The Top Players The Los Angeles Rams Should Target Before The NFL Trade Deadline

The Top Players The Los Angeles Rams Should Target Before The NFL Trade Deadline

[Music] Hey, what’s going on Ramly? Ryan Dy here. Before we get to the show, got to tell you quickly about our friends over at Sleeper, number one sports app right now. And not just for seasonl long fantasy. They’ve got live score updates. They’ve got a chat you can communicate with other users. Plus, the best part is the daily fantasy feature, which is just like a live pick them. Just choose two-day players across any sport. Choose more or less and you can win real money when you go to make your first deposit right now. Use our promo code, you see it right down there, Rams, LFB, all one word. They’re going to give you a match bonus up to $100. Put in $100, you get a hundred free on top of that to play with. If you only want to deposit 10, they’ll match you that 10. You’re starting at 20. But wait right now. Any new users automatically get a $20 free entry to play with. No deposit required. However, you can stack that bonus. Take that 20, go deposit whatever you choose up to a hundred with that promo code Rams LFB and they’ll match you that. So now you’ve got extra free money to go play with. So check it out today. Download the Sleeper app. Tell them the guys over at the Rams LFB sent you. Now let’s get on to the show. Hey, what’s going on Los Angeles? Welcome to the Rams skinny here on the LFB Network talking all things Rams on the by week. Got some fun segments with the trade deadline just a week or so away, a little over a week away coming up at the beginning of November. So, got some fun chatter here uh with my main man Skinny T. What’s going on, brother? Happy Thursday. How you doing? I’m doing pretty good. Can’t complain whatsoever. Uh my weekend starts tomorrow, so great way to kick off the by-week. Yeah, look at that. You know that saying that the old old-timers always say like can’t complain and no one would listen if you did or no one would care even if I did. I always was a bartender for like five years so I heard that line so many times. Can’t complain. No one would listen if you did. Okay. So um well good but um yeah bye-week uh Rams looking good. We talked last episode kind of power rankings. you know, they’re really firmly in that top five after a dominant win over Jacksonville. But with the by-week, we or with the trade deadline coming skinny, we know this Rams team is always aggressive. They’re always in win now mode. They’re always in f them picks mode. They have two first round draft picks in next year’s draft. This team certainly has positions where they could improve upon. Now, this is a good football team, but they can certainly improve. So, let’s talk about some potential targets out there. And we I think anyone that watches this show knows Skinny and I are much more realistic. We’re not going to throw out like someone from a winning team or a division rival like that stuff like that’s not going to happen. We’re not going to live in fantasy land. Some realistic options that could happen. Now, some of these are kind of fantasy land, but they actually have a realistic shot based on being the Rams who they are. So, I’ll start with you, Skinny. Give me uh We’ll just kind of go down. We don’t list them all. We’ll just kind of go back and forth. Snake one-on-one. Who are you targeting? You know, my my top my favorite one um on this on my list is Cam Taylor Britt. Plays for the Cincinnati Bengals. He was actually a guy that I wanted them to draft a few years ago. Was he’s a big guy, 5’11, 200 lb. He’s got the uh straight line speed, the long speed that can cover in man coverage, which is kind of a criteria that I’m looking at just because the man coverage statistics for the Rams have been pretty atrocious since Aella Witherspoon went out and that leaves this team playing with one high one hand tied tied behind their back. Um so I’m I like Cam Taylor Brit for those reasons. Um, and it it’s it’s hard to say with a Bengals team right now though exactly where they are. They go out and get Joe Flacco because they want to compete this year. Um, but it just seems like a really hard uh hard sell on that one. I I I don’t believe this team can win any games. So, are they going to be ready uh in a couple of weeks to move on from this guy at at the trade deadline? I don’t know. But he’s got all the makings of a of a good option for the Rams. Yeah, I Yeah, I love that one. and and Cincy is an interesting team. And I’ll keep it right with Cincy Skiddy. And I I’ll go with the guy on the other side, DJ Turner II, uh who’s right up the Rams alley. He’s an undrafted free agent. He’s only in his third season, so he fits exactly what the Rams look for in defensive players. Undrafted free agents, they don’t have to pay a lot. Uh so the contract is no issue there. Obviously, the dude has a like a seven he has a $1.3 million cap hit. Uh I think his highest is in 26. So, next season 1.96 uh cap hit before his contract expires. But the obviously question is like if you’re going to trade for a guy, you want to upgrade the position. Well, in back-to-back weeks now, he’s the third highest graded corner on PFF. So, not just last week, but the previous week, he was also the third highest ranked with a coverage grade of 81.3. Um, and I think he does bring some some size and versatility there that that could potentially, you know, he’s not the biggest guy, 5’11, 180, but but enough size in what the Rams try to do at the corner position. So, this is not like your home run trade, but it’s definitely one if if the Cincinnati Bengals decide to be a wholesale. This is an undrafted free agent. Doesn’t cost a lot, so maybe they don’t want to move on from that, but if the way he’s played, they can get back like a mid-round pick. It wouldn’t cost the Rams a ton. Um, but a guy that could at least complement, you know, maybe not be like that massive upgrade over Darius Williams or or when Witherspoon’s back, but certainly a nice compliment piece to add more depth in case anyone else goes down. So, I’ll start with the safer side. That’s that’s not the home run, but DJ Turner, undrafted free agent, third highest graded corner. Can’t beat that, right? Yeah, definitely. Why not both? Go get them both. Yeah, why not? Just make a big trade with the Bengals. I like that. Yeah. Next on my list is uh AFC as well. Titans Roger McCreary I would say would be a good option for them. Does he have that size and speed combination that I like with Cam Taylor Brit? Not quite. A little bit small, a little bit a little bit uh more limited. But what I do like is his ability to play inside and outside. So where the Rams find themselves right now with Quinton Lake is being their primary uh nickel coverage guy is one Quinton Lake is super versatile. He’s playing tons of snaps in the slot. Uh he’s actually playing a lot on the on the defensive line as well. We saw him pick up a sack last week. Um but kind of where they painted themselves into a corner with Quinn Lake is they’re not really able to move him around, which makes him uh a more limited option for them, which makes, you know, it takes away his kind of his biggest contribution, which is being able to be the free safety, move up to the box, move up to the defensive line, or play in the nickel. Um, so getting a guy like Roger Mccur, he can play inside outside frees up Quinton Lake to move around a little bit more. Um, and I don’t think it would take a lot to get him out of out of Tennessee. Um, you know, they’re obviously still within in the rebuild. So, a guy like this might want to get out, might want to find himself a winning team. Uh, get himself a nice refresh. Uh, this could be this could be it. So before I say my next one, are we and I’m forgive me if we even like plan this ahead of time, but do you have anyone that’s not a corner on your list? Are we were we pretty I think we’re pretty confident the Rams are only going to target a corner, right? Or do you have someone else? I have two. They’re a little bit more home run style, but uh Okay, perfect. Yeah, perfect. I just want to see because my next one is a corner again. So I just wanted to preface that ahead of time. Um okay, so this is this one’s a little more kind of thinking outside the box. not even necessarily for the Rams. But anyway, I’ll just say this. So, Jaquan McMillan with the Denver Broncos. Uh, another guy that’s now undrafted guy has played really well in this Vance Joseph system for the Broncos. Uh, and one would say like why would the Broncos trade one of their top corners when they are a 5-2 football team? They’re a true Super Bowl contender. Like, you don’t want to break that up. Now, for that reason, they may not. You don’t want to you don’t want to ruin any chemistry that you have. And he is playing so well. He actually, if we’re sticking to kind of PFF grades, he’s actually the highest graded corner on the Broncos, even above Pat Certan and even above Riley Moss. He was the second Go ahead. Oh, I was just saying, wow, I didn’t know. He was he was the second grade second highest graded corner in last week’s game and fifth overall according to PFF’s metrics. Um, position grade rate of 76.58. So, uh, is playing really well and can play kind of all over the field. Does play a lot of slot. You see Pat Certan and Riley Moss kind of on the outside, McMillan more in that slot. So, does it fit with Quinton Lake? Kind of like what you were saying about your first choice. It would be an interesting fit there. But the reason why this could be kind of outside the box is this is the final year of his contract with Denver Broncos. So, his contract expires after 2025. the Bron the way he’s playing the Broncos probably will not be able to afford with resign to resign him and on top of that they have obviously Pat Sertan who’s probably the best corner in football in my opinion who they just paid they have Riley Moss who is their corner too plays on the outside he’s done well and they just drafted Jade Baron in the first round out of Texas in this year’s draft who they presume to be their future kind of nickel slot corner guy so it could behoove them to actually trade McMillan even though he’s playing So, well, but to get something back instead of just letting the his contract expire and him go hit free agency and they lose him for nothing. The Rams and the Broncos have done deals before. Obviously, we know about the Von Miller trade. So, I think they could get something done again for the Rams where they don’t give up a ton. You’re not you’re not having to give up a first round pick for this guy because the contract is expiring, but he would certainly, I think, make this defense better. So, um that’d be a little outside the box. Again, you don’t see many Super Bowl contending teams trade away one of their starters, but just because of the way that room is and because of the way the contract, I think it’s worth uh worth a conversation. What say you? Yeah, definitely. I like that one a lot actually. He’s he was on my list. Um and I like your your Broncos insight about how crowded that room is. Uh because that was that was my that was my thinking on that. uh you know change changing um kind of the the the the top the top uh you know change of coach basically is what I’m trying to say. So I like all of that. I think this guy my next guy is also in a similar vein uh expiring contract. Um you know lots of changes happening in in in in where he plays now. But it’s the Saints Alante Taylor and I’ve really fallen in love with this guy since doing research on it. big guy, six feet tall, just about 200 pounds. Uh, good speed, good versatility. Um, obviously the Saints are going nowhere uh this season. As much as we love our Kell Moore and our Brandon Staleies and all the staff there, the Saints are going absolutely nowhere. Um, so I think they would be listening to trade offers on this. Former former second round pick, expiring contract like I said. Um, so definitely taking calls on on that guy. Um, but just kind of fits the bill of everything that I’ve wanted, but he was flying under the radar for me. I I didn’t know a lot about Alante Taylor before I started doing some research on him and I think he’s probably he won’t cost what Sas will cost Sas Gardener, but I think he can bring a lot of similar skill sets and they can lock him up on a long contract. Before we were heading into this conversation, I was enlightening you to the strange situation they have in the defensive backfield after this year. They have just three guys on contract. Those three guys, Darius Williams, Emanuel Forbes, and Josh Wallace. Darius Williams has no guaranteed money on his contract for 2026. So, you’re going to have to get a young guy. You’re going to have to get a guy that you can extend to a longer contract. And I think Alante Taylor, it’s right up there. Yeah. Yeah. I I mean I there’s this is what’s interesting about kind of looking at these trades is like do you go after a long-term solution that gives you maybe a little boost this year but is more of a long-term or do you just go kind of flash in the pan rental if you will and you know my next one is another rental uh Rul Douglas down in Miami I I’m impressed we don’t have any of the same guys this is actually kind of impressive for the most part um 31 years old uh so getting up there last year of his deal with Miami so his contract expires after 2025 and Miami, I think, is in a full like fire sale. Like they should try to sell everything and try to get as many draft picks as possible. Obviously, we know they they dealt, you know, a lot of their defensive core before the even season even started, including Jaylen Ramsay. So, RTL Douglas is a guy that, you know, is is an up and down corner, but he is the 16th ranked corner uh and PFF grades for the season. He had the ninth highest grade last week, so you know, still can give you some good output there as potential CB1 or someone on the outside. And again, you’re not tied down to him long term. You’re going to be able to get him for a cheap mid to late round pick. It just kind of use him as a rental that hopefully kind of he just gives you that extra boost on this playoff push. So definitely not a trade where they’re building for the future. Just someone to come in and at at minimum at least give you some more uh depth until a Kella Witherspoon is officially back. But someone I think when you think of a Kella Witherspoon coming back, if you have Witherspoon and Douglas on the outside, I think you’ve vastly improved your secondary compared to it being Darius Williams and uh and um geez, now I’m drawing a blank. Uh you got Kobe Durant, you got uh oh, Emanuel Forbes. Emanuel Forbes, thank you. Um I do think that would be a drastic upgrade with with Witherspoon and Douglas. So, you know, another rental, but a cheap rental. You’re not you’re not paying an arm and a leg for that, you know, six months of of action. So, yeah, Russell Douglas Miami is going to fire. I mean, how long are they going to have the same coach? I mean, that guy’s got to get fired soon, doesn’t he? I mean, we’ve already seen one guy keep staying there like behind him, which is wild. Yeah, it’s that’s that place is a mess right now. Yeah. And you keep you keep bringing up depth, and that’s a great word because they are one more injury away from this being somewhat uh catastrophic. Uh you know, Kobe Durant, uh Darius Williams, Quinton Lake, and then you got Trey Harris, and you got Emanuel Forbes, and Josh Wallace, and that’s it. That’s the only thing on this roster this year. So, I mean, even if it is a depth piece that they go after, I think they have to they have to go after a quarterback. And um new Athletic Beat reporter um Nate Atkins had an article today. He’s like they might not be going the FM picks route, but they are they are buyers. So, uh, it might not be one of those high level swings, but I mean, it almost seems to heading into the season, we even talked about it kind of neglecting the position, not carrying more of these guys onto the onto the active roster. Yeah. I mean, it’s a it’s a weird spot for him to be in. But um my uh a couple of my kind of wild card picks also contract situation at this position group offensive line go after Wyatt Teller for the from the Cleveland Browns. How close are they to to to tearing it all down and setting it all up again? I don’t know. But you know Steve Avula coming up for a contract. Are they gonna pay him uh into a second contract? That’s not something we’ve really talked about, but uh since doing this research, it’s become a bigger question for me. Um Kevin Dodson, Kevin Dodson also has no guaranteed money heading into next year. So, they’re either going to have to renegotiate with him. And Wyatt Teller has been one of the best guards in the league. He’s played both left and right side. Um so, I think, you know, maybe taking a plan for the future, see if you can get this running game going again. um and and investing in in that position. I I’d like to see that. Yeah, I mean I there’s definitely I think no harm in getting some not even offensive line depth. I mean those are potential starters that can come in and and at least be swinging starters or or plan for the future. So um yeah, I think offensive line is something they’ll look at especially if uh you know they’ll have what my calendar is not in front of me but they’ll have one game before the trade deadline the buy and then one more game. So, if god forbid, knock on wood, any injuries happen in that game, then obviously they’ll they’ll certainly, I think, have to pick up the phone and make some phone calls. So, I think uh and we can kind of wrap with this. I don’t I didn’t really have any more um other position ones. I focus more on corner, but when you look at like even just the names I listed in two, skinny, and again, PFF is not the metric that we need to live and die on. I think I think it’s been well documented that a lot of a lot of people that grade are like, you know, Uber drivers that do this as a part-time thing. They’re not like NFL scouts grading. So, um that that should not be taken with like the bible of how we rank these players. Um, but it is something at least to compare and metric and and at least all the three guys I listed who are all cheap and expiring contracts that would not cost a lot of trade are all well above the highest graded Ram corner which is Darius Williams who sits at 27th. So you consider just based on that one metric and there’s a lot more that goes into it. any three of those options is already had a more successful season so far than the Rams highest. Again, it could be different if Ki Witherspoon was healthy, but he’s not. So, you got to base on who’s playing. So, we’ll end with this skinny. Is there any world I know this has been talked about a bunch, but is there any world where the Rams try desperately to swing for Sas Gardner? I know that’s the home run swing that everyone talks about. Now, the big thing before I even toss it over to you is uh massive contract they would have to take on. I gotta remember exactly what it is, but it’s it’s like second it’s first or second. He’s the first or second highest paid corner in football. So, I’ll double check it when you’re talking, but that’s obviously a piece of it. But is there a world you see where they say, “Hey, we don’t love this quarterback class anymore. We’re trying to win right now. We don’t care about 26. We care about 25.” and getting a guy like Sauce in the back end. We’re talking about like we did with Jaylen Ramsey just two years ago. You know, the way that Matthew Stafford is playing, it makes me believe, it makes me want to believe anyway he could play a healthy and successful 2026 season where you can kind of kick the can down the road a little bit more on quarterbacks. So, you don’t need both of those first round picks. Mhm. Um, you look at the contract situation that I I laid out, just really only two guys under contract at the position. Period. Hands down. Yes, I think there’s absolutely you got to make that call. You have like we maybe S wants out. You know, it’s there is a there’s there’s been a regime change at the top for the for the Jets. We don’t know if he you know, they’re not going to be winning this year for sure. Are they going to be any better next year? Are they going to get, you know, they need a quarterback? Yeah, they need a quarterback. They need, you know, all sorts of stuff. Um, you know, is he going to be is he going to want to be there for another three years before they’re in contention or or does he just want to drop into a contender right now? You know, that was that’s essentially what I was talking what I’m talking about with the Jaylen Ramsay situation. And contracts are fungeable contracts, especially for the Rams. You can change con you can you can play all that magic you want to. Yep. It’s all funny money for the Rams. So, I think you got to make that you got to make that uh you got to make that call. You got to try it at least. You know, obviously, they’re not going to want to move away from it. It’s going to cost big. Is it going to cost two first rounders? I don’t know. I mean, that’s pretty steep. So, that’s the question, Skinny. So, his contract, he he makes roughly 30 million a year is what his contract is. Um he’s he’s got a void year in 2031. So, he’s under contract for the long foreseeable future. Now, like you said, they can make some adjustments and restructuring and move some money, but it’s already a backloaded contract. I mean, his cap number next year is only 12 million. Then it jumps to 23, 28, 38, and 29, 36, and 30, and then drops down to 2 and 31, which is that void year. So, um, you know, they can’t really push too much more down. They they they’ll be luck, but they’ll be not eating a lot in the beginning. And if you figure, god forbid, let’s just say Matthew Stafford does call it a year after this year, then you’re not paying $50 million for a quarterback. You got a lot more money to play with in the future. You’re going to be having a rookie QB or a cheap vet after that. So, I agree. Got to make the call. I mean, why not? I mean, he immediately makes his team better. He’s arguably the best corner in football depending who you talk to. I think I I would take passer tan, but it’s 1 A, one B. They’re both right there. And the the big thing is is if the Jets are willing to deal and if they’re like, “Okay, yeah, we got to tear this thing down.” And the more I mean, if the Jets, you figure if they they’re going to start the asking at two first, for sure. They’re going to see what the what Jaylen Ramsey got, which was two first when the Rams traded for him out of Jacksonville, they’re going to start there and the Rams can see if they can negotiate that down. But if they if they swing that with two first, which then tells you the Rams are going after a quarterback next year most likely, but then the Jets have three first round picks. So is it to them is it worth losing a guy like Sask Garder to have three first round picks next year. One of those is going to be probably a top five pick. So they’ll get their quarterback and they’ll have two more after that. Um that might be what’s tempting for them is getting that off the books and all those picks and the Rams say, “Okay, well we got our cornerstone corner and let we’re going to go win the damn thing this year.” So yeah, I don’t know. I I’m curious. Comment below. What do you guys think? Would you be pissed about that or would you be fired up? because that that is the definition of the f them picks era if the ramps do that. Like they need a quarterback next year. They they need to draft a quarter. We’ll get to that in the offseason. But regardless of Stafford’s back or not, they have to draft someone. The guy’s not playing forever. They got to start preparing for the future. So that would be the ultimate like, nah, we don’t care about the future. We’ll figure it out when it gets here. I mean, it’s really the ultimate question in all of sports. It’s like, do you win the championship this year? Do you do it? Do you go all in, push all the chips in, win the championship this year, or do you ensure that you have a longevity uh in place and uh you know, you ask certain teams, we got the Vikings uh coming up here, would they trade, would they trade some of this uh you know, these 10 and seven seasons over the last, you know, 40 years since they’ve been to a Super Bowl for one for one championship? I mean, yeah, I think you would. I think you would. Yeah. Yeah. And and this is and then we’ll end with this, but this is the this is the and we said this not to give us a pat on the back, but I’ll give us a pat on the back because we remember we me and you were both bullish on like the Rams should draft a quarterback in 25. This is before last draft and everyone’s like no 26 is going to be great. Like just wait for them. The 26 QB class is looking not good right now. like all uh Lenor Sers dropping down like all of the top prospects. Arch Manning, I mean Arch Manning, yeah, is not even going to go in the draft next year. So, but he’s playing like crap. Yeah, your top two prospects are probably right now Fernando Mendoza and Jade Mava at USC. So, what we were saying is like the 25 class was not like elite, but we saw some good things. Everyone knows I was a big Jackson Dark guy. he’s looking to be pretty good with New York. Um, you can’t just bank on next year because everyone’s like, “Oh, it’s going to be a better class waiting.” I’m not saying the Rams did that, but that’s what all the, you know, the fan base, the other content creators, everyone was saying. So now we’ll see how this ends obviously, but you can’t now, you know, if you want to win now, you can’t worry about like we’ll just wait and see what this happens and, you know, we got to do this and that. So they they’ve they’ve always played by we care about now. Obviously, they have the future in the back of their mind. Uh, but if there’s a chance to go get Sauce Gardner, I think you just push the chips in and go. Let Let Stafford ride off into that beautiful Malibu sunset with his second ring where he’s going to get his gold jacket and uh and then you figure out 26 in 26. Yeah, I mean that it’s the biggest question. We’ve been talking about it non-stop it seems like for at least 12 months now. Some somewhere around there. 10 12. Anyway, yeah, I mean, the last guy is also on my list was Bruce Hall, also a New York Jet. Inject some explosivity into that running game. Why not give them a call, see what they want? You could probably I mean, what what’s a running back cost these days? That’s a good question. I don’t know. Trade, have we seen like a big running back trade like in the last like five plus years? Well, there’s a Christian McCaffrey, but this one even Okay, that would definitely that was that constitutes a big one, but that would Yeah, I can’t think of any other like running back trades. So, huh. Interesting. Well, let us know what you guys think. Comment below. Do you want to see the Rams active at the trade deadline? Do you want them to take a big swing like a sauce? Would you rather the more kind of remedial uh economic uh trades like a DJ Turner like some of the guys Skinny said? Let us know what you guys think. Comment below. Make sure that like and subscribe button. and that helps us out, keep growing this channel and help us to keep growing the LAFB network. That’s Skinny T. I’m Ryan Dyard Ramly will be back soon with plenty more Ram stock on this busy by week.

We are just over one week away from the NFL Trade Deadline. The Los Angeles Rams have a Super Bowl-caliber roster, but some players could further enhance it and improve their chances down the stretch.

We give our favorite options, specifically at the cornerback position. Give us your thoughts, Ramily, and comment below!

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Sean McVay is the Los Angeles Rams’ Football Head Coach as the team heads into the 2025 NFL Season, looking to build upon their playoff divisional appearance from one year ago. Matthew Stafford is back at quarterback, and he will lead the Rams throughout the season with Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, and Kyren Williams. Jared Verse and Braden Fiske will look to build upon stellar rookie campaigns on defense for the Rams.

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