The LA Rams 2021 NFL Draft rewind: Didn’t deliver just yet

Round 2, pick 57

When the LA Rams waited until the 57th pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, the anticipation had built among the fanbase to the point of a near frenzy. This was the team’s first pick of the 2021 Draft class, and as such has as much significance to the team in terms of the prospect selected as it did in terms of symbolic team direction. Would this player help on offense or defense? Would this player add a new dimension to the playbook? Or would the player simply reinforce what the team already did? Depth or starter?

It’s pretty obvious that a good guess for the LA Rams is that they go for an offensive skill player early and often. But this year was hoped to be, expected to be, different. The LA Rams were so loaded from the 2020 Draft class that the team had red-shirted Trishton Jackson and carried J.J. Koskie on the practice squad. With a team drafting to fill projected roster vacancies, the expectation at this pick was to go either offensive lineman or linebacker.

Our original assessment

This is how we looked at the Rams’ first selection:

"We’ve also heard Atwell could be used on punt and kickoff returns but he didn’t do very much of that at Louisville, so there would be a learning curve to become proficient at that skill for the NFL. Of course, he’s McVay’s Lamborghini. His G-6 Learjet. Envisioned to take the top off the opposing defense, create space for the other receivers and force the defense to defend every inch of the field. Too bad he’s just 5-foot-9 because that doesn’t equate to very much vertical stretch. He’s got the horizontal axis covered, though. For as the experts so often say, you can’t coach speed. And Atwell’s a legitimate blazer. The NFL field is 100 yards long and 53.333 yards wide. Speed and height are the only two ways to expand it. Surely, as the Rams watched two other speedy WRs in Elijah Moore and D’Wayne Eskridge come off the board earlier, then Atwell became more attractive to them… Draft Grade: B-"

Of course, now we have the benefit of the LA Rams’ first season with the player.

Our revised assessment

The selection of a small but speedy wide receiver whose projected value was Day 3 was a puzzler, that’s for sure. Who makes these decisions? Is it a personnel department random selection of their “best player on the board”? Or is this more likely a case of the coaching staff, courtesy of the head coach, giving the command of “I want this guy” in a manner that resembles that of a child at the candy stand of a checkout counter?

It was asserted in the original assessment that the LA Rams had 5-foot-9 185-pound wide receiver Elijah Moore targeted. He was drafted earlier in Round 2 by the New York Jets and has put up 43 catches from 77 targets for 538 yards and five touchdowns, good enough for a respectable rookie score of 70.8 from Pro Football Focus.com.  Or it may have been about losing D’Wayne Eskridge to the Seattle Seahawks at 56, a selection that has not delivered very well. He’s put up just 10 of 20 catches for 64 yards and one touchdown.

This was not about the best player available. It was not even about the best player on the LA Rams Draft Board. This was a player selected for a role that was predetermined, a role at special teams that Atwell was unsuitable to fill, and fixating upon filling that role at the expense of improving the overall team. Perhaps the sense at the time was that newly arrived veteran quarterback. Matthew Stafford, needed fast receivers to stretch the field. After swinging and missing with veteran DeSean Jackson and rookie Tutu Atwell, that theory can be put to rest.

This is not to say that the Rams must “hit” on each pick. But the swing and a whiff at their first and most important pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, at least in terms of the 2021 NFL Season impact, was a setback. The Rams chose a prospect who was earmarked for special teams with no special teams background. Meanwhile, an offensive center prospect named Creed Humphrey was still there on the board, a position the LA Rams desperately needed to fill. Just ask any LA Rams fan. Seriously? It still disappoints to think about it.

Draft Grade: D+