How Les Snead has used all 1st and 2nd round picks as Rams GM…

How Les Snead has used all first and second round picks as Rams GM
Snead has invested a lot more draft capital into one side of the ball

[www.turfshowtimes.com]

Kenneth Arthur



As it stands after Week 17, the Los Angeles Rams hold the 37th overall pick and 69th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, at least as far as day two goes. Rams general manager Les Snead has already traded his 2023 first round pick as part of the package for Matthew Stafford.

But Stafford is not the only quarterback who Snead has traded multiple first round picks to acquire and he’s far from the only offensive player who the Rams have invested a lot of draft capital into during his tenure as general manager.

If Snead follows his tendencies with the draft again in 2023, then it is safer to bet an L.A. adding another player to the offense than it would be to assume that the Rams will plug holes on the defense. At least with their second round pick. And if the L.A. Rams do use their second round pick on an offensive player, it would be most likely that Snead wants to keep adding talent to the skill positions. Not on the offensive line.

This is a basic look at how the Rams have used all of their first and second round picks since Snead became the general manager in 2012. Since building up the trenches in his first four seasons with Jeff Fisher as the head coach, using two first round picks on defensive tackles, a first and a second on offensive tackles, and even one first round pick on a linebacker, Snead’s tendencies have been much more one-sided under Sean McVay.

More than four first round picks on quarterbacks, six skill players added to the roster with first or second round picks, one Jalen Ramsey, and not a single offensive lineman since 2016.

2012

First round: Trade down from 3, trade down from 6, select DT Michael Brockers

Second round pick: WR Brian Quick, CB Janoris Jenkins, RB Isaiah Pead (trade down)

2013

First round: Trade up from 16 to 8, select WR Tavon Austin, trade down from 22 to 30, select LB Alec Ogletree

Second round: (Used to trade up for Austin)

2014

First round: LT Greg Robinson, DT Aaron Donald

Second round: Trade up from 44 to 41, select DB Lamarcus Joyner

2015

First round: RB Todd Gurley

Second round: Trade down from 41 to 57, select OT Rob Havenstein

2016

First round: Trade up from 15 to 1, select QB Jared Goff

Second round: Used to trade up

2017

First round: Used to trade up in 2016

Second round: Trade down from 37 to 44, select TE Gerald Everett

2018

First round: Traded for WR Brandin Cooks

Second round: Traded for WR Sammy Watkins

2019

First round: Trade down from 31 to 45, trade down from 45 to 56, trade down from 56 to 61, select DB Taylor Rapp

Second round: Traded for CB Marcus Peters

2020

First round: Traded for CB Jalen Ramsey

Second round: Select RB Cam Akers, select WR Van Jefferson

2021

First round: Traded for CB Jalen Ramsey

Second round: Select WR Tutu Atwell

2022

First round: Traded for QB Matthew Stafford

Second round: Traded for EDGE Von Miller

2023

First round: Traded for QB Matthew Stafford

Second round: ???

Let’s allow ourselves to simplify this exercise as much as possible and to not mince over the parts of these trades that are not included in the first or second round. For example, the Rams traded a second and a third for Von Miller, but for the purposes of THIS exercise alone, we are only going to count how the Rams used first and second round picks.

Total number of players by position:

QB - 2 (four first round picks, one second round pick)

RB - 3 (one first round, two second round picks)

WR/TE - 7 (two first round picks, six second round picks)

OL - 2 (one first, one second round pick)

DL/EDGE - 3 (two first, one second round pick)

ILB - 1 (one first round pick)

DB - 5 (two firsts, three second round picks)

Offense: 8 first round picks, 10 second round picks

Defense: 5 first round picks, 4 second round picks