re: Rams haven't drafted in the 1st round since 2016, have no 1st rnd picks til 2024

1970's Redskins did the same thing. These were the "Over the Hill Gang"/George Allen years. Allen wanted veteran players, so he'd trade away his draft picks every year for veterans. The Skins had 0 first round picks from 1970-79, and from 1970-80 had the fewest picks in the draft every year but one. This strategy immediately paid dividends, as the Skins made the playoffs in 1971 for the first time since 1945. They would make the Super Bowl in 1972, and go to the playoffs 5 times in the decade and stay competitive every year.The ten years with no draft capital didn't hurt the franchise as they won 2 Super Bowls in the 80's and went to 3. Their first 1st Round pick since 1969 was in 1980 when they drafted future HOFer Art Monk. Maybe, the Rams can make this strategy work.

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1970's Redskins did the same thing. These were the "Over the Hill Gang"/George Allen years. Allen wanted veteran players, so he'd trade away his draft picks every year for veterans. The Skins had 0 first round picks from 1970-79, and from 1970-80 had the fewest picks in the draft every year but one. This strategy immediately paid dividends, as the Skins made the playoffs in 1971 for the first time since 1945. They would make the Super Bowl in 1972, and go to the playoffs 5 times in the decade and stay competitive every year.The ten years with no draft capital didn't hurt the franchise as they won 2 Super Bowls in the 80's and went to 3. Their first 1st Round pick since 1969 was in 1980 when they drafted future HOFer Art Monk. Maybe, the Rams can make this strategy work.

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While this was impressive, comparing today’s NFL to back then is silly. One, there were a ton more rounds in the draft, so you still had a lot more picks after the 1st and a lot of those guys contributed. Now, for multiple reasons, you can really only count on players taken in rounds 1-3 to stick and be potential cornerstones. Anything you get from rounds 4 on through UDFA is really just lagniappe and depth.

The Saints only won 1 Super Bowl with Payton/Brees, but really had 3 different iterations of championship caliber teams the last 15 years and without the absurd Bountygate penalties, probably wouldn’t have experienced much of a lull throughout. Which is amazing during today’s NFL. But to maintain that consistency, they needed not only an all-time great QB/HC partnership, a GM with an uncanny ability of manipulating the cap and kicking the can down the road, but an incredible scouting and player development department that hit on 3rd-7th round picks and UDFAs as not only cheap depth, but Pro Bowlers. That is not normal.

I don’t know enough about the Rams roster to speak for certainty, but I would imagine that with their current strategy they don’t have great depth at the back end of their roster and depend heavily on their stars. Look at how different their defense was in the playoffs after Donald got banged up. But of course teams depend heavily on their stars, so I don’t fault this strategy. They may have the 2nd best DT of all-time behind Reggie White and don’t want to waste this window. But I’m not sure how much more Stafford keeps the window open, and it looks like they are a few years away from nosediving. And I don’t think McVay is sticking around for the rebuild.

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Cooks

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They got a second rounder for him (Van Jefferson)

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Peters

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Trading him helped them get Ramsey

My thoughts are he doesn’t know which position Reggie White played. Also the narrative that Donald is just a DT is stupid because he lines up in basically every gap during the course of a game.

You good or you want another tall boy?

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Did they really send them two first round picks and Goff for Stafford?

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There’s a thread about this with all the details

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quote: Cooks They got a second rounder for him (Van Jefferson) quote: Peters Trading him helped them get Ramsey

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Ok... still no first rounders