One of the biggest surprises in the 2024 NFL draft is that the Los Angeles Rams only traded back once. Les Snead typically strikes several deals over the course of draft weekend, but he only made one trade: a move up from No. 52 to 39 in Round 2.
Snead and the Rams considered other trades, including a move back from No. 83 overall in the third round. That is, until Blake Corum was sitting there on the board.
Snead recently said on the “Rich Eisen Show” that the Rams were considering trading down from the 83rd pick but they didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to take Corum – especially because they thought he might’ve gone earlier than No. 83.
“Blake’s always been one of our favorite football players to watch,” Snead said. “We thought he might go before Pick 83 and we knew we probably wouldn’t do a running back as early as the second round, so as we got to that third-round pick, we had done a lot of planning to think, ‘OK, this might be a time to trade back and grab some other ammo later in the draft and continue working the draft that way. But when we got to 83 and Blake was there, it was one of those things where just the human being and football player combined, just a unique individual who’s definitely going to help the Rams in many, many ways.”
While some might feel the Rams reached for a running back, particularly after the breakout season from Kyren Williams, Snead’s comments indicate the team feels he was a great value in Round 3.
Even if he isn’t a starter as a rookie in 2024, having a talented back behind Williams will provide value for the team right away.
