Rams draft grades & assessments from everyone (including us)

General assessment? Hmmmm.

Ty Simpson, Klare, Trost, CJ Daniels, Keenan.

Sigh. Well, there’s not a single player there I’m really excited about.

Like everybody else, I’ll just wait and see, and hope for the best, of course. But I cant remember a McSnead draft that i was less excited about.

Bring on the Undrafted kids. I’d love to see them add a couple special-teams demons.

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From CBS. I pasted the other NFC West grades in the non-Rams draft thread.

The Rams only had three picks in the first five rounds and used them all on offensive players. And they kept the trend alive on Day 3 when they finally got the receiver many thought they would prioritize in the first round.

On one hand, finding the heir to Matthew Stafford makes a lot of sense. On the other, drafting Ty Simpson on Day 1 is a bit of a head-scratcher. The No. 13 pick feels early for a prospect who was no sure thing to go in the first round. This will likely be one of the most scrutinized selections of the entire draft.

Renner is high on Simpson, though, and tabbed it as an A-grade pick.

“Simpson showed high-end ability last season before injuries started piling up,” Renner said. “He understands how to attack tight windows and play with the anticipation necessary to translate to the NFL. I also think he gets underrated physically, as he’s got very light feet in the pocket and an NFL-caliber arm. The Rams don’t plan on picking this high until Matthew Stafford retires, and now they have their transition plan.”

Mike Greenberg: “Its a terrible pick”

At the end of the vid, Steve says according to HIS metrics the Rams are the best drafting team since 2018.

Rams mailbag: What drove GM Les Snead’s draft approach? Is A.J. Brown still a possibility?

By Nate Atkins
May 7, 2026 4:01 am PDT

The Los Angeles Rams were the talk of the NFL after this year’s draft. And that makes it a good time for another mailbag.

The Rams threw a few curveballs in the draft, first by taking Alabama’s Ty Simpson at No. 13 to sit behind Matthew Stafford as the quarterback of the future. Then, by selecting just five players in the class, with a heavy focus on depth and future needs.

It was an interesting approach to take in a year with Super Bowl goals. But the Rams still have the highest odds to win next year’s title.

With so much to discuss about the present and future, let’s get to it.

(Note: Questions have been edited for length and clarity.)

Can you explain what the heck Les Snead was thinking with that draft class? Why did he select Simpson with the 13th pick when there were clearly other needs? Does he know something about Stafford that we don’t? Not to mention that the rest of our picks were pretty bad as well. — Andrew S.

This Rams draft can be explained by three philosophies:

• Los Angeles generally sees free agency and trades as the way to address needs, whereas the draft is for depth and improving the talent base for future seasons.

• This team did not see itself as having any pressing needs entering the draft.

• The Rams did not see this as a particularly strong draft.

Had they seen a player at No. 13 as the missing piece to a Super Bowl, they likely would have pulled the trigger. They just didn’t get there with USC’s Makai Lemon or Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq at the positions they played. They did spend a second-round pick on tight end Max Klare, so it’s worth scrutinizing that idea a little. But Klare is more of a future pick than a present one, with the chance that Tyler Higbee, Colby Parkinson and Davis Allen are off the team next year.

They’d rather get the growth process underway for a slow-developing position now than start it next year and expect that player to be a No. 2 option. Especially when this tight end class was as loaded as it was in the second round.

The Rams saw this year’s first round as a two-player haul, with the first being All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie. Because they added McDuffie via trade and signed his Kansas City Chiefs running mate, Jaylen Watson, to be their other outside cornerback, they believed they made the swing to address their biggest need. After that move, they saw the No. 13 pick as a bonus from the Atlanta Falcons. To them, that pick justified answering the quarterback question a year early rather than a year late.

I understand the logic. Not many franchises have the luxury of stashing a first-round quarterback and still being the odds-on favorite to win the Super Bowl. A backup quarterback was also a need they rated highly, with the time off Stafford needs in the summer to manage his degenerative back issue, plus the injury risk to a pocket quarterback who is 38 years old.

What still puzzles me is what made Simpson the player. The Rams have been muted on the topic out of respect for Stafford, even though he has no reason to fear Simpson threatening his job after an MVP season. The Rams like Simpson’s hunger and ability to learn, and they’ve hinted that his processing and mobility are key traits.

But every other team that has tried this model of stashing a first-round pick behind an incumbent — be it the Green Bay Packers with Aaron Rodgers behind Brett Favre, the Packers again with Jordan Love behind Rodgers, or the Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes behind Alex Smith — has done so to chase a future ceiling of special playmaking traits.

The success of the class hinges on how Simpson pans out, how much he plays on a rookie deal and whether the Rams can still win a Super Bowl while waiting on him. It can go a lot of ways.

The rest of the class was depth-focused, involving older and more experienced prospects. Missouri’s Keagen Trost can answer a couple of backup spots on the offensive line, Miami’s CJ Daniels can bring blocking and contested catches to the receiver room, and Alabama’s Tim Keenan III can offer snaps to take a load off Poona Ford.

Klare was the other upside pick, as the Rams envision a world where he and Terrance Ferguson stress defenses in personnel and matchups and lessen the need for wide receivers to be the engine, with Puka Nacua and Davante Adams entering contract years.

Have you heard anything about trades they may still pursue? The A.J. Brown speculation seems to have kicked up again. Any smoke there? — Kevin J.

One of the key reasons the Rams decided to take a quarterback in the first round rather than wait until next year, a team source explained, is that they don’t want to have to protect their 2027 draft picks in trades as they make this Super Bowl push. This team is always hunting for upgrades, so when a player it could use is on the trade block, it’s safe to assume the Rams will at least have conversations about it.

They had those about Brown, and they got fairly serious as the Rams explored a low-salary No. 1 receiver to own for the next four seasons. That salary benefit held more power in a pre-June 1 trade, and now Brown is headed for a post-June 1 trade. Additionally, the Rams decided they did not want to move off Adams just yet, thanks to the red zone cheat code he provided Stafford with 14 touchdowns in 14 games. They chose the present over the future here.

I’m hearing that discussions are over at this point. I never say never with the Rams and potential big moves, but the expectation in league circles for some time has been that Brown will wind up with the New England Patriots.

Other players who hit the trade block will be worth a look. It’s quieter right now, with a name such as Kayshon Boutte of the Patriots out there. That calculus will change come the trade deadline in October, when some struggling teams will look to cut their losses and plan for the future. That’s the window the Rams are likely gearing up for, as the time between now and then will also bring their needs more into focus — such as the third wide receiver spot.

It’ll be interesting to see if they’re willing to make a move for a receiver at that point if Adams and Nacua are healthy and playing great, as the biggest need is probably to protect against either going down, and that can’t happen much after the trade deadline passes.

I’d also keep an eye on Maxx Crosby. He seems to have mended things with the Las Vegas Raiders after the trade to the Baltimore Ravens was reversed, but the organization’s approach could change if the Raiders hit another tough start to a season.

The Rams want to be one of the rare teams willing to trade from an expectedly loaded 2027 draft class, with the idea that they’ll be picking at the very end of the first round. But those conversations are more likely in October than they are right now.

Can you break down the battle for WR3 between Jordan Whittington, Konata Mumpfield, Xavier Smith and CJ Daniels, and go over why each candidate might win it? — Jim E.

This will be the Rams’ liveliest battle in training camp. Los Angeles had a chance to make it a non-battle if it had taken a wide receiver in the first two rounds. But after selecting Simpson at No. 13, the board didn’t fall the way the Rams wanted on Day 3. So they turned three picks into one to move up in the sixth round to take Daniels.

That move up says something about what they see in him, and their track record on later-round receiver picks is strong. But it’s also worth noting that the list of hits includes players like Cooper Kupp and Nacua, who were taken before Daniels, whom they took just one round before Mumpfield last year.

I see Daniels, Mumpfield and Whittington entering camp in a dead heat. Each has a different case to offer coming in: Daniels is the new piece who can’t be held to last year’s depth failures down the stretch. Mumpfield is coming off a learning season and has the highest upside as a playmaker. Whittington is the most proven blocker and will need a game day role for what he offers on special teams, which can move the needle on this spot.

Smith is a return-focused player, and he probably won’t see as much of an offensive role.

Blocking will be a gigantic focus of this role. It was the top reason Tutu Atwell didn’t see the field much last season despite signing a one-year, $10 million deal. The Rams decreased their usage of a third receiver by moving to three-tight-end sets, and they are leaning more into that approach after bringing back Higbee and adding Klare in the draft.

They will want to live in 11 personnel with three wide receivers at times, especially to motion Nacua into the slot to create better matchups. But that player needs to be able to block so this team can continue to blur the lines between the run and pass in those sets to unlock the best in Stafford, as well as the Kyren Williams-Blake Corum backfield.

I see it as Whittington having the highest floor, Mumpfield having the highest ceiling, and Daniels having the best balance between blocking and receiving skills. The Rams will probably lean into that balanced skill set if it hits, because a threat to catch or block on a given snap fits the blurred approach they’re looking for.