LA Rams: 3 ways to improve QB depth in next 72 hours

Trade for QBs:

While the LA Rams may not be sitting on a cache of first-round picks, sometimes dangling a late pick or even demanding a pick in order to swallow an overpriced veteran quarterback’s contract is in order. The Rams organization has been anything but shy or timid in the past. When the team has needed to bolster the roster, the front office has moved quickly and intently on doing so. Now, the Rams have that need to act once more. Quickly. Deliberately. Get ‘er done. Sitting on a quarterback room with a rehabbing John Wolford, a dubious Duck, Devlin Hodges, and a very raw Bryce Perkins seem like the Rams are trying to get away with sneaking through the 2021 season on an austere budget.

While the LA Rams have a forgettable history with veteran quarterback Nick Foles, keep in mind that so did Jared Goff before head coach Sean McVay arrived.  And while the LA Rams do not have the amount of salary cap space to absorb a contract like Foles currently inked agreement, the team watched as they traded veteran Michael Brockers to the Detroit Lions for a 2023 seventh-round pick, and then Brockers restructured his deal with the Lions instantly. So why would the Rams consider all of these gyrations just for a backup? Several reasons, quite honestly. Nick Foles is a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. That is a huge quality to have on the bench. The Chicago Bears no longer want him, so he can be had on the cheap. He has a ton of experience, a cannon of an arm, and he is still worthy of stepping in to start. He is a 6-foot-6 243-pound pocket passer. Perhaps most of all, he brings a sense of “we can still win this game” if he comes in off the bench. The only hiccup is ensuring that he will restructure his contract before agreeing to a trade. But if that happens, that is a gamble worth taking.

Now that we’ve dropped the name of Jacksonville Jaguars Gardner Minshew as a potential trade target out there, other LA Rams websites are chiming in as well. So be it, the more the merrier!  Of course, the reason why Gardner Minshew is suddenly becoming a hot name to target for the LA Rams is simply that he makes complete sense as a trade target. He is a proven NFL starter, he is easy on the wallet, and the asking price of a fifth-round or sixth-round draft pick is a good haul for the Jacksonville Jaguars who will get nothing for letting Minshew grow moss on their bench, while he would be a solid backup to a veteran like Stafford, who may need someone to step in several times through the course of an NFL season if he gets banged around like last year. Minshew is a name to remember in the NFL, and not just for his patented porn-star mustache. He has played in 23 NFL games, started in 20, and has an impressive 501 of 797 pass completion rate (62.9 percent). In just two years, he has already tossed 37 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. Mind you, this was on the Jacksonville Jaguars offense. Minshew is a gambler, a draw-back-and-throw-the-damned-ball type of gunslinger mentality that will fit right in with McVay’s offense.

The LA Rams may need to act quickly. If there is value to add to the Rams roster, there is value to add to the rosters of 30 other NFL teams. There is no logical reason to expect other teams will simply sit back and wait for the Rams front office to get up off their backside and take action. I expect that the LA Rams have about 72 hours to make a move, or until the end of business day Tuesday, August 10, 2021, before other teams start sniffing around or cut the Rams off at the pass. A moment invested now can save hundreds of hours of frantic scrambling later. Let’s hope that the Rams front office will place one more bet.