articles on Rams 1st round trade

Rams trade out of Round 1, have 2 first-rounders in 2026 ‘for now’

Jourdan Rodrigue

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6307751/2025/04/25/rams-trade-first-round-pick-falcons/

LOS ANGELES — You can’t have imagined it would go any other way, right?

The Rams, who have picked in the first round of the NFL Draft just one time since 2017 (outside linebacker Jared Verse in 2024), traded this year’s No. 26 overall pick plus No. 101 to the Atlanta Falcons for pick Nos. 46 and 242 this year, and next year’s first-round pick.

Now, they will have two first-rounders in 2026 … “for now,” head coach Sean McVay quipped. With quarterback Matthew Stafford’s tenure now considered year-to-year, stockpiling for a still-unknown future isn’t a bad idea.

“To be able to get a future (No.) 1 is a big deal,” said McVay, “to just move back 20 spots.”

It felt like a typical opening night of the draft for the Rams, including the atypical location.

Instead of running their usual setup out of a luxurious mansion somewhere in the Los Angeles area, though, they paid tribute to the heroes who battled the Palisades fire this winter. Thursday night, the Rams worked out of a room within the Los Angeles Air Fire Department Operations, including a massive adjacent (and operational) hangar that houses the helicopters and other aerial vehicles that fought the fires.

It marked the first time in NFL history that a team held its draft from a fire station.

“It’s awesome to be here,” said McVay as he and general manager Les Snead took their seats at an interview table set up in the middle of the hangar, and several LAFD crew members looked on. “Obviously these guys are the real heroes. We’re just grateful to be able to have our platform to honor them with everything that has gone on in our community.”

The Rams explored a few scenarios for the first day of the draft, including a possible trade up (The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported that teams that received calls from the Rams believed they were targeting University of Arizona receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who went No. 8 to the Carolina Panthers) but the asking price to do so was too rich.

“The value going up there, teams were asking too much — more than we would give,” Snead said.

They also had multiple teams interested in moving to their pick point, he confirmed.

Moving back was always the most likely option. Snead and McVay alluded to the strength of the draft in the early to middle second round, where they didn’t previously have a pick (they used it last spring to trade up for defensive tackle Braden Fiske).

“Through it all, we always really, really discussed ‘would there be an opportunity to move back based on being close to … the late first, close to the second,’” Snead said, “A lot of times that’s a good place to be if you want to trade back. …

“We had a lot of value, but Atlanta’s offer was best for us.”

The Rams weren’t initially expecting somebody to offer a first-round pick, said Snead. Atlanta, led by GM Terry Fontenot and head coach Raheem Morris (McVay’s former defensive coordinator), had an eye on Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce. Usually, Snead added, such a trade would be for a team to get into (or back into) the first round for a quarterback.

“Felt like it was too good to pass up,” McVay said, “and we’re going to come away with some good football players tomorrow for sure.”

The Rams’ picks heading into Days 2 and 3: Nos. 46, 90, 127, 190, 195, 201, 202, 242.

“We do have some players in mind,” said Snead, “what we’ll (do) is once this (news conference) is over we’ll go see how this first round ended and then you’re gonna have to run through each scenario because we have about 14 picks before our next one. But we do have specific players in mind.”