Now that the three major waves of free agency are over the Rams turn their attention to the draft. Its been well documented that they don’t have much capital and in fact have the least amount of draft picks this year so the margin of error is slimmer than Jared Leto on a cleanse. Their highest pick is the 37th overall pick which puts them near the top of the second round. That means there is a chance they can get someone who could greatly improve their team and maybe even get lucky should a first round prospect fall out of the first round and the four teams above them decide to pass as well.
Someone falls every year so its possible the Rams could actually make a steal. The Rams did what they could in free agency but lord knows that none of their signings solved all their problems at any position. Do they grab the best wide receiver available? Do they get the best interior lineman available? Do they try to find a safety? Or do they simply take the best overall player left on their board? Its an interesting conundrum because they don’t get to pick again until the 69th pick (third round) so barring any sort of trade, this is the best place for them to get better. Les Snead needs to come away with a blue chip player at some point in this draft and he knows it. So what’s it going to be?
WIDE RECEIVER
On the surface this would be the most logical place to start. Tavon Austin is in no way shape or form a number one receiver, Robert Woods hasn’t proven he’s worth $35 million, and they have a bunch of second year guys from last year like Pharoh Cooper. The problem is the wide out talent in this draft isn’t great. Outside Mike Williams, Corey Davis, and John Ross all of which will be gone before the end of round one, there aren’t a lot of sure things.
Obviously sure this is relative but the rest of the wide outs in the draft are good but there isn’t a stand out. JuJu Smith-Schuster is someone the Rams could take. He was excellent at USC so he’s a talent but also a hometown name (along with Woods) so that could work. There’s also Curtis Samuel from Ohio State and Chris Godwin of Penn State both of whom have a ton of upside. Other than that the list of marquee guys in this draft isn’t deep so it might be worth going after a wide out in round three. The secondary market on receivers is fairly deep so they might try and find an upgrade at a position where the drop off is more severe.
LINEBACKER
Connor Barwin was a good pick up this off-season. The problem is he’s a band aid so they might want to try and find a long term guy plus they don’t have much depth at that position anyway. Alec Ogletree is in a contract year as well so he might not be around much longer.
There are a fair number of linebackers in the draft but if TJ Watt falls in round two the Rams would be best served to take him. He had a great career at Wisconsin and while its no guarantee he’ll be as talented as his brother its doubtful he becomes a Casey Matthews type of bust either. Watt would be a great fit for Wade’s new 3-4 defense. Then again, they could pick up a linebacker like Eric Wilson in a later round as well. Jarrad Davis is also an option in the second round.
OFFENSIVE LINE
This is where things might get a little tricky. There is a ton of depth at most positions along the line. They could take Forest Lamp to eventually replace Greg Robinson and or Andrew Whitworth because both are not long term solutions. They could go guard with a Dan Feeney from Indiana, Dion Dawkins from Temple, or reach for a center as that has been their white whale during free agency. If they were to go offensive lineman it stands to reason they’d take Lamp in round two and use one of their fourth round picks on another lineman perhaps a Will Holden at offensive tackle or that’s where they find a guard or center. That would be the biggest area they need to fix because their line is extremely young with a major bust like Greg Robinson having to move to guard.
DEFENSIVE BACK
If there was any position this year to load up on young talent its defensive back. The draft is flush with talent at corner and safety so luckily if the Rams opt to use this pick on offense they won’t be completely left out. That being said, it might behoove them to look at Budda Baker from Washington to fill that starting center spot left by the departure of McDonald.
The corners that are likely to be here consist of Fabian Moreau, Jalen Tabor, Quincy Wilson, Sidney Jones, and Kevin King. All of these guys would provide depth and possibly take over once the Rams either let Trumaine Johnson walk or find a trade partner. The safety market doesn’t drop off after Baker either, they also could take Desmond King or Marcus Williams. There is a ton of talent at this position and that’s not even considering the possibility that Jabril Peppers stumbles into this spot. The Rams secondary is not very good even with the moves they’ve made to try and patch it over so it might be wise to look here first.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Robert Quinn will be moving to linebacker and they just traded away William Hays for a 7th round pick and a washing machine so they no longer have an embarrassment of riches at the position. They have Aaron Donald and Brandon Brockers. They need talent at the edge position especially and luckily the draft has a surplus of talent.
They could even find themselves in a position where a Taco Charlton falls to them (highly unlikely) because there are a lot of pass rushers. If he doesn’t they still have their pick of guys like Jordan Willis, Charles Harris, Caleb Brantley, Chris Wormley, Malik McDowell, and Tim Williams just to name a few. The Rams might look at the landscape and decide to just take the best guy available and this would be a great place to do that. Pass rushers are always a great asset so it wouldn’t be the end of the world is Les Snead decides he’d rather wait on going offense because the value is too great to pass up.
Luckily, the Rams have a lot of choices with their 2nd round pick and all they need to do is figure out what their number one priority is. Likely it’ll be an offensive player but if not, fans will be content if they nab a top tier defensive talent. Outside of picking up cut players during the summer this represents their last chance to overhaul their roster before the season so while its not a make or break year, its pretty crucial. Here’s hoping the Rams war room is in full Tywin Lanniser mode.
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