Les Snead and the Los Angeles Rams have taken their “F them picks” mantra to a new level. They’ve now completed their second blockbuster trade of the offseason—this time with the Cleveland Browns in exchange for Myles Garrett. They’ve best defensive player in the NFL will net Jared Verse, a first round pick, along with second and third round selections in future years.
This trade has Snead’s fingerprints all over it. It’s a move straight from the Rams’ playbook. They’ve done this before.
No, this doesn’t
remind me of the earlier acquisition of Trent McDuffie. I’m not talking about when Los Angeles brought in Von Miller for a (successful) Super Bowl run.
It’s almost exactly the same as the Matthew Stafford trade in 2021. Here’s why:
A tale of two Jareds
Sean McVay grew frustrated with Jared Goff’s developmental arc. After reaching the Super Bowl and coming up short in 2018, the offense sputtered for the two seasons thereafter. Part of the regression was personnel—Todd Gurley was off the roster and the receiving corps waned—though the biggest portion of the downturn was Goff’s new contract and not improving enough to offset the loss of talent through salary cap restraints.
McVay knew that in order to get the Rams back to the championship, they needed more from the quarterback position. They’ve needed a player who could solve problems on his own when the scheme didn’t present the answer.
Enter Stafford.
LA didn’t have time to wait around and see if Goff could take a step forward. Ultimately, he has dramatically improved as a player with the Detroit Lions. It was simply a risk the Rams could not afford. Snead and McVay wanted to maximize the career window of Aaron Donald and do everything possible to get this era of the roster a ring.
The swap of Verse for Garrett holds a lot of the same parallels.
It’s no secret that LA’s defense did not do enough in the playoffs to push the team back to the Super Bowl. The secondary was the obvious scapegoat; however, the Rams had spent multiple years of top draft capital along the defensive front and these players did not live up to their billing in the postseason.
In the biggest moment of the season when it’s win or go home, Verse and company did not do enough to move the needle.
Verse came into the NFL as an older draft prospect. He was effective from day one en route to Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. His second season was a step back.
The Rams had to ask themselves, “can Verse reach another level and become a Myles Garrett type EDGE defender?”
It’s not difficult to make an argument that Verse is already one of the NFL’s most effective pass rushers with more room to grow. I did this recently not knowing that he was on his way out.
But Verse was not without downside. He’s missed a ton of tackles since entering the league and took a major step back as a run defender in his sophomore year. Verse did not handle well the extra attention opposing offenses paid him and this paved an uncertain path forward.
Again the Rams made the decision to forego another year of development to possibly arrive at the wrong answer. They told the NFL, “we’re not going to wait for Verse to become Garrett; we’ll just get the original.”
And now Snead and McVay have again positioned the Rams to be strong Super Bowl favorites. This roster may now be even better than the team that brought home the Lombardi Trophy in 2021. There are no certainties in the NFL. Can they get the job done?
