When the Los Angeles Rams opted to trade their first-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons in 2025, they also bypassed the opportunity to draft back-to-back Defensive Rookie of the Year players. The Rams traded pick 26 to the Falcons and shortly thereafter the Cleveland Browns drafted linebacker Carson Schwesinger at 33, a rookie who ended up being ranked in the top-100 by his peers after only one season.
But Schwesinger would not be the last example of an opportunity the Rams had to draft a linebacker
that they may end up regretting, as rookie second-round picks Josaiah Trotter, Anthony Hill, and Jacob Rodriguez all had outstanding Week 1 performances for their respective teams. They also all had better games than Nate Landman, Shaun Dolac, and Omar Speights.
When will the Rams’ value linebackers?
Landman, who is in the first season of a three-year, $22.5 million contract signed in the middle of 2025, has not been the linebacker expected to be when he was extended. In Week 1, Landman had a PFF grade of 50.3 (for what it’s worth), as he’s been a frequent target in the passing game and is considered to be someone struggling against the run. He was blamed for a missed tackle in Week 1 as well.
The 49ers were able to run against L.A.’s defense at will, and while plenty of blame will fall on Chris Shula, coaching is a hell of a lot easier when the team has great players. The Rams do not have great linebackers and that’s something fans have known for years.
They certainly knew it when the Rams opted to trade down in 2025 and Schwesinger was on the board.
Speights was better against the run than Landman, but much worse in coverage. He’s merely a replacement level player (at his absolute best), with or without the “hip pointer” injury that he’s currently dealing with.
Dolac had the best PFF grade of the three, but it still wasn’t considered a good day for him either.
We expected the Rams to have a weakness at linebacker … and they do.
Didn’t draft Schwesinger
Although Carson Schwesinger had a bad Week 1 game against the Jaguars — although no worse than Landman had against the 49ers — he’s far more likely to become a perennial star than most defensive players in the NFL under 25. At any position.
He’d be a breath of fresh air on the Rams.
Les Snead decided that instead of drafting Schwesinger, he’d trade that pick to Atlanta and eventually select tight end Terrance Ferguson.
Okay.
Through one season and one game, Ferguson has yet to have the impact on the passing game that Sean McVay hoped he would have by now. He did clock the second-most snaps among LA’s tight ends in Week 1 behind Colby Parkinson and maybe his targets will increase, but then there’s also a future in which he must coincide with Max Klare anyway.
In any case, just know that’s the score:
- Didn’t draft a LB (or someone else)
- Did draft Ferguson + get a 2026 first-round pick
The Rams received Atlanta’s first-round pick in 2026, which of course they used on Ty Simpson. Between those two picks, the Rams had a player who was inactive in Week 1 and another who had zero catches on one target.
The long-term outcome could play out great in L.A.’s favor if Simpson becomes a starting quarterback and Ferguson is an above-average tight end. Even without Ferguson, any future with Simpson as a good starting QB is a win for Snead. Okay, that’s established.
However, in the meantime, as the Rams look to rebound from an 0-1 start with an increasingly difficult schedule ahead, this potentially detrimental weakness in the middle of their defense could cost L.A. amid an “all-in” season.
The 2026 draft standouts
By drafting Ty Simpson, trading their own first-round pick for Trent McDuffie, and using a second-round pick on Klare, plus a third-round pick on Keagan Trost, the Rams did end up avoiding the opportunity to take one of these linebackers. All of whom weren’t just as good or slightly better than Landman in Week 1, but extraordinarily better:
2.43 LB Jacob Rodriguez, Dolphins
Drafting Rodriguez, one of the most coveted defensive players in the draft, would have necessitated not drafting Simpson (and trading down from pick 13, if they could find a good partner), not trading for McDuffie, or trading up from pick 2.61.
These are obviously all difficult moves to pull off based on what the Rams actually did, but I’m not going to just let it go that Rodriguez—as obvious an NFL star as Schwesinger—came out swinging in Week 1. He had a PFF grade of 90.3.
He had 14 tackles in his debut.
2.46 – LB Josaiah Trotter, Buccaneers
Trotter had 11 tackles in his NFL debut with Tampa Bay, plus he had a grade of 72.8. Trotter’s debut was the splashiest of all these players—and all rookies probably—notching a pick-six and a sack against Joe Burrow. Just 21 years old, Trotter could have a future as bright as his father’s career with the Eagles.
Again, the Rams would have had to maneuver to get him, but let’s talk about that:
In 2025, the Seahawks traded picks 52 and 82 for pick 34 and then they draft Nick Emmanwori. Do they regret it? Emmanwori helped Seattle win the Super Bowl by having one of the best rookie seasons by a defensive back in recent memory. And the Seahawks were able to do it by trading a second and a third for a higher second round pick:
The Rams had picks 61 and 93 but were content with waiting to draft player who they KNEW would not contribute this season, which ended up being Klare and Trost.
Snead just had to pick up the phone. He could have traded those picks and drafted Rodriguez or Trotter. But it would have taken even less to get the next linebacker.
2.60 – LB Anthony Hill, Titans
Taken just one pick ahead of Klare, who was inactive in Week 1 and is likely to continue to be a healthy scratch for many weeks to come, Hill had 16 tackles in his NFL debut, four stops, two pass breakups, and a PFF grade of 78.7.
Like Trotter, he’s also only 21. (Rodriguez is 24.)
Anthony Hill is basically a “Ready, set, linebacker” who comes into the NFL as a plug and play option in the middle of any defense. He would have been an upgrade in run defense and pass defense over Landman, Speights, and Dolac. Pick your poison.
While trading up for the other two would have necessitated both day two picks (still should have done that though), trading up for Hill would have cost nothing. It would be the inclusion of a seventh round pick, or a sixth-round pick in 2028 maybe. Nothing.
If Snead thought that Hill would fall to him, that’s a miscalculation. But more likely than not, the Rams never planned to draft Anthony Hill anyway.
That’s a mistake.
What now?
The only option moving forward this season is to continue to start their own players and hope they get better, as a trade for a linebacker upgrade could prove impossible. Ironically, the last great trade of a linebacker was when Ernest Jones was sent from Tennessee to Seattle in 2024, just about two months after he was traded to the Titans by the Rams.
Can the Rams find their own “Ernest Jones” two years after they gave up on Ernest Jones? Jones, coming off of a second-team All-Pro season, had 13 tackles in Week 1.
Those types of linebackers might come available before the trade deadline, but the Rams shouldn’t be expected to use capital on one of them. If they haven’t cared before, why should they care now?
However, the mistake to overlook linebackers in the draft has cost them. Will they learn from those mistakes in the future?
