After thrilling Day 1, LA Rams set up for great NFL Draft Day 2 harvest

Oh, what a night! While the LA Rams never did trade up into Round 1 (did you really expect the team to do so?), the 2023 NFL Draft board appears to be ripe for a huge LA Rams harvest for Day 2. How so? If you go by the NFL Draft Tracker on NFL.com, then you see that seven of the Top-20 prospects on their 2023 NFL Draft board are still available. So how many of their Top-36 prospects remain on the board? 15 of the Top 36 prospects remain.

And that is just the overall draft board. What about some positions that the LA Rams have been cited as needing? Well, we cited offensive tackles, edge rushers, and defensive backs as the greatest needs in the 2023 NFL Draft. But if you want to be pragmatic, then the LA Rams can make productive use of virtually any position selected in the 2023 NFL Draft. So which positions are ripe for the LA Rams at 36?

Some of the positions that have not had anyone selected in the 2023 NFL Draft that could be targeted by the LA Rams included offensive center, defensive end, offensive guard, safety, and all but one tight end.

There are even multiple quarterbacks who had first-round projections: Kentucky QB Will Levis and Tennessee QB Hendon Hooker, who remain on the draft board.

Rams phone at 36 will be ringing off the hook

NFL teams use the intermission between Round 1 and Round 2 to reset their draft boards, identify and isolate those players who they thought might be selected, and determine any and all picks that are worth trading up for in Round 2. With seven of the NFL.com's Top 20 picks still available, you can bet that the LA Rams will be well-positioned to get a lot of interest in that 36th overall pick.

Who might call? The Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, and Green Bay Packers are awash with picks right now, as are the Houston Texans, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Texans have already proven to be willing to trade up. If they like who falls to pick 36, what might a trade-up with the LA Rams look like?

If the Rams accept this offer, the Texans are in a prime position to add one more key contributor to jumpstart their rebuild. Why would the Rams be willing to do so? The added third round pick would give the team four picks in the Top 80 selections of this draft, and give them a commanding position to dictate terms in Round 3.

Better yet, it gives the Rams a far better pick, either 65 or 66, with which to trade back into Rounds 4 and 5 and not lose the chance to select three players from the Top-80 prospects of this draft. Will the Rams trade back in Round 2? Perhaps, and then again, perhaps not. But I believe that the way the draft has gone so far has enhanced the offers the Rams will get to tempt them into doing so.

Either way, the LA Rams Day 2 of the 2023 NFL Draft is looking better all the time.