The Los Angeles Rams are one of the best teams when it comes to collecting compensatory draft picks, receiving 43 of them since 1994. That’s the fifth-most in the NFL, and it’s not by accident, either.
The Rams allow some of their higher-priced free agents to leave, knowing they’ll get a draft pick in return. But that only works if the Rams also refrain from signing outside free agents who count against the pick formula and cancel out compensatory selections.
Already, the Rams are projected to receive four extra picks in the 2023 draft for losing free agents this offseason, and as valuable as that is, those picks won’t prevent them from adding immediate help in free agency.
“We’re always cognizant of that,” GM Les Snead said Wednesday, via the team’s official site. “But you also don’t want to just be ‘OK, our whole objective in life is to acquire as many comp picks as possible,’ right. So, in the calculus equation, we might need to give up a comp pick to acquire someone to help. We kind of look at as stay agile, always know the landscape, and if an opportunity presents itself, analyze it and determine if that opportunity is worth going for.”
The Rams typically target players who were cut by other teams because they don’t count against the compensatory pick formula. Bobby Wagner would qualify as one of those players, which is why it would make sense for the Rams to bring in the linebacker – among other reasons, of course.
But if they were to sign someone like Stephon Gilmore or Jadeveon Clowney, they would likely cancel out one of the fifth-round picks Los Angeles is in line to receive next year. Again, a fifth-round pick shouldn’t prevent them from adding a player of Gilmore or Clowney’s caliber, but the Rams are always thinking about the formula and how to collect picks to replace the ones they trade away so often for veterans.
