I just saw this in a conversation in the athletic between guys covering the Lions and Rams. It seems that the Rams really do view high draft picks as magic beans, which is why they’re more than willing to deal them for proven players. Say what you want about “building the right way,” this approach has certainly put the Rams in position for deep playoff runs the last few years.
But they raise an interesting point here: should we expect the same kind of aggressive approach from the Lions now? How would you feel about that? For myself, I’m fine trying to win with a leeetle but more urgency than the last regime.
Externally, the headlines are wild, but the Rams have, since McVay came on board in 2017, viewed first-round picks as movement capital and not as draft capital (buckle in if Brad Holmes decides to run things the same way). This means that they see proven players as higher in value than an unknown draft pick. They also are showing a bit of their ego, here — not necessarily in a negative sense — because by giving away their first-round picks through 2024, they believe they’ll be competitive enough each year for those picks to be in the late part of each first round. They don’t see enough data to back a discernible difference between that possible draft pick and the guy they’ll end up taking in the second round. So, it’s wild to watch at first, but when factoring in their logic, the vision makes sense.