How much can Rams fix their depleted roster with 2023 NFL draft picks?
The Rams spent the last three months acquiring or retaining exactly zero marquee players.
A team that finished 5-12 last season essentially has done nothing to improve a roster that was ravaged by injuries and characterized by underachievement and poor decisions.
But the Rams’ austerity plan does not extend to the NFL draft, at least in terms of numbers.
With 11 picks in a draft that begins Thursday in Kansas City, Mo., they could be relying on their selections perhaps more than at any time during coach Sean McVay’s tenure.
For the seventh year in a row, the Rams do not have a first-round pick. That streak will end in 2024 if McVay and general manager Les Snead break from Rams tradition and refrain from trading it away.
Rams coach Sean McVay said Tuesday that there would be ‘no limitations’ on Matthew Stafford when workouts begin April 17. Injuries hampered the QB last season.
Barring an unexpected move in the next few days that elevates the Rams into the first round, they enter the draft with a second-round pick (No. 36), two picks in the third round (Nos. 69 and 77), three in the fifth round (Nos. 167, 171 and 177), three in the sixth round (Nos. 182, 189 and 191) and two in the seventh (Nos. 223 and 234).
Five questions the Rams could answer in the draft:
Now that Snead and McVay all but acknowledged they erred by signing Allen Robinson before last season, will they draft receivers?
Receiver became even more of a pressing concern with the trade that sent Robinson to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Rams essentially paid the Steelers $10 million to take Robinson off their hands after only one season of unmet expectations.
The Rams still have star Cooper Kupp, who carries a salary-cap number of $27.8 million this season, the highest on a team that also features defensive tackle Aaron Donald and quarterback Matthew Stafford.
As part of Rams sending Allen Robinson to the Steelers, the teams swapped seventh-round picks in the draft and the Rams pay about $10 million of the $15 million contract.
Kupp, a 2017 third-round pick who was the 2021 NFL offensive player of the year, caught 75 passes, six for touchdowns, before suffering an ankle injury that required surgery and sidelined him for the final eight games.
The Rams have not hit on drafting star receivers in the second round. Van Jefferson, a second-round pick in 2020, is in the final year of his contract. Tutu Atwell — McVay and Snead’s apparent we’re-smarter-than everyone-else pick in 2022 — showed promise last season after not catching a pass as a rookie.
Is this the year the Rams finally draft a quarterback?
The Rams haven’t selected a quarterback since 2016, when they traded up 14 spots to select Jared Goff at No. 1. The Rams began their offseason program with Stafford, 35, as the only quarterback on the roster.
They will add several quarterbacks before on-field workouts begin in a few weeks but it remains to be seen whether McVay does it through the draft.
Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson and perhaps Kentucky quarterback Will Levis — who played for former Rams offensive coordinator Liam Coen at Kentucky — are among the quarterbacks expected to be gone by the Rams’ first pick at No. 36.
Now that the Carolina Panthers have acquired the No. 1 pick from the Bears, a look at which teams might select the top four quarterbacks in the draft.
But the San Francisco 49ers proved last season with Brock Purdy that a team can make a playoff run with a low-round, low-cost draft pick at quarterback. Purdy was the last player selected in the 2022 draft.
Don’t the Rams still need help on the offensive line?
Uh, yes.
It’s easy to point to injuries for the Rams’ poor offensive line play last season but don’t forget: The Buffalo Bills absolutely destroyed the Rams’ healthy line in the opener while amassing seven sacks. It was not a very good line from the start.
Last year, the Rams used their first pick to select offensive lineman Logan Bruss in the third round. Bruss suffered a season-ending knee injury during the second preseason game but is expected to start this season.
Defensive lineman Aaron Donald cannot do it alone, right?
Donald, a three-time NFL defensive player of the year, elevates the performance of any lineman that plays with him. His impact as a player and role model is that great.
But the Rams did not re-sign Greg Gaines, have not re-signed A’Shawn Robinson and released edge-rusher Leonard Floyd.
Marquise Copeland and Bobby Brown have been rotational players, and Earnest Brown IV played for the first time last season.
So the Rams will be looking for pass rushers and run-stoppers in the draft.
Reporters who cover their teams on a daily basis predict how the first round of the 2023 NFL draft will unfold in The Times’ beat writers’ mock draft.
Can the Rams make up for the loss of cornerback Jalen Ramsey in the draft?
To save money, the Rams traded Ramsey to the Miami Dolphins.
Don’t expect a rookie or rookies to offset the departure of a three-time All-Pro.
Second-year pro Cobie Durant showed last season he can make plays and Derion Kendrick got game experience. With the departure of David Long, and Troy Hill still a free agent, rookies will get the opportunity to compete with Robert Rochell for playing time.
Those are only a few of the issues that must be solved by defensive coordinator Raheem Morris for a unit that features Donald, linebacker Ernest Jones and safety Jordan Fuller.
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