Here's a site that says they're 4th best in the NFL from 2013 thru 2017 behind the Cowboys, Chiefs, and Vikings. [
nypost.com] Their criteria: "The rankings are based on: how many games the draft pick has played, Pro Bowl appearances, first-team All-Pro selections and awards like MVP and Rookie of the Year. We also factored in how much the team has won during the five years, because players on losing teams tend to have an easier path to playing time." <my note: 2018 isn't included in this evaluation, but the Rams drafted 10 players last year - in rounds 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7 - and all 10 are currently on the Rams' roster>
This site looks at 2012 thru 2016 and lists the Rams at #7. [
www.forbes.com] Their criteria: "To determine the NFL's best-drafting teams we first started with a list of the last five draft classes. From there we pulled each drafted player's career Approximate Value, a statistic calculated by Pro-Football-Reference.com that attempts to quantify a player's on-field performance in a way that can be compared across positions ..."
The Rams are 6th on this site for 2012-2016. [
www.foxsports.com] Their criteria: "... teams scored 5 points for Pro Bowl player (when the nomination occurred while on the team's roster), 3 points for a 2016 starter and 1 point for a 2016 rostered player (IR counts). Additional Pro Bowl nods earned and extra point and players traded or lost for value (trades or compensatory picks) yield a point, too."
When I ask myself why the Rams get such little respect for their drafting success from some of my Herd buddies it generally boils down to unrealistic expectations. This article titled "Most NFL Draft Picks Are Busts" does a good job of analyzing draft success over a 20 year period. In it, their data shows that 69% of all draft picks are poor, useless, or never even played with the team. [
www.dailynorseman.com]
AlbaNY_Ram
