The three other NFC West teams can continue their offseason improvement, with all eyes on the 49ers’ quarterback pick at No. 3.
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NFL draft: Rams have no pick but lots of intrigue in round 1
The Rams will spend the next three days trying to keep up with the Joneses.
Or trying to keep up with the Fieldses or the Lances, depending on which star college quarterback the San Francisco 49ers choose with the third pick in the NFL draft beginning Thursday night.
Having traded away their first-round pick for the fifth year in a row, Rams general manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay should have time Thursday to watch what their NFC West neighbors are up to.
What those teams do, as much as what the Rams do when their six scheduled picks start coming up with No. 57 on Friday, will determine just how much tougher the league’s deepest division gets next season.
“The main focus is always kind of looking at ourselves,” McVay said Tuesday. “But we always want to be mindful of those matchups that are going to be important. The first goal every year is to try and win your division.
“So you look at what each of these teams is doing, and what’s going to be the best way to present (yourself) so that when you face these teams twice each year, you give yourself a chance to create those edges.”
Said Snead: “We’re all probably aware of the window we’re in. We’re all trying to, let’s call it, get an edge on one another. We’re all being aggressive in the way we’re trying to get ahead.”
They sure have. That’s one reason odds posted after major trades and free-agent moves showed the NFC West to be the most wide-open NFL division. At Covers.com, the Rams are 9-5 favorites to win the West, but the 49ers and Seattle Seahawks are right behind at 2-1 and 11-4; the win-total line has all four teams at .500 or better, the Rams at 10-1/2, 49ers at 10-1/2, Seahawks at 9-1/2, and the Arizona Cardinals at 8.
The Rams led off, making the division’s – maybe the sport’s – splashiest move of this offseason when they traded quarterback Jared Goff in a package with 2021-22 first-round picks to acquire big-armed passer Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions.
But their rivals responded:
• The Cardinals signed defensive end J.J. Watt, the three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year and two-time NFL sacks leader, away from the Houston Texans.
The Cardinals lost free agent cornerback Patrick Peterson to the Minnesota Vikings, but are expected to use the 16th pick Thursday to secure a more than adequate replacement in Caleb Farley (Virginia Tech) or Jaycee Horn (South Carolina).
Arizona picks again, in the second round at No. 49 overall on Friday, before the Rams take their first turn.
• The Seahawks nearly one-upped the Rams in the quarterback-moves department when they entertained a trade offer from the Bears for Russell Wilson in March, before Chicago signed Andy Dalton from the Dallas Cowboys.
The Seahawks raided the Rams for tight end Gerald Everett, new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and run-game coordinator Andy Dickerson, and re-signed most of their big free agents.
They have no first-round pick and only three in all, partly because of 2020 trades for safety Jamal Adams and defensive end Carlos Dunlap that helped them to the division title. But don’t assume they’re finished. The Wilson trade rumor mill is still churning.
• Joining the Rams and Seahawks in the open season on former Super Bowl quarterbacks, the 49ers prepared to move on from Jimmy Garoppolo when they traded this year’s 12th and 102nd picks and 2022 and 2023 first-rounders to the Miami Dolphins to get Thursday’s third pick.
With Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence a lock to go No. 1 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and BYU quarterback Zach Wilson likely to go No. 2 to the New York Jets, the Niners can have their choice of QBs Mac Jones (Alabama), Justin Fields (Ohio State) or Trey Lance (North Dakota State).
Coach Kyle Shanahan said after the trade of picks that the idea isn’t to find an immediate replacement for Garoppolo, who is 29, signed through 2022 and quarterbacked the Niners in their Super Bowl loss to the Kansas City Chiefs following the 2019 season.
“We’ve got a guy in here we know we can win with, a guy that our players love, that we love,” Shanahan said. “We’re excited to have him this year, and we’re excited to have a hell of a quarterback right behind him, learning for when the time’s his.”
Meanwhile, back in Malibu … the Rams said Snead and McVay tested negative for COVID-19 for a third consecutive day after coming into contact with an infected person Monday.
The two plan to take their positions at the Rams’ rented “draft house” in Malibu on Friday after taking in the first round of the draft from their own homes Thursday night just to be completely coronavirus-cautious.
“Don’t expect much action from us on Thursday, unless we maybe trade up into the first round, which, knowing Les and the Rams, you never know,” McVay said Tuesday, his tone making it clear he was teasing.
To hear McVay tell it, the Rams “don’t have any major, glaring holes” to fill in this draft. But they do have depth to replenish after losing free agents from nine position groups. An early pick at center, cornerback or linebacker – or a wide receiver with punt- and kick-returning chops – could play a serious role this season.
L.A. is scheduled for the 57th pick (round 2), then the 88th (round 3), 103rd (round 3), 141st (round 4), 209th (round 6) and 252nd (round 7). Their first-round pick went to Jacksonville with their 2020 first-rounder in the 2019 trade for cornerback Jalen Ramsey. If Snead makes one or more trades for the ninth time in his 10 Rams drafts, it could be to swap the 57th pick for multiple lower picks.
Until then, they can spy on the 49ers, Seahawks and Cardinals.
Even in April, McVay said, “It’s a really competitive division.”
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