The Rams are officially moving to Los Angeles and their first priority of the offseason could be to find a franchise quarterback. The Rams thought they had that type of player with Sam Bradford, but they opted to trade him after back-to-back ACL injuries. The team traded Bradford to the Philadelphia Eagles for Nick Foles and then promptly signed the quarterback to a contract extension. Foles was then benched for Case Keenum leaving the Rams with plenty of question marks in the upcoming season.
One thing is clear, unless the Rams can negotiation a trade, Foles will be on the roster in 2016. He is signed through the 2017 season with a cap charge of $8 million and $13 million in the next two seasons. Keenum is a restrict free agency in the upcoming offseason. General manager Les Snead would not admit buyer's remorse when it came to Foles who struggled as the starter in 2015, but he is stressing a competition between all quarterbacks on the roster.
"If I learned one thing last year, we should have let the quarterbacks have a competition from the start and the best man win instead of just passing the torch to Nick," Snea said, via Sirius XM NFL Radio.
The question is whether or not that competition will include a new face or not. The Rams are in Alabama watching Senior Bowl practices and Snead is making it clear they will look at every option when it comes to getting a starting quarterback. According to Gary Klein of the Los Angeles Times, Snead will not rule out drafting a quarterback early or late as their priority is to get the best man under center. Snead referenced how both Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins were found in later rounds and the Rams hope to have the same success.
"You definitely have to prepare that you might do it," Snead said, via the Los Angeles Times. "Sometimes with QBs we've seen some very successful ones go in the second round, and the third round seems to be hot of late. I'm thinking of Russell Wilson. I'm thinking of Kirk Cousins [fourth round]. So the thing about the draft is, because it's become a nice entertainment segment, . . . there's so much attention on the first round, especially at the QB position, that sometimes the third-round QB, it's 'Oh, he's a third-round QB.' But the long story short on all of that is we'll definitely scout QBs, and we'll definitely look at the trade market and free-agent market."
This could be the year that the later rounds of the NFL Draft produce better quarterback talent. According to ESPN's Todd McShay, there is not a home run hit in this year's class. Jared Goff, Paxton Lynch and Carson Wentz might be the highest rated options, but the talent drop off is not steep when it comes to Kevin Hogan, Connor Cook or Jake Coker. The Rams could try and target one of those quarterbacks in hopes they develop just as quickly. With Foles on the roster, the team has some flexibility and Snead intends to use it.
