Will LA Rams abandon comp picks in 2021 NFL Free Agency market?

2022 compensatory Draft picks

So what is the picture for the LA Rams 2022 NFL Draft picks? Per our future draft picks analysis, the LA Rams are slated for seven picks in 2022.  The Rams had traded their first and fourth-round picks, have an additional seventh-round pick and will be awarded a third-round compensatory pick for the hiring of Brad Holmes to the Detroit Lions as their new general manager.  That’s the Rams’ starting point.

Of course, the LA Rams could add to those picks depending on the team’s activity in the 2021 NFL Free Agency market.  If the Rams pursue free agents this offseason, the Rams may not be awarded additional compensatory picks in the 2022 NFL Draft.  Still, if the Rams do not sign free agents, they have plenty of players who could attract large contracts.

The Rams project to lose C Austin Blythe, OLB Leonard Floyd and Samson Ebukam, S John Johnson III, CB Troy Hill and Darious Williams, DE Morgan Fox and Derek Rivers, TE Gerald Everett, RB Malcolm Brown, WR Josh Reynolds, and more.

It’s no stretch of the imagination to suppose that the Rams haven’t enough cash in the till to re-sign many players. So the question becomes, will the Rams sign free agents to win now, or hedge their bets by avoiding any offsets to potential compensatory draft picks to be awarded for 2022?

The LA Rams need players who can start and dominate from day one.  To follow through with the Stafford trade, it makes more sense for the Rams to be buyers this year. At least as long as the money holds out.