LA Rams pay expensive toll to Buccaneers to trade back for extra picks

The LA Rams wanted to emerge from the 2022 NFL Draft with more picks than they entered with. After all, eight picks was a good number, but the Rams recognized the value in the 2022 NFL Draft class was in the sheer volume of rookie prospects who might develop into significant NFL players. So the trick in this draft was not so much trying to pick THE player, so much as it was about trying to pick as many players as possible.

And then, the LA Rams traded up in Round 5, converting their own fifth-round and a seventh-round pick into an earlier pick in that round. In our article featuring that trade, we pointed out that the LA Rams received more value in that exchange.

How did we determine that? By using a website called Calculator Soup.com. It is set up to allow data input for the draft picks from each of the two NFL teams involved in the exchange. Once the picks are typed into the appropriate columns, clicking the calculate button spits out the details of this particular trade.

So in this case, the LA Rams traded a late sixth-round pick at 218 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for two seventh-round picks at 235 and 261.

So how did that trade stand up when run through the calculator?

1. Team                  LA Rams                 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2. Picks traded         218                                    235, 261
3. Value traded              5.2                                      1.9
4. Gain/Loss%           (63.46%)                            173.68%

After this assessment, it seems rather clear that trading back to increase the number of picks held by the team was going to cost the team trading back a premium. Was it worth it? To truly know that, it will take several years to determine if the players selected at 235 and 261 developed into NFL-caliber players. So who were they?

Pick 235: Edge Daniel Hardy

Pick 261: Michigan State OT A.J. Arcuri

The Rams ended up adding two players for the cost of just one draft pick. Will they pan out? We can only hope that they do.  But the LA Rams do have a solid track record for succeeding in that endeavor, so don’t expect anything less.