LA Rams 2019 mid-season additions act like 2020 NFL Draft picks

LA Rams 2019 mid-season additions act like 2020 NFL Draft picks

LA Rams 2019 mid-season additions act like 2020 NFL Draft picks
by Bret Stuter 1 day ago Follow @milroyigglesfan

The LA Rams added 3 players in the midst of the 2019 NFL season. Here’s why they should be considered to be 2020 NFL Draft picks

The LA Rams ended the 2019 NFL season with just five draft picks. The team faced multiple scenarios through the course of the year which required roster adjustments, whether to shed players, add players, or exchange players. In the end, each transaction affected the roster at a point midway through the year.

Unlike player injuries or coming back from injury, or even being called up or demoted to the practice squad, these three circumstances placed a jersey on football players who had no foreknowledge of the LA Rams’ playbook, coaching staff, players, or even community. And one of the greatest assets for the LA Rams is offensive line coach Aaron Kromer. Two offensive linemen, one of whom a starter at multiple positions in 2019, never had the chance to benefit from his training camp.

Rams building that OL is probably the most underrated part of what they've done. Not many guys that were considered big deals when they were acquired, outside of Whit

— Jon Ledyard (@LedyardNFLDraft) September 28, 2018

The shortage of 2020 NFL Draft picks stems from the Rams desperate attempt to go all-in on the chance to make the 2019 NFL Playoffs. While that effort fell short, the team finished at a very respectable 9-7 record. That is despite all the horror stories of multiple injuries that haunted the offensive line all season, a defensive backfield which was blown up and restocked in mid-season, and three of the most highly paid players on offense all having sub-standard seasons.

Addition 3: Center

The LA Rams added center Coleman Shelton by signing him from the Arizona Cardinals practice squad. At the time, the team had lost rookie center Brian Allen for the season and had lost veteran interior offensive lineman Austin Blythe for several games due to injury. To compensate, the LA Rams had to trade for an interior offensive lineman in midseason and then needed a center to be the team’s backup.

Fortunately for the LA Rams, they chose very wisely.

Coleman Shelton has not had the benefit of LA Rams offensive line coach Aaron Kromer, and as a result, has waited patiently for his opportunity to take offensive snaps on the starting line for several years. At 6-foot-5 and 285 pounds, he is a huge center who becomes the offense’s own worst enemy to shorter quarterbacks trying to peer over him to find receivers downfield. Thankfully, LA Rams quarterback Jared Goff stands in a 6-foot-4, giving him plenty of height see over Shelton and find his targets in their downfield routes.

Shelton is extremely athletic, a muscular center whose role on an offensive line requires plenty of snaps to understand his own assignment, and that of other players at the line of scrimmage. While he has yet to play significant snaps for any NFL team, he has yet to benefit from an offseason training program under Coach Kromer. At worst, he is the equivalent of a seventh-round pick. But compared to the talent level of the 2020 NFL Draft, Shelton is more like the equivalent of a fourth-round pick.

Addition 2: Interior offensive lineman

After a series of injuries exhausted the LA Rams reserve offensive lineman, general manager Les Snead acted quickly by trading the team’s 2020 fifth-round draft pick to the Cleveland Browns for their reserve interior offensive lineman Austin Corbett. Originally drafted by the Browns in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Corbett soon found himself buried on the depth chart. That is where he was when the LA Rams traded a 2020 NFL Draft fifth-round pick for him.

From the moment he arrived at the Rams, he was placed into service. First at the center, then at the left guard, he was the Rams version of duct tape. Despite the hurried manner of onboarding, he was a solid player and he held his own on the team’s badly besieged offensive line.

#LARams Austin Corbett and David Edwards were able to provide some impressive production in 2019 during a period of OL uncertainty

Among all Guards (min 500 snaps):
– Corbett allowed 11 pressures (4th) and 1 sack (T-7th)
– Edwards allowed 14 pressures (T-6th) and 1 sack (T-7th) pic.twitter.com/TzRsAHbG6Y

— PFF LA Rams (@PFF_Rams) January 30, 2020

After a better than expected debut in 2019, Corbett now has the opportunity to train, practice, be coached, and earn his 2020 starting role once more. Not only should he be able to do so, but he should be able to perform as one of the better NFL offensive linemen this season. His original draft spot of pick 33 is the equivalent 2020 NFL Draft pick value he has for the Rams this season.

Addition 1: Cornerback

When the LA Rams decided to trade for cornerback Jalen Ramsey, the team had to overcome a number of hurdles in order to do so. The team had to clear a roster spot. In addition, the team had to clear sufficient salary cap space to do so. And then ultimately, the LA Rams needed to exchange sufficient assets to make the trade complete.

Despite the lack of a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the LA Rams can equate that value in obtaining one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL today, Jalen Ramsey. The Rams traded their 2020 first-round pick plus their 2021 first and fourth-round picks to the Jacksonville Jaguars for cornerback Ramsey, whose contract expires in 2020.

The ultimate cost to the Rams for Ramsey is more than the picks required to pry him from the Jacksonville Jaguars. He also cost the Rams the play of both Aquib Talib, Marcus Peters, and a fifth-round pick. Ultimately, was he worth it? Yes.

In the 2020 NFL Draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars selected edge rusher, K’Lavon Chaisson with the 20th pick. Four cornerbacks had already been selected off the board and the players remaining on the board did not have the same value as that of Rams CB Ramsey. In essence, Ramsey is the equivalent of the Rams 2020 first-round draft pick.

While the LA Rams added nine rookie players in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Rams have the equivalent of a fourth-round pick for Coleman Shelton, a second-round pick for Austin Corbett, and a first-round pick for Jalen Ramsey. That translates into 12 pick-equivalents from the 2020 NFL Draft and includes two interior offensive linemen who will be capable of starting in 2020, plus an elite cornerback. In the end, the LA Rams 2020 NFL Draft was fairly comprehensive after all.