Why Rams learned from and after the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine

The Los Angeles Rams have just one pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Day 1. It's the 26th overall pick. The Rams have two picks in the 2025 NFL Draft on Day 2. However, they are projected to fall on the 90th and 101st overall picks. Finally, the Rams have four more picks on Day 3 of the NFL Draft. The challenge for the Rams is that 64 selection gap between Round 1 and Round 3.

Will it hurt the team's ability to draft starters in Round 3? Will the team be immobilized by witnessing talented players come off the board by the dozens before it returns to the draft podium? I don't think that will be the case. In a recent Rams mock draft, I used one of the more popular draft strategies mentioned among fans for this year's draft: I traded back.

It wasn't meant to become a 'trade back' mock draft scenario. But on this particular occasion, with the team stepping up to make a selection with the 26th overall pick, neither TE Tyler Warren nor Colston Loveland were on the board. So, with three trade offers, I chose to move back into early Round 2 and pick up a Round 3 pick.

I did so because the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine had played out, and a number of talented prospects who were thought to hear their names called out in Round 1 of the draft will fall to Round 2. It's not that there is an abundance of elite talent in this draft. It's that there are so many NFL-starting caliber rookie prospects available in this draft.

The team has specific positional needs entering the 2025 NFL Draft. However you view the urgency of those positional needs, there is also the element of how historically successful are NFL teams at succeeding when making selections for those positions in specific rounds of the draft. We revisited those success-, or 'hit', rates in a recent article. By doing so, we uncovered another layer regarding what the Rams are facing in this draft.

To optimize the overall impact of eight picks, the Rams front office may need to choreograph when they craft specific positions to get the most overall upgrades to the roster. And it all starts with their 26th overall pick in Round 1.

Rams can find optimal value at 26

NFL Insider Adam Schefter appeared on the Pat McAfee Show at the end of February 2025 and was asked to describe the consensus of how NFL Draft analysts and GMs view this year's rookie class. The feeling is that the true value of this draft runs in Rounds 3-5. The Rams, curiously, have three picks in those rounds.

The second point that Schefter makes is that a player drafted at 10th overall will be similar in value to the player selected at 35th overall. While that means parity among players, it could ignite a flurry of trades early in the draft as individual team big boards will be far different in the assessments of individual players. If a team loves a player at 26 who is still on the board, and the Rams have a half dozen or so prospects who are relatively equal in value, the Rams could trade back five spots penalty free, and hopefully pick up additional picks in the process.

But this could also set the stage for the LA Rams to trade up. If the Rams love one tight end in this rookie class, they are unlikely to sit back and hope that player makes it to them at 26th overall, particularly after two previous drafts of trying to trade up. If the team is particularly enamored with TE Tyler Warren out of Penn State, TE Colston Loveland of Michigan, or some other worthy rookie prospect, then a trade up could make sense to ensure that the team gets the right player.

This parity of rookie prospects may play right into the Rams hands. Since the team has never shied away from draft day trades, the tema will enter this draft with immense flexibility. That may be something the Rams are able to use to great advantage.

It all certainly seems to make for an exciting draft event once more. As always, thanks for reading.

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