Los Angeles Rams: 3 ways LA may redefine the 2018 NFL Draft.

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LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 29: General Manager Les Snead of the Los Angeles Rams speaks onstage during the press conference to introduce Jared Goff, the Los Angeles Rams’ first pick and first overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft, on April 29, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images) /

The Los Angeles Rams have been bold in free agency. When they traded away their single first round pick for WR Brandin Cooks, with no picks in the second round either, fans and experts would lament. Maybe, just maybe LA has something different in mind.

You can make a reasonable argument that the Los Angeles Rams owned the offseason, and not because of questionable or boneheaded moves. Objectively, you can review what General Manager Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay did, posted against the backdrop of an 11-5 2017 campaign, and say that’s a team looking to win a Super Bowl in 2018.

Maybe even in 2019.

It’s nearly the middle of April, you know, that lull between free agency and the NFL Draft. So now it’s about who selects who, who’s looking to rebuild, turn it around, or find a long sought after starting quarterback.

It’s part hope and part hyperbole.

However….
I ask if the the Rams embarking on a different plan for an NFL Draft?

Two years ago, Los Angeles traded away quite a bit to pick first and select either Jared Goff or Carson Wentz.

Let the record show Goff was the guy, and we can debate that still another time.

I remind you of that because the Rams used the draft as it was intended. Two years later, they are using the annual rite a bit differently, and it is not to rebuild or even to reload.

Free agency was, essentially, a version of the draft, like when expansion teams select from a pool of unprotected players, which is like a version of what we just saw LA do this offseason.

So with that said, what are Snead and McVay doing come draft time?

With no picks in round one or two, Los Angeles will basically do what you and I do the week after you go grocery shopping. You know, when you have a list of like nine specifics and you don’t even need a cart.

It’s an express shop where you basically use the self checkout because you got everything you pretty much needed a week earlier.

What the Rams did may not be groundbreaking. But in this era of immediate gratification and wanting everything now, winning now means the draft can be like going to the mall for stocking stuffers on December 24.

Because all the big stuff is already wrapped and under the tree.

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