2 NFL Experts dissect Rams draft needs and project Rams draft strategy

When it comes down to what the Los Angeles Rams need to do in the 2025 NFL Draft, there may need to be a distinction over what the Rams' strategy entails. While we all have our own opinions as to which players or positions should be addressed in this year's draft, we need to clarify what we mean by 'need.' Do those preferences fall into a category of need, choice, or strategic? I suppose distinguishing among the various categories is the best place to start.

Need is a term that has become a default term that refers to all positions we expect an NFL team to address in a three-day draft event. Consider it a checklist of positions that you can reasonably expect the team to address at some point in time throughout the draft. Identifying draft needs in this way helps to steer both fans and draft analysts alike towards the most likely positions to be addressed in the draft.

Choice is a term that is seldom used to refer an NFL team's draft, but it's the priority or taste of a team to stock up on rather than a glaring roster need or lack of true starter at a critical position. But does an investment in the backup quarterback role to fill a Matthew Stafford successor role need to be fulfilled over depth at the wide receiver position? That can be debatable. So there is an element of choice or preference in that distinction.

Strategic is the prioritization of a position that may now be abundant in quality or quantity in the current draft, but may not be a particularly thin group on the current roster. There is also the fact that every NFL GM must have expiration dates of contracts of rostered players in their peripheral vision.

Okay. That sets the stage for how the conversations between ESPN NFL Analyst Mina Kimes and former PFF NFL analyst Sam Monson will dip and weave throughout their draft analysis of every NFL team. It's a rather lengthy podcast, but this one is worth the investment. Kimes and Monson are solid, no-nonsense analysts who are less about sharing anonymous-sourced hot takes about prospects and more about giving their fair takes on each NFL team.

If you want to fast forward to the Rams draft section, you should fast forward to the 20:28 time hack. So, while you focus on the Rams segment, I'll meet you on the other side of the embedded video.

Perhaps one of the earliest takeaways from their analysis is the fact that they view the Rams 'needs' as limited to an inside linebacker (to pair with starting ILB Omar Speights) and a cornerback. They also mention some choices the team could address in the draft at tight end, quarterback, and offensive tackle,

Sam Monson chimes in with the oxymoron nature of the Rams drafting an inside linebacker. The Rams have been viewed as a team in need of an inside linebacker in almost every season led by HC Sean McVay. The only linebacker drafted by the team was former South Carolina ILB prospect Ernest Jones IV, who competed for the Rams for three of his first four seasons.

Even Rams reporter J.B. Long tosses some humor at the stress experienced by some fans over the state of the Rams ILB position, suggesting that defensive back Quentin Lake's sumo wrestler video may foretell a solution for the Rams inside linebacker needs going forward.

There are always select scenarios that mandate swapping out a defensive back for a linebacker and bolstering the pass coverage on the defensive side of the football.

Still, it comes down to the old carpenter adage, measure twice and cut once. So how do the insights of Mina Kimes and Sam Monson play out for the Rams in the 2025 NFL Draft? Here comes the fun part. Let's dive right in: