5 takeaways from LA Rams 2021 NFL Draft Day 2

The LA Rams may have disappointed some fans with their under-the-radar selections through the 2021 NFL Draft so far, but this draft has some intriguing qualities already that we will explore at length.  But before we dive headfirst into where the LA Rams are so far, let’s pause, shake off what we expected, and take a look at the Rams roster from the Rams’ perspective.

The LA Rams have 67 players on the current roster and have two rookies on the way as reinforcements.  But the Rams are not arriving at the draft for the first time. This organization has been here before, done this before, and has emerged from the draft with a number of late-drafted rookies who somehow develop into starters when the team needs them to do so.

Of course, most of what we observe on the outside is the play on the football field and the comings and goings of players during the offseason. So we cannot know just how close the competition is on the roster, nor just how tightly compacted the depth chart truly might be. To the outsider, the depth chart is simply first, second, and if applicable, third. But to the coaching staff, that same depth chart could be 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2.

A year ago, the Rams lost their entire linebacking corps,  constructed a secondary that had never played together before, and shuffled the defensive line out of players from the preview season, and ended up with the top defense in the NFL. How did the team pull that off? Quite simply, the team did not just assemble the most talented players. Rather, the team assembled the best defensive group for what the team wanted to do.

That same process is at work with the Rams roster now.  The team is selecting the pieces for a much larger picture. While each of us has passionate opinions about the way the Rams construct their 90-man roster, we are no more intimate with the details of how the coaches view their players than before. The LA Rams clearly have a bona fide draft strategy, and roster strategy after the NFL Draft concludes later today.  Now, let’s see if we can sort through the Rams strategy from their day two activities.