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AlbaNY_Ram
I take exception to this passage: "Typically, the mark of a good draft pick is a second contract. If a team doesn’t give a player a second contract before or after their rookie contract expires, it’s usually a sign that the player didn’t do enough to earn a long-term extension – unless they priced themselves out of the team’s range in free agency."
If the mark of a good draft pick is a second contract then the Rams are actually drafting well. It's just that for the most part those second contracts come from some other team. And that is no accident: it's actually the Rams' strategy.
Looking at the 2019 draft: Taylor Rapp and David Edwards signed their second contracts with the Bills, Darrell Henderson and Bobby Evans are with the Jags, David Long is with the Raiders, Greg Gaines is with the Bucs, Nick Scott is with the Bengals, and Dakota Allen is with the Broncos.
Every player drafted by the Rams in 2019 got a second contract. By that standard the 2019 draft is an overwhelming success.
But none of them are with the Rams! Well, that is by design.
Rather than pay guys the going rate for their second contract the Rams draft their replacements ahead of time and let guys hit FA after their rookie deal is done. Then another wave of cheap labor steps in and the Rams accumulate comp picks for the guys that left, which allows them to feed the pipeline with more cheap labor!
How did the Rams manage to keep on winning when all 8 guys drafted in 2019 left? It's because they drafted Akers, Lewis, Burgess, Fuller, and Anchrum (among others) in 2020 , then drafted Jones, Brown III, Brown IV in '21, and then drafted Durant, Williams, Lake, Kendrick, and Yeast in '22.
They let the 2019 draft class go because they had guys on their roster on their rookie deals ready to take their place.
And the Rams got the maximum 4 comp picks in the 2023 draft.
Criticize the Rams because their 2019 draft class is gone? Personally, I say congratulate them!!
edit: The comp picks the Rams got in the 2023 draft were the 167th, 171st, 177th, and 251st.
They traded the 167th for the 174th and the 259th.
Then they traded 171 for 175 and 252.
Then they traded 252 and a 2024 6th for 215.
And then they traded 251 and Allen Robinson for 234
174: Warren McClendon
175: Davis Allen
177: Puka Nacua
215: Zach Evans
234: Jason Taylor II
259: Desjuan Johnson
Any analysis of the 2019 draft has to include the downstream results in the 2023 draft.
Albany, nice work. You put a lot into it.
And I respectfully disagree.
Half the guys you list aren't even starting on those teams. And I just don't buy into the statement that because you're still in the league, you were a successful draft pick. That's a pretty low metric.
As is that we just churn soon to be overpriced second contract players and draft their new cheap replacements by grand design. That's what everyone does- let go of underperforming players that don't deserve a second contract, and draft their replacements.
How do we keep on winning with these draft picks you name? By signing Ramsey, Fowler, Timmerman, Miller, Cooks, Weddle, OBJ, and a host of other FA acquisitions. It's kind of what we're known for. We won in spite of our drafting, not because of it.
And the point is exactly that. This team was built on FA players, with the draft meant to fill the cracks. It's worked throughout McVay's time here. As we all know, it particularly worked very well the year we won the Super Bowl. But now we're moving to a new model where we're going to have to rely on our draft picks. The "great draft of 2019" isn't going to work anymore. I'm imminently grateful that we bucked the trend this year. And I hope it doesn't play out in any way like you describe above, because I'm already pretty sure we're all going to want the Rams to pay out Puka, Avila, Evans and who knows who else out of this draft. It shoots down the other false theory that we are a victim of our draft placement. I don't see this as a "lucky" draft. People did their jobs. Nobody jumped in the pool.
So again, I do appreciate the points you make, and we have different perspectives. I just feel we aren't going to win our next Super Bowl the way we won our last one. And if we draft in 2024 like we drafted in 2019, it's going to be a long road back.
