Over The Cap Projects LA Rams To Receive 3 Compensatory Picks In 2017 NFL Draft

While the NFL world is fixated on the weekend’s slate of playoff games as we open the Wild Card Round of the 2017 NFL Playoffs, we’ve got some good news in an early piece from Over the Cap today looking at their projected compensatory picks in the 2017 NFL Draft.

Their initial projections have the Los Angeles Rams receiving three compensatory picks:

• A third-round pick for losing CB Janoris Jenkins to the New York Giants
• A fourth-round pick for losing S Rodney McLeod to the Philadelphia Eagles
• A sixth-round pick for losing DT Nick Fairley to the New Orleans Saints

Of course, the key is the projected third-round pick for the Jackrabbit. The terms of the Rams’ trade with the Tennessee Titans to acquire the #1 overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft which the Rams used on rookie franchise QB Jared Goff include the Rams’ first-round pick and a third-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. If the Rams receive a third-round compensatory pick, the compensatory pick goes to the Titans and the Rams keep their natural third-round selection. Otherwise, the Titans would get the Rams’ natural third-rounder. Suffice to say, we should be rooting for the Janoris compensatory pick to be a third rounder, which is the highest a compensatory pick can be awarded.

Tossing in the fourth- and sixth-round additions helps beef up the Rams’ stocks in the draft. Using OTC’s projections, here’s a rough projection of what the Rams’ 2017 NFL Draft order would look like:

You can see the impact of the Goff trade and how severely it limits the Rams’ immediate ability to upgrade the roster. Just one pick in the first 68 and just two picks in the first 109. Whoever is coaching this team is going to have a massive challenge on his hands to improve the quality of output without a ton of modified input roster-wise.

Nonetheless, it’s looking like a sizable draft haul to work with albeit one that might be a bit thin at the top.