The Los Angeles Rams pushed all their chips into the middle of the table to get to Super Bowl 56.
General manager Les Snead continued his tradition of mortgaging draft picks in order to build a win-now team. The Rams will go from 2017 through 2023 without a single first-rounder. They likely won’t select a player in 2022 until after the first 100 picks.
They’ve relied on expensive veterans rather than low cost rookies. It’s paid off. Jalen Ramsey has provided All-Pro man-to-man coverage capable of erasing other teams’ top wideouts. Matthew Stafford has given head coach Sean McVay the kind of deep ball gunslinger capable of operating his offense the way Jared Goff — coincidentally, the team’s last first round pick — could not. Von Miller, shipped away for second- and third-round selections this season, has only gotten stronger as the season goes on, tallying seven sacks and 10 quarterback hits in his last seven games.
That stockpile of veterans gives LA’s latest Super Bowl appearance a bit of a do-or-die quality. Their history suggests a reload may not be as difficult as their current roster build suggests. Here’s how the Rams built a conference champion in five complicated steps.