By Flint Wheeler
After months of speculation over the Tennessee Titans’ desire to keep the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Titans finally decided to ditch it for a monster package.
According to reports, the Titans and Los Angeles Rams completed a blockbuster trade for the No. 1 pick, moving the Rams to the top of the draft.
The deal is a massive one that includes a total of nine picks between the two teams.
The Titans had long been rumored to be shopping their pick. Reports indicated that after getting Marcus Mariota with the second pick last year and adding some pieces this offseason in free agency, the Titans would rather build the team with numerous assets, as opposed to swinging for another superstar.
The trade is interesting from the Rams’ perspective. With moving to Los Angeles, the Rams can now boast a No. 1 pick to show off to a new fan base. Who that pick will be remains unknown, but with Case Keenum and Nick Foles currently slotted as the two quarterbacks this season, it will be interesting if the Rams take a chance on one of the top two quarterbacks in the draft, either California’s Jared Goff or North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz.
There are several reasons why it had been 12 years since a first-overall NFL draft pick had been traded, but the primary explanation for that astonishingly long tradeless run is this: Quarterbacks have become more valuable than ever and, since the turn of the century, have been top picks more often than not.
Combined with the notion that even quarterbacks picked first overall are hit-or-miss propositions, this creates a dynamic in which teams are often “stuck” with top selections.
Not this year, because the Rams have fallen in love. And when that happens, you do irrational things.
Irrational things like trading a first-round pick, two second-round picks and a third-round pick in order to move up from the 15th selection to the top spot mortgaging the future of a franchise that is desperate for redemption in a new setting after posting a losing record in nine consecutive seasons to close out its tenure in St. Louis.
The Washington Redskins surrendered a similarly large bounty four years ago in order to move up in the first round and draft a quarterback they’d fallen in love with. Sure enough, that quarterback—No. 2 overall pick Robert Griffin III—became a bust and is no longer on the roster. And that should have served as a cautionary tale for the Rams, especially because they were the team the Redskins traded with.
But love is love—often blind, rarely rational.
Who’s the lucky quarterback? Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday that the Rams are “targeting” North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz, before noting in a follow-up tweet that Cal’s Jared Goff remains “heavily in [the] mix.” And Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller reported that the Rams “specifically traded up to get in front of the Browns to get Goff”. The fact that there are mixed reports on who Rams actually like has the sports wondering if the tinsel town nightlife has already effected the St. Louis executives judgment. Leveraging this much of a franchises future on an educated guess at the top of a mediocre draft in hopes that it’ll all work out is reckless to say the least. They want a quarterback, and come hell or high water, the Rams are getting a quarterback in this year’s draft. My advice – careful what you wish for.
