After re-signing Matthew Stafford to a revised deal this offseason, the Los Angeles Rams lessened their need to draft a quarterback. While it’s only a temporary one-year Band-Aid with Stafford, there’s a real possibility he'll remain in Los Angeles for several years to come.
At some point, the Rams will need to find a quarterback to take over for Stafford, presumably in the draft. This might not be the year they take one early, however.
At the annual league meeting on Tuesday, Sean McVay told reporters that he hasn’t studied this year’s quarterback class much, in part because he feels so good about the Rams’ group of Stafford, Jimmy Garoppolo and Stetson Bennett.
“I think that’s unlikely. I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t done a whole lot of work on the quarterbacks,” McVay said. “I feel really good about where our quarterback room is, even though we’re not naïve to the fact that Matthew’s hopefully got a couple more years that he wants to play but he’s also earned the right to say, ‘After this year, I’m going to go ahead and hang them up.’ But I'm hopeful that’s not the case, but I haven’t done enough work to really have an educated opinion on that. That’s not something I would see us going – but maybe not, huh?
NFL coaches don’t typically tip their hand so close to the draft the way McVay did, which makes you wonder whether he’s actually telling the truth about his lack of interest in the incoming class of quarterbacks.
It’s possible he’s putting up a smoke screen, making it seem like the Rams don’t plan to take a QB early in the draft. If that’s the case, it could prevent another team from trading up in front of Los Angeles to take a quarterback like Jaxson Dart at the end of the first round.
If QB-needy teams don’t think the Rams are going to take one at 26, they won’t feel the need to get in front of L.A.
McVay could also be telling the truth about not studying quarterbacks. If he’s confident Stafford will be around for several more years, the Rams may think they can put off drafting a successor until 2026 or 2027.
Les Snead said on Monday that he’s “always open to drafting a quarterback,” but he also suggested the 26th pick could be a sweet spot for another team searching for a signal caller.
"If the right guy fell to 26, maybe he's the right guy for another team,” Snead said, via the Rams’ official site. They might want to move into the first round and draft that right guy. Maybe that's better for the Rams than picking that right guy."
Snead even said drafting a quarterback is “not urgent for us right now,” knowing life after Stafford could be “two, three years from now.”
In all likelihood, McVay is being genuine when he says he hasn’t done much homework on the quarterbacks. But this time of year, you can never rule out a coach or GM telling a little white lie to throw other teams off.
This article originally appeared on Rams Wire:
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