4 reasons why Rams must approach the 2025 NFL Draft ever so cautiously

It may strike many readers as a bit controversial if not downright foolish to urge caution over the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft for the Los Angeles Rams. After all, the Rams have been sensational in the past two NFL Drafts, nailing picks up and down the draft board. As an example of the team's excellent eye in the 2024 NFL Draft, the team's first two picks off the board, at 19th and 39th overall selections, finished one and three in the 2024 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting.

Sensational only scratches the surface of how well the team drafted last year.

But the team cannot become complacent. The success enjoyed in the 2023 and 2024 NFL Draft classes are by no means guaranteed to repeat in the 2025 NFL Draft. Skill is only a portion of the contributing factors when selecting a high-quality group of rookies from any draft. Other characteristics that play significant roles to the overall success of any draft is the number of picks, and when those picks are slated to occur.

The final significant contributing factor is the abundance of talent on the draft board itself, and how the other NFL teams deplete the talent from the draft board prior to the Rams selections. Once again, pointing to the Rams own experience in 2024, the team was saved from itself by other teams refusing to trade back and allow the Rams to exchange multiple picks for the right to select Georgia tight end Brock Bowers or Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy II.

Instead, the Rams stood fast at the 19th overall pick, and one of the Top-10 prospects fell to them in the form of Florida State outside linebacker Jared Verse. It was the team's uncanny luck that allowed them to land Verse that prompted the team to trade up for his close friend and competent teammate, DT Braden Fiske.

Based on that chain of events, I suppose that you make a compelling argument for luck to be a significant factor in any successful draft haul. And of late, the Rams have been very effective in getting their share of good fortune as the draft develops. So how is it that I am tapping the brakes and urging caution for a team that should be full-speed ahead as the draft approaches?

Like many areas in professional football, past success does not guarantee future success. That is particularly true for the Rams. Each draft has new prospects. The Rams have varying picks with each new draft. Finally, the team's needs in each draft change considerably. So why am I throwing the caution flag on the Rams? I have four reasons for doing so: