3 teams preparing to leapfrog Rams to steal Day 1 targets in 2024 NFL Draft

If you thought that the LA Rams didn't have enough to worry about in the face of options to trade up, trade back, or stand pat with the 19th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, things just became a bit more complicated. It seems that the Seattle Seahawks' 16th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft is becoming increasingly popular among NFL teams thought to have an interest in trading up.

Worst of all, those teams are likely aiming to leapfrog the team because they anticipate their targeted player at 16 could be one of the Rams targets at the 19th overall pick in this draft. To ensure that they get their guy, they seem to be willing to part ways with multiple picks to trade up.

Unfortunately, that will also have the net effect of giving the Seahawks more picks in a draft class that is loaded with talent.

Trading up on draft day is never a certainty. Even if both teams are in full agreement with the terms of the trade itself, the trigger mechanism always depends on the presence of a particular player or players on the draft board who will cause the transaction to occur. In short, if the player targeted by the trade-up team is not on the board, then no trade occurs.

That can sometimes frustrate some fans who insist on seeing is believing. Unless the trade takes place, no negotiations ever took place in their view. But we know from post-draft reporting that there are as many trades that fail to take place as occur simply because a player is selected sooner than expected.

But it's that helter skelter randomness of player selection occuring ahead of their projected spot that causes other players to fall later in the draft than expected. For the Rams sitting at 19, that could prove to be quite fortuitous if the right players fall to them throughout the draft. With that in mind, which teams are preparing to leapfrog ahead of GM Les Snead on Day 1, and who might they be targeting that the Rams may want on Day 1?