Barring a trade, the Los Angeles Rams won’t have a choice in Thursday’s first round of the NFL draft because of the trade that brought them the first pick in last year’s draft.
“You have to be prepared to go up or down,” general manager Les Snead said Tuesday when asked if there was motivation to move into the first round. “You never know who may fall that we think could help that might be somebody you go get or the price might be too high and you sit back.
You probably go into it with this in mind, `Look, all things are open – – moving up, staying pat, making your pick, going back and adding, maybe more picks to the next rounds.”
The Rams are set to make their first choice during Friday’s second round, the 37th overall selection.
First-year coach Sean McVay said the Rams are seeking “players that can play fast, especially skilled guys that can offer the opportunity to create big plays.”
The Rams have eight choices in the three-day, seven-round draft. They received a compensatory selection in the fourth round based on a formula regarding loss of certain quality unrestricted free agents last year.
The Rams obtained an additional choice in the sixth round because of the March 9 trade of defensive end William Hayes to the Miami Dolphins. The Rams sent their seventh-round choice to the Dolphins as part of the trade.
The Rams acquired the 16th choice in the seventh round in a 2015 trade, which sent receiver Chris Givens to the Baltimore Ravens. Givens caught 19 passes in 12 games with the Ravens in 2015, was released in the offseason and has not played since in the NFL.
Snead said the Rams have installed a sign on the left wall of their “War Room,” where coaches and other team personnel discuss who the team should draft, as “kind of a reminder of what we’re looking for — `Explosive.’
That’s one thing I think you’ll see and hear a lot of us on both sides of the ball,” Snead said.
