Analyzing the financial impact of the LA Rams 2022 draft class

Safeties

The LA Rams made a rather surprising discovery in the NFL Playoffs. Their best safety play of the season came at the hands of a just-retired veteran and a bench player. Seriously, the Rams’ secondary played far better than expected given the circumstances. So now the question is, what will the front office do with that information?  It appears that they intend to make the Rams’ secondary far more competitive this year.

Pick 211: SS Quentin Lake – $738,004
Pick 253: S Russ Yeast -$724,252

The Rams’ selection of UCLA’s Quentin Lake was a solid move. While he is unlikely to be competing as an opening kickoff starter, he has the right size at 6-foot-1 and 201-pounds to muscle up this year and perhaps be a rotational contributor before the season is over. He is another prospect who was discounted by lack of perceived NFL speed. But the Rams have proven that football speed is not the same as track speed when they started DB Jordan Fuller the past two seasons.

Russ Yeast is a very intriguing prospect. Standing 5-foot-10 and weighing 192-pounds, Yeast is conceptually too small to be an effective NFL safety, and too slow to be an effective NFL cornerback. So what can the LA Rams do with him? Well, one thought that comes to mind is to use him in a similar fashion as that of a veteran player who was linked to the Rams, Tyrann Mathieu.

Yeast is fairly quick at 4.58-seconds on a 40-yard dash. He may be smaller at safety, but he can bring down receivers. And he picked off four passes in his final year when he played for Kansas State. In fact, all of the Rams’ rookie defensive backs have a strong ability to generate turnovers.

And so, the LA Rams have rebuilt their roster on a very tight budget. In fact, their draft came in at $6,282,043 per Over the Cap, which comes in at last place in terms of draft spending. The Rams make use of virtually every salary cap dollar.  After analyzing the financial impact of the LA Rams 2022 draft class, we can see how the draft impacts their finances.