NFL Draft 2021: Grading LA Rams 3 draft-day trades

Trade 2

The next trade for the LA Rams occurred with a familiar trade partner, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Of course, the Jaguars benefitted in the 2021 NFL Draft with the Rams first-round pick (25th pick of the draft) and the Rams fourth-round pick (130th pick of the draft).  Is it possible that the Rams had an emotional attachment to their original fourth-round pick?

The LA Rams traded two picks – pick 121 (round four) (valued at 62) and pick 209 (round six) (valued at 6.2) for picks 130 (round four) (valued at 42) pick 170 (round five) (valued at 21.8) and pick 249 (round seven) (valued at 1.0). Aggregate value from the Drafttek chart? Rams got 64.8 and surrendered 68.2. While the Rams emerged with less, the dramatic difference was not nearly as pronounced in this exchange.

So who did the Jaguars draft with the two picks from the LA Rams? With the 121st pick of the draft, the Jaguars landed a 6-foot-6 255-pound edge rusher from the University of Alabama at Birmingham named Jordan Smith (6.15-grade per NFL.com).  The Jags used the 209th pick to select a 6-foot-2 220-pound wide receiver from Georgia Tech named Jalen Camp (5.83-grade per NFL.com)

In return, the LA Rams used the 130th pick of the draft (their original fourth-round pick) to select a 6-foot-0 193-pound cornerback from Central Arkansas named Robert Rochell (6.25 grade per NFL.com) and the 249th pick of the draft to select a 6-foot-3 220-pound wide receiver/tight end from Notre Dame named Ben Skowronek (5.86 grade per NFL.com).  In comparison, the LA Rams seem to continue to leave ‘pick value’ on the table, but more than makes up for it with more highly regarded players. Oh. What about that other pick? The 170th pick of the draft? Well, the Rams used that in their third and final trade of the draft.

I love the fact that the LA Rams doubled back around to reclaim their fourth-round pick in this draft. What a Les Snead move!  And yes, I laughed out load when the details of this trade went down.

Rams Grade: A+