What will LA Rams do with 8 late draft picks in the 2022 NFL Draft?

The LA Rams do have draft picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. In fact, the team has eight draft picks, which is one more than the annual allotment of one pick in each of the draft’s seven rounds. The challenge though is that not one of the picks is among the Top-100 selections. In fact, all but one of the LA Rams draft picks will fall on Day 3, a day when NFL teams target special teams players.

So will that be the LA Rams strategy? If they enter the draft thinking ‘let’s shop for some starters,’ then I think the entire exercise will be futile and extremely disappointing. But if the plan is to choose a punter, a long snapper, and six players who offer little more to the Rams’ roster than punt coverage, then the team is in for a rude awakening as well.

The fact of the matter is that it’s tough to get a read on exactly what the LA Rams strategy may be in the upcoming 2022 NFL Draft. From this distance, it’s still relatively easy to set the Rams shopping list of roster depth needs. We had set a shopping list as IOL, ILB, DB, OLB, OT in a previous article.  That works out rather nicely because the 2022 Draft class is relatively deep and talented in all those positions with the exception of ILB.

Rams Draft: Need or BPA?

Since that article has been published, the Rams find themselves in need of a starting punter as well. And there is a sense that the team may be looking for other areas as well. Will the team look to bolster the roster at the tight end position? Running back? Backup quarterback? Safety? It’s the same exercise every year.  No matter how many or where the draft picks are, there are always more positions in need than picks to use.

So here we are. The LA Rams are through the first wave of the 2022 NFL Free Agency market and still have some shopping to accomplish before pivoting their focus to the NFL Draft. We, on the other hand, can look in any direction at any point in time.

What will the Rams draft look like this year? Will the team intend to restock the talent pipeline? Will the team emphasize athleticism once more, in spite of the fact that so many rookies fell to injury and were not much of an impact? Will the team abandon either approach, and aim at seldom addressed positions like a punter, a backup quarterback, and even a return specialist?

One thing is certain. Don’t expect the team to uncover multiple starters from the 2022 NFL Draft, particularly in their first year in the NFL. That seldom happens when the team has a full complement of draft picks. It will be very unlikely this year when the team will be selecting so often, but so late, in the process.