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In my view, nothing is certain in the NFL, including trading for those “proven” veterans. I’d rather have the draft picks in most cases. Not in all cases. But most. Cuz those vets still have to fit in with the new team culture, and that’s never a guarantee, either. The Rams hit on Ramsey, for instance, and I was for that trade. He was young, which is ideal, and an “alpha dog,” as players like to say. And while his past history was a little shaky, I thought pairing him with Donald would bring out his best . . .
But the Rams have made several other trades for those “proven” vets that didn’t work out, and ended up as one year rentals. Sometimes, for less than a year. And while it’s impossible to prove a counterfactual, I think Goff would have won the Super Bowl in 2021/2022, and the Stafford trade made repeats pretty much impossible.
There is a way to do both/and. As in, selective trading for young, proven vets, and holding on to most of your draft picks. Refrain from trading for much older vets, when you already have solid, much younger talent in house at that position. Don’t do rentals. Plus, when you trade your own players, do so only for good returns, not just to help those players out. Keep ’em if you can’t get a solid return. And don’t outright cut young talent when you don’t have to — like Lewis, Burgess, Henderson, Hollins, etc. Coach ’em up. At least keep them thru their rookie deals.
IMO, the lack of early draft picks has obviously hurt their talent levels, and their cap. It has to. When you’re in cap hell, seemingly year after year, you don’t have the resources to make up for those lost picks. Lotsa cap space? It’s at least possible.
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