When the St. Louis Rams became the Los Angeles Rams this offseason, it’s true that they wanted more recognition. But their decision to trade with the Tennessee Titans for the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft had nothing to do with gaining publicity.
Rams owner Star Kroenke claims the move was made in an effort to improve the team on the field, and that the hype created by it was just a side effect. Kroenke also claimed that he wasn’t the only one to back the deal. He says that his GM Les Snead and head coach Jeff Fisher were also in on it, and that he trusts their judgement based on past decisions.
The owner defended his reasoning for the move on NFL Network recently.
“The only reason we did it was purely football… You don’t win football games in the fall by headlines in the spring. Jeff and Les have done a great job in each of the last two years, they’ve drafted a rookie of the year — defensive rookie of the year out of the 13th spot, offensive rookie of the year out of the 10th spot,” Kroenke said. “This year we’ve got the first pick. We gave up some assets, but they believe the value is there, so here we are.”
Regardless of the motive behind trading for the No. 1 pick, it is clear that the Rams have given up on building around last season’s quarterback, Case Keenum. The Rams are predicted to use it to draft either Jared Goff or Carson Wentz in hopes of gaining a franchise quarterback to make Los Angeles proud.
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*Featured Photo (above) credit to USA TODAY Sports
