Will other NFL teams mimic LA Rams “F*** them picks” strategy?

The LA Rams have embraced a new and innovative strategy to building a successful team roster. So far, traditionalists have chided and ridiculed the Rams for having the audacity to trade future draft picks for present-day game-changing NFL talent.

It’s been a strategy that has been building for some time and is very situationally dependent. The Rams traded for DB Jalen Ramsey in exchange for first-round draft picks because he was on the trade block. The same can be said for QB Matthew Stafford and even OLB Von Miller. The strategy has worked well because no other team has embraced building their roster in this way.

So far, that is.

Imitation is the best form of compliment

But how long before another NFL team tries their hand at that? You can bet that if the LA Rams win Super Bowl LVI, other teams will try their hand at it.  After all, the NFL is a copycat league. But the LA Rams did not come up with the methods that they are currently embracing. Rather, they have simply improved upon the tools that other teams have built.

Remember that it was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who proved that adding a veteran successful quarterback like Tom Brady can generate instant results at winning a Super Bowl. Or when the Denver Broncos signed veteran QB Peyton Manning in 2012, who led them to a Super Bowl victory four years later.

Safer? Better?

Considering the history of the NFL, the LA Rams really are not doing anything new. The organization has simply placed an LA Rams spin on historically tried-and-true methods. Rather than spend whatever the market demands on a free agent, the team can control salary costs by trading for game-changing talent that is still under contract. That strategy, viewed by many as riskier, actually limits the variables.

The Reader’s Digest version? It’s safer to do in the long run.

Better results? Safer process? Yeah, the Rams won’t be the only game in town with this strategy for long. The one true thing that the team has added to this process is the willingness to forego the potential of future first-round draft picks in order to add game-changing NFL talent today.

So far, the Rams have remained one of the most successful teams in the NFL, returning to the Super Bowl for their second time in five seasons. Of course, you can already sense the doomsday vultures circling overhead if the Rams lose. Many already have written their narratives about how unconventional methods simply don’t work.

But should the Rams win? Well, a different story will be told. In that scenario, we’ll be facing an onslaught of other teams trying to add great talent from unsuccessful teams to successful ones at a pretty rapid rate. If and when that happens? The Rams organization will simply make use of a new and innovative strategy. After all, these Rams are better at leading the way, than following behind someone else.