LA Rams revisit 2016 NFL Draft blockbuster Jared Goff trade

The LA Rams dealt a blockbuster trade with the Tenessee Titans in 2016 to draft starter QB Jared Goff. But how does that trade look years later?

Are the LA Rams partially responsive for the Tennessee Titans’ appearance in the AFC Championship to face the Kansas City Chiefs?  Perhaps.  But it’s not simply a cause and effect.  You see, the Rams helped the Titans, and the Titans helped the Rams in 2016.  But many events have occurred for both teams since that trade.

The 2016 outlook for the LA Rams was not exactly rosy and optimistic. The team had just finished a lackluster 7-9 season, struggled for any type of production out of the quarterback position, were moving from St. Louis back to Los Angeles, and were still led by head coach Jeff Fisher.  The Rams needed a fresh start, a new face of the franchise, someone new to the Rams but who would be forever Los Angeles.  General Manager Les Snead knew who he wanted – quarterback prospect Jared Goff.  He just didn’t know have an easy path to get him.

The order for the 2016 NFL Draft was prescribed by inverse order of how teams finished that season.  For 2016, the order was set as (1) Tennessee Titans, (2) Cleveland Browns, (3) San Diego Chargers, (4) Dallas Cowboys, (5) Jacksonville Jaguars, (6) Baltimore Ravens, (7) San Francisco 49ers, (8) Miami Dolphins, (9) Tampa Bay Buccaneers, (10) New York Giants, (11) Chicago Bears, (12) New Orleans Saints, (13) Philadelphia Eagles, (14) Oakland Raiders, and finally (15) the St. Louis Rams.

To get Goff, the Rams had to scale the equivalent of Mount Rushmore, in essence, the LA Rams needed to offer the Tennessee Titans a package deal they could not refuse: which the Titans did not.  The Rams packaged six NFL Draft picks, and received three picks in return.

To move from 15 to first, the NFL Draft exacts a heavy toll. The Rams took the gamble, and it paid off handsomely.

Truly a win-win deal

After that trade, you know the Rams history. With Goff under center, the Rams skyrocketed into the NFL Playoffs and into Super Bowl 53.  Without the trade, the team never lands their franchise quarterback.  But what of the other picks and players?

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The Titans fourth ended up in the hands of the Chicago Bears who selected LB Nick Kwiatkoski.  In return, the Rams got the Bears picks at 117 and 206.  At 117, the Rams selected WR Pharoah Cooper, and at 206 they chose WR Mike Thomas. Cooper is now playing for the Arizona Cardinals, while Thomas remains with the Rams.

The Titans sixth became tight end Temarrick Hemingway.  Hemingway now plays for the Carolina Panthers.  Of course, the trade was not about the 4th nor the 6th round picks received for the Rams. It was always about the opportunity to draft QB Jared Goff.

All in all, the LA Rams did what they needed to do. Leading up to the 2016 NFL Draft, the team floundered behind “meh” play at quarterback.  From the moment of that trade, the LA Rams have been successful.  Goff has been the catalyst for the LA Rams, the face of the franchise, just as intended. Without him, the Rams do not play in Super Bowl 53.  That type of certainty out of the NFL Draft comes at a dear and precious price.

All teams want that level of success. Few general managers have enough confidence to take the risk to seize it.

Now Titans turn for success.

Of course, the Tennessee Titans benefited as well.  They traded the 16th pick in the 2016 draft to the Cleveland Browns.  They used the first second round pick (43) to draft DT Austin Johnson.  With the second second round pick (45) the Titans selected RB Derrick Henry. The third round pick eventually was traded to the Cleveland Browns as well.

The Tennessee Titans used the 2017 1st round pick (5) to select wide receiver Corey Davis.  Finally, they used the Rams 3rd round pick (100) to pick TE) Jonnu Smith.  I won’t go down the rabbit hole of what the Titans received in trades with the Browns, simply due to that pick 45. Running back Derrick Henry is tearing up the AFC right now. No single player has dominated NFL teams in the playoffs for years.

ESPN’s Turron Davenport has a great article out explaining how the trade with the Rams was one of two trades which helped to catapult the Titans into the AFC Playoffs.  Success was bound to happen for the Titans, and eventually did. But the 2016 trade was by no means the “magic beans” which led  to immediate good fortune for the team.  It’s just not that simple.

Success finds well run teams, eventually

Yes Derrick Henry is turning heads in the AFC playoffs.. But could the Tennessee Titans find so much success without signing left guard Rodger Safford in 2019 NFL free agency?  Safford was one of the key offensive linemen who helped the LA Rams dominate for years.  Coincidentally, he signs with the Titans, and now they are the offensive line which now dominates in the playoffs.

Does this same Titans team succeed without Ryan Tannehill under center?  He languished with the Miami Dolphins. So much so that the Dolphins traded QB Tannehill and a 6th round pick for a 4th and a 7th round pick. That’s the NFL equivalent to a case of beer and a bag of chips.

It took years for the Titans to reach the AFC Playoffs, and succeed to the point of playing in the AFC Championship game against and offensive juggernaut in the Kansas City Chiefs. This is a team effort, one of stalwart defensive play and an offensive line capable of opening holes to place Derrick Henry center stage in the national spotlight.

In the end, the Tennessee Titans are succeeding years after that trade with the LA Rams. Their wins do not come at the expense of what “might have been” had the LA Rams kept their picks, but in spite of it.  The LA Rams benefited immediately.  Despite the hoopla and lookback scenarios, it is the LA Rams who truly found the “magic beans” from that trade.  The Tennessee Titans simply took the scenic route to the NFL Playoffs.  In the process, they’ve now earned their right to play in the AFC Championship.