Man, oh man, oh man. How far we have fallen from the days of Don Klosterman, God rest his soul. Don Klosterman lived to deal with GMs like Les Snead. At this point, I am absolutely certain that Snead truly believes that
Green Bay won the John Hadl trade.
2012
1 Michael Brockers
2 Brian Quick
2 Janoris Jenkins
2 Isaiah Pead
3 Trumaine Johnson
4 Chris Givens
5 Rokevious Watkins
6 Greg Zuerlein
7 Aaron Brown
7 Daryl Richardson
2013
1 Tavon Austin
1 Alec Ogletree
3 T.J. McDonald
3 Stedman Bailey
4 Barrett Jones
5 Brandon McGee
5 Zac Stacy
2014
1 Greg Robinson
1 Aaron Donald
2 Lamarcus Joyner
3 Tre Mason
4 Maurice Alexander
6 E.J. Gaines
6 Garrett Gilbert
7 Mitchell Van Dyk
7 Christian Bryant
7 Michael Sam
7 Demetrius Rhaney
2015
1 Todd Gurley
2 Rob Havenstein
3 Jamon Brown
3 Sean Mannion
4 Andrew Donnal
6 Bud Sasser
6 Cody Wichmann
7 Bryce Hager
7 Martin Ifedi
2016
1 Jared Goff
4 Tyler Higbee
4 Pharoh Cooper
6 Temarrick Hemingway
6 Josh Forrest
6 Mike Thomas
2017
2 Gerald Everett
3 Cooper Kupp
3 John Johnson III
4 Josh Reynolds
4 Samson Ebukam
6 Tanzel Smart
6 Sam Rogers
7 Ejuan Price
2018
3 Joseph Noteboom
4 Brian Allen
4 John Franklin-Myers
5 Micah Kiser
5 Ogbonnia Okoronkwo
6 John Kelly
6 Jamil Demby
6 Sebastian Joseph-Day
6 Trevon Young
7 Travin Howard
7 Justin Lawler
2019
2 Taylor Rapp
3 Darrell Henderson
3 David Long
3 Bobby Evans
4 Greg Gaines
5 David Edwards
7 Nick Scott .
7 Dakota Allen
2020
2 Cam Akers
2 Van Jefferson
3 Terrell Lewis
3 Terrell Burgess
4 Brycen Hopkins
6 Jordan Fuller .
7 Clay Johnston
7 Sam Sloman
7 Tremaine Anchrum
2021
2 Tutu Atwell
3 Ernest Jones
4 Bobby Brown
4 Robert Rochell
4 Jacob Harris
5 Earnest Brown IV
7 Jake Funk
7 Ben Skowronek
7 Chris Garrett
2022
3 Logan Bruss
4 Cobie Durant .
5 Kyren Williams
6 Quentin Lake
6 Derion Kendrick
7 Daniel Hardy .
7 Russ Yeast
7 AJ Arcuri
That is a compilation of Les Snead's drafting for the past eleven years. He has, exactly, two home runs- Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp. Todd Gurley was a whale of a ball player, but it was known he was injured goods when drafted, and when you only get five years out of your first round draft choice, and you didn't lose him to a freak, career-ending injury, you don't get accolades. Jared Goff has yet to define his career, but he did quarterback a team to a Super Bowl appearance, to his credit. The rest of his draft choices that actually had any type of an NFL career are, at best, slightly above average, and mostly are JAGS- Michael Brockers, Janoris Jenkins, Trumaine Johnson, Alec Ogletree, Tavon Austin, Greg Zeurlein, TJ McDonald, Lamarcus Joyner, EJ Gaines, Rob Havenstein, Sean Mannion, Tyler Higbee, Gerald Everett, John Johnson III, Josh Reynolds, Joseph Noteboom, Brian Allen, John Frankln-Myers, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Sebastion Joseph-Day, Terrell Rapp, Darrell Henderson, David Long, Greg Gaines, David Edwards, Nick Scott, Cam Akers, Van Jefferson, Terrell Burgess, Brycen Hopkins, Jordan Fuller, Tutu Atwell, Ernest Jones, Cobie Durant, You would have a very difficult time taking these guys and making a team that won anything more than 4-5 games- decent d-linemen, decent secondary, lbs and o-line are nearly non-existent, offensive skill positions are weak.
But, you say, Les stockpiles those 6th and 7th round draft picks. Yahoo!! Take a look at his picks in those rounds for the past eleven years and tell me what names excite you. He has found a few guys who have actually stuck to an NFL roster-
none of them is going to the Hall of Fame without buying a ticket just like the rest of us, and very few of them are ever even going to sniff a Pro Bowl appearance.
But Les is a shrewd trader. No, he really isn't.
Les Snead walks into a Porsche dealership-"I want to buy a Porsche 911".
Dealership- "You're in luck, sir, we have one right now for $101,000".
Snead- "I'll give you $140,000 for it!".
Dealership- "Sold!!".
Les Snead spent a first round pick on Tavon Austin- Les Snead then traded Tavon Austin for a 6th round pick (which he then used to draft the immortal Jamil Demby).
Les Snead spent a first round pick on Alec Ogeltree. Les Snead then traded Ogletree for a fourth and a sixth round pick. Those picks became John Franklin-Myers and John Kelly.
Les Snead spent a first round pick on Michael Brockers. Les Snead then traded Brockers for a 2023 seventh-round pick. Does anybody want to bet what value that 7th round selection will bring the Rams?
Les Snead spent the number 1 overall pick on Jared Goff. Les Snead then traded Jared Goff, plus two first round picks and a third round pick for Matthew Stafford. This trade is certainly open for debate. I will point out that Snead traded a QB who had taken his team to a Super Bowl for a QB that has never been to a Super Bowl. Additionally, he traded a QB that was 27 for a QB that was just shy of 33 at the time of the trade, and had taken a beating throughout his career on some very bad Lions teams. If Snead wanted to make the trade even up, or throw in a mid-round draft pick, I don't think anyone would quibble with it. To throw in
TWO first round picks for a guy six years
OLDER than the QB you were trading was sheer stupidity.
How about his other trades?
He traded a fourth and a second round pick for Marcus Peters and a sixth round pick, then turned around and traded Peters for a fifth round pick and Kenny Young. Later traded Young and a seventh round pick (2024) for a sixth round pick (2024)..
He traded EJ Gaines and a second round pick for Sammy Watkins and a sixth round pick. Watkins then left after the season as a free agent. The Rams received a third round comp pick in 2019. Through other maneuvers and trades, I believe this pick ultimately resulted in either Bobby Evans or David Long, but I could be mistaken.
He traded a first round pick in 2020, a first round pick in 2021 and a fourth round pick in 2021 for Jalen Ramsey. He then traded Ramsey for a 3rd round pick and Hunter Long, a back-up tight end.
He traded a second and third round 2022 pick for Von Miller. Miller left after the season as a free agent. The Rams received a fifth round (2023) comp pick.
He traded first round and sixth round (2018) picks for Brandin Cooks. He then traded Cooks and a fourth round pick for a second round pick in 2020. With that second round pick, the Rams chose Van Jefferson.
I did not take the time to try and figure out who all of these fifth and sixth and seventh round picks ultimately became, but I don't think it's necessary- look at our fifth, sixth and seventh round selections, only Zeurlein, Nick Scott and Jordan Fuller have offered much of anything.
There are undoubtedly trades that I haven't listed, but the above information speaks for itself. Snead fabulously overpays for already proven talent (because he has demonstrated over and over again that he and his talent scouts really can't identify talent for the draft), then receives a fraction of the return when he trades the talent he traded for. When you couple that with some horrendous short-sighted contract extensions and sheer draft stupidity (Creed Humphrey), it is amazing Les Snead has a job. Coupled with a head coach that apparently has no use for a talented offensive line (I am sure McVay had a huge part in the Atwell fiasco) and signing off on some of the inexplicable contracts, and it is truly amazing this team has had the success it has under their tenure. It has been more the result of a fairly weak and unimposing NFC than anything these two have actually done. I know that won't make this post popular on this board with a lot of fans here, but honest to God, look at these drafts, look at these trades and the ultimate debt paid (what we gave up compared to what we got back) and you have to have some serious rose-colored glasses to proclaim these guys to be the geniuses that some want to portray them as. These are two guys who convinced themselves that they were going to re-write how the NFL did things, because they were smarter than everyone else (F' them picks!!). We are now literally giving away what little talent we have, and can't get out from under the contract that the 35 year old sore-armed QB has, but at least there is no-one in the wings ready to replace him.
The Rams had a nice short run of success. This is not the NFL of George Allen anymore- the salary cap has forced teams to be intelligent with their contracts and their drafting. Unlike Allen's time, you can't simply go buy or trade for every veteran you want because you think young players and rookies are useless. The moves made to bring in all these proven stars with no plan to be able to financially retain them (of course, structuring your roster so that only four players are eating (what seems like) nearly half your cap isn't brilliant, either, unless you are really crushing the draft year after year. Spoiler alert- the Rams aren't), The draft is possibly more important than ever before, simply because it can provide you with very cost-effective players for a minimum of four to five years. McVay and Snead have yet to nail a draft, and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Their arrogance may very well be leading this team into it's next dark ages. For all of the readers that say the 2021 Super Bowl win was worth it- fine, and you're more than entitled to that opinion. I don't feel that it had to be an either/or situation, that's all.
