Trading up into 1st round in 2027

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Reverse Simpson

I've been thinking about whether the Rams should try to trade up into the bottom of the 1st round in next year's draft. The way this would work is just the opposite of a trade we did in 2025.

In the 2025 draft, the Atlanta Falcons ended up with two picks in the 1st round, because they traded up from the 2nd to jump into our slot. In the trade, the Rams ended up with pick 46 (2nd round), Terrance Ferguson, a 7th rounder (242) Konata Mumpfield and a future 1st round pick that became Ty Simpson. In return, the Falcons got the pass rusher they wanted at slot 26, James Pearce Jr., and a 3rd rounder (101), which they traded up from to get Xavier Watts. It is too early to tell for sure, but there are encouraging signs for both teams in this trade, so it is possible that it will work out great for each side.

Pearce had 10.5 sacks as a rookie but got suspended for half of the 2026 season for domestic violence incident. Watts also had an excellent rookie season with 5 INTs. If it weren't for the possibility that Pearce's off-field behavior could destroy his career, the Falcons potentially got 2 very good defensive starters out of the transaction.

On our side, we potentially got our franchise QB of the future, a high-level TE receiving weapon and Mumpfield might prove to be at least a decent backup WR. By acquiring the future 1st round pick (speculative as to which slot it would be) the trade allowed the Rams to get a QB in the next draft. Jaxson Dart was the QB taken right before the slot traded to the Falcons. If the Rams had taken the next QB, it would have been Tyler Shough. Would you rather have Simpson or Dart/Shough? Personally, I'd rather have Simpson. So, even if we ignore the Ferguson part of the trade, and focus solely on the QB, I think things worked out pretty well for the Rams.

Other teams similarly have moved up pretty far to get into the bottom of the 1st round. In 2018, the Ravens didn't even have to use a 1st rounder, they got pick 32 (Lamar Jackson) and a 4th rd pick from the Eagles by trading pick 52 (2nd round), a 4th rounder (125) and their 2019 2nd round pick. The Eagles traded up from that 2nd round pick to get Dallas Goedert. The 2019 second rounder became Miles Sanders, a Pro Bowl RB for Philly. In 2020, the Eagles drafted Jalen Hurts, so even though the Ravens got an MVP QB, the Eagles still came out great in the trade.

A key reason I think a trade partner would be keen on acquiring a 2028 1st round pick from the Rams is because as I mentioned elsewhere, the 2028 draft could be stacked at QB. That pick could end up being much more valuable than the trade chart number. To illustrate, if we use the Rich Hill chart, you could package pick 15 and 28 to get all the way up to pick 3. So, even if a team thinks they could be playoff contenders in 2027, getting that extra 1st rounder is ammunition that could be used to upgrade their slot and make a move for one of the top QBs. Alternatively, if there are enough talented QBs, a team might not have to trade up at all. Just as Lamar Jackson at the very bottom of the 1st round became a top QB, a team could just hold onto the extra 1st from the Rams and even if that pick is at the very bottom of the 1st round, they might be able to flip it into a good QB. What team might be picking low in the 1st round, but still have an interest in pursuing a QB in 2028? There are many possibilities, but how about the Ravens, just to name one team. Even if they make the playoffs with Lamar, they might still be thinking about moving on from him. Lamar has a huge cap hit in 2027 and it is risky for the Ravens to pay big money for a new deal for him given his age, durability questions and play style. By going with a far cheaper option at QB, the Ravens could free up a ton of cap space that they could use on other positions.

The trade chart numbers made trading up a realistic move. Even if we discount the 2028 first rounder and make it equivalent to a middle 2nd round type value, it would be enough to go from slot 59 all the way up to pick 30. So, even if the Rams are picking near the bottom of the 2nd round, there's enough juice to squeeze into the bottom of the 1st round.

Okay, so once we've established that the Rams could find a trade partner willing to move out of the 1st round in 2027 and that the Rams have enough chips to make the trade happen, the next question is whether there is a specific player worth targeting. To make the trade worthwhile for the Rams, I feel that it can't be for a "tier 2" type prospect, it has to be a for a player the Rams have a very high grade on, but for whatever reason fell into the bottom of the 1st.

In the next part, I'll list some possibilities.

 

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1. Wide Receiver

WR is widely considered to be one of the top draft needs for the Rams next year. Who might be ranked high on our board but not get picked in the top 20 in the actual draft?

Charlie Becker. On some boards and mocks, Becker is one of the best players at any position in the entire draft pool. IC ranked him as the 3rd best prospect and 6th in his mock. Jacob Infante has him 5th overall. He's 7th in a recent SI mock. Josh Edwards mocked him 13th. Other mocks like him, but not quite as much. Drafttek's most recent mock has him 25th. Walterfootball has him 26th. STTM has him 32nd. F&T projects him as a late 1st to 2nd rd pick. The media loves him, but keep in mind, since he only burst on the scene recently, Becker as of right now doesn't have 1,000 receiving yards for his entire career. If you add up his starts from 2025 and 2026, it is still less than one season. IU so far this season has played North Texas, Howard and Western Kentucky. Things could change between now and the actual draft.

Nick Marsh. The WR I like better than Becker is his IU teammate, Marsh. In most mocks, Becker is ranked higher and Marsh about half the time doesn't get picked at all in the 1st round. IC has him 51st. Infante has him 38th. He was 43rd in Drafttek's mock, 27th in STTM, 27th in NFLdraftHQ, 22nd SI. In the NFLMDD consensus board simulator he's 32nd. So far this season, Becker has 272 yards, while Marsh only has 169, so if things continue that way, Becker could have much better stats than Marsh by the end of the year.

2. Defensive Tackle

David Stone was set to be one of the top picks in the draft (he's 9th overall on Drafttek, 8th overall Sam Teets), but he dislocated his left knee in practice and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Will Echoles, Justin Scott, Ahmad Moten Sr. are all well regarded prospects and with the sudden emergence of Tavion Gadson, it is getting crowded at the top of the board. Some experts like A'Mauri Washington and AJ Holmes Jr. There are only so many draft slots and too many candidates, so it seems like at least one of the top DTs has to slide down. Will Stone still enter the draft despite his injury? I don't know who will "fall", but it could end up being a really good DT.

3. Offensive Guard

The very top of the IOL draft pool is outstanding. It might be one of the best drafts for G that we've seen in the last 20 years. Some of the guards have position flexibility to play C or OT. Some of the players listed as OTs in later rounds I see as G prospects. If the Rams draft at the very bottom of the 2nd round, there is a chance that all of the top guard prospects will be gone. Some simulations there are multiple players still available, sometimes not. Since the draft pool is strong at other positions like QB, DB, DT, WR, the top IOL isn't expected to get picked until late in the 1st. By trading up, the Rams conceivably could get a player who in a different year would have been picked in the top 16. In other words, you'd be getting a G you expect to be a Pro Bowler and get a lucrative 2nd contract.

There are almost too many names to list, but I don't think this position group is overrated by the experts. There are multiple OL prospects that look great to me. It is a bummer to come out of a simulation and not land at least one of them, because it feels like you missed out on a great party.

4. Safety, Linebacker, Running Back

NFL teams typically will target premium positions first. This could result in the top prospects at the non-premium positions tumbling down the board. One of the top prospects on IC and Infante's boards at PFN is Jaden Baugh, the Florida RB. KJ Bolden is a top S. In Josh Edwards's mock, Bolden is pick 31. Tae Johnson is such a good pass coverage S that I wonder if he'll end up being a CB in the pros. There are some very athletic LBs this year. The Rams don't have huge needs at these positions, but by moving up, you could have the pick of the litter for some pretty talented players.

5. Quarterback

To me, this feels like a far less likely scenario to me, since we just drafted Simpson, but theoretically possible. By trading into the 1st round, you'd get the 5th year option. The only way I think this would happen is if that particular QB prospect was graded by the Rams as QB1 or QB2 and normally would be a top 5 overall type selection (e.g. Aaron Rodgers) but unexpectedly wasn't drafted early and like ARod fell all the way towards the lower part of the 1st round. Once we get closer to the draft and know who is staying in school and who is officially in the draft and know which slot the Rams hold, we can revisit the question. For sake of discussion, assume that the QB who slides is Dante Moore.

 

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Consistent with the point I've been arguing about the 2028 draft, Sam Teets recently did a mock draft for the 1st round for 2028. He had JKS from Cal as only the 2nd QB off the board. He put 6 QBs in the 1st round, with LaNorris Sellers as the 6th guy and I feel Teets could be on the low side, because you easily could argue that about 3 more QBs could have been included.

If the actual draft went the way Teets predicts, I wouldn't trade away our 1st rounder, because even if we win the Super Bowl (2 in a row? Maybe?) and hold the 32nd slot, we might be able to get a really good QB at that slot. Even if that QB technically backs up Simpson, it could be worth it, because you don't have to worry about injury. The Rams potentially would have 2 guys with zero drop off. When Dart for the NYG got injured, it really impacted their offense. If our 2nd QB was basically exactly as good as Simpson, it doesn't matter as much if Simpson got hurt, our "insurance policy" could step in and the team might be just as good. Like having both Warner and Bulger on the same team.

 

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Using the PFN draft simulator, Jacob Infante's board, I traded up from the very bottom of the 2nd round into the bottom of the 1st round. The trade partner was the Baltimore Ravens and I chose this team because as I noted before, a key part of their motivation would be to better position themselves to draft a QB in 2028.

The Rams get pick 29 (1st round) in 2027 and slot 128 (4th round). The Ravens get pick 64 (2nd round) and the Rams 2028 1st round pick.

These are some names who were available in the simulator:

1. Charlie Becker, WR (ranked 29th in the sim). My preference would actually be Nick Marsh (38th on Infante's board) but the idea is the same: go get a WR who isn't going to last much longer and isn't going to fall anywhere close to 64. In a sim using Ian Cummings's board, Becker was the top overall pick in the entire draft. The sim picked him ahead of Jeremiah Smith. That's crazy talk to me, but it does reflect how Becker is ranked very high by multiple experts.

2. Justin Scott, DT (31st on Infante's board). Some boards are low on Scott. Other mocks have him early in the 1st round. Sam Teets ranks him as the 10th best prospect. I haven't graded or studied him in detail, but the name of the player isn't the key. We could be talking about one of the other DTs as well. The idea is if the Rams think the DT is the type of player who normally would get picked in the top 20, you're getting good value, plus the team gets the 5th year option, which could be leverage in contract negotiations if the DT turns out to be as good as expected and you want to keep him on a lucrative 2nd contract.

3. Trevor Lauck, OL (33rd on the board). Kevin Dotson is on an expiring contract and is a FA after this season. There are several great OG prospects, so the name isn't the key. At least 5 guys who might make it to this spot and be worth pursuing.

4. Brice Pollock, CB (34th on board). I'm not a huge fan of the CB class so far, but if the Rams want to continue to try to build out their DBs, maybe shift to playing more man coverage, they could prioritize outside CB here.

5. Drew Mestemaker, QB (28th on board). QB is the least likely position the Rams would target with this trade up, but there is at least a semi-realistic scenario where there would be a QB that would be tempting to target. To me, Mestemaker isn't one of them. I think the 5th year option is most valuable for a QB pick, because QBs are so expensive. The Carolina Panthers picked up the 5th year option for Bryce Young, scheduling him for about a $26 million salary in 2027, which is less than half of the average salary for Jordan Love.

 

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To further illustrate the difference in trading up, I did another one, this time using the AtoZSports simulator. This time, I trade from 64 to 32. In this sim, we won the Super Bowl, because the Browns get that slot due to the Myles Garrett trade. ironically, we're trying to get back the same pick that we traded to them.

The motivation from their end is similar to the Ravens. When I control the Browns in simulators, I often pass on QB at the top of the 1st round and draft Jeremiah Smith instead. If you do that, then how do you solved their QB problem? Their big picture strategy would be to get a "generational WR" in Smith in 2027, collect multiple 1st rounders, then hope to land a "generational QB" in 2028 and have that "super duo" dominate the NFL for the next decade, like Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison.

We trade the Browns pick 64 and the 1st rounder in 2028 and get pick 32 and a 4th round (105) in return. At 32, I take Nick Marsh, WR.

How does that compare vs staying at 64? If we had stayed put, my top choices there (in no particular order) would be Anthonie Knapp (guard), Zach Lutmer (slot CB) or Christian Alliegro (LB). The obvious issue is none of those 3 players are at premium positions. I think they are all good prospects, but they don't play a position that is as important as WR. If we stuck with WR, the top 4 WRs on the board at 64 were: Wyatt Young, TJ Moore, KJ Duff and Bryant Wesco, Jr.

Do we like any of those 4 WRs about as much or more than Marsh? IMO, Marsh is a potential WR1 in the NFL. He has a high ceiling. So, I think there is a gap between him and the other WR prospects we could get at the bottom of the 2nd round. Instead of "settling" at WR and hoping that a lower tier prospect turns out to be surprisingly good, if we want to prioritize WR (or CB or LT or whatever other position you'd prefer) why not "bite the bullet" and really go for it and try to get a prospect that you have more confidence in to fill the need?

The kicker is that in the trade we get an early 4th round pick from the Browns. The rule of thumb is that a pick in the current draft is worth almost a round more than a pick in next year's draft. In other words, a 4th rounder in 2027 is about the same in value as a 3rd rounder in 2028. The 2nd round pick we traded to the Browns is at the very bottom of the round, so barely better than a 3rd round selection.

I'm just saying. If we get a decent player with that 4th round pick, did we really give up anything of value? In the end, we had 2 picks, we traded them to get 2 picks and if we get 2 players we really like, seems like a good result. Plus, since we drafted both of them in 2027 instead of one in the current draft and the 2nd one in 2028, now both of them are available to play immediately in 2027, which could be important if we still have a Super Bowl contending team. The Browns could be on a different timeline and in rebuild mode, so they could be less interested in the short-term and not care about that factor, In fact, they might prefer to lose games in 2027 to better position themselves to try to get a QB at the very top of the 2028 draft.

 

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In the NFLMDD sim, they didn't give the Rams a 1st rounder in 2028 but have us with a 2nd round pick. I don't understand the reason for this, but it didn't matter, because since they only have us in slot 55, I was able to trade up with the 2nd round pick. They have Seattle winning the Super Bowl, so in this sim we need to stop a new Seahawks dynasty.

I trade up with the Vikings to get slot 29. There, I take Kade Pieper from Iowa. He can play either C or G. I'm drafting him to play C. He's often compared to Tyler Linderbaum. The goal is to get a player who will become one of the best centers in the NFL. Whether this is a smart or a dumb move depends on which board you believe.

FirstandTen 19
AtoZsports 19
Jacob Infante 22
NFLMDD 31
PFF 34
Tankathon 36
IC 39
SttM 41, 1st round projection
DB 44
Draftttek 67
Teets 3rd rd tier, 73

 

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If we get a decent player with that 4th round pick, did we really give up anything of value? In the end, we had 2 picks, we traded them to get 2 picks and if we get 2 players we really like, seems like a good result.

Okay, so here is my final, "official" mock draft trade up scenario (at least until the board changes as we get deeper into draft season). Instead of just throwing out multiple options, this is what I'd actually do. We are using the PFN simulator with the PFN board. The Rams trade up to 29 from 64 and get a 4th round pick in return.

1st round (29 overall) Nick Marsh, WR. In this simulation, Charlie Becker is the 7th overall selection. As I've said multiple times, IMO Marsh is going to be the better NFL player than Becker. He's a very good blocker and an outstanding route runner. I'm concerned about what's going on with Puka Nacua and believe that Marsh has the potential to become WR1 on our team someday. So, not only are we drafting him to be WR2 but he's a type of insurance policy in case Puka begins to decline or can't stay healthy.

In the Drafttek mock, 3 big-name DTs are all still on the board so we could have gone in that direction but for this exercise just assume that the PFN sim is how the real draft goes.

If we don't trade up, these are some of the players we could have taken at 64: Cayden Green (1st round pick in some mocks and sims, including 16th overall in the most recent Drafttek mock draft), Ryan Coleman-Williams, Princewill Umanmielen, Chris Cole, Junior Sherrill, Darien Mensah, Trevor Lauck, Brandon Baker, Kayin Lee.

4th round (128 overall) Ty Benefield, S. In the PFN simulator, this is a massive reach, because he's only ranked 189th. I still like this guy, even though he's an inconsistent player. Big, physical, fast, his traits fit the NFL. He's 39th on PFF's board and 65 on Drafttek. In the recent Drafttek mock draft, he was pick 58. In other words, per multiple boards, this is a player we'd be lucky to get at 64 if we had kept that pick. By trading up to 29, we get a WR that I consider to be one of the best prospects in the draft pool and because the draft falls a certain way, we still land a player that I might have taken at 64. This is a good illustration of what I mean when I say the actual "cost" of trading up doesn't always match what it looks like on paper. If we get "lucky" and certain players we like fall, all that really happens is we turn a 2028 1st round pick into a 2027 1st round pick, so we end up gaining value instead of giving away value. Sweet deal.

In Drafttek's mock, they give us Nyck Harbor at pick 64. Harbor is big and very fast, but I think Marsh is a superior prospect with a much higher floor. Harbor is a big gamble, because if he doesn't develop, he might not even be a good backup.

For the strategy to work the best, there needs to be a Day 2 player who falls to the Rams with the 4th round pick we get in the trade. In the Drafttek mock, this doesn't happen but the bottom of the 3rd round is strong. So, if there is a run on your "wish list" board and most of your top choices are disappearing, to execute the strategy the Rams might need to trade up twice. They would trade up to the 1st round to get one guy, then trade up from the 4th round to get back into the bottom of the 3rd to get the second player. This might result in the Rams only having like 3 picks in the entire 2027 draft (e.g. 1st round, 3rd round, then maybe some late Day 3 picks) but I think it could be worth it if you land 2 players with very high draft grades on your board.

 

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PFF changed their draft board, shuffling some names and introducing a few new faces into the top 75. Some notable names that I felt were relevant both for the Rams if we stay put in the 2nd round or if we wanted to trade up:

13. Austin Siereveld, OG. I really like this guy. I'm not crazy about the idea of trading up to get a guard, because it isn't a premium position but if you believe his PFF big board ranking and think he's a future All Pro, it isn't the worst move. I'd rather have a fantastic starter at G than a mediocre WR who doesn't end up filling the need and becomes the next Van Jefferson.

14. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, LB. I haven't studied him this year, but as I mentioned in my profile about him, he tore the ACL in his left knee twice in his career. So, I don't expect him to get drafted super high, due to medical reasons. Plus, LB isn't the most important position. When does the reward outweigh the risk?

21. CJ Carr, QB. We're not going to draft him. I get that. Still, IMO, Carr is a better prospect than Bryce Young, who was the 1at overall pick in 2023. I don't know if he's even going to enter the 2027 draft, but he's ranked as a 2nd round prospect on some boards. I don't understand that. I think he's going to be very good in the pros.

25. Ahmad Hardy, RB. He has yet to practice for Mizzou. Since he hasn't played since getting shot, it is unknown whether he'll even be able to continue his career. I don't know if he'll return to school for 2027 or enter the draft, but he's a wildcard. Will he get picked at all? Strange and potentially a sad situation to have a RB who might have been a 1st round pick and currently we have no clear picture of his draft future. If he falls, is there some point that the Rams should draft this player?

35. Greg Johnson, IOL. He's played both G and C this year. His 88.4 PFF grade is the best in the country among guards. Watch out for this guy. If we picked him, it won't be as flashy as getting a WR, edge rusher or CB but he has the ideal blend of size and athleticism to be a very good starter.

42. Duce Robinson, WR. I'm not high on Duce, but PFF really likes him. Look where he's ranked relative to the next couple WRs.

44. Charlie Becker, WR. Top 5 pick in some boards and mocks.

49. Ryan Coleman-Williams, WR. Hasn't pushed his way back into the 1st round, but still is hanging around in Day 2 range.

51. Will Heldt, EDGE.

54. Jadan Baugh, RB. His 91.9 PFF grade is 1st in the country among RBs.

56. Ryan Wingo, WR. Unless the Rams implode, hopefully we'll be picking at or near the end of the 2nd round, so all the players from this point on down feel like candidates in the sweet spot.

58. Clev Lubin, EDGE.

63. Iapani Laloulu, C. This is another key name to circle. He's similar to Avila, and so for this year Avila has arguably been our best lineman, so it is a good fit. Laloulu should be able to play both G and C in the pros. If we tried to predict who Snead will actually draft, this would be a smart bet.

64. Wyatt Young, WR.

67. Suntarine Perkins, EDGE.

69. Jamari Sharpe, CB.

75. Reed Harris, WR. A player who has flown up boards.

 

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In a PFF simulation, I could draft Charlie Becker or Justin Scott for the Rams at 64. Becker was 1 of 5 players all ranked inside the top 45 who fell to that slot in the simulator.

More notable names on PFF's board:

84. Anthonie Knapp, G
88. Nick Marsh, WR
101. Zach Lutmer, DB [I have 1st round grades on Knapp, Marsh and Lutmer, so if there were a way to trade down and land 2 of those 3 (or assuming the Rams have a compensatory 3rd and could get all 3) it would be a dream scenario to me.]
103. Bryant Wesco Jr., WR
106. Drake Lindsey, QB
144. Luke Reynolds, TE [Rising up some boards, some think he could be TE1 in the draft.]
145. LJ Martin, RB
146. Brandon Inniss, WR

 

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After our loss, the NFLMDD simulator has us with pick 46. This changes the math, because now the Rams could try to trade up without using a pick from the 2028 draft. The bad news is that to move up we'd have to package all the other picks and come out of the draft with only one player. Since the other picks are all Day 3 picks, maybe it isn't much of a sacrifice, but we'd miss out on some opportunities to at least add depth with backups. So, the question becomes whether there is a particular player worth giving up the other picks (there are only 3 picks left in the NFLMDD sim, so it isn't like the Saints trade where they gave their entire draft for Ricky Williams) to go up to get? I tried a sim to see who would be on the board and the highest ranked prospect who fell was number 17 on the board, Jadan Baugh. We wouldn't have to pick him, because any other player projected to go at the very top of the 2nd round would also fit this strategy.

 

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Jordan Reid from ESPN released his top 50 board. Some highlights:

Dante Moore is only the 5th best QB. Drew Mestemaker is the top QB.

Will Echoles is the 4th overall prospect. Yhonzae Pierre is 7th. Charlie Becker is 8th. Jadan Baugh is 10th. Greg Johnson is 15th.

LJ Martin is only the 5th best RB.

Austin Siereveld is "only" the 4th best guard. This would be interesting if the actual draft went according to Reid's board, because the Rams likely would be able to get him without trading up.

David Stone is only 39th.

If the Rams made it to the Super Bowl and picked say 63rd or 64th, and I had to pick a name from the top 50 who might be available at that slot that I would pick, I'll go with Anthonie Knapp, ranked 49th by Reid.

 

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I normally don't use the PFF simulator but since their big board is substantially different from other boards, it makes for interesting decisions for the Rams. Just to take one example, if we compare PFF to the most recent Josh Edwards (CBSSports) mock draft, in the sim that I just ran, the Rams hold slot 64, the very bottom of the 2nd round. At that slot, the Rams have available to them a total of 12 players that Edwards had as 1st round draft picks.

I tried to create a pretty comprehensive list of options (I didn't include a few players that I'm not so high on) and came up with 28 names. Since there are so many players, if the Rams had a compensatory 3rd rd pick or traded down a full round from slot 64, they conceivably could still get one of the following players in a "PFF draft". I'll list them by position group.

Wide Receiver
1. Charlie Becker (PFF 44, CBS 13). A top 5 to top 10 pick in some mocks. In one PFN simulation, he was the number one overall selection, ahead of Jeremiah Smith. If you think that Becker is one of the best players in the pool, it is pretty crazy that he falls all the way to the Rams. If we exclude QB, Becker is the top BPA here for the Rams per Edwards's mock draft.
2. Ryan Wingo (56)
3. Reed Harris (75)
4. Nick Marsh (88) Ranked very low by PFF. If we went WR, this would be my guy.
5. Bryant Wesco Jr (103)

Cornerback or Safety
1. Tae Johnson (24, CBS 23) If we take an average of the PFF and CBS rankings/mock, Johnson would be the 3rd best BPA. As you can see, per both sources, he should have been picked in the middle of the 1st round.
2. Koi Perich (39)
3. Romanas Frederique (97, CBS 19)
4. Zach Lutmer (101, CBS 28)
5. Kayin Lee (123)

EDGE
1. Yhonzae Pierre (19, CBS 15). The highest ranked BPA on PFF's board and the 3rd highest available from Edwards's mock. In a PFF/CBS average, he's the top BPA here for the Rams.
2. Kenyatta Jackson, Jr. (40)
3. Will Heldt (51)
4. Princewill Umanmielen (85)
5. Jordan Ross (89)

Offensive Tackle
Melvin Siani (104)

Defensive Line
Tavion Gadson (108)

Tight End
1. Andrew Rappleyea (110)
2. Luke Reynolds (144)

Offensive Guard
1. Greg Johnson (35, CBS 26) Johnson looks good playing center this season. If the Rams drafted him, he'd be penciled in as a Day 1 starter at either C or G.
2. Antonie Knapp (84)

Linebacker
1. Chris Cole (46, CBS 24) Take him if you want an athletic, coverage LB.
2. Sammy Brown (86, CBS 27) Take him if you want to try to try to get better vs the run in the box.

Running Back
1. Jadan Baugh (54, CBS 20) Might be the most interesting choice the Rams could make, because I think it would signal a dramatic shift in our offensive approach. Baugh is the type of RB that could be a workhorse pillar you built the rest of the offensive around, more like Todd Gurley. In a post-Stafford era, instead of trying to put most of it on Ty Simpson's shoulders, it would be more like the early days of Tom Brady or Big Ben with the Steelers, where the offense was ground-oriented and the young QB could manage the game, let the QB grow into a bigger role as the QB gained more experience.
2. LJ Martin (145)

Quarterback
I listed this last, because it is very unlikely the Rams would go QB, but wanted you to see who was still on the board. One reason this is relevant is it could be a key factor in trying to trade down, because a key motivation for a team trying to swap places with the Rams would be to move up for a particular QB.
1. Darian Mensah (45)
2. Trinidad Chambliss (52)
3. Drake Lindsey (106, CBS 11) I don't know if Lindsey will enter the draft or wait until 2028, but if he jumps in, I'm on Josh Edwards's side of this debate. I think many draft boards vastly underestimate how high Lindsey could climb relative to the other QB prospects. He looks really good this year and IMO is a legitimate threat to end up as QB1 after all is said and done, which presumably could make him the top overall pick in the draft.

A ton of choices. Not easy even to cut it down to a top 5 list.

 

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Boubacar Traore, the Notre Dame EDGE rusher, is flying up draft boards and has been playing great. One mock draft had him going to the Rams, but if he keeps going on his current trajectory, he might be long gone before the Rams are picking.