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Is another draft-day trade in the offing for Rams?
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...nother-draft-day-trade-in-the-offing-for-rams
The offseason is here for the Los Angeles Rams and now that we know where they'll be playing their home games for the long term, things have settled down enough to spend our weekends answering a few of your Twitter questions.
As always, you can find me on Twitter @nwagoner and fire away with any Rams-related questions you might have. Please use hashtag #RamsMail so I can see them.
On to your questions.
Derek Jackson @DTheSeaHorse
Q: can you see the Rams trading up for a qb or trading back to collect more picks during draft? Stay put?
@nwagoner: It's the Rams under coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead, which means it would be silly to rule out any scenario. We've seen this team do all of the above in the four years that Fisher and Snead have been running the draft. For the past two years, though, at least when it comes to the first round they've stayed put. This year, it's probably more likely that they stay put again, but my guess is they're more likely to move up than down if they do make a move. Why? Well, because they could use a long-term answer at quarterback, and the chances of landing a franchise quarterback with the 15th pick, while not impossible by any means, are simply not as good as they would be if the Rams moved up. It would seem the Rams would have to move a long way to land the top quarterback (North Dakota State's Carson Wentz), but it's not out of the question that the cost wouldn't be prohibitive to get the second quarterback off the board, perhaps having to jump ahead of San Francisco at No. 7 to make that happen. The Rams do have a little extra ammunition to make a move if they want since they have three picks in the top 45. They also have other needs to address, and while the top quarterbacks look like good prospects, you also have to weigh whether they're good enough to give up a bounty for. Most scouts don't see any quarterbacks in this draft as being as good as Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota from a year ago. If I had to guess -- and at this still relatively early stage it's just a guess -- I'd say the Rams are most likely to stay put, with trading up and trading down finishing second and third, respectively.
Carl Robert @CarlRobert2
Q: How does RG3's signing w/CLE affect Rams QB plans? Stick with the draft? Is there a viable trade option? Any FA's left?
@nwagoner: In case it wasn't clear throughout the process, the Rams really never had serious interest in Robert Griffin III. Any interest there seemed like it might only pop up if Griffin had remained on the market a long time and his price had dropped precipitously. So Griffin signing in Cleveland doesn't change anything about the Rams' approach to their quarterback plans. I've written it here before, but the Rams simply didn't view most of the free-agent options as better choices than Case Keenum, at least not ones that were so obvious that they'd want to pay the price for a player who isn't a clear-cut upgrade. It's been trending toward the Rams drafting a quarterback rather than signing one for a while now, and I still think that's the more likely outcome here. Who that will be and when they do it remains to be seen, but I'd venture to guess it happens sometime in the first two rounds, depending on how things fall.
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...nother-draft-day-trade-in-the-offing-for-rams
The offseason is here for the Los Angeles Rams and now that we know where they'll be playing their home games for the long term, things have settled down enough to spend our weekends answering a few of your Twitter questions.
As always, you can find me on Twitter @nwagoner and fire away with any Rams-related questions you might have. Please use hashtag #RamsMail so I can see them.
On to your questions.
Derek Jackson @DTheSeaHorse
Q: can you see the Rams trading up for a qb or trading back to collect more picks during draft? Stay put?
@nwagoner: It's the Rams under coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead, which means it would be silly to rule out any scenario. We've seen this team do all of the above in the four years that Fisher and Snead have been running the draft. For the past two years, though, at least when it comes to the first round they've stayed put. This year, it's probably more likely that they stay put again, but my guess is they're more likely to move up than down if they do make a move. Why? Well, because they could use a long-term answer at quarterback, and the chances of landing a franchise quarterback with the 15th pick, while not impossible by any means, are simply not as good as they would be if the Rams moved up. It would seem the Rams would have to move a long way to land the top quarterback (North Dakota State's Carson Wentz), but it's not out of the question that the cost wouldn't be prohibitive to get the second quarterback off the board, perhaps having to jump ahead of San Francisco at No. 7 to make that happen. The Rams do have a little extra ammunition to make a move if they want since they have three picks in the top 45. They also have other needs to address, and while the top quarterbacks look like good prospects, you also have to weigh whether they're good enough to give up a bounty for. Most scouts don't see any quarterbacks in this draft as being as good as Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota from a year ago. If I had to guess -- and at this still relatively early stage it's just a guess -- I'd say the Rams are most likely to stay put, with trading up and trading down finishing second and third, respectively.
Carl Robert @CarlRobert2
Q: How does RG3's signing w/CLE affect Rams QB plans? Stick with the draft? Is there a viable trade option? Any FA's left?
@nwagoner: In case it wasn't clear throughout the process, the Rams really never had serious interest in Robert Griffin III. Any interest there seemed like it might only pop up if Griffin had remained on the market a long time and his price had dropped precipitously. So Griffin signing in Cleveland doesn't change anything about the Rams' approach to their quarterback plans. I've written it here before, but the Rams simply didn't view most of the free-agent options as better choices than Case Keenum, at least not ones that were so obvious that they'd want to pay the price for a player who isn't a clear-cut upgrade. It's been trending toward the Rams drafting a quarterback rather than signing one for a while now, and I still think that's the more likely outcome here. Who that will be and when they do it remains to be seen, but I'd venture to guess it happens sometime in the first two rounds, depending on how things fall.