‘It was going to be one of those grind-it-out drafts’ - Les Snead pulls the curtain back on Rams 2025 draft strategy in exclusive behind-the-scenes feature

As it turns out, Snead and company knew the team’s positioning on the draft board and their allocation of assets in the early chapters of this year's draft would dictate their psychology for how to go about attacking their process.

“You're not going to strike or attack or trade up for just anyone. It’s going to be specific people, specific players at specific positions. There was a lot of planning with ‘you know what the best thing for us to do is probably going to be to trade back’, because we have a lot of appreciation for some players, right, that will be there at No. 26 but also, that will be there somewhere in that second round.”

The mentality is backed, of course, by their ultimate decision to trade back. And once the Rams secured their top target in Oregon tight end Terrance Ferguson, Snead and his staff meticulously undertook the process of manipulating their picks the rest of the way. The Rams would go on to stand firm with their third-round draft choice but traded up for each of their next three picks: running back Jarquez Hunter in the fourth round and defensive tackle Ty Hamilton & linebacker Chris Paul Jr. in the fifth round.

“This was one of those years I said, ‘You know what? The way the draft is, the way the players is, the way the board is — we're probably going to have to hit a single, we're going to have to steal second, we're going to get bunted over the third, and we're going to get a sac fly to score.’,” said Snead.

“The way it was all going. It was going to be one of those, let's call it, ‘grind-it-out’ drafts. And then, with the advent of the trade, it allows next year to be maybe a draft where, oh, by the way, we might hit, hit a home run or two.”

The weekend was, in fact, a grind for Snead and some of his higher-ups in the front office. The Rams attacked certain players not only for their stylistic fit, but also their background as a match for Los Angeles, as people to add to the team’s culture. This is a large part of the reason why the Rams are considered to be one of the best programs in the league right now in player development.

So many young talents have entered the building over the past several seasons and seen a much faster-than-average transition time to being productive NFL players. The Rams organization has all of its decision makers and leadership on the same wavelength, allowing them to properly identify and attack the right kinds of fits for their vision.

And, if the Rams find similar success with this latest infusion of talent to the roster, they’re going to be a scary sight on the schedule for the rest of the NFC in 2025.