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The Los Angeles Rams have been assembling win-now teams for years, attempting to chase a championship – which they won last season after acquiring Matthew Stafford. Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp and Jalen Ramsey also played big roles in their pursuit of a ring, and they’ll remain cornerstones for years to come.
If you were to put all active NFL players in a pool for a draft, it’s likely all four of those Rams stars would go early in the first round. That’s the exercise Chad Reuter of NFL.com went through, assembling a mock draft of active players and attempting to build a win-now team.
In other words, age and future ability was not a factor, only accounting for a player’s current projection in 2022.
Donald was the first Rams player to go at No. 10 overall to – wait for it – the Seahawks. He was also the first non-quarterback, and the only non-quarterback to go in the first 13 picks.
Stafford went to the Browns at No. 13, followed by Ramsey to the Chargers at No. 17 and Kupp to the Saints at No. 18. The draft order was based on the 2022 order of picks.
As for the Rams’ picks, which was in a snake order like fantasy drafts, they came away with a decent haul – though, not better than their current collection of stars with Ramsey, Donald, Stafford and Kupp.
- Round 1: Chris Jones, DT (No. 32 overall)
- Round 2: Matt Ryan, QB (No. 33)
- Round 3: Josh Allen, Edge (No. 96)
- Round 4: Joe Mixon, RB (No. 97)
- Round 5: Amari Cooper, WR (No. 160)
- Round 6: Kendall Fuller, CB (No. 161)
- Round 7: Frank Ragnow, C (No. 224)
Take a look at the full draft here.