A quick browse of mock drafts published over the last two weeks shows the Rams using one or both of their first-round picks to address the secondary. The consistent theme makes sense, with safety Kam Curl and cornerbacks Ahkello Witherspoon, Cobie Durant, Roger McCreary and Derion Kendrick all pending unrestricted free agents.

NFL Network lead draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah is among the experts projecting the Rams to double down on their defensive backfield, taking Toledo safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren at No. 13 and Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood at No. 29.

Hood is currently Jeremiah's No. 16 overall players in this year's draft, while McNeil-Warren is No. 19 overall.

"I think you got guys who do different things," Jeremiah said during his annual pre-NFL Scouting Combine conference call with members of the media. "There's some real versatility there. And I've had a lot of conversations with teams about, 'Okay, I love this player. How do we use him?' And that's where the challenge comes in. We've got a lot of new coaches that have moved around the league, so I think that's going to be kind of a key in this draft, is those guys getting together with the personnel department and having a plan for these guys when they bring them in."

At cornerback specifically, Jeremiah said "you've got... some pure outside guys" like LSU's Mansoor Delane and Tennessee's Jermod McCoy. He said Delane and McCoy – who has also popped up as a potential Rams pick in mock drafts – both have "really, really good" body control, and that they're "fluid, they stay connected, they can play the play the ball."

"Really, really complete players," Jeremiah said.

Jeremiah said he pulled Hood down his list a little bit, "but he's still a really good player."

Although this year's cornerback class isn't as deep as classes in some other years, Jeremiah said there's a "nice mix of outside guys and one of the really, really good groups of slot corners that I've seen in the last few years."

For projected slot or nickel corners like Clemson's Avieon Terrell, Miami (Fla.)'s Keionte Scott, South Carolina's Jalon Kilgore and Indiana's D'Angelo Ponds, Jeremiah mentioned all of those players as who are "second (round), maybe you get one of those guys drifts into the third."

"It's a really, really good group of those guys that can (be) Day 1 nickels," Jeremiah said.

Jeremiah said a nickel safety like McNeil-Warren fits the mold of that "bigger, longer-range" type of player, having measured at 6-foot-3 and 3/8s and 209 pounds last spring, praising his ball skills and ability to play in the middle of the field with a "real presence and physicality over the middle." Jeremiah, who is also a color analyst for the Chargers' radio broadcast crew, brought up the way they use safety Derwin James and the energy James has with the way he's used and the way he plays.

"And the closer (James) gets to the line of scrimmage, the more energy he provides," Jeremiah said. "I see some of that with McNeil-Warren."

"I'm pretty fired up about McNeil-Warren, just with the things he can do and the physicality and the size that he has," Jeremiah added.