Los Angeles Rams: Five-year history of the 52nd overall pick

The Los Angeles Rams’ first selection of the 2020 NFL Draft will be the 52nd overall pick, which has yielded some hits and misses in recent years.

For the fourth year in a row, the Los Angeles Rams do not have a first-round pick in the NFL Draft. The team will not have a first-round pick in next year’s draft, either, as the Rams traded two first-round picks to the Jacksonville Jaguars for Jalen Ramsey.

That means, barring any trades, that the Rams’ first selection will be the 52nd overall selection. Typically, we can look back at the recent history of first-round picks and see quite a few really talented players.

In this case, it is more of a hit or miss, as the Rams are not getting a premier talent with the 52nd pick. Here is the five-year history of the selection.

2015: Jordan Phillips, DT

Jordan Phillips did not have a productive career with the team that drafted him, the Miami Dolphins. Coming out of Oklahoma, Phillips was an exciting defensive tackle prospect with a high ceiling that, at the very least, would be a well-above-average run-stuffer in the NFL.

That was not the case with Miami as he played little to no role on the Dolphins and was waived by the Dolphins in 2018, where he was picked up by the Buffalo Bills.

From there, Phillips started to show some of that potential that Miami drafted him on. He was a rotational tackle in his first year in Buffalo but in 2019 he started nine games, tallied 9.5 sacks and 16 quarterback hits.

If he builds on that, Phillips could become a borderline Pro Bowl nose tackle.

There was only one player within 15 selections that the Dolphins can look back on and kick themselves for missing out on and that is Frank Clark, who was selected with the 63rd overall pick by the Seattle Seahawks.