Don’t expect LA Rams GM Les Snead to stop wheelin’ n dealin

If you haven’t run into the occasional hot takes about how the LA Rams are screwing up the franchise by cashing in their first-round draft picks into game-changing players on a regular basis, consider yourself lucky.  Most have by now, and the trouble starts when those same detractors realize that LA Rams General Manager Les Snead is not likely to change tactics anytime soon.

You see, the Rams are up to something. Call it a cheat code, a power-up, or whatever term you might prefer to indicated that the LA Rams organization has discovered that game-changing elite players improve the play of everyone on the team. On the other hand, even the most talented rookies require more coaching than their talent output on the field.

In other terms, All-Pro players like Aaron Donald or Jalen Ramsey contribute not just in their position, but their influence with teammates and talent level on the field attracts the attention of their opposition. That allows teammates more opportunity to make plays. So too, the Rams believe that the addition of Matthew Stafford into a rather stocked offensive armory will raise the level of everyone on offense.

Win some, lose some, Rams win more

Los Angeles Rams

Yes, the LA Rams get some right.  And they get some wrong. But you cannot really thumb your nose up at a team that had compiled a record of 43-21 over the past three seasons, including a 3-3 record in the playoffs.  That’s not just a coincidence. That’s sustained success, and that is awfully difficult to do in the NFL.

It’s the type of success that suggests that this team has found a way to count cards in the NFL casino. They are winning against the odds and doing so that makes many quite uncomfortable because they cannot understand exactly how these Rams are doing it.

This is the youngest rostered team in the NFL. This is a team that has not selected in the first round of an NFL Draft for the past five seasons. In the past four years, the organization has not had a losing season. And for 2021, they are in the discussion as a potential Super Bowl contender.

So we now come to the question that prompted this entire article. Will GM Les Snead stop wheelin’ and dealin’?  Why should he?  The results are better than practically any other NFL team with one exception, the Rams have not won a Super Bowl under head coach Sean McVay. The organization is trying very hard to change that this year.