Los Angeles Rams trade back from #31 with Atlanta Falcons

The Los Angeles Rams have pulled off a trade with the Atlanta Falcons to move back from #31 and add some draft capital.

The Rams have sent the 31st pick and 203rd pick in the 6th round for Atlanta’s 45th in the second and 79th in the third round.

I laid out the case for this in February:

Specifically because of the trades, the Rams are in the unusual position of needing to backfill a gap in the roster timeline because of the sheer number of trades General Manager Les Snead has pulled off. Had the Rams held on to all those picks, they might already have a quarterback on the roster to supplant Sean Mannion as the QB2. They might have had an edge rusher that would have negated the motivation to trade for Fowler in the first place. They might already have the cornerback depth they severely need once Talib and perhaps even CB Marcus Peters are gone after the 2019 season.

It’s just a function of needing to fill in the middle of the roster with the top already set.

Rams General Manager Les Snead alluded to a move like this earlier this week:

The benefits of trading back would be, can you acquire an extra mid-round pick? The way we painted the picture – if you trade back, can you get an extra player like a (WR) Cooper Kupp, a (S) John Johnson (III), a (T) Joseph Noteboom, (C) Brian Allen, a (WR) Josh Reynolds – some guys that we’ve gotten in the third and fourth (rounds) – (OLB) Samson Ebukam, (DL) John Franklin-Myers. The key there is those are people who had a role here and it’s up to us if we do that, to still draft right and develop right.

In the end, the Rams are going to go a third year in a row without a first-round pick. We’ll get into the drafting action tomorrow when the Rams are on the clock with the 45th pick.