Ravens Executive to Head Rams Scouting Department?

As reported last week, the Rams have cleaned house in their scouting department in an effort to stop squandering top draft picks and actually build a solid team that can compete year after year instead of constantly hitting the reset button. Success starts from the top down and a wise executive would emulate an organization that has had success over an extended period of time and Les Snead appears to be doing that in trying to recruit longtime Baltimore Ravens scout Joe Hortiz. Hortiz has been with the Ravens since 1998 as an assistant was able to rise to the head of college scouting under general manager Ozzie Newsome where the team has won two Super Bowls and had a very solid record in the draft. If the Rams could woo Hortiz away from Baltimore this could be a massive coup and something that would go light years towards building a contender. It is well documented that outside of a few notable picks, the Rams have had trouble building talent particularly on the offensive line and at receiver and Snead felt it was time for some new blood.

Hortiz played in instrumental role in building a Ravens team that contended for many AFC North titles and won a Super Bowl. His work in the Ravens front office helped give that organization a reputation of not only hitting on first round picks but at all levels of the draft.  The Rams have tried to interview him before but the Ravens were able to block it but now that doesn’t appear to be the case. There’s no guarantee that Hortiz would want to come to LA but the Ravens seem to be in the midst of their own rebuild and he might feel its time to move on somewhere else. A Hortiz hiring would likely take place after the draft meaning he would begin preparation on the 2018 draft where the team would have its first round pick. Les Snead recognized that the scouting department he had in place was not working and wisely decided to change directions as the team is under a new coaching regime with Sean McVay.