LA Rams NFL Draft 2021: A deep-dive dissection of all selections

Round 7: No. 233

The last position anyone expected the Rams to select with their seventh pick in the 2021 NFL Draft was running back. Still, this has already been a draft that has strayed a bit into unchartered territory.  So it just sort of measured right up to the tone of this draft to discover that with the 233rd pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, the LA Rams selected 5-foot-10 205-pound Maryland Terrapin running back, Jake Funk.

And almost immediately after Funk heard his name called out by the LA Rams with the 233rd pick, fans rushed to judge Rams general manager Les Snead as certifiably insane.

Jake Funk (5.69 grade per NFL.com) was certainly more than just a running back. He is another staunchly athletic player addition who has so very much to add beyond rushing with the football.

And much like the Jacob Harris pick, his athleticism is far more advanced than the spot that the Rams found him in this draft. But I’m not sold on the running back role, as the LA Rams had four running backs on the roster.

A huge concern is medical one-two ACL surgery in consecutive years – tore his ACL in the same knee in 2018 and 2019 – ouch! But he came back in 2020 and roared like a lion once more.

Can you have too much of a good thing? If it’s a fifth running back addition to the Rams now-pass-centric offense? Perhaps. He might be a 100% special teams pick because he’s a special teams ace in college. He can even return kicks. Funk and Harris are in the same category: immediate special teams impact.

Super athletic, he’s got insane lateral quickness and strength with a low center of gravity, He’s built like a brick, or maybe a cinder block. Bonafide freak, even at 205 pounds.

He once ran for 221 yards in a single game against Minnesota. Funk was simply unstoppable on that day. Surely, that was the flash that dazzled scouts’ eyes.

Paired with measurables that are top-tier of the charts – 4.43 40-yd dash; 38” vertical leap; 10’2” broad jump;  22 reps on the bench. Raw talent, moldable clay, big up-side.

Draft Grade: C+