Rams 2021 draft: Day 2 could be bombarded with quality tackle prospects

We will have a lot of time to delve further into these names over the next two months but today I want to highlight something I read at the SB Nation Cowboys blog, Blogging the Boys, about the 2021 draft: It’s a great year to wait on tackles.

Writer Connor Livesay urges the Cowboys to pass on a premium tackle prospect with the 10th overall pick because he sees tackle being one of the most stacked positions in the top-100. This would also benefit the Rams, who don’t have a first round pick with which to fill their inevitable need of securing the tackle positions long-term on either side of Matthew Stafford.

Andrew Whitworth is nearing 40 and Rob Havenstein hasn’t done enough to necessarily secure his future with the team long-term if an upgrade shows itself in the near-term. But the Rams don’t have a first round pick and they traded one of their three third round picks to acquire Stafford.

They might have done so feeling confident that they could still nab upgrades for the offensive line on day two.

While still having plenty to work through, and the chance that some grades could change, I currently have 15 offensive tackles graded inside my top 100. That is an abnormally large number for a position that is very weak in the NFL.

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In the second round, the Cowboys hold the 42nd overall pick, putting them in range to land one of the second-tier offensive tackles consisting of Michigan’s Jalen Mayfield, Notre Dame’s Liam Eichenberg, Texas’ Samuel Cosmi, Oklahoma State’s Teven Jenkins, or Alabama’s Alex Leatherwood. All of these players are starting caliber tackles (primarily left tackle), that also have the same ability as Sewell and Slater to slide inside and play guard ...

Though tackle is a position of need for nearly every team every year, the 2021 class could be setup to help move some of the potential starters down into the second and third round thanks to there being five or six first round quarterbacks, plus a desire for many teams including Dallas to focus on finding defensive help this year.

Jalen Mayfield, Liam Eichenberg, Samuel Cosmi, Teven Jenkins and Alex Leatherwood would be five names to consider with pick 57 or a trade up.

The Rams also have two third round compensatory picks, leaving them with two third rounders after the Stafford trade, and more potential starting options could still be found by the end of round three according to Livesay.

Some of the names to keep an eye on in the third round would be Clemson’s Jackson Carman, North Dakota State’s Dillion Radunz, Stanford’s Walker Little, Cincinnati’s James Hudson, or Northern Iowa’s Spencer Brown. Four of the five guys played left tackle in college, with the exception of Spencer Brown who fits in more as a right tackle.

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Some of the names to keep an eye on in the fourth/fifth round would be BYU’s Brady Christensen, Notre Dame’s Robert Hainsey, East Carolina’s D’Ante Smith, and Middle Tennessee’s Robert Jones. They are all guys who I think could still be available on day three, and have the ability to start games and make an impact in year one of the NFL.

We still have a couple of months to do homework on these nine names:

Jackson Carman, Dillon Radunz, Walker Little, James Hudson, Spencer Brown, Brady Christensen, Robert Hainsey, D’Ante Smith, and Robert Jones.

Les Snead didn’t draft an offensive lineman on day two in 2020, but he hasn’t been shy about drafting them in rounds 2-4 in the past and this year could be setting it up to do just that.