Los Angeles Rams Trade Up to No. 1 Pick in 2016 NFL Draft After Huge Deal with Tennessee Titans
After moving to Los Angeles during the offseason, the Rams wasted no time making a blockbuster deal, jumping up from No. 15 overall to the first pick in the 2016 NFL Draft after a trade with the Tennessee Titans.
The Titans sent the No. 1 pick along with their fourth and sixth round selections in exchange for the Rams No. 15 overall selection, two-second rounders, a third round pick, and their first and third round selections in 2017. The jump from 15 is the largest leap to the top in NFL history.
The Rams and Titans struck the deal Wednesday night; however, it was not revealed to the public until Thursday morning as to not take away from Kobe Bryant’s last game (which was absolutely insane, by the way, so I hope you stayed up to watch it).
“Our philosophy has always been to build through the draft,” said Rams general manager Les Snead. “This trade is a reflection of that goal and [Stan] Kroenke’s dedication to assembling a winning team on the field.”
It sounds to me like their mortgaging their future for a rookie quarterback. Let’s just hope it works out better for them than when the Washington Redskins tried the same thing with Robert Griffin III—a mortgage which the Rams cashed in on big time, receiving multiple early selections for their No. 2 pick in 2012.
This season, the decision seems to be between North Dakota State quarterback Carson Wentz and Cal signal-caller Jared Goff.
“We’ve also done private workouts with Jared and with Carson already,” said Rams head coach Jeff Fisher after making a joke about being a defensive-minded man. “We did those at the end of February, early March. We were the first ones in. We’re familiar with both of them in addition to those other prospects on this roster. So, the skill sets are different, the personalities are different, the background is different, the competition is different, and that’s what makes this such a challenge.”
But, let’s be honest, you don’t trade away some of your top draft picks for the next two years without having a player in mind. Or do you? Guess we’ll see on Draft Night.