Extra first rounder could help Rams as soon as 2025

Rams GM Les Snead has even more reason to be aggressive at the trade deadline

Rumors continue to swirl that the Los Angeles Rams are in pursuit of Jalen Ramsey again, but in truth their are bigger and better fish to fry on the trade market if Les Snead has the patience to wait until the season. And because the Rams general manager acquired an extra 2026 first round pick from the Atlanta Falcons in a draft day deal, Snead should be expected to step on the gas pedal to address L.A.’s needs just as he did in 2021.

It’s been four years since the Rams traded a second and third round pick to the Denver Broncos for Von Miller, a key player en route to winning the Super Bowl that season. With an extra first round pick in 2026 in his back pocket, Snead might try to pull off a similar move again in 2025.

And there will be better, younger, cheaper players than Ramsey. Although because of the capital that Snead has in the next draft, and the money saved by re-doing Matthew Stafford’s deal, why not both?

First round pick is for peace of mind, not to trade

Although Snead could technically be super aggressive and acquire an elite, young, cost-controlled talent at the cost of a first round pick, that’s not really what the extra pick in 2026 is about. Instead, Snead could feel more comfortable trading a second and/or a third round pick at the deadline for help, just as he did with Miller in 2021.

Of course, Snead is the most aggressive draft pick trader in the NFL:

• 2024: Traded a 2025 second for Braden Fiske
• 2021: Traded two firsts+more for Matthew Stafford
• 2021: Traded a second and third for Miller
• 2019: Traded two firsts for Jalen Ramsey
• And so on and so on

There’s just no question that when a team gives Snead an extra first round pick, he’s going to take that as a dare to not make a big trade soon after.

Which players would be on the table?

That question requires answers that are entirely speculative and impossible to predict, for the most part, because Snead might need to answer for injuries that we can’t foresee. Of course, there is also the chance that someone like Tyreek Hill (would you have guessed at the beginning of the 2021 season that L.A. would end up needing Odell Beckham?) or Trey Hendrickson would appeal to the Rams’ desire to over-load a premium position.

Not at the cost of a first round pick for either of those examples, mind you.

But just allow yourself to go beyond the probable and into the possible for a brief second and then I promise you the nightmare will be over: What if it’s October, Tutu Atwell isn’t doing a dang thing, the offense ranks 22nd in scoring, and Hill could be available for a third or fourth round...