LA Rams draft Quentin Lake: Here are 2 prospects left on the board

By the time the LA Rams entered the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft, many of the team’s most urgent roster needs had been adequately addressed. Well, as adequately as starting the draft with the 104th overall pick would allow. But as the team entered the sixth round, the tone of the team’s focus seemed to go from a narrow focus to addressing specific roles on the team and broadening into more general athleticism and overall developmental roles.

With the 211th pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, the LA Rams selected safety Quentin Lake from UCLA. The Rams brought home a very talented safety prospect out of UCLA, a homegrown talent, and there is no doubt that he’s an excellent fit for the Rams’ defense, especially with what they need. Lake is a strong deep coverage prospect who can play several types of deep coverage and has the range to be an effective ball hawk.

However, what if they had chosen to go somewhere else?

OLB James Houston, Jackson State

James Houston transferred to Jackson State from Florida in 2021. Normally, a prospect transferring down between levels doesn’t help them and it isn’t to better your draft stock. However, in Houston’s case, he joined head coach Deion Sanders at Jackson State to build a successful program and took the boost in publicity to get the NFL attention he would have received in Florida.

All he did in 2021 was produce highlight-reel performances on the football field. Houston collected 20 sacks, and 39 tackles, and even intercepted a pass. His physical, intense style was noticeable on tape immediately. My notes spoke glowingly of the HBCU-product:

"Solid speed. Fastest player on the Jackson State defense. Moves very well with some consistency. Strong tackler. Needs to show more discipline. Won’t get away with body slamming players in the NFL. Great wrap-up technique and form. Would like to see him work through traffic better when pursuing the play. Limited working back inside to make a stop on a run play. Works off the edge free very well. Shows decent ability to hold the perimeter when he needs to."

He doesn’t have the size to play as an edge rusher at the next level and would be a much better fit as an outside linebacker at the next level. The Rams are a little bit thin in this area and failed to address this in the draft. We’d expect them to target players like Houston in the undrafted free agents or perhaps bring in a late veteran.

CB Tariq Castro-Fields, Penn State

DB Tariq Castro-Fields is an impressive, versatile cornerback prospect who plays extremely physically. He’s played a lot for Penn State over the last four years and proven to be a good tackler, a versatile coverage prospect, and a reliable cornerback at the Big Ten level.

It’s amazing that the Rams ended up taking Derion Kendrick with the very next pick instead of Castro-Fields, who looks to be a much better fit than Kendrick and tested much better athletically. But, they passed on him and he was selected ten picks later by the San Francisco 49ers with the last pick of the sixth round.

To summarize, the Rams have an awesome prospect in Quentin Lake, who was one of my favorite, later-round prospects in the class. He played so well at the Shrine Bowl in Las Vegas back in early February and he would have been an excellent fit for the Rams.

In the end, the LA Rams chose players true to their board. But as we’ve pointed out throughout this series, choosing one player meant saying no to a number of talented alterantives.