Draft day is just about here with the big event beginning on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET. The Los Angeles Rams have quite a wait to endure in Round 1, holding the 31st overall pick, but their patience won’t be tested like it was last year when they didn’t have a selection until the third round.
Their draft board is “98, 99 percent done” with the finishing touches being put on, which leads us to our final mock draft of the year. In this edition – created on The Draft Network’s mock draft machine – we tried to create a realistic scenario of what could actually happen this week for the Rams.
Immediate needs at several spots were addressed, as well as future ones, while adding a wealth of talent to an already stacked roster.
Day 1
Round 1, No. 31: NT Dexter Lawrence, Clemson
Some fans might not be thrilled with the Rams spending a first-round pick on a nose tackle who might come off the field on third down, but pairing need with talent, this makes too much sense.
Lawrence plugs a glaring hole on the interior D-line, shoring up the run defense in a big way. He may not offer much as a pass rusher right now, but his athleticism and power present great potential down the line.
The best-case scenario would be a trade down and still landing Lawrence, but with no trades in this simulation, we take him at No. 31 and go home feeling satisfied on Thursday night.
Day 2
Round 3, No. 94: OL Nate Davis, Charlotte
Round 3, No. 99: CB Jamel Dean, Auburn
The second day of the draft sees the Rams with two selections in a five-pick span, but none until the end of the third round. Davis and Dean are high-upside players who aren’t necessarily ready for starting roles right now, but can rise to the top of the depth chart in Year 2. Davis would at least compete with Joseph Noteboom at left guard, potentially keeping the 2018 third-rounder at tackle.
Davis also has experience playing tackle, but the strength of his game is his power, not his footwork and technique. That, along with other factors, make him a better fit at guard rather than tackle.
It’s hard to predict where Dean will be taken because he’s so talented and athletically gifted, but there are major injury concerns. He’s suffered three significant knee injuries in his career, which raises obvious red flags.
He still ran a 4.3 40-yard dash at the combine and looked good in movement drills. A team might take a chance on him in Round 2 or early in the third round, but he’d provide great value for the Rams, who are currently set at cornerback in 2019 but not beyond that.
Day 3
Round 4, No. 133: S Sheldrick Redwine, Miami
Round 5, No. 169: ILB Ben Burr-Kirven, Washington
Round 6, No. 203: WR Jalen Hurd, Baylor
Round 7, No. 251: OLB Malik Reed, Nevada
On Day 3, we mix value with need, of both the immediate and future variety. The Rams have been eyeing safety prospects all offseason and the signing of Eric Weddle won’t prevent them from drafting one this week.
Redwine visited the Rams this spring and while he’s not on the top tier of safeties in the class, he brings value on Day 3 of the draft. He can play safety and cornerback, lining up at both spots in college, and has the speed to cover either wide receivers or tight ends. Early on, he’d be the No. 3 safety, which is a spot that saw plenty of action last year when Marqui Christian subbed in on third down to cover tight ends.
Burr-Kirven is an undersized linebacker at 6 feet, 230 pounds, but it’s impossible to ignore his athletic profile. He had the best three-cone time of any linebacker at the combine (6.85 seconds) and the third-best short shuttle (4.09), while also showing functional strength with 21 bench press reps.
Hurd certainly doesn’t fill an immediate or future need for the Rams, but his ceiling is extremely high and worth exploring for L.A. He’s a former Tennessee running back standing at 6 feet 4 with excellent athleticism, running the three-cone in 6.60 seconds and leaping 40 inches in the vertical at his pro day. That three-cone time would’ve been the third-fastest of anyone at the combine, while his vertical would’ve put him in the top 15 overall. Les Snead said the Rams might look for bigger receivers and red zone threats in the draft, which Hurd certainly is.
Lastly, we close out the weekend with Reed, a smaller edge rusher who also has experience playing off-ball linebacker. It’s difficult to see a 4-3 team drafting him, which limits his landing spots and could push him down draft boards. He should absolutely get drafted, and likely before the seventh round, but the Rams can’t pass up this value in Round 7, especially after he was a pre-draft visitor.
