After a heartbreaking loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship game, the Los Angeles Rams are entering the 2026 season with an all-in mentality to compete for Super Bowl LXI. In his post combine press conference, Les Snead said he wants to use their first-round pick(s) on players that give them immediate impact and an \u201cedge\u201d (on the football field). That\u2019s what they do here.<\/p>\n
Kenyon Sadiq is an otherworldly athlete at 6-foot-3 241 pounds. His 4.39 second 40-yard dash was the fastest ever for a tight end. His top speed of 23.24 miles per hour during that run matched Jahmyr Gibbs\u2019 top speed during his 40-yard dash in 2023. His 1.54 10-yard split was faster than DeSean Jackson. If there is a coach that can get the most out of Sadiq\u2019s athleticism, it\u2019s Sean McVay.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the Rams utilized play-action on 35.3% of their offensive snaps. That\u2019s where Kenyon Sadiq\u2019s straight-line speed is most dangerous. Seam routes, deep overs, tight end leaks, wheel routes, fast-to-the-flat off split zone action; if the defender gets caught up in the run action and hesitates for a split-second, it could lead to an explosive play for the offense. Sadiq\u2019s acceleration and run after the catch ability also opens a whole new world of possibilities for Sean McVay in the screen game (37% of his catches were behind the line of scrimmage in 2025). His skillset is the perfect complement to Puka Nacua and Davante Adams, making an already elite offense even more of a nightmare to defend.<\/p>\n
Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa was also a strong consideration for the pick after longtime Rams offensive lineman Rob Havenstein announced his retirement after 11 seasons. However, back in February, Sean McVay said Warren McClendon Jr has earned the right to succeed Havenstein as the team\u2019s starting right tackle after his strong showing in 13 starts in 2025, receiving an 83.5 overall PFF grade, 7th among 89 qualified offensive tackles. The Rams are counting on McClendon to continue that strong play in 2026 by passing on arguably the best player available in Mauigoa here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a heartbreaking loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship game, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[448,5105,7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-856024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-detroit-lions-draft","9":"tag-detroit-lions-mock-draft","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-los-angeles-rams","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-losangelesrams","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116354855938204136","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856024","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=856024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}