Los Angeles Rams’ 2020 free agency, NFL Draft outlook after trading CB Marcus Peters

The Los Angeles Rams shook things up on their roster today (and likely aren’t done...) by trading for Cleveland Browns OL Austin Corbett at the cost of a 2021 NFL Draft Day 3 pick and then moving CB Marcus Peters to the Baltimore Ravens for LB Kenny Young and a 2020 NFL Draft fifth-round pick.

So that takes Peters off the list of impending free agents for 2020:

Some big decisions in there even after the deals we doled out prior to the season and today’s action.

And while Peters’ exit via trade likely deprives the Rams of a 2021 NFL Draft comp pick, we get the fifth rounder a year early meaning the current Rams 2020 draft order looks like this:

We’re down to one comp pick since the Detroit Lions released RB C.J. Anderson, and the fifth-rounder we got from the Ravens replaces the one we sent to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the trade for EDGE Dante Fowler, Jr.

One thing to bear in mind with any future trades is the roster timeline. A 2020 NFL Draft pick is cost-controlled through 2023 with first-rounders on a fifth-year option for 2024 if so desired. So to trade a pick for a player whose contract ends earlier will mean paying that player/position earlier than any draft pick would require. That’s a major factor playing into the Rams’ next two offseasons after the major trades they’ve made the last few years. It’s also worth noting 2020 is the last offseason covered by the current CBA. We just can’t be certain that the same market factors and boundaries will be in place in 2021.

I should also note Peters makes it the eighth cornerback the Rams have avoided paying since they don’t value defensive backs as much as their peers do on the market.