Should Rams trade Byron Young for more proven pass rusher?

The Los Angeles Rams are entering a ‘win now’ season in 2026 as Matthew Stafford enters his age 38 season and the team is coming off of a trip to the NFC Championship game. While that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Rams need to enter another ‘F Them Picks’ era, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them make at least one trade that can help them get over the hump.

While the strength of the Rams defense over the past two seasons has been the pass rush, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them at least explore that position. The MMQB’s Albert Breer seemed to confirm this when listing the Rams as a team who were keeping tabs on Maxx Crosby’s availability. In addition to Crosby, the Minnesota Vikings could look to move on from Jonathan Greenard to save some cap space.

If the Rams were to make a move for Crosby or even Greenard, it would make things interesting at edge. The Rams already have Jared Verse and Byron Young. With Young entering his age-28 season and the final year of his rookie contract, the Rams would likely move on from him rather than Verse. The question really becomes, is the gap between Young and someone like Crosby or Greenard worth the price?

Acquiring Crosby would cost at least one first-round pick and potentially a player. Greenard’s price point wouldn’t be as high since the Vikings are looking to offload him and don’t have much leverage. Still, there would be some assets involved and the Rams would likely have to move on from Young.

It’s not totally out of the realm of possibility that the Rams would trade Young. Again, he’s going to be 28 and has likely hit his ceiling. His market value via Spotrac is currently $28.1 million per year and it seems unlikely that the Rams would give Young an extension at that price point.

Still, when looking strictly at 2026, Young might still be the best option at his price. Crosby will require premium assets and potentially Young in return and Greenard is coming off of his worst season since 2022. When comparing Young’s numbers from the last two seasons to Crosby and Greenard, they aren’t that much different.

All data in the below table was taken from raw NFL stats, Trench Warfare, and PFF.

A player like Crosby may benefit more from being on a better team with a better supporting cast. At the same time, Crosby isn’t the same caliber player as Khalil Mack when he was traded in 2018 or Micah Parsons. That’s not to say that Crosby isn’t a game-changing player, but he’s likely more of a low-end EDGE1 than an elite caliber player. Young is a high-end EDGE2 and a case can be made that he is a low-end EDGE1. The gap isn’t that significant.

It would make sense if the Rams wanted to capitalize on Young’s value now and potentially get a second-round pick or a player in return. The Rams do have depth behind him in Josaiah Stewart who showed promise as a rookie. At the same time, the gap between Young and a player that would be acquired isn’t that significant and the Rams may be better off just taking the third-round compensatory pick that they would likely receive for Young.

Young has more value playing for the Rams during an all-in season than he does via trade. While he may end up being a cap casualty in the sense that he won’t get an extension from the Rams, his value now is more important. The Rams aren’t in sell mode where they need to offload those types of players. Contrarily, another team is going to overpay for Crosby and Greenard has likely already reached his peak.

While trading Young makes sense in theory, there’s nobody available that provides as much as he does at his current price. The Rams are better off with Young at his current price and production value than trading him or other assets for another player at the same position.