RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesThe Rams are the widely proclaimed Super Bowl favorites as the NFL season nears. Their star-studded roster with quarterback Matthew Stafford, wide receiver Puka Nacua, and pass rusher Myles Garrett could soon add defensive tackle extraordinaire Aaron Donald if he makes his expected return from retirement.
They are, at first glance, a case study in how a team can utilize the salary cap accounting rules to stretch the NFL’s spending limit sufficiently to accommodate such a glitzy group of on-field standouts that includes both the reigning league MVP and defensive player of the year. They have embraced their all-in, seize-the-moment reputation once again, hearkening back to general manager Les Snead wearing a “Fuck them picks” shirt at the team’s last Super Bowl parade.
The truth about the Rams’ roster-construction methodology is far more nuanced than “fuck them picks” and collecting proven, expensive veterans, however. Their football-side brain trust of Snead, assistant general manager John McKay, and coach Sean McVay has actually used the draft quite effectively—just in rounds other than the first. Those picks have given Los Angeles a foundation of young, comparatively inexpensive and cap-friendly talent that complements the big-name, high-priced, attention-grabbing additions.
“I admire the way in which Les and John and ownership there are very aggressive and are unapologetic as far as how they approach trying to not [just] be competitive, not sell personal seat licenses and jerseys, but trying to win championships,” Louis Riddick told Front Office Sports. “I love how they do it. It would be a great place to work,” the former NFL player, scout and front office executive who is now an NFL and college football analyst for ESPN said.
The L.A. Misnomer
The Rams are a model of skillful roster construction, resourceful salary cap management and front office acumen. Just not in quite the way that so many perceive. “That is really a misnomer,” Joel Corry, a former agent who is now an NFL contracts and salary cap expert for CBS Sports, told FOS about Snead’s mantra. “It gets the traction just because of what Les Snead said and the fact that they’d gone multiple years without a first-round pick. But in some of those years, they’ve had a full complement of draft picks because they’ve traded down and accumulated more picks. And after that down year [in] ’22, they’ve drafted well. Because in that ’23 draft, they got arguably the best receiver in football in the fifth round in Puka Nacua. And they picked up some other guys that same year…. They’ve drafted well enough.”
The Rams kept and used only one first-round draft selection between 2017 and 2025. That came when they took pass rusher Jared Verse with the No. 19 overall pick in 2024. Yet they have done well by drafting key players such as Nacua, running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum, guard Steve Avila, pass rushers Byron Young, Kobie Turner and Braden Fiske, and defensive backs Kamren Kinchens and Quentin Lake.
“I love how they’ve approached it,” Riddick said. “When you look at their roster, even though Les said, ‘F them picks’ and they had that shirt and all, look at some of the players they have that are home grown that they drafted.”
Williams, a three-time 1,000-yard rusher, was chosen in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. Lake was selected in the sixth round of that draft. The Rams’ draft haul in 2023 included Avila in the second round, Young and Turner in the third round, and Nacua with the final pick of Round 5, No. 177 overall in that draft. He’s a two-time Pro Bowler in three NFL seasons and led the league with his 129 catches last season. Fiske was taken in the second round in 2024, followed by Corum and Kinchens in the third round.
Potential contributors from this year’s draft could include second-round tight end Max Klare, third-round offensive tackle Keagen Trost and sixth-round wide receiver CJ Daniels.
“They’ve kicked the shit out of it, okay?” Riddick said. “They just have….With the draft picks that they have made in those rounds 2, 3, 4, 5, 6—they killed them. They’ve actually killed them. Which, to me, speaks even more to the harmony between the evaluation and scouting and then development and utilization…. It’s the perfect blend of using all the different tools at your disposal to build a roster.”
Of course, the Rams also act boldly with big moves when they see their opportunity. They won the Super Bowl in the 2021 season after trading for cornerback Jalen Ramsey in 2019, trading for Stafford in early ’21 and making in-season additions by trading for pass rusher Von Miller and signing wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
They’re back at it after losing last season’s NFC title game to the Seahawks. Stafford announced when he was given his first MVP award during Super Bowl week that he would return for this season rather than retire. The Rams made a blockbuster trade in March, sending first-, fifth- and sixth-round draft choices this year and a third-rounder next year to the Chiefs for cornerback Trent McDuffie, then signing him to a four-year, $124 million contract extension that includes $100 million in guaranteed money.
The even bigger trade came in June when the Rams sent Verse and three picks—a first-rounder next year, a second-rounder in 2028 and a third-rounder in 2029—to the Browns for Garrett, the two-time NFL defensive player of the year who set the single-season sack record with 23 last season. The Rams are the first NFL team ever to have both a quarterback who is the reigning MVP and the defensive player of the year from the previous season.
“They’re in a win-now mode,” Corry said. “They’ve got a quarterback who’s in the twilight of his career, although he’s still an elite quarterback. Matthew Stafford is a year-to-year proposition. They probably thought they should have won the Super Bowl last year…. So they’re like, ‘We’re right there.’ They’re the classic team that you could understand why they would ...
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