And granted that Howard has not actually done anything yet--but the coaches have been high on him.

Here is the Rams hit rate on 4th through 7th round picks from 1997-2916. In that period they had 102 lower picks, and 6 hits. I count the following as hits: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Tucker, Brian Young, Hakim, Zuerlein, Shaun McDonald, Higbee. That's a hit rate of just under 6%.

Here is the hit lower picks from 2017 through 2020. Here, you have to selectively count some guys as showing promise, because it's too soon to fully judge.

In that period they had 24 lower picks, and 5 hits or really probable hits. I count the following as hits: Joseph-Day, David Edwards, Jordan Fuller, and based on the team view of their promise, Travin Howard and Anchrum. Just with those names alone that's nearly 21%, which is completely unheard of. And we have yet to see what happens in the development of other potentially promising guys like Gaines and Hopkins. If you do it as strict proven hits it's 3 of 24 which is 12.5% which is still excellent.

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