It worked. Boy, did it work.
And while there’s more to what the Rams accomplished this season—a big part was the coaches being clear on what they needed, the front office’s drafting to those needs off a shrunken draft board and the coaches developing what became depth—there’s truth in the spirit of the T-shirt GM Les Snead wore to the championship parade on Wednesday. Maybe it’s not … screw them picks. But the idea sure is not to overvalue those of the first-round variety.
And that will give the NFL plenty to think about coming out of the 2021 season, and even more so when people drill down on the particulars of how the Rams’ roster came to be. All you have to do is take a look at the result of the team’s highest-leverage dice rolls to see it.
• The Rams sent two first-round picks and a fourth-rounder to the Jaguars. The first rounders were both in the 20s: One became K’Lavon Chaisson, the other Travis Etienne. The Jaguars actually wound up trading the fourth-rounder back to the Rams, and it became DB Robert Rochell.
• The Rams sent two first-rounders, a 2021 third-rounder and QB Jared Goff to the Lions for Matthew Stafford. The third-rounder wound up becoming Lions CB Ifeatu Melifonwu. The first of the two first-rounders will be the 32nd pick this April.
• The Rams sent 2022 second- and third-rounders to the Broncos for OLB Von Miller. Those will be the 64th and 96th picks in the draft.
• The Rams sent a 2022 sixth-rounder and ’23 fourth-rounder to the Patriots for Sony Michel.
• The Rams expect to have nine picks in April, despite all this, to keep growing the aforementioned depth. They have their slotted fourth-, fifth- and seventh-rounders; project to get a comp fourth for John Johnson and comp sixths for Samson Ebukam, Troy Hill and Gerald Everett; and they have a spare seventh coming back from the Dolphins for the Aqib Talib trade.
There are, as we discussed in this week’s MAQB, elements of the Rams’ approach that won’t be replicable for other teams. Being in Los Angeles allows the Rams to confidently deal for veterans on expiring deals with the thought they’ll be motivated to stay. Having Sean McVay has meant being able to gamble on guys other teams can’t, feeling strongly that the culture he’s built will make the risk of taking on malcontents melt away.
But as for the valuation of draft picks? There’s definitely something there.
We’ll dive into that in this week’s GamePlan as we look at the trends of 2021.
