Los Angeles Rams made one big mistake on the second draft day

The Los Angeles Rams made a flurry of trades during the NFL Draft that made it hard to keep up. In all that chaos, the Rams made one pretty big mistake.

The Los Angeles Rams just about did it all in the second day of the 2019 NFL Draft. After trading down in the draft on the first day, the Rams continued that trend and stayed even busier with the trades.

The team moved down several times and moved up several times as well. At times, it became hard to follow what exactly Los Angeles was doing.

At the end of it all, the Rams ended up with one second-round selection and three third-round selections. The Rams also still have three picks late in the fifth round and a pick in the seventh, so we could even see more movement on day three.

Out of all of the moves that general manager Les Snead made, there was one glaring big mistake made and that was with the first pick the team made in the third round. With the 70th overall pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, the Los Angeles Rams selected running back Darrell Henderson out of Memphis.

Henderson was selected right where people thought he would be, in the late second to the early third round. However, it was unclear what team would select the running back with the Rams not a likely fit.

Henderson certainly is talented. He is a threat in both the running and the passing game and is a solid runner that can break tackles and run through contact. There is no denying his worth at the NFL level.

However, to use an early third-round pick on Henderson was a bit far-fetched by the Los Angeles Rams. There has been this narrative all spring that the Rams need a running back when they really did not need to waste a draft pick this year.

I get that there are concerns about Todd Gurley and whether or not he can be fully healthy in 2019, that definitely comes into play. However, completely overreacting to Gurley’s knee is the wrong this to do as well.

And I get that the front office wants to split Gurley’s time up and give carries to other backs to keep Gurley fresh. That is totally logical but the team still didn’t need to use an early third-round pick.

Malcolm Brown is a passable backup and second-year back John Kelly showed great signs last season in the preseason before having virtually no role in the regular season. Kelly was also special in college and the Rams have not given him his fair shake.

If the Rams wanted to add depth at the position then fine, I can live with that. However, what the team should have done in the case was use one of the three fifth-round picks and use that third-round pick for a position that can help the team more than a backup running back.

But obviously, Snead and the Los Angeles Rams saw something in Henderson to select him with the 70th overall pick. It still feels like the Rams could have gotten more value than a backup running back.