This shouldn’t surprise anyone, but the Los Angeles Rams are interested in trading back in the draft to stockpile picks. With only six selections from Round 2-7, the Rams have already talked to teams about potentially moving down from No. 57 overall.
General manager Les Snead told reporters that the Rams have had “exploratory talks” with other teams and expects them to continue from now until Los Angeles goes on the clock in the second round.
“We GMs start talking this time of year. The answer is a yes on a few. Historically, when you’re picking 57th, a little late in the second round, at the end of the day, there’s a supply and demand factor that comes into it,” he said. “But historically, those picks have been traded often because a team that may be sitting in the third round maybe has more capital, wants to move up just to jump a few teams. So, I do think the exploratory talks will continue between now and then. But again, could happen a lot on Friday, but I think at that pick, there will have to be teams behind us that a player falls to that pick and they want to go get him. That’s kind of how those economics work.”
The Rams will have plenty of potential trade partners either later in the second round or even early in the third. The Jets have two third-rounders and might want to package them to move up to No. 57 overall. The Lions are in the same boat with two thirds at Nos. 72 and 101, giving them the ammo to jump from the third to the second round if they want.
The Rams would ideally like to add an extra third- or fourth-rounder by moving back, potentially giving them even more picks in the top 110 or so. They’ll have a hard time filling all their needs with only six selections, so moving down is absolutely something they should consider – and it sounds like they already are.