3 realistic trade scenarios the LA Rams may face during the 2025 NFL Draft

When it comes to the Los Angeles Rams and the methods of preparing for the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, there is only so much the team can do. Much of the work right now is exploring countless mock draft scenarios to allow the team to anticipate who might be there if and when the Rams step up to the podium. That takes a lot of hours to run through, and leads to volumes of additional work to flesh out the portfolios of prospects who may be of interest to the team.

But there is another line of thinking to prepare for as well. The team must not only prepare for prospects who may be on the board when the Rams make a selection. Rams GM Les Snead has to be prepared for the ad hoc trade offers that he will almost certainly be tempted with on draft day. After all, practically every selection the Rams will make through the first two days of the draft will come with trade offers by other teams to pry that pick from the Rams.

The question is: Will the offers make it worth the Rams trading back? Or going the other direction, will the Rams be willing to part with enough trade value to move up the board to be in position to select a highly-coveted rookie?

Since we cannot know how the draft will fall this far out, we can at least try to establish a realistic range for the team. How high can the Rams reach if the situation warrants trading up in Round 1? And if the Rams are not satisfied with their options at the 26th overall pick, how far should the Rams willingly trade back?

Ah, those are intriguing thoughts. And we should be able to get close to the Rams draft limits in terms of range of reach today, a month away from the 2025 NFL Draft's opening. So what is the realistic range for the Rams on draft day? And which teams might be encouraged to become the Rams trade partner? Let's explore some scenarios:

Scenario 3 - Trading back for a Round 2 pick

Invariably, the Rams seem to pay a premium to trade up on draft day, but surrender discounts to trade back. Perhaps the cause is that the Rams know the value of the underlying prospects and seem to paint a more holistic picture of the benefits in moving in the direction that the team elects. In this scenario, we want to explore the feasibility of trading back and just how far the Rams might be willing to go.

The Rams hold the 26th overall pick in Round 1 of the 2025 NFL Draft. Their next pick is the 90th overall pick in Round 3 of the same draft, a gap of 64 selections. Unfortunately, multiple draft analysts view Rounds 2 through 4 as the true strength of this rookie class. Those same draft analysts view the weakest time to make a selection is outside of the Top 10 in Round 1.

Of course, that is a general rule, and some NFL teams will view prospects as elite fits for what they want to do, while draft analysts are limited in their assessment to a more general application of rookies to the NFL at large. If the Rams wanted to trade back to add a Round 2 pick, how far back might the team drop?

Of course, the expectation is that the further the Rams are willing to drop, the more valuable the treasure trove of picks the team gets in return. If we loosely base the value of draft picks on the 2025 NFL Trade Value Chart, the team could be willing to slide back to the 50th overall pick in Round 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft. Any lower, and their trading partner will need to package too many picks to make it worth their while.

Optimally, the Rams best trade back scenarios involve a later Round 1 pick plus a Round 3 pick, or an early Round 2 pick plus an early Round 3 pick. Of course, teams could offer whatever picks they have. And if that team feels it is giving up too much in value, they could demand that the Rams kick in a Round 6 pick to balance the number of selections.

What might trigger offers from other teams? If a talented quarterback, wide receiver, offensive tackle, or cornerback falls to the 26th overall pick, you can look for the Rams phone to ring off the hook. If the Rams are not interested in selecting that player, a willing trade partner will.