The Los Angeles Rams’ draft strategy has earned them quite a reputation. General Manager Les Snead’s cavalier approach to first-round draft picks became so infamous that it became a meme. But his penchant for accumulating day 2 and day 3 picks has allowed the team to stay competitive throughout Sean McVay’s tenure — no small feat.
When attempting to rank all 32 teams based on the last five drafts, The Athletic’s Nick Baumgartner found that the Rams were among the league’s worst drafters based on Pro Football Reference’s metric called Approximate Value.
29. Los Angeles Rams (5.58)
Top 50 picks: 3
Pro Bowls: 3
Starting seasons: 28
Best pick: WR Puka Nacua (No. 177, 2023); Worst pick: G Logan Bruss (No. 104, 2022); Best value: RB Kyren Williams (No. 164, 2022)
Based on that, the Rams wound up in 29th place with an average approximate value of 5.58, behind the likes of the Cleveland Browns and the Las Vegas Raiders. But for the Rams, Baumgartner admits that the metric falls short.
“This is the other side of the Stafford trade, though this ranking doesn’t tell the real story. That the Rams have remained competitive with hardly any premium picks over the last five drafts is a testament to Les Snead and his staff. Nacua is the best Day 3 pick of the last five years, and the Rams also nailed their top two selections in 2024 (Jared Verse and Braden Fiske).”
None of the teams in the bottom 10 in this ranking have either made or won an NFC Championship game, much less a Super Bowl, which underscores the point of the Rams’ draft strategy. Compiling many later-round picks allowed the team to remain inexpensive at many positions as they developed those picks into quality starters, who, after their rookie contracts were replaced by the next group of developmental talent.
And it also broadened the chance that they could stumble on a Pro Bowl talent like Williams or Nacua. Each is making about a million dollars per year, but is among the best players at their position.
All that said, it should be noted that the Rams had rough drafts other than the most recent two. Only Tutu Atwell has been retained of the 18 picks from the 2020 and 2021 drafts. While several 2022 picks will be major role players this season, the Bruss pick casts a pall over the rest of that class, which even the bright light of Kyren Williams can’t fix.
