A big question heading into the draft, probably the biggest question (a ton of mock drafts are on the line after all), is if the St. Louis Rams will trade down. The only thing that will keep the St. Louis Rams from trading down is the possibility of them drafting a quarterback to replace the ever so average Sam Bradford. If and only if, the Rams see that Bradford is no longer the future of the franchise, and one of the quarterbacks available is, will they stay put.
Four quarterbacks could potentially go in the top 10, Derek Carr, Teddy Bridgewater, Johnny Manziel, and Blake Bortles. Franchise quarterbacks aren’t easy to find, and often teams have to pay a premium for them, see St. Louis and Washington trade two years ago. Teams that have a need for a franchise quarterback will come pounding on St. Louis’s door if they see any of those four as the new face of their franchise. A quarterback can make and break so many jobs, and either bring a team into the limelight, or see them suffer losing season after losing season until replaced.
St. Louis has fallen into one of the best situations in football. They have a very talented team that went 7-9 in a tough NFC West. Now they hold the second overall pick yet again, and can hold it out to the highest bidder once more, locking up more picks to let them add more talented players. The Rams have needs along the offensive line and secondary, and they can easily address those needs later.
A likely scenario for the Rams is moving back to the fourth pick so that the Cleveland Browns can get the quarterback they like that is still available (this assumes the Texans select one). Moving down just two spots for the Rams would almost guarantee they can still select their highest rated offensive lineman, and would probably net them at the least Cleveland’s first round pick this year (4th overall) and Cleveland’s first round pick next year. No brainer for St. Louis.
In 2012 the Rams essentially moved back four spots to six (then traded back again), got the Redskins second round pick in 2012, their first round picks in 2013 and 2014. The Rams aren’t likely to acquire such a bounty of picks again, but it won’t be that far off.
Les Snead only has two drafts under his belt as a general manager, but he has showed no fear in trading down as the Rams went from two, to six, to 14 in 2012. Snead has shown he’ll move all over the draft to acquire future picks, and select the players he believes will bring the franchise to the Super Bowl. Snead has done well over the last two drafts, and I don’t expect him to turn down such a fruitful opportunity. Unless the Rams select a quarterback at the second pick, they will definitely trade it.