National Football League

Why the Rams needed to trade for No. 1 and how it might ruin the franchise

Published Apr. 14, 2016 10:40 a.m. ET

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I don't know who won the Titans-Rams trade. You don't know who won the Titans-Rams trade. The Titans and Rams don't either. Despite all the punditry, we never know anything about the NFL draft, which is why JaMarcus Russell goes No. 1 and Tom Brady goes No. 199 and every pick in between is littered with busts, steals and Pro Bowlers. It's how Sam Bradford goes with the first pick and every team passes on Russell Wilson, who actually goes No. 75 in 2012, five spots behind a punter. 

So when the Rams trade a mini-haul to move up to No. 1 in order to draft Carson Wentz (presumably) or Jared Goff, it feels like a victory. The No. 1 quarterback in the draft! What could go wrong? Same thing goes for the Titans, who now have a bunch of picks, including two first-rounders in 2016 and 2017. Another victory! It's win-win, with the Rams getting a quarterback of the future at the top and the Titans picking up some much-needed depth with their draft haul. Or is it? Wentz could easily be a bust and the Titans could blow six of their seven picks, while top-rated offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil turns into a steady All-Pro, leaving both teams with buyer's remorse. Easy win or easy loss. This isn't a zero-sum game.

(Leon Bennett/Getty Images)

For now, it looks like the Titans got the better score, but that the Rams needed the trade more. They had to make a splash in their first year back in Los Angeles and they did, moving up to (likely) draft a quarterback (likely named Carson). It's a move based out of two different needs: 1) The obvious one at quarterback and 2) Ginning up interest in a mediocre team that's moved west to an apathetic city. 

Maybe it's the right move for the franchise, maybe it's not. What we know in the moment is that the trade puts immediate pressure on Wentz or Goff or whoever. When you trade away a queen's ransom (this wasn't exactly a king's) for the right to take a player with the No. 1 pick, there's this expectation that the No. 1 pick will be even better than he was if he'd simply gone No. 1 to the team with the original pick. 

He's desired. He's wanted. A team traded away a lot to get him! He must be great! The whole thing implies implies Wentz is a franchise quarterback at No. 1 - an Eli Manning or Cam Newton or Andrew Luck - when, in fact, he's not really expected to be any of those. Wentz is (thought to be) the best quarterback in a weak draft. Now, he's potentially going to a team that's mortgaged its immediate future to get him and loses the picks it needs to build a successful team around him. Not only is he entering with the weight of a "new" franchise on his shoulders, but he's doing it without the on-field support he needs.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

And that's the Catch-22 of all these draft trades. You can't get something without giving something up. On the surface, it's great that the Rams get their guy, but when it comes at the expense of getting another complementary guy early in the next draft, is it really?

It's wonderful that the Titans have six of the first 76 picks, but if Wentz or Goff turns out to be the real deal and Tennessee moved down to get, say, an average offensive lineman in the first and then some replacement-level players later in the draft - in essence wasting their cornucopia of picks - then what was the point? More draft picks doesn't automatically mean better draft picks. You still have to know what to do with those picks.

That's why it's impossible to say either team won this trade today. All we know today is that the Titans got more picks and the Rams ensured themselves the quarterback of their choosing. So who won? Come back in about two years.

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