LA Rams draft Nagy’s choices Creed and Cooper in latest mock

The LA Rams, who do not step up to the live podium of the 2021 NFL Draft until the 57th pick, realize full well that their fate rests largely on how the draft board falls or shakes out for them. So much depends on what every other team picking before them, 56 picks in all. And what the Rams can do is dependant upon what teams do ahead of them. But that cannot be an excuse, as the team has learned the hard way in the past that the drafting process is imperfect.

Case in point:  The Rams 2020 NFL Draft delivered Ohio State safety Jordan Fuller to the LA Rams at the 199th pick. That same draft also delivered Utah hybrid cornerback/safety Terrell Burgess to the team at the 104th pick. Two NFL caliber safeties, embedded over 100 rookies into the draft.

The Rams may start both of their 2020 drafted safeties in the same backfield this upcoming season. . . and both were drafted after the 100th pick.

You see, picks numbering three digits doesn’t necessarily mean your team is relegated to choosing a special teams’ player or a kicker. True gems fall in the NFL draft every year, just as surely as birds sing.

Catch a falling star

And sometimes, a gem doesn’t need to fall at all. It could be hiding in plain sight right in front of you because the teams picking ahead of the Rams didn’t have a particular need at that position, the player doesn’t fit their scheme, or a host of other reasons known only internally to that team.

It’s the eagle-eyed team that can discern the wheat from the chaff. For that’s the bird who reaps the benefit of a plug-and-play addition to their roster, at a price that’s easy on the wallet. The rookie contract is like a stimulus payment that injects a dose of financial liquidity into the family budget. And if ever a team needed a fiscal draft stimulus, it’s the Rams.

Their lot is sealed – marquee players don’t typically drop to day two, let alone to the 57th pick. The Rams certainly need to hit a few home runs, uncover a few gems in the 2021 NFL Draft.  But despite limited access, a hit-or-miss 2020 college football season, no 2021 NFL Scouting Combine, and a lot more work falling upon ill-prepared scouting departments, the opportunity for finding elite talent anywhere in this draft still exists.

In fact, it may have improved the Rams’ chances of catching a falling star. The lack of a consensus beyond the first handful or so of the first players off the board will make this a wild ride indeed.. It may just take a little extra effort, a more discerning eye, and the courage to take a flyer on players with fewer press clippings, and more uncertain outcomes.