Deep Dive on How Rams Can Win NFL Draft

In just a few days, the 2025 NFL Draft will kick off in Green Bay, Wisconsin. There will be the usual slam-dunk moves, head-scratchers, and picks that will only look good in several seasons' time. Unfortunately, only hindsight is 20/20 when it comes to drafting.

Every year, 32 franchises look to minimize risk and set themselves on the path toward the Lombardi Trophy through the NFL Draft. A single draft won’t win a Super Bowl (though the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 1974 class puts that theory to the test), but stacking good drafts will.

Likewise, bad drafts can set franchises back—a lot faster, too.

It is no surprise that the best drafting teams typically end up in the postseason, but what does that look like roster-wise? And how have the Los Angeles Rams been able to stand out?

These 14 teams made the playoffs in 2024, alphabetically:

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Chargers

Los Angeles Rams

Minnesota Vikings

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Commanders

A total of 355 players on offense and defense contributed to those 14 playoff teams. Look beyond trades and free agency. How did those 355 players enter the league? That tells you the story of draft value—and how to make the most of it.  

Here is how the 355 offensive and defensive contributors of the 2024 playoff teams shaped out by position:

• 14 quarterbacks

• 14 running backs

• 42 wide receivers

• 14 tight ends

• 28 offensive tackles

• 42 interior offensive linemen

• 28 safeties

• 54 “defensive backs” (explained below)

• 42 off-the-ball linebackers

• 39 defensive interiors

• 38 edge rushers

Now, an aside on how I got to some of those numbers.

Gone are the days of the base 3-4 and 4-3 defenses. Just about everyone uses multiple; the number of linebackers, defensive interiors, standup rushers, and defensive backs vary on any given play.

Defenses are fluid where they were once rigid.

For example, players in the secondary are a tough position to sort out when it comes to the modern game; a more microscopic look into cornerbacks, nickels, and safeties and where they fall into the defense, considering the way modern disguises are used, requires a fine-tooth comb.

It also varied for each team based on prior knowledge, but I typically took the top four snap-getters listed as “cornerback” for the position. I imagine a good number of nickels fell in with the cornerbacks a few times, just as a few of the top snap-getters listed as “safeties” would probably be classified as nickel-type defensive backs.

To put it quite simply, the top five or six defensive backs were normally the ones we considered.

Off-the-ball linebackers were equally tough. Outside of a handful of stalwart players of the highest caliber, the linebacker position has become very situational and down-based. You can thank the proliferation of the passing game for that (though traditional downhill backers might be making a comeback).

I usually went with the two or three off-ball ’backers that played the most snaps for defenses.

The top three snap-getters at defensive interior were considered for each team. (It varied, though, as the odd number suggests; defensive fronts might see the most change play-to-play).

Edge rushers are a whole other story. The “edge umbrella”, as I call it, holds many positions—the true defensive end (think Las Vegas Raiders’ Maxx Crosby, Cleveland Browns’ Myles Garrett), the standup rusher (Buffalo’s Von Miller, the current incarnation of Khalil Mack).

Then there is the 3-4 linebacker hybrid position that has been mastered by Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt.

Even then, it’s all so fluid! They all stand up at some point, some of them that are typically upright will put a hand in the dirt. But I digress—the fluidity of modern defenses.

For this research, quarterback was obviously the easiest position and I only considered the top running back (for a two-back team like Detroit, I went with Jahmyr Gibbs).

The top three wide receivers, the No. 1 tight end, and the five offensive line positions, apart from some jumbled interior position play, were obvious for this.

It should be noted that a team like Detroit, ravaged by injury on defense beyond the point of recognition, was considered based on how I knew a healthy team would look for this exercise.

So, the draft pick data was based on a healthy Lions defense, as it tells the story of good drafting more accurately.

Who and Where

Again, for the research, free agents and trades do not matter. ‘How did these contributors get to the league?’ does.

Unless written otherwise, this data does not factor in home-grown players as opposed to those acquired to the 2024 teams via trade/free agency. That tells a different story.

This is a story of position value and who were, at the very least, enough of a hit to make an impact on a playoff-caliber team for the 2024 season.

Most importantly, it shows the value of draft picks and, potentially, how to win the NFL Draft.

Of the 355 players who were found to be contributors on offense and defense:

• 94 first-round picks

• 78 second-round picks

• 67 third-round picks

• 41 fourth-round picks

• 25 fifth-round picks

• 15 sixth-round picks

• 9 seventh-round picks

• 25 undrafted free agents

Positions have been valued differently as the game has evolved (in an oddly cyclical nature), and breaking down the 94 first-round players only proves what many already know about value:

• 12 of the 14 starting quarterbacks were first-round picks

• 16 of the 38 edge rushers were first-round picks

• 13 of the 28 offensive tackles were first-round picks

Those big gap-sound space-eaters on the interior of the defense, do-it-all tight ends, versatile offensive lineman in the interior, as well as the second and third levels of the defense?

Left to the wind.

• 8 of 39 interior defenders were first-round picks

• 1 of 14 tight ends were first-round picks

• 7 of 42 interior offensive linemen were first-round picks

• 7 of 42 off-the-ball linebackers were first-round picks

• 4 of 28 safeties were first-round picks