Sean McVay was asked a few weeks ago about whether the Los Angeles Rams might be buyers at the trade deadline. He said they don’t really have “some resources” and that the conversations about acquiring talent won’t be “as prevalent as maybe in years past.” To say the Rams don’t have the resources to trade for players is wrong, given the fact that they have a first-round pick in 2024, but it wasn’t surprising to hear McVay allude to a conservative approach this year.
That’s even more likely now after the team’s 43-20 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Not only did the Rams look like a vastly inferior team, but they also may have lost Matthew Stafford for a period of time. He has a thumb injury that McVay said “didn’t look good,” though it’s unclear how long Stafford might be out, if at all.
Assuming the Rams aren’t going to be buyers before this Tuesday’s deadline, should they now turn into sellers?
For a team to be considered a seller, it has to have talent other teams would want. Obviously, the Rams have Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald, but they’d be reluctant to trade either player – even in a year where Los Angeles has an uphill climb toward a playoff berth.
Joe Noteboom might interest another team looking for a tackle or guard, but that’s about it. There isn’t another player the Rams could conceivably trade that other teams would want to acquire. They’re not moving Byron Young or Kobie Turner, nor would they trade Ernest Jones or Puka Nacua.
Really, it’s going to come down to whether the Rams want to move Donald or Kupp. If they do, they could probably get a first-round pick for either of them. Would that be enough to move one of their cornerstone players?
It’s doubtful because even looking ahead to 2024, the Rams have the pieces to become a playoff team again. That’d be harder to say without Donald or Kupp on the roster. The only way this becomes a complete teardown is if Stafford doesn’t plan to be back with the team next year.
If the Rams know that, then it wouldn’t be a bad time to sell and get as much as they can for Kupp or Donald. It’s just hard to see that happening this week, no matter how bleak the outlook is for the Rams moving forward.
