objective analysis of Rams draft record shows they’re one of the best

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  • January 17, 2020 at 9:47 am #110514
    Avatar photozn
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    AlbaNY_Ram

    An objective analysis of the Rams draft record shows that they’re one of the t best in the League.

    Here’s a site that says they’re 4th best in the NFL from 2013 thru 2017 behind the Cowboys, Chiefs, and Vikings. https://nypost.com/2018/04/21/giants-jets-cant-crack-top-10-most-successful-teams-at-draft/ Their criteria: “The rankings are based on: how many games the draft pick has played, Pro Bowl appearances, first-team All-Pro selections and awards like MVP and Rookie of the Year. We also factored in how much the team has won during the five years, because players on losing teams tend to have an easier path to playing time.” <my note: 2018 isn’t included in this evaluation, but the Rams drafted 10 players last year – in rounds 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7 – and all 10 are currently on the Rams’ roster>

    This site looks at 2012 thru 2016 and lists the Rams at #7. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chrissmith/2017/04/28/which-nfl-teams-have-been-the-best-and-worst-at-drafting/#399347b85dcd Their criteria: “To determine the NFL’s best-drafting teams we first started with a list of the last five draft classes. From there we pulled each drafted player’s career Approximate Value, a statistic calculated by Pro-Football-Reference.com that attempts to quantify a player’s on-field performance in a way that can be compared across positions …”

    The Rams are 6th on this site for 2012-2016. https://www.foxsports.com/nfl/gallery/nfl-draft-teams-picks-draft-records-ranked-2012-present-030117 Their criteria: “… teams scored 5 points for Pro Bowl player (when the nomination occurred while on the team’s roster), 3 points for a 2016 starter and 1 point for a 2016 rostered player (IR counts). Additional Pro Bowl nods earned and extra point and players traded or lost for value (trades or compensatory picks) yield a point, too.”

    When I ask myself why the Rams get such little respect for their drafting success from some of my Herd buddies it generally boils down to unrealistic expectations. This article titled “Most NFL Draft Picks Are Busts” does a good job of analyzing draft success over a 20 year period. In it, their data shows that 69% of all draft picks are poor, useless, or never even played with the team. https://www.dailynorseman.com/2017/4/12/15274148/most-nfl-draft-picks-are-busts

    January 19, 2020 at 9:31 am #110547
    Avatar photozn
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    Just an opinion. But…I would say that overall the Rams drafted well from 2012-2016. If they hadn’t, there would have been no fast start in 2017. If you look around at league history rarely if ever is there an overnight turnaround UNLESS the team is already loaded with a lot of playoff-caliber talent. That was the case in 2017. (In fact I can’t think of any examples of an overnight turnaround where the team wasn’t already stocked with good young talent.)

    The mistakes (basically, in hindsight, Austin and Robinson) are far overshadowed by a very solid record drafting.

    Though it’s also true (IMO) that McVay/Snead have continued the solid record drafting. And it’s not just drafting, it’s UDFAs and “ronin” pick-ups too (young veteran cast-offs). And the trades, though I am a bit more critical of the trades. Anyway here’s a great example—last year the Rams traded away 2 starting corners, THEN their 2 new starting corners both got injured, and they STILL could field 2 solid starting corners plus a top slot corner. Who has ever heard of anything remotely like that? Losing 4 starting corners is supposed to be the kiss of death, and it wasn’t.

    January 19, 2020 at 10:41 pm #110568
    Herzog
    Participant

    McVay/Snead have done really great from why I can tell. Wonder if they can draft a good first rounder?

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