As the Los Angeles Rams head into the draft this week, they have just one quarterback on the roster: Matthew Stafford. John Wolford and Bryce Perkins are both free agents still, so it’s possible the Rams will bring back one of the two, but it sure seems like they’ll be looking for a new backup behind No. 9.
Trading for a veteran or signing one in free agency is another way to add a backup before the season begins, but Les Snead said on Tuesday that the Rams are looking at the second tier of passers in the draft.
“Because of the situation of the void, we’ve definitely been intentional about, if you want to call it the second tier and those players that would probably be beyond the four, even a fifth one now in Tennessee (QB Hendon Hooker) is talked about a lot going early, going before us,” Snead said.
Sean McVay will have a big say in which quarterback the Rams draft, if they select one at all. As the head coach, he’s the one who will help groom the rookie into not only a backup, but a potential starter in the future.
McVay was asked what he looks for in a young backup quarterback and he shared a little bit about traits he seeks when evaluating passers.
“You’re always talking about decision making, the ability to be able to play on time with accuracy,” McVay said. “What does it look like in crunch time? What are those innate traits that you have in terms of how your personality can authentically come across? But you naturally bring people with you because you’re thrust into an innate leadership role as a quarterback just based on the nature of the position. So those things are important, but there’s so many different parts of that evaluation. You’re looking for a lot of those types of things, and I think that can be illustrated and expressed in a variety of ways based on what those guys elite traits are do we have a vision for him. The quarterback is where everything always starts, and there’s certain guys that are easier evals just because they might be doing certain things that you would ask, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll end up being a better player. So I think you have to be able to look at the total group and their total body of work, and then figure out how do they elevate others around them and what are those elite traits and do we feel like it translates to our level and what we would ask, and then ultimately we would adjust to them as well.”
The Rams met with both Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell and Houston’s Clayton Tune, so those are two mid-to-late-round options for the Rams in the draft. Dorian Thompson-Robinson is another possible target on Day 3, having played in the Rams’ backyard at UCLA.
Thompson-Robinson is one of the best athletes at quarterback in this class and though he’s undersized, he’s accurate and plays well when he’s able to throw in a rhythm and on time. He would be a good prospect to bring in and try to develop, even if his play style differs dramatically from Stafford’s.
