13th pick in the first round after including the 29th pick in that deal with the Chiefs. Many of those analysts and experts projecting the Rams to go wide receiver, offensive tackle or tight end with the draft less than a month away.
General manager Les Snead said earlier this month the team typically prefers to address roster needs in free agency to avoid being desperate in the draft. Asked about trading up from No. 13, staying put at that slot, trading back, or using it like the 29th pick and trading it for a veteran player, Snead indicated the most realistic scenarios are staying put or trading back, depending on how the draft goes.
"I think, if I were being realistic, more than likely we don't move up, because the price point to move up, depending on how the thing goes, you always go, can you as you go in your situation," Snead said speaking to reporters Monday at the NFL Annual Meeting. "If it's, oh, some of the players that come in right now, they're gone, maybe you could move back. That would be the strategy, collect more picks if that's a possibility. And then I would say also, I doubt we use that for a veteran player. We've kind of saved that pick because it is 13. We haven't picked this low, high, whatever you want to call it, in the lot. So that's where we're at."
As Snead points out, No. 13 overall would eclipse No. 19 overall in 2024 as the highest the Rams have drafted since 2016, when they took Jared Goff with the first pick. The number 13 has also been lucky for L.A.: It was the same slot they took a defensive lineman named Aaron Donald back in 2014.
To Snead's point about trading up and how costly it could be, via an exercise using just this year's draft picks: Using Hall-of-Fame head coach Jimmy Johnson's trade value chart, a hypothetical move up to No. 8 (worth 1400 points, according to the chart) would cost the Rams the No. 13 pick (1150) and the No. 61 pick (292) to match that value. If Los Angeles were to package its free three picks – 13, 61 and 93 (value 128), the highest they could go would be No. 7 overall (1500), but that would leave an uncomfortable gap between picks, as they wouldn't be scheduled to go on the clock at No. 207 overall in the sixth round. Even moving up to No. 8 would create a large gap of 85 picks.
So, about staying put or trading back and why that makes the most sense.
Most analyst project a short- and long-term impact player on the offensive side of the ball to be available at pick 13. Trading back presents an opportunity to build on the seven total picks they are scheduled to enter the draft with, though it's worth noting they had eight total picks entering last year's draft and, through trading up in that draft, wound up with a six-man class (which became five after waiving fifth-round pick Pooh Paul Jr. as part of 53-man roster cuts). That class size was partially influenced by the continuity of the roster as it was constructed, and aside from a few free agency departures in the secondary, the Rams retain the majority of their personnel from a 12-5 team that finished second in the NFC West and one win shy of advancing to the Super Bowl.
Asked by ESPN's Peter Schrager on *NFL* *Live* whether there is pressure to add an offensive playmaker at pick 13 that "knowing the clock is ticking" with quarterback Matthew Stafford (age 38) and wide receiver Davante Adams (turns 34 in December), McVay said "you can never have enough guys that move forward and rush the quarterback, and you can never have enough guys that make plays with the ball in their hands."
"And so those are things that we always look to," McVay said. "What you do feel good about is the way that our roster is currently constructed, you feel like you can go with really a lot of different directions at 13 based on what unfolds in the first 12 picks. And so, if we stay pat, we'll see what ends up happening. But we are excited about it and I'm excited about what it'll look like. We're going to add a quality player at 13, I do feel confident in that."
