The Los Angeles Rams have one of the most aggressive general managers in football, Les Snead at the helm. Snead last year in 2023 completed five trades in which two of them were even with the same partner, the Houston Texans. What will Snead do this year during the draft?

Well, let’s take an in-depth look at last year’s trade results. For starters the Rams decided to stay put in the first round and select TCU interior offensive lineman Steve Avila. Following that move though, the team traded down from 69th-overall with the Texans. The Texans in turn selected wide receiver Tank Dell. The Rams gave up an addition 6th round pick, 191st overall in return received the 73rd selection and received a fifth round pick.

2023 Draft Trades – 5

TEXANS RECEIVE:

• Round 3, 2023: No. 69 — WR Tank Dell
• Round 6, 2023: No. 191 (from Green Bay); Pick traded to Buccaneers via Eagles — WR Trey Palmer

RAMS RECEIVE:

• Round 3, 2023: No. 73 (from Cleveland); Pick traded to Giants — WR Jalin Hyatt
• Round 5, 2023: No. 161 (from Dallas) — LB Nick Hampton

Following this trade, the Rams took the 73rd selection they received and traded down again in the third round with the Giants who came up to take Tennessee standout wide receiver Jalin Hyatt. The Rams would end up drafting Kobie Turner with their 89th pick and also take their quarterback Stetson Bennett who did not play last year.

GIANTS RECEIVE:

• Round 3, 2023: No. 73 (from Cleveland) — WR Jalin Hyatt

RAMS RECEIVE:

• Round 3, 2023: No. 89 — DT Kobie Turner
• Round 4, 2023: No. 128 — QB Stetson Bennett

After the Rams selected Bennett with their fourth-round pick they decided to get active again in the fifth round. They ended up trading back from 167th overall to acquire an additional seventh round pick. The Texans would once again be a trade partner for the Rams.

TEXANS RECEIVE:

• Round 5, 2023: No. 167 (compensatory selection) — LB Henry To’oTo’o

RAMS RECEIVE:

• Round 5, 2023: No. 174 (from Las Vegas; compensatory selection) — OT Warren McClendon
• Round 7, 2023: No. 259 (compensatory selection) — DT Desjuan Johnson

The Rams weren’t done yet though they would go on to move another fifth-round pick down four spots in exchange for another seventh-rounder.

BUCCANEERS RECEIVE:

• Round 5, 2023: No. 171 (compensatory selection) — TE Payne Durham

RAMS RECEIVE:

• Round 5, 2023: No. 175 (compensatory selection) — TE Davis Allen
• Round 7, 2023: No. 252 (compensatory selection); Pick traded to Buffalo — CB Alex Austin

While Snead and the Rams traded down four straight-times in the draft, they did eventually decide to package two picks, including the 252nd overall they received from the Buccaneers to go up and select running back Zach Evans in the sixth round.

RAMS RECEIVE:

• Round 6, 2023: No. 215 (from Washington; compensatory selection) — RB Zach Evans

BILLS RECEIVE:

• Round 7, 2023: No. 252 (from Tampa Bay; compensatory selection) — CB Alex Austin
• Round 6, 2024 (from Denver)

2022 Draft Trades – 3

LAS VEGAS RECEIVES:

• Round 5, 2022: No. 175 — DT Matthew Butler
• Round 7, 2022: No. 238 (from Miami) — T Thayer Munford

LOS ANGELES RECEIVES:

• Round 5, 2022: No. 164 (from New England) — RB Kyren Williams

The Rams acquired current star running back Kyren Williams when they went aggressive in the 2022 NFL Draft and traded up 11 spots to go and get him. One could say that’s worked out well since.

CLEVELAND RECEIVES:

• Round 5, 2023

LOS ANGELES RECEIVES:

• CB Troy Hill

The Browns received a fifth-round pick in exchange for Troy Hill. This was a pleasant surprise to see the Rams bring back a cornerback with familiarity and experience especially after they had traded Jalen Ramsey away.

LOS ANGELES RECEIVES:

• Round 7, 2022: No. 235 (from Jacksonville) — DE Daniel Hardy
• Round 7, 2022: No. 261 (compensatory selection) — T A.J. Arcuri

TAMPA BAY RECEIVES:

• Round 6, 2022: No. 218 (compensatory selection) — TE Ko Kieft

For the third and final time Les Snead traded down to add an additional day three selection. It’s worth noting that additional selection that was added which became A.J. Arcuri is still on the roster.

2021 Draft Trades – 3

49ers receive:

• 2021 third-round pick (No. 88 Trey Sermon)

Rams receive:

• 2021 fourth-round pick (No. 117 DT Bobby Brown)
• 2021 fourth-round pick (No. 121 traded to Jaguars)

The Rams made a rare trade with their arch division rival San Francisco 49ers. In exchange, the Rams added two fourth round picks to move out of day two and allow their rivals to select the Ohio State running back Trey Sermon. The Rams ended up with Bobby Brown III here so I would say confidently this worked out well.

Jaguars receive:

• 2021 fourth-round pick (No. 121 LB Jordan Smith)
• 2021 6th Round Pick (No. 209 WR Jalen Camp)

Rams receive:

• 2021 fourth-round pick (No. 130 DB Robert Rochell)
• 2021 fifth-round pick (No. 170 traded to Texans)
• 2021 seventh-round pick (No. 249 WR Ben Skowronek)

Jacksonville traded up to select Jordan Smith and in turn gave up a pick and a decently large pick swap to the Rams. Les Snead once again displayed his patience as he wasn’t afraid to move down yet again.

Texans receive:

• 2021 fifth-round pick (No. 170 LB Garret Wallow)

Rams receive:

• 2021 fifth-round pick (No. 174 DE Earnest Brown)
• 2021 seventh-round pick (No. 233 RB Jake Funk)

For the fourth and final time Les Snead traded and it was another trade down that gave the Rams another pick in the seventh round just to move down 4 spots in the fifth round.

2020 Draft Trades – 1

Texans receive:

» 2020 fourth-round pick (No. 126; North Carolina OT Charlie Heck)

Rams receive:

» 2020 fourth-round pick (No. 136; Purdue TE Brycen Hopkins)

» 2020 seventh-round pick (No. 248; Miami of Ohio K Sam Sloman)

» 2020 seventh-round pick (No. 250; Clemson G Tremayne Anchrum)

Les Snead made his only move of this draft and traded down 10 spots to acquire two additional late round seventh round picks. This marked the fourth time in the last four drafts that Les Snead had made a draft trade with the Houston Texans organization.

2019 Draft Trades – 6

Falcons receive:

» 2019 first-round pick (No. 31; select OT Kaleb McGary)

» 2019 sixth-round pick (No. 203; select WR Marcus Green)

Rams receive:

» 2019 second-round pick (No. 45; trade to Patriots)

» 2019 third-round pick (No. 79; select DB David Long)

The Rams had their first round pick in 2019 and intended to select Taylor Rapp with it at pick 31 if they could not trade down. The Falcons stepped up and moved an additional third round pick. While the Rams did not acquire Rapp at pick 45 as they traded it to New England, they did end up with a starting cornerback in David Long who made a difference in the Rams Super Bowl win two seasons later.

Patriots receive:

» 2019 second-round pick (No. 45; select CB Joejuan Williams)

Rams receive:

» 2019 second-round pick (No. 56; trade to Chiefs)

» 2019 third-round pick (No. 101; trade to Patriots)

Les Snead moved down yet again in the second and acquired another third round pick. He displayed some serious patience and even in a sense aggression with how often he used the phones coming off the Super Bowl loss season.

Chiefs receive:

» 2019 second-round pick (No. 56; select WR Mecole Hardman)

Rams receive:

» 2019 second-round pick (No. 61; select DB Taylor Rapp)

» 2019 fifth-round pick (No. 167; trade to Philadelphia)

The Rams finally took their first pick in the draft which ended up being Rapp at pick 61 overall. The Chiefs moved up six spots and gave up a fifth round pick in the process. Snead made sure he had plenty of juice going into day three of the NFL Draft.

Rams receive:

» 2019 third-round pick (No. 70; select RB Darrell Henderson)

Buccaneers receive:

» 2019 third-round pick (No. 94; select DB Jamel Dean)

» 2019 third-round pick (No. 99; select S Mike Edwards)

The Rams had their eyes on a running back who was thought to spell Todd Gurley as a complimentary weapon in Darrell Henderson. The Buccaneers gladly took the two third round picks for the Rams to allow them to move up to snag the standout Memphis running back. Henderson would end up winning a Super Bowl and play a role in the offense before Kyren Williams assumed control as their star running back.

Rams receive:

» 2019 third-round pick (No. 97; select OT Bobby Evans)

» 2019 fifth-round pick (No. 162; trade to New England)

Patriots receive:

» 2019 third-round pick (No. 101; select OT Yodny Cajuste)

» 2019 fourth-round pick (No. 133; select QB Jarrett Stidham)

Les Snead and the Rams made another trade in which they moved up four spots and in turn swapped a fourth-round pick for a fifth. This draft pick definitely did not work out as well but you cannot win them all. This marked the second time this draft that Snead had traded with the Patriots.

Rams receive:

» 2019 fourth-round (No. 134; select DT Greg Gaines)

» 2019 seventh-round (No. 243; select S Nick Scott)

Patriots receive:

» 2019 fifth-round (No. 162; trade to Minnesota)

» 2019 fifth-round (No. 167; trade to Philadelphia)

The Rams traded up again with New England for the third time in the draft and ended up acquiring key cogs to their Super Bowl roster in Greg Gaines and Nick Scott. Snead traded a total of six times in the 2019 NFL Draft and showed more aggression trading up than he really had ever done before.

2018 Draft Trades – 6

Raiders receive:

» 2018 third-round pick (No. 87) — Arden Ley, LB, LSU

Rams receive:

» 2018 third-round pick (No. 89) — Joseph Noteboom, OT, TCU

» 2018 seventh-round pick (No. 217) — traded to Denver

Keep in mind while the Brandin Cooks trade this year that sent their first round pick to New England was a big deal, it did not take place during the draft so it was not included on this list. The Rams traded down two spots and net an addition seventh round selection.

Panthers receive:

» 2018 fourth-round pick (No. 136) — Marquis Haynes, LB, Mississippi

Rams receive:

» 2018 fifth-round pick (No. 147) — Micah Kiser, LB, Virginia

» 2018 sixth-round pick (No. 197) — traded to Washington

This trade allowed the Rams to trade down and take Micah Kiser 11 spots after while also adding another sixth-round pick to the arsenal.

Rams receive:

» 2018 sixth-round pick (No. 192) — Jamil Demby, G, Maine

Cowboys receive:

» Tavon Austin, WR

The Rams moved on from Tavon Austin in this draft sending him to the Dallas Cowboys for a sixth-round pick which became Jamil Demby. With the addition of Brandin Cooks, the Rams did not find any reason to keep Austin on the roster any longer.

Rams receive:

» 2018 fifth-round pick (No. 160) — Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, LB, Oklahoma

Broncos receive:

» 2018 sixth-round pick (No. 183) — Sam Jones, G, Arizona State

» 2018 sixth-round pick (No. 217) — Keishawn Bierria, LB, Washington

The Rams ended up trading up 23 spots to select surprising draft faller Ogbo Okoronkwo who would end up being a very solid rotational pass rusher for the team before leaving in free agency.

Falcons receive:

» 2018 sixth-round pick (No. 194) — Russell Gage, WR, LSU

Rams receive:

» 2018 seventh-round pick (No. 244) — Justin Lawler, DE, SMU

» 2018 seventh-round pick (No. 256) — traded to Washington

The Rams traded down 50 spots to take Justin Lawler out of SMU and acquire an additional late round pick.

Rams receive:

» 2018 sixth-round pick (No. 205) — Trevon Young, LB, Louisville

» 2018 seventh-round pick (No. 231) — Travin Howard, LB, TCU

Washington receive:

» 2018 sixth-round pick (No. 197) — Shaun-Dion Hamilton, LB, Alabama

» 2018 seventh-round pick (No. 256) — Trey Quinn, WR, SMU

Les Snead and the Rams were not done with trades as they completed a pick swap with Washington which helped them acquire the NFC title game hero Travin Howard late in the draft. Snead once again traded six times again like he would end up doing in 2019 as well.

2017 Draft Trades – 3

Bills receive:

» 2017 second-round pick (No. 37) — Zay Jones, WR, East Carolina

» 2017 fifth-round pick (No. 149) — Traded to Falcons

Rams receive:

» 2017 second-round pick (No. 44) — Gerald Everett, TE, South Alabama

» 2018 third-round pick (No. 91) — John Johnson III, S, Boston College

This trade was the biggest in a sense because this was the first pick of the Sean McVay era. The Rams ended up trading down seven spots to swap a fifth for a third and it worked out well. Gerald Everett may not have lived up to the hype the Rams had for him but John Johnson sure ended up panning out.

Bears receive:

» 2017 fourth-round pick (No. 112) — Eddie Jackson, S, Alabama

Rams receive:

» 2017 forth-round pick (No. 117) — Josh Reynolds, WR, Texas A&M

» 2018 sixth-round pick (No. 197) — Traded to Jets

The Rams traded down five spots to give the Bears and defensive coordinator a chess piece for their soon-to-be lethal defense. The Rams didn’t get a bad player in Josh Reynolds but they might regret giving Fangio, Eddie Jackson who helped put together the blueprint to beat the Rams offense which New England ended up using a year later in the Super Bowl.

Rams receive:

» 2017 fourth-round pick (No. 125) — Samson Ebukam, LB, Eastern Washington

Jets receive:

» 2017 forth-round pick (No. 141) — Chad Hansen, WR, California

» 2018 sixth-round pick (No. 197) — Jeremy Clark, CB, Michigan

The Rams showed aggression here to go up and get Samson Ebukam and make it the second player out of Eastern Washington they would draft in that same draft alone. This marked the third time the Rams had completed a trade with Les Snead at the helm and Sean McVay in the passenger’s seat.

Things to consider:

1. Les Snead has traded down in the NFL Draft 19 times in the McVay era.
2. Les Snead has traded up in the NFL Draft 6 times in the McVay era.
3. Les Snead has completed 27 trades while the NFL Draft was under way in the McVay era.
4. Les Snead has traded with exactly half of the league since 2017 in the draft.
5. Les Snead has traded with the Texans more than any team coming in at four trades.
6. Les Snead has traded away a rostered player during the draft once since 2017.
7. Les Snead has traded for a rostered player during the draft once since 2017.

Based on all my research I would expect the over/under for Les Snead trades this NFL Draft to be 3.5. I do believe he will trade around his usual above three trades. There will probably be more of an aggressive plot to trade up instead of just trading down at will. Look out for teams like the Texans, Patriots and Buccaneers who have connections trading during the draft with Snead.

The history definitely gives us a glimpse of how the Rams typically tackle the draft. Now that that they have their first draft pick in the first round since 2019 and potentially the first time they will actually stay in the first round since 2016, it might be much harder to predict where Snead goes based on that. However, it’s worth noting the last time the Rams had a first round pick they traded down four times before settling on their first pick and it wasn’t until the 61st overall selection. One thing is for certain, buckle up Rams fans, this is about to be a fun event and the Rams aren’t about to be a boring team in this one. After last year’s draft I would expect the Rams to feel more confident going into this one and maybe do some more risky things than you would normally do. Keep an eye on the Rams and Les Snead this week.