Architect of Stafford trade proclaims Rams Verse/Fiske haul 'dream scenario'

Whatever you may or may not think that you know about the LA Rams draft board entering the 2024 NFL Draft, let's clear your mind. What I am about to share is not something I received via a draft day text from an LA Rams insider, nor is it information that is exclusively mine. It's public information. But connecting the dots is where the true story lies. And with so many narratives about the LA Rams strategy with Days 1 and 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft, it's easy to connect the dots out of order.

To start this discussion, we must travel back to the end of the 2020 NFL season, and revisit the mood of the Rams football team after failing to advance past the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field in the Divisional Round of the 2021 NFL Playoffs. At that time, the heroics of then quarterback Jared Goff, who braved the cold of the frozen tundra with an injured thumb on his throwing hand, was met with a pretty antagonistic reaction from Rams HC Sean McVay.

In the social media Tweet below, the Rams leak a preview of their Behind the Grind series. And at the 0:30 mark, something special happens.

LA Rams head coach is speaking while the video footage in the background plays the scene of Florida State outside linebacker Jared Verse learning about his selection by the Rams at the 19th overall pick in Round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft. But the narration is coming from Rams Head Coach Sean McVay, who is telling a different story:

"If you told me that we would pull (OLB Jared) Verse and (DT Braden) Fiske off, that would be unbelievable. That would really be a dream scenario."

Rams HC Sean McVay

If you follow the narration, overlay that to the events that transpired, and then reconcile everything that happened with the knowledge that this team did not enter the 2024 NFL Draft, armed with their first Day 1 pick since hiring HC Sean McVay in 2017, without a concrete plan, you can begin to acknowledge and admire the tenacity and surgical skill of Rams GM Les Snead.

The Rams clearly sought drafting both of former Florida State Seminoles defensive stars: Outside linebacker Jared Verse and defensive tackle Braden Fiske. Now the question is, why?

What makes the Jared Verse/Braden Fiske tandem so critical for the Rams in 2024?

The reason why the Rams coaching staff and front office fixated on selecting both Jared Verse and Braden Fiske to the team in the same 2024 NFL Draft has origins on several fronts. But let's begin with the 2023 NFL Draft and the manner in which OLB Byron Young and NT Kobie Turner shattered the old template and forced the team to reforge a new one. After the 2023 NFL Draft, both Young and Turner became fast friends, which led to a friendly rivalry throughout the 2023 NFL season. Ultimately, It was Turner who emerged atop their quarterback sack quest, recording 9.0 sacks to Young's 8.0 sacks.

In the end, the Rams added a pair of rookies who were the pace setters for the entire rookie class of 2023. The Rams duo led all rookies from their draft class in quarterback sacks. And the pair forged that excellence out of a friendly rivalry that began in OTAs. That was not lost on the powers-than-be in the Rams football organization whatsoever. But before we pursue this avenue of thought any further, we must pivot to another seismic event that led the the Rams unique draft strategy.

All-Pro defensive tackle Aaron Donald opted to retire after the 2023 NFL season had concluded.

That may or may not have been common knowledge among the team's personnel executives and coaching staff, but the sheer impact to this defense is huge nevertheless. There is only so much preparation that you can do if you know that a natural disaster is coming your way. Oftentimes, the best strategy is to flee the affected area. But the team could not run from this one.

Somehow, some way, the front office must retool the defense to compete without Aaron Donal in 2024. The question is: How?

It takes a village . . .

The need to somehow make up for the absence of Aaron Donald in 2024 is not something that any one player can take on individually. Even the greatest pass rushers of the modern NFL have the advantage of chasing quarterbacks off the edge, limiting the offensive line from opposing teams in regards to double teaming that player to an offensive tackle and tight end, or perhaps a stout running back. So the coaches and front office could not simply 'sign a guy,' from the 2024 NFL Free Agency market in the hopes of compensating the team's pass rush.

But the team could sign multiple players, or rather select them in the 2024 NFL Draft, and not only add the players themselves, but add their NCAA chemistry. The most obvious tandem who not only possessed the individual talents to start in the NFL, but whose collegiate chemistry would make them a force to be reckoned with, was clearly Florida State Seminoles OLB Jared Verse and DT Braden Fiske.

But adding both Seminoles defensive stars would be nothing short of a miraculous draft. After all, the Rams top two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft were at the 19th overall pick, followed by the 52nd overall pick. That meant that from the time the Rams selected the first of two Seminoles to the roster, they would be at the mercy of 32 other selections before they had a chance to select the other player and complete the set.

Still, the strategy was sound. More than sound, it was inspired. No single player can hope to manufacture what Aaron Donald delivered day in and day out for this defense. But a pair of highly productive college teammates could certainly place a dent in the defense's Donald-deficit.

And even NFL Insiders and analysts who understand the inner workings of professional football sat up and took notice:

This was more than an emotional reunion on draft day. This was a pair of high achievers who take their jobs in the NFL so seriously that they arrive before anyone to study opponents as part of a defensive breakfast club. It is common knowledge that the Rams offense has a breakfast club in which QB Matthew Stafford and WR Cooper Kupp review video footage together.

Now, the Rams defense could boast their own breakfast club for the 2024 NFL season. That is certainly a very positive development.

How much of a premium did the Rams pay to select two Seminoles in the 2024 NFL Draft?

After the LA Rams traded a pretty valuable package to trade up from their 52nd overall pick to the 39th overall pick in Round 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft to select defensive tackle Braden Fiske, there was an immediate outcry from draft analysts that believed the Rams paid far too much to move up in that round.

If you recall, the Rams were forced to package a trio of picks that included their Round 2 pick from the 2025 NFL Draft to acquire the rights to draft Braden Fiske, a trade that certainly skewed in the Carolina Panthers favor in terms of the currency value of all picks involved in the exchange. The trade itself looked like this:

In terms of the value exchanged, the LA Rams pick (39th overall) was valued on the Draft value chart at 510. For the Carolina Panthers, their haul included three picks (52nd overall, 155th overall, and a 2025 Round 2 pick) whose values worked out to 380+29.4+380 =789.4. That value is the equivalent of a Round 1 pick, somewhere in the mid-20s overall. So, on paper, the Panthers received a lot of value.

Or, did they?

In assessing draft picks, fans and draft analysts get so caught up focusing on the perceived value of draft picks that they lose sight of the forest for the trees. The true value of any NFL Draft pick is not in the pick itself, but rather the quality of player that pick becomes when used, or spent, in an NFL Draft. What that means is that not all first overall picks were created equally. In the past ten NFL drafts, the first overall pick has translated into the following players:

1. 2015 - QB Jameis Winston (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
2. 2016 - QB Jared Goff (LA Rams)
3. 2017 - DE Myles Garrett (Cleveland Browns)
4. 2018 - QB Baker Mayfield (Cleveland Browns)
5. 2019 - QB Kyler Murray (Arizona Cardinals)
6. 2020 - QB Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals)
7. 2021 - QB Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville Jaguars)
8. 2022 - DE Travon Walker (Jacksonville Jaguars)
9. 2023 - QB Bryce Young (Carolina Panthers)
10. 2024 - QB Caleb Williams (Chicago Bears)

In retrospect, not all first overall players selected from the above list are created equally. Some have gone on to lead their teams to become perennial post-season powerhouses. Others? Not so much. But the point being made is that it's the player selected, and not the pick itself, that has the intrinsic value in any NFL draft.

A matching set is far more valuable

I had argued that a failure by the Rams front office to trade up to acquire DT Braden Fiske with the 39th overall pick would have been the greater evil, and I stand on that claim.

While there is value to some things, we know all too well that a complete set of something is far more valuable than the sum of individual parts. Collectors know that instinctively. But even common items in a household can illustrate that point too. A serving set for a family of four is much less valuable if plates are broken, and the service falls to three and a half. Or if you lose a shoe or a sock, what good is the remaining item?

When the Rams drafted both OLB Jared Verse and DT Braden Fiske, I compared to weights for a barbell set. Getting just one was fine. But adding both prospects to this defensive roster not only adds their individual talents and strengths, but it also brings with it all of the positive chemistry that these two players forged throughout their playing days at Florida State.

And it's already beginning to show at the Rams OTAs.

The most difficult transition for any rookie prospect attempting to forge a career in the NFL is not re-learning how to play the game of football. It's the time required to learn and complement their teammates. That takes time, and plenty of practice, particularly at a position that needs cohesion and communication to pull off positive plays.

Fiske and Verse arrive with that communication and instinctive understanding of one another already baked in. That gives them a fast-track path to developing into true NFL starters for the 2024 NFL season.

Of course, the rest is up to them. The NFL is not a red carpet premier for rookie prospects, no matter how much praise and hype goes into the process that gets rookie prospects from the college ranks to the pros. But we can all rest assured that the pair of Jared Verse and Braden Fiske have gotten a solid send-off for their professional football careers. I expect that neither player will let the other fail going forward.

As always, thank you for reading.