The Los Angeles Rams will be on the clock a lot during the draft this weekend despite not having a first-round pick. They’re slated to pick 11 times between Friday and Saturday, though that number can and probably will change.
General manager Les Snead is always someone who fancies himself a draft-day trade and the Rams’ massive gap between picks in Rounds 3 and 5 makes a move all the more likely. During his pre-draft press conference this week, Snead indicated there are some on the Rams’ staff who would like to narrow the gap between pick Nos. 77 and 167, a 90-spot wait for Los Angeles.
The Rams could accomplish that by trading back from either No. 36, 69 or 77 and picking up a selection in the 100-120 range, or they could also move up from the fifth round and get back into the fourth – or close to it.
“It’s interesting. I think a lot of people on our staff would love for us to at some point move back to cover some of that gap and get in between maybe our 77th pick and whatever the first pick in the fifth round is, but that’s still to be determined,” he said. “That’s definitely always an option. It’s always a beneficial option based on accumulating more picks, maybe filling that gap. But you can always trade up too from the fifth round into those gaps so there’s many ways to accomplish that. And at the end of the day, it’s going to be, ‘Hey, when we get on the clock is there a trade partner? Is there not? Is there a player in that moment that we really feel good about and we want to make a Ram?’”
Peter King of NBC Sports said in his column this week that he believes the Rams would like to accumulate more top-150 picks, potentially doubling their total from three to six by trading down. That wouldn’t surprise anyone, but in order for them to do that, they’d either need to trade down multiple times or drop way back from No. 36.
We outlined some possible trade scenarios that would work for the Rams if they move down the board, and all of them close the gap between Picks 77 and 167, which would be helpful for Snead and his staff.
