With 3 draft-day trades, Rams built rapport with Super Bowl nemesis Patriots

With 3 draft-day trades, Rams built rapport with Super Bowl nemesis Patriots

By: Cameron DaSilva |

There were few teams as busy during the draft as the Los Angeles Rams, who made six total trades between the first and fourth rounds. Surprisingly, half of those deals were made with the Patriots – the team that beat the Rams in Super Bowl LIII almost three months ago.

The Rams and Patriots were familiar trade partners, having swapped wide receiver Brandin Cooks and the Rams’ first-round pick last year, a deal that looks good for both sides.

Clearly these franchises have built a connection over the past couple of years.

Here were the three draft-day deals made between the Rams and Patriots:

Rams trade: No. 45 overall
Patriots trade: No. 56 overall and No. 101 overall

Rams trade: No. 101 overall and No. 133 overall
Patriots trade: No. 97 overall and No. 162 overall

Rams trade: No. 162 overall and No. 167 overall
Patriots trade: No. 134 overall and No. 243 overall

Rams coach Sean McVay talked about the rapport between the Rams and Patriots and how these deals got done.

“I think it’s really just the rapport that you have with the teams,” McVay said. “There is a lot of different dialogue that goes on, but it happened to work out in our favor. I think that there is a very decisive decision-making process and how they go about things. It worked out that they were great to be able to work with for those three trades specifically. Les (Snead), Tony (Pastoors), Kevin (Demoff) – I mean there’s a lot of other guys that are on the phones throughout the course of the draft. And it’s really predicated on, ‘OK, do we feel like, based on what the intent of this pick is – do we go back, do you not, who else might be interested?’ And it worked out in our favor with those three.”

McVay talked highly of Bill Belichick at the Super Bowl, having nothing but great things to say about the Patriots coach and GM. It sounds like the Rams’ front office members were the ones who orchestrated the trades, but maybe the connection McVay and Belichick built at the Super Bowl helped pave the way for these trades.

[theramswire.usatoday.com]