With draft season ramping up, it’s all about preparation and film study for NFL front offices. As teams assemble their draft boards and try to find the next generation of football superstars in a pile of prospects, I sat down with “The Mock Draft Guy” Peter Andrisani to talk about prospects and the Rams’ draft strategy. Andrisani is a longtime prospect evaluator and mock draft expert who identifies top prospects and draft tendencies of NFL franchises.
Q: The Los Angeles Rams have a massive hole at left tackle and with their current draft position, Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga could be available for the taking. What are your thoughts on Fuaga, is he able to make the transition from right tackle to left and should he consider making that move or continuing to play right tackle?
Andrisani: I’m a big believer in keeping certain players at their primary position. That’s exactly how I feel about Fuaga. We can both agree that the right tackle and left tackle positions are vastly different. To me, Fuaga’s pass sets will leave him a tad overexposed at the left tackle position. Plus, I think he’ll be off the board by the time the Rams pick. If they were to go the tackle route, I’d look for them to target Amarius Mims, Tyler Guyton, or Jordan Morgan.
Q: Spencer Rattler probably had the best draft stock increase after his performance at the Senior Bowl. Do you believe in the hype and would he fit a Sean McVay offense?
Andrisani: Agreed, Rattler was far and away the best QB at the Senior Bowl this past go around. Rattler is a former blue-chip prospect who persevered through some real colligate adversity. The talents and traits are clearly there, and we’ve finally seen the maturity, I believe in Rattler. McVay’s offense is a perfect system to fall into for Rattler. It caters to most of his strengths. McVay is a brilliant offensive mind that can squeeze every ounce of potential out of seemingly every player. Rattler would benefit greatly from landing in LA.
Q: DB is a position that the Rams need to address. Who are your Day 2/3 guys that you think the Rams should target?
Andrisani: Immediately I’m looking at battle-tested boundary corners for the Rams. I love T.J. Tampa, and Kamari Lassiter in that Round 2 range. If we want to go deeper, D.J. James, Max Melton, Cam Hart, and Khyree Jackson are guys I love in that Late Day 2 range for the Rams.
Q: The interior defensive line talent is off the chart in the draft. At least that is my opinion. Who are your top 5 IDL in the draft so far?
Andrisani: I agree with you to a certain extent. I think the talent at the top of the defensive tackle class is unreal. Then it really starts to tail off after the top 6-8 I would say. My top five currently would be: 1. Jer’Zhan Newton 2. Byron Murphy 3. T’Vondre Sweat 4. Braden Fiske 5. DeWayne Carter/Leonard Taylor
Q: In a prior mock draft, we saw eight wide receivers drafted in the first round. That seems like an overreaction, but is it or will wide receiver stock be at an all-time high?
Andrisani: I believe with the sheer need for wide receivers throughout the NFL this season, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see close to 20 receivers go in the first three rounds. Hell, I have first-round consideration on 10 of them myself. I could see up to eight going in Round 1, but I think the more realistic number is 5-6.
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