Based on the structure of his contract, Matthew Stafford figures to be the Los Angeles Rams‘ quarterback for at least the next two seasons. But the Rams, who are entering a teardown year designed to clear the decks for successful future campaigns, will take a look at quarterbacks in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Will the Los Angeles Rams Draft a Quarterback in 2023?
Stafford is currently the only quarterback on the Rams’ roster. Baker Mayfield, who filled in as the club’s starter last season, signed with the Buccaneers. John Wolford and Bryce Perkins, each of whom saw action in 2022, are still on the open market.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Rams general manager Les Snead admitted that he will consider quarterbacks in this year’s draft.
“Because of the situation of the void, we’ve definitely been intentional about, if you want to call it the second tier, and those players that would probably be beyond the four, even a fifth one now in Tennessee (Hendon Hooker) is talked about a lot going early, going before us, things like that,” Snead said. “But no different than every year.
“I think the thing we would say if I kept it simple is if that player had a chance to play, could Sean (McVay) and his staff, could our team as a collection actually win, be competitive while the starter is missing time for whatever reason? And definitely hard to predict because what’s very interesting is every quarterback in this draft was very, very good at his respective school (and) probably dominated college football at some level.”
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Stafford was briefly mentioned in trade rumors this offseason and was thought to be a potential candidate for the Jets if their trade for Aaron Rodgers fell through. But Stafford’s contract will make him extremely difficult to trade or release over the next several years.
The 35-year-old’s $26 million option bonus and 2024 base salary ($31 million) became fully guaranteed in March. There’s no way the Rams could release Stafford next offseason, as they’d be forced to absorb $86.5 million in dead money (roughly double the largest dead money charge in NFL history).
Trading him is also probably unrealistic, given that it would cost Los Angeles $6 million more to move Stafford than to keep him on the roster. As such, the Rams will likely be searching for a mid-round developmental quarterback who could potentially take over for Stafford a few years down the road.
Pointing to the success the 49ers experienced with rookie quarterback Brock Purdy, the final pick of the 2022 draft, McVay indicated what he’s looking for in a young signal-caller.
“You’re always talking about decision making, the ability to be able to play on time with accuracy,” McVay said. “What does it look like in crunch time? What are those innate traits that you have in terms of how your personality can authentically come across, but you naturally bring people with you because you’re thrust into an innate leadership role as a quarterback just based on the nature of the position.
“So those things are important, but there’s so many different parts of that evaluation. You’re looking for a lot of those types of things, and I think that can be illustrated and expressed in a variety of ways based on what those guys elite traits are do we have a vision for him.”
MORE: Matthew Stafford on the Los Angeles Rams’ 2023 Outlook
The Rams no longer own a first-round pick thanks to the Stafford trade, but they do hold pick No. 26 in Round 2 and pick Nos. 69 and 77 in Round 3. Los Angeles doesn’t have a fourth-rounder, but they own eight picks from the fifth round on.
On PFN’s Industry Consensus Board, there is a significant drop-off between the draft’s top five quarterbacks — Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson, Will Levis, and Hooker — and the next tier of passers.
Tanner McKee (Stanford), Jake Haener (Fresno State), Jaren Hall (BYU), Dorian Thompson-Robinson (UCLA), and Aidan O’Connell (Purdue) all rank between 135th and 190th on the consensus board, putting them squarely in the Rams’ range. If there’s a quarterback in that group that L.A. likes more than the others, they could package several of their late-round picks to move up into the fourth round and grab him.
Can the Rams Get Back Into the First Round?
The Rams don’t have the draft capital to move up into the top 10, which is where they would probably need to be to land one of this year’s top four signal-callers. But trading into the back end of Round 1 could be realistic.
In that scenario, Los Angeles would likely target Hooker, widely viewed as the fifth-best quarterback in this year’s class. By moving into the first round, the Rams would realize the benefit of a fifth-year option on Hooker, enabling them to hold an extra year of contractual control.
Let’s say the Rams want to get ahead of the Vikings at No. 23, who have been connected to Hooker in pre-draft rumors. If the Ravens at pick No. 22 are willing to trade their collection, the Jimmy Johnson trade chart — which still guides many NFL draft pick trades — suggests Los Angeles would have to sacrifice their second-round pick (No. 36) and their earliest third-rounder (No. 69).
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Moving up any higher than that would likely necessitate the Rams giving up a future first-round pick. Given the state of L.A.’s roster, there’s a chance they could earn the No. 1 overall selection in the 2024 draft. They can’t afford to risk giving up that type of choice in an effort to land a quarterback this year.
The Rams have never been afraid to give up draft capital, but they’ve typically traded picks for veterans like Stafford or Jalen Ramsey. Their present strategy seems to be volume drafting — acquiring as many mid-to-late round picks as possible, and hoping that more bites at the apple results in a few hits.
The Rams will likely take a quarterback at some point in the 2023 draft, but it seems more probable they’ll hold onto their picks and grab a passer in later rounds.
