The Reason the Rams Didn't Draft a Quarterback

He was right there for the taking. Jaxson Dart, the Ole Miss quarterback who made some within the Rams fanbase salivate with the potential of tomorrow, Dart was not only a somewhat fan favorite, he was also being pushed to the Rams by sports media.

The Rams had every opportunity to trade up for him, especially considering he went at pick 25 instead of 26, but they passed on him as they did Jalen Milroe and every other quarterback in the draft, with ESPN's Dan Graziano sharing his insight into the decision.

"This offseason began with the real possibility of the Rams losing quarterback Matthew Stafford over a contract dispute," wrote Graziano. "Stafford eventually decided to stay in L.A., but he's 37 years old, and his status appears to be year-to-year. The Rams brought back Jimmy Garoppolo as his veteran backup, and they still have 2023 fourth-round pick Stetson Bennett. But in a situation where they could need a Stafford replacement as early as 2026, they do seem to be operating without a net at the most important position."

"So, why not draft one? Well, I mentioned this with the Steelers earlier, but teams didn't think very highly of this year's crop of draft quarterbacks. Forcing a pick on a quarterback of the future whom you don't feel great about isn't the best path for a defending division champion that sees itself as a Super Bowl contender."

"And remember, the Rams came away with an extra 2026 first-round pick as a result of their draft night trade with the Falcons. So, if next year's group of draft quarterbacks is, as most teams seem to expect, better and deeper than this year's, the Rams have the resources they might need to maneuver in the early rounds and address this situation in 2026."

As it turns out, Sean McVay was telling the truth at the NFL Owners Meeting, and subsequent prospect visits were used to either confirm the Rams' decision to not select a quarterback and/ or give misdirection on the intentions of the franchise.

"I think that's I think that's unlikely. I'll be honest with you, I haven't done a whole lot of work on the quarterbacks. I feel really good about where our quarterback room is, even though we're not naive to the fact that Matthew [Stafford] hopefully got a couple more years that he wants to play. But he's also learned the right to be able to say, after this year, hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go ahead and hang them up, but I'm hopeful that that's not the case, but I haven't done enough work to really have an educated opinion on that. That's not something that I would see us going but maybe not."

Expect the Rams to select a quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft.