LA Rams Draft: Rams 2023 draft picks and beyond

The LA Rams are not exactly a team that is currently known as an NFL team that has built its roster through the NFL Draft. But if you stop, look, and listen, that is exactly how this team’s roster has been built. Now, I’m not suggesting that the team has built its roster in a normal traditional way. But the Rams organization has deemed that more value exists to exchange the uncertainty of NFL Draft picks to other teams in return for bona fide game-changing veterans.

In the 2022 NFL Draft, seven other NFL teams felt the same way.

So the NFL’s perspective on the value of drafted rookies is on the wane. Does that mean that draft picks are valueless? Not at all. It simply means that NFL teams have historically overvalued draft picks compared to proven performing NFL veterans. Now that relationship is changing rapidly, the eventual relationship could overvalue veterans at some point.

Rams pick on Day 1 in the 2024 NFL Draft (for now)

When that happens, you can expect the LA Rams to lead NFL organizations in exchanging players for picks. But until that happens, the Rams will likely continue to invest their draft picks into specific players.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Of course, as the 2024 NFL Draft is now less than two years away, and with it, the LA Rams will finally have draft picks on Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3. Will it remain that way?  That’s a hard call, particularly in light of the fact that the team has been more than happy to spend first-round picks on game-changing players.

But at some point, the trades will dry up, salary dollars will be overcommitted, and the powerhouse LA Rams will need to restock the roster via the NFL Draft once more. How soon will that happen? Well, the team has locked up Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp, and Matthew Stafford for the next three years. After that? Who can say? So let’s look at the next three years of LA Rams draft picks.