LA Rams: Pros and Cons of fielding the youngest team in the NFL

Pro: Compensatory draft picks

The cycle of LA Rams deploying rookies in starting roles has ultimately led to great interest among those players when they are due their second, and more well-paying, contract. Quite frequently, that second payday is from the payroll of another NFL team.  In fact, virtually all of the LA Rams free agents in 2021 have since signed on with a new team, many of whom were quickly added to other team rosters via the NFL Free Agency market.

The LA Rams are currently projected to be awarded up to five 2022compensatory draft picks from losing NFL free agents, per the latest calculations by analysts at Over the Cap.com.  Added to that, the LA Rams will receive the second awarded third-round compensatory pick for the hiring of Brad Holmes as the General Manager of the Detroit Lions. As of right now, it appears that the LA Rams will add one third-round, one fourth-round, and three sixth-round draft picks to the 2022 NFL Draft.

So the cycle repeats itself, and is fueled by a lack of money to prevent the LA Rams from breaking free, but is itself restocked by the LA Rams’ ability to incubate significant NFL caliber players who are in turn signed on by other teams. In 2021 alone, LA Rams top free agents signed one with the Cleveland Browns, the San Francisco 49ers, the Carolina Panthers, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Tennessee Titans.

The LA Rams will field one of the, if not the, youngest teams in the NFL once more. But after some thought and discussion, that is exactly how the LA Rams are set up to succeed right now. The team uses their coaching staff to coach up day three players into viable free agents who sign on with other NFL teams. That, in turn, regenerates awarded compensatory draft picks to harvest a new crop of NFL rookies at very inexpensive prices. And that new group of talented players finds ways to earn new starting roles on the Rams roster.

Not all NFL teams are set up to succeed with young players. But the LA Rams have made it their trademark of doing so.