Los Angeles Rams: After countless trades, 2019 NFL Draft was OK

The Los Angeles Rams made far more trades in the 2019 NFL Draft than any other team and overall had just a decent showing in Nashville.

Prior to the 2019 NFL Draft, we all knew it was a pretty big possibility that the Los Angeles Rams would trade down from the 31st overall pick and out of the first round.

What nobody saw coming was the sheer amount of trades that the Rams made, which constantly had them moving up and down the draft order when the team deemed it fit.

We really have never seen a draft strategy quite like this were practically every selection made by a team was a result of a trade of some kind. When it was all said and done, the Rams made one second-round selection, three third-round selections, a fourth and fifth-round selection as well as two seventh-round selections.

The opinion on the Los Angeles Rams’ performance at the 2019 NFL Draft is varied based on where you get your Rams’ news. However, in our book, we think the Rams did just an ‘OK’ job.

The Rams made some good selections, we cannot deny that. Selecting safety Taylor Rapp in the second round of the draft was a great pick up. He is good enough to replace John Johnson in the starting unit right away and at the very least provides some depth behind Johnson and Eric Weddle.

This is a smart selection for the team as Rapp even seemed like someone that the Rams could have picked with the 31st pick. Perhaps the team moved down to frequently knowing that was their guy and the more he fell the more they could move down.

It really depends who you ask to determine whether or not the team’s third-round picks were smart. Personally, the selection of running back Darrell Henderson with the 70th overall pick was a wasted pick.

The Rams’ need for a running back is a bit overblown with Todd Gurley getting time to rest his knee as people forget that Malcolm Brown and John Kelly could both provide help. If the team were to get a running back, it should have been in the fifth or later rounds.

The next two picks in the third round were smart as they addressed an area of need, it just depends if the selections pan out. Los Angeles needed depth at both corner and the offensive line and added depth with David Long and Bobby Evans. Neither will start right away but could be key starters by the 2020 season.

Defensive tackle Greg Gaines was selected in the fourth round to presumably replace Ndamukong Suh and the Rams must have liked him more than others. Gaines seemed to be a sixth or seventh-rounder heading into the drat and instead was a fourth-round pick.

Quite frankly, the Rams should have used the 70th overall pick to draft a better defensive tackle, such as Dre’Mont Jones (who was picked one selection later) and saved the running back for these later picks.

And the rest of the picks really aren’t anything to get too excited about as they are just longshots that the team hopes pan out. LA was smart in adding another offensive tackle as well as a linebacker, but selecting another safety in the seventh round seemed far-fetched.

Nick Scott will likely just end up being a special teams guy anyways. Either way, though, the Los Angeles Rams filled some voids, but definitely could have had a better all-around showing in the 2019 NFL Draft.