Five Takeaways from LA Rams 2021 NFL Draft

Running back before offensive lineman

How bizarre was this draft? “The Rams chose a running back before an offensive lineman!” (That’s a fact). “The Rams drafted too many wide receivers!” (Agreed.) “What is this fascination, this fetish McVay has for wide receivers?” (I dunno, ask Sigmund Freud?). “The Rams didn’t draft a center, or a guard, or even a tackle!” (That’s a fact, too.)

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Let’s start out by saying no matter what you think of the Rams’ draft choices, it was a smart, savvy move for a team entering this maelstrom of a draft with its draft capital needle quivering over the capital “E” on its draft dashboard to trade back. Snead & McVay et. al. made the right call to trade back a couple of times. Walk-in with six picks, walk out with nine. That made sense.

Another move that made sense was using their third-round comp pick on Ernest Jones. This team needed a purely physical jaw-jarring tackler who can snuff the running game before it ever gets started. So that pick addressed a huge, gaping maw of a need on defense. No-brainer. Kudos to the Rams and a shout-out to Rams running back coach Thomas Brown for pounding the table to get the player he wanted because their South Carolina paths had crossed. (Brown is the former running backs coach for the Gamecocks.)

Actually, I think that could be fairly stated about this Rams’ draft across the board – for the most part, The Rams got the man they wanted. By what measure, what litmus test, what sniff test they made their decisions is completely unknown to us mere fans and observers. Only Snead & McVay and a handful of insiders truly know the real score. But we can surmise a few things, maybe even in five.