The start of the NFL draft is just one day away, but for the Los Angeles Rams, they’ll have to wait a little bit longer to make their first pick. They’re not slated to go on the clock until No. 52 overall in the second round, the fourth straight year they’ll go without a first-rounder.
In advance of the big (virtual) event, Les Snead and Sean McVay held a conference call with reporters to address the most notable topics surrounding the Rams – including their draft plans, the Brandin Cooks trade and the status of Leonard Floyd and A’Shawn Robinson’s contracts.
We already touched on a few of the topics from the call, such as the backup QB plan and the Rams’ confidence in Josh Reynolds, but here’s everything else we learned from their pre-draft conference call,
Rams played “hard to get” with Cooks
The Rams wanted to hold onto Cooks, and were not openly shopping him. Given his contract and the season he had in 2018 with the Rams, it’s easy to see why they wanted to keep him. But once they got offers for second-round picks, they couldn’t pass up that sort of return.
“A lot of teams did contact us about Brandin throughout this offseason – whenever the new league year started, even before a little bit. We were committed to keeping Brandin because of what he did for our offense,” Snead said. “I think in that time where we, I’d call it, naturally played hard to get because we weren’t actively trying to move him. When a few teams did come with a chance to get a second-round pick, that’s probably when we sat down and Sean and I discussed, ‘Hey, what could be best moving forward?’ That pick being very valuable. Us with the emergence of Josh Reynolds and Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, especially Josh Reynolds coming. We’ve got a deep receiver room, I think that helped and then getting another pick in the top 60, very valuable.”
It was always going to take a strong offer for the Rams to part with Cooks because they had to take on $21.8 million in dead money, and clearly the 57th overall pick was enough to get it done.
Rams seeking offensive playmakers in draft
The Rams won’t have Todd Gurley and Cooks in the mix next season, which leaves a void in the playmaker department. When healthy, Gurley was arguably the best running back in the NFL, and Cooks’ speed isn’t matched by many players in the game today.
So with those two players gone, the Rams are looking for playmakers in the draft, and not specifically just wide receivers.
“It doesn’t exclusively have to be that receiver position,” McVay said. “It’s players that have an opportunity to make plays when the ball is in their hands and ultimately, it’s about scoring points. There’s a lot of different playmakers that come from different position groups in this draft and that’s something that we’ll see how things play themselves out.”
Snead also acknowledged that it’s a “very deep receiver draft,” adding that “there’s a lot of quality players.” The Rams don’t have a first-round pick, but Snead is open to adding a receiver later in the draft.
“It’s imperative for us, our scouting staff working with our coaching staff to maybe get beyond some of the household names that make this draft deep, that are probably going to go in the top-32 and find some of those players that have a skill set that can fit in to Sean’s offense and help us continue gaining yards, getting first-downs and scoring touchdowns,” he said.
No concerns about virtual draft
This will be an unprecedented draft in the fact that GMs and coaches won’t be in a war room together at the team’s facility. Instead, they’ll be stationed at their homes, working remotely throughout draft weekend.
There are some concerns about the functionality and stability of a virtual draft done over the internet and phone lines, but the Rams aren’t among the teams worried about how things will go.
“I do know this: have relied on some smart people and have not had a glitch at all and definitely am not anticipating any glitches,” Snead said.
Security is also something that’s been mentioned and emphasized, but McVay doesn’t think hacking will be an issue at all.
“I’m not too worried about that. If they’re worried about hacking us, these things never go exactly according to plan,” he said. “So, the board is a demonstration of where we have it, but it doesn’t always work out that way, which is why the planning and contingency planning is vital.”
Rams miss hosting prospects for visits, working them out
One of the biggest changes to the pre-draft process this year was the inability for teams to host prospects for visits. Coaches, scouts and GMs also couldn’t go work players out before the draft, which is a valuable aspect of the evaluation process.
“The negatives are where you don’t have that interpersonal interaction, that when you can bring the top 30s in. One of the things that I thought was instrumental in our first year that Les has done in previous years, we went around and actually got a chance to work out some guys,” McVay said. “We worked out Cooper Kupp, we worked out Gerald Everett, some other guys that we were considering. Those are really beneficial things to get that up close and feel, most importantly for the human being, but then also some of the physical things that you’re looking for. That’s where you get a little bit minimized.”
Leonard Floyd, A’Shawn Robinson haven’t officially signed yet
It’s been about a month since the Rams agreed to terms with Floyd and Robinson, yet neither contract has been made official by the team. Many have been asking why Floyd and Robinson haven’t officially signed with the Rams, and Snead shed some light on the situation.
“We’ve agreed to terms with Leonard and A’Shawn based on language in your contract on when the players can get physicals and things like that is really the nuances of why you can’t officially announce,” he said. “That is, again, a little bit of the adversity during these quarantined-times with the physicals.”
Snead didn’t say anything to suggest either deal will fall through, but as we saw with Michael Brockers and Marqui Christian, as well as a few other NFL players, contracts aren’t official until pen is put to paper. That hasn’t happened yet with Floyd or Robinson, which leaves the door open for something to fall apart.
Rams still looking for left tackle help
Two years ago, the Rams drafted Joseph Noteboom as a potential replacement for Andrew Whitworth, whenever he decided to retire. Noteboom rode the bench and learned as a rookie in 2018, but he was thrust into the starting lineup at left guard last season.
In the 2019 draft, the Rams selected Bobby Evans as another candidate to replace Whitworth sometime down the line. He played right tackle last season and could still take over for Whitworth at some point, but Whitworth just signed a three-year extension this offseason.
Even with Noteboom and Evans on the roster, the Rams could still draft another tackle this year.
“When you step into a draft and say, ‘You have to find your next left tackle.’ It doesn’t matter where you’re picking, that may be hard to do. I think just like in drafts past, if there’s a potential player that can maybe have a shot to replace ‘Big Whit’ in time,” Snead said. “We’ve done it with Joe Noteboom, we’ve drafted Bobby Evans, we can do it again this year. Goal would be, draft someone who can be versatile, not only a left tackle, but as many players that can play left tackle as possible is always good.”
Rams not pushing to trade up (or down)
The Rams have the ammo to trade up into the first round thanks to the 52nd and 57th picks, but it’s highly unlikely to happen. Snead called it “a little unrealistic” to move up that far, saying it’s “less rational unless you’re just wanting to come away with one player.”
He didn’t completely rule out moving up and said it would take a player they covet in order to move into the first round, but he also wants to let the draft come to him.
“We’ve proven that we’ll go get a player and we’ll also move back to acquire more picks in the draft, which ultimately means more players,” he said. “So that’s the benefit, you either give up a player on the back end to go get one, or maybe you gain one or two more that you weren’t expecting if you trade back. We’ll try to navigate that as the draft comes to us, because when you’re picking 52 (overall), 57 (overall), there is an element that you have to allow the draft to come to you a little bit.”
