Rams goal in the 2025 NFL Draft much different than last two years

Rams goal in 2025 NFL Draft shifts from needing stars to needing depth

Over the last two years, the Los Angeles Rams have been in somewhat of a rebuild or re-tool. After trading away Jalen Ramsey, the retirement of Aaron Donald, and moving on from players like Leonard Floyd and Bobby Wagner, the Rams roster all of a sudden went from a ‘stars and scrubs’ build to a team that didn’t have a lot of stars, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

The Rams were able to then take advantage of two deep draft classes, finding players like Steve Avila, Puka Nacua, Kobie Turner, Jared Verse, and Braden Fiske. A team that once lacked young talent was now full of it.

Every draft class is different and how teams approach each draft class varies from class to class. Again, the Rams went from a team that needed to load up on stars to a team that has a stockpile of them. It’s not just that the Rams found stars, but they found players that could come in and start right away. That’s why it made sense to take more developed, older prospects than younger players who may take time. Verse, Fiske, and Turner were all 23 or 24 when they were drafted. That doesn’t mention Byron Young who was 25.

That approach differs now heading into the 2025 draft. This is no longer a team building a roster, but rather one trying to supplement a roster. To be clear, this isn’t to say that the Rams don’t need impactful contributors. That will likely be exactly what they target with the 26th overall pick. At the same time, it’s not the primary goal overall and this isn’t a class where teams are going to find four or five immediate starters like the last two years.

Outside of Travis Hunter, this isn’t a draft that has generational talents at the top. Once the draft gets past picks 20, the value between the 20th overall pick and the 60th overall pick are generally seen as the same.

As noted by ESPN’s Matt Miller,

“There are four, maybe five, blue-chip players,” one NFL general manager said. “After that, it’s 40 guys with a late-first-round or second-round grade.” Scouts view the 2025 class as light on future All-Pros but strong on starters. “You’re going to see a ton of rookie starters from this class because it’s such an experienced group,” an AFC South area scout said. Though the class appears to lack high-end, can’t-miss prospects seen as future stars it has fewer players ranked high based purely on potential. As an AFC East area scout put it: “Player No. 15 on your board might have the same grade as No. 50.”

Due to that lack of depth, the type of player that the Rams will be targeting changes. Instead of looking for a player that can come in and start right away, the focus might shift to a player that can provide immediate depth and then take over in a year. This is how the Rams approached the draft during the “F them picks” era. The Rams took Joe Noteboom with their first selection in 2019 as a depth player and then started him at left guard at the beginning of his second season. Greg Gaines was taken in 2019 and didn’t start until his third season. Van Jefferson was taken in the second round in 2020 and only had 220 yards his rookie season. Jefferson had over 800 yards in year two.

This is currently a roster looking for that same depth and likely to take a similar approach outside of potentially pick 26. Even then, the Rams could opt to take a quarterback to sit behind Matthew Stafford or a tackle to sit behind Rob Havenstein and provide “swing” value as a rookie.

Following the past two drafts,Following the past two drafts, the Rams now have clear cornerstones or pillars on the roster. Those players are Matthew Stafford, Jared Verse, and Puka Nacua. The goal now should be to supplement and support those players. This is a roster that needs and lacks depth.

Last season, the Rams were one of the healthier teams in the NFL, ranking 23rd in adjusted games lost. Adjusted games lost is a metric that looks at team’s injury reports over a season and determines how much that team was affected adversely by injuries. That was a huge improvement over 2023 in which they ranked first. Still, you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody to say that the Rams season wasn’t significantly impacted by injury.

Due to the success of the last two drafts and the overall quality of the 2025 class, the goal of the draft for the Rams is much different. This is no longer a team looking for immediate contributors and cornerstones on the roster. That’s why they went out and signed Davante Adams, Poona Ford, and brought back Ahkello Witherspoon.

The Rams exited free agency without any glaring needs. That gives them a lot of flexibility entering the draft, but it also allows them to focus on the roster depth rather than trying to force starters in a draft that may not have a lot of them.