With no first-round pick, Rams keeping an eye on NFL draft dominoes
In his first five years as the general manager of the Rams, Les Snead was used to being in the center of the action during the first round of the NFL draft. Twice, his teams had two first-round picks. Last year, the Rams owned the No. 1 overall pick after swinging a blockbuster trade with the Tennessee Titans.
So now that the Rams don’t have a first-round pick this year — part of the price the team paid to move up to select quarterback Jared Goff last year — Snead finds himself wondering exactly what he and his staff are going to do, and what they’re going to wear, while the rest of the league works on April 27.
“We’ve been trying to come up with something creative to do on that Thursday night,” Snead told USA TODAY Sports. “That's been one of the stress points for me. I'll be walking down the hall and go, ‘Wait do we wear suits on Thursday night or not?’ I don't know the answer to that. I do think it's a time to be more casual, right?”
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Snead figures he and his personnel staff, as well as new head coach Sean McVay and his assistants, will watch the start of the draft in the same fashion as many fans: eagerly awaiting the Cleveland Browns' pick at No. 1, as well as seeing which teams draft quarterbacks – and how high.
“But we'll know as each domino falls, that might be affecting our strategy in the second round,” Snead said. “I think what will be important for us is, we'll be really, really interested once we get to about pick 25 knowing there's seven or so picks left in the [first round], and 10 or 12 away from us picking. We've got 37, and that's pretty early on Friday. The work for us will really start later Thursday night, and especially once that round's over.”
The Rams enter the draft with eight picks, including four picks by the end of the fourth round despite continuing to pay for last year's deal.
With the 2016 draft being remembered for that trade and the arrival of Goff, this year could be defined by the moves the Rams make to improve the offense around the young quarterback.
Offensively, the Rams have needs at wide receiver and tight end as well as along the offensive line, despite the additions of 35-year-old left tackle Andrew Whitworth and 31-year-old center John Sullivan in free agency.
“Obviously the offense and where it's been ranked the last two, three, four years, we've got to fix the offense. But just because we've got to fix the offense, that doesn't mean when we go to pick there is actually going to be a player there that is going to help us fix it. We've got to fix it, but we can't force the issue. If we force it, we're hurting it. You want to be disciplined there,” Snead said. “Yes, we need to fix the offense. Could that be skill players? Could that be offensive linemen? We have to take that one pick at a time, because we know that is a goal. We need to fix it immediately, we want improvement next year for sure, but we know this could be one to two, maybe three, year process.”
The Rams signed a cornerback (Kayvon Webster) and outside linebacker (Connor Barwin) in free agency, and used the franchise tender to keep cornerback Trumaine Johnson. But several holes remain on defense after losses at safety (T.J. McDonald) and defensive end (William Hayes and Eugene Sims).
“Our strength has been our defense, and let's keep that strong, so that as we're in the construction project over here, we've got a chance for team success,” Snead said. “That's as good for all of us, including Jared.”
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.
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