2016 NFL Mock Draft: Could The LA Rams Trade Up From #15?

I've gotten behind in the mock draft wars, so let's start getting caught up on my personal favorite mocker among mockers: Dan Kadar from SB Nation's own Mocking the Draft.

Last Monday, Kadar had a mock reaction to the flurry of free agent activity that had the Rams going in a well-known direction at #15:

Paxton Lynch (QB, Memphis)

It seems like there has been some rumblings of late about Lynch being available in the back half of the first round. By the time the draft gets closer, expect his stock to rise back up because of position scarcity and upside. In Los Angeles, it's just hard to see Case Keenum being the starter over a quarterback with this type of potential.

Yesterday, Kadar's Monday Mock had the Rams moving from #15 up to #6 overall to swap with the Baltimore Ravens to select:

Carson Wentz (QB, North Dakota St.)

Excuse me for not buying into the Case Keenum hype the Rams are pushing this offseason. With two second-round picks and the 15th overall selection, Los Angeles has the ammunition to move up and land a quarterback like Wentz. The idea of getting the quarterback of the future in the team's first year back in LA while being on Hard Knocks is such a storybook thing.

I doubt we're going to get anything out of the club before the draft, so this really comes down to one thing: do you think the brass is comfortable with Case Keenum, Nick Foles and Sean Mannion as their 2016 QB depth chart or not?

There's plenty of reason to think they are. First and foremost, they were a year ago. Second to that is the public comments from the end of the season, repeated at the combine and reiterated through free agency that Keenum is the starter and they're comfortable building around the position. And perhaps most immediately relevant is the performance of the Denver Broncos who won the Super Bowl less than two months ago on the backs of some relatively underwhelming performances from Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler over the course of the 2015 season.

On the other hand...Case Keenum, Nick Foles and Sean Mannion.

For me, it's a reality vs. desire. The reality is, this franchise doesn't value QBs as highly as many other franchises. That's fine, but it certainly suggests the QB in round 1 talk is less likely than most are assuming. The desire, though, from the Rams fan base and media alike for adding a QB prospect with talent to that trio? Yeah, that's real too.

Of course, the bottom line problem is that the Rams aren't really "a QB away" from competing. They've got enough talent elsewhere that they should be competing already even without a top 10 QB. Denver won the Super Bowl with a fading Manning and Brock Osweiler. Houston won nine games with Brian Hoyer. The Jets won 10 with Ryan Fitzpatrick. Washington won nine with Kirk Cousins. The Chiefs have won 31 games with Alex Smith over the last three years. Hell, before he came to the Rams, Nick Foles was helping the Eagles to back-to-back 10-win seasons.

So let's mock away with QBs to the Rams. It makes sense, even if it doesn't fix the problem.