In Sean McVay’s second year as a head coach, the Los Angeles Rams were without first- and second-round picks. Adding starting-caliber players in that class was always going to be difficult, with the team’s first selection coming in Round 3.
After the draft wrapped up, there appeared to be some quality picks by the Rams – namely, Micah Kiser, Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and John Kelly, who were all taken in the fifth or sixth round. But overall, there weren’t many surefire starters, if any at all.
It turns out, not a single rookie from the Rams’ class made a start in 2018. According to ESPN, the Rams’ rookies played just 573 offensive and defensive snaps that year, the fewest of any team in the NFL.
Their top pick, Joseph Noteboom, played 78 snaps, mostly in Week 17 after Andrew Whitworth injured his knee in a win over the 49ers. Brian Allen, their fourth-rounder, played 36 snaps as a rookie. John Franklin-Myers, who was selected in the fourth round, as well, was their most productive rookie with 301 snaps played, two sacks and 10 total tackles.
That says a lot about the state of the Rams’ rookies after one year in the NFL.
But that group of players is exactly why a draft class can’t properly be judged after one season. If you would have looked at the Rams’ 2018 haul after their rookie year, you may not have thought many of the 11 players would go on to sign second contracts four years down the line.
Now that we are four years removed from that draft, it’s clear the Rams knew what they were doing and found some diamonds in the rough. And those players are beginning to get paid.
Noteboom landed a three-year, $40 million contract from the Rams this week at the start of the legal tampering period of free agency. The Rams also gave Allen a three-year, $24 million extension after he was a key starter in 2021.
Sebastian Joseph-Day, a sixth-round pick, got paid handsomely by the Chargers, earning a three-year, $24 million deal from Los Angeles. The Jets took full advantage of the Rams’ mistake by cutting Franklin-Myers in 2019, immediately claiming him off waivers and then signing him to a four-year, $55 million extension last October.
Okoronkwo is being signed by the Texans this week, Kiser was a part-time starter with the Rams and Broncos, and Travin Howard has a chance to start alongside Ernest Jones next season – assuming the Rams retain him as a restricted free agent.
For a draft class that was without a single pick in the first two rounds, the Rams certainly got a lot out of the group. You just wouldn’t have known that after one year.
[listicle id=667300]