LA Rams 2021 NFL Draft resembles 2019 NFL Draft

Don’t be so needy

The Rams entered that 2019 NFL Draft in need of help at the interior offensive line, safety, cornerback, inside linebacker, and pass rusher.  Do any of those begin to resemble the needs for the 2021 NFL season? Well, I’m not sure what you’ve seen out there, but these are almost identical to the needs listed for the team for the 2021 NFL Draft as well.

But the 2019 NFL Draft was a ‘normal’ draft. For all intents and purposes, the 2019 NFL Scouting Combine was simply the national event that commemorated the beginning of Pro Days as the NCAA football programs. It triggered the new crop of draft profiles, highlight videos on YouTube, and a wave of new mock drafts.

The 2021 setup for the Rams, and for all NFL teams is a bit less dependable. There was no NFL Scouting Combine, but rather there were Pro Days that were either college-focused or regionally-focused to support more than one college football program. The NCAA Football program itself was impacted significantly by COVID-19 regulations. Some college football never played. Some football was played by a significantly modified schedule. And some football was only slightly to modestly impacted.

So how do you compare football players who played none, a little, some, or a lot of football in 2020? Well, that’s what we are about to discover.  32 NFL teams will attempt to make decisions on imperfect data in an imperfect situation this year. Well, that sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

So let’s study how the Rams entered the 2019 draft with six picks, emerged with eight players, and still boast seven of them on the roster in productive roles.