I expressed leading up to the draft that I would be very surprised to see the Rams draft a WR high. For one reason, it would be a message to Kupp that he likely wouldn't be a Ram after 2024. For another, everything we've heard says Kupp has returned to health and as a result is doing his full off-season workout routine, so we have two #1 WRs right now, and really good #2 (that plays #3) in Robinson, and a couple of younger guys with potential.
As for LB, I was also surprised. But.... this tells me that they likely won't be using a base 2 ILB set all that much. And, that since Jones is bordering on being a star ILB, they are satisfied with their ILB group. But more, they are going to have a scheme that uses their Safeties as hybrid ILB/Safety. This also means they are trusting their DLs to be good run stuffers. Turner was good at stopping the run, Brown improved significantly, and Fiske is a very good run stopper. Hoecht is going back to the DL where he belongs and he does well against the run. And, they now have Verse that is brutal against the run and Young that did a decent job as a rookie and his trajectory is up.
So, they appear to be valuing Safety a bit more while devaluing ILB just a tad. I have no doubt this is Shula influence.
