{"id":819262,"date":"2026-03-18T14:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/819262\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T14:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:43:12","slug":"rams-have-been-best-team-at-drafting-since-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/819262\/","title":{"rendered":"Rams have been best team at drafting since 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated March 18, 2026, 6:54 a.m. PT<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Rams<\/a> have not been afraid to trade away draft picks<\/a> for proven veterans under Les Snead, but in recent years, they\u2019ve used those picks to build one of the best rosters in football.<\/p>\n

The 33rd Team\u2019s Steve Palazzolo ranked the top five teams in production value added in the draft since 2021, a way to quantify how well a team has drafted. At the top was the Rams, ahead of the Lions, Eagles, Chiefs and Bucs.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, they rank No. 1 despite only using one first-round pick in that span: Jared Verse in 2024, who went on to win Defensive Rookie of the Year. Additionally, they\u2019re No. 1 since 2022, as well \u2013\u00a0in part because their 2021 class was nothing special.<\/p>\n

They’re No. 1 since 2017<\/a>, too, despite only having one first-round pick.<\/p>\n

Among the highlights of the Rams’ draft classes since 2021 are Ernest Jones, Cobie Durant, Kyren Williams, Quentin Lake, Steve Avila, Kobie Turner, Byron Young, Puka Nacua, Jared Verse and Braden Fiske. They all were or still are impactful players for the Rams, with Nacua and Williams being home run selections in the fifth round.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Verse was the only first-rounder in that group, while Avila and Fiske are the only ones from the second round, too. Most of the Rams’ damage has come in the third round or later, dominating Day 2 and 3 of the draft.<\/p>\n

We’ll see how Terrance Ferguson and the rest of the 2025 draft class pans out, but even if it’s a flop, the Rams will still be viewed as one of the best drafting teams in football.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated March 18, 2026, 6:54 a.m. PT The Los Angeles Rams have not been afraid to trade away…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[95878,7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424,95922,95923,95882,96334,95946,97266,98642,97264,97324,97056,95924,95896,95888,95906,96330,95902,95883,103570,95881],"class_list":["post-819262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-rams","tag-accessfree","tag-football","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesrams","tag-nfl","tag-rams","tag-sstssportsnflrams","tag-sstsnrams","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagbraden-fiske","tag-tagcalifornia-gold-rush","tag-tagcobie-durant","tag-tagernest-jones-iv","tag-tagjared-verse","tag-tagkobie-turner","tag-tagkyren-williams","tag-taglos-angeles-rams","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagquentin-lake","tag-tagsport-scores-statistics","tag-tagsports-news","tag-tagsteve-avila","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}