As a lead-up to the 2023 NFL draft, we’ve broken down the current depth chart of every NFL team and identified the biggest draft and team needs for the Los Angeles Rams.
You can find additional team-by-team draft needs articles and other draft content on our 2023 NFL Draft hub.
Who did the Rams pick in the NFL Draft?
The Los Angeles Rams selected Steve Avila (OL, TCU) with the 36th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Rams added Byron Young (EDGE, Tennessee) with the 77th pick and Kobie Turner (DL, Wake Forest) with the 89th pick.
Rams Draft Needs: Top Positions of Need in 2023
- EDGE
- Offensive Line
- Nearly Everything Else
What Picks do the Los Angeles Rams have in 2023?
The Los Angeles Rams have 11 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft, including:
- Round 2 (36)
- Round 3 (69)
- Round 3 (77)
- Round 5 (167)
- Round 5 (171)
- Round 5 (177)
- Round 6 (182)
- Round 6 (189)
- Round 6 (191)
- Round 7 (223)
- Round 7 (251)
Los Angeles Rams Draft Capital Stats
Our Sharp Draft Value Rank is a valuation of draft capital based on a combination of average performance delivered and average dollars earned on second contracts.
This is based on two public models: performance delivered based on draft slot (the AV model created by Chase Stuart) and contractual earnings in non-rookie deals based upon draft slot (the OTC model created by Brad Spielberger and Jason Fitzgerald).
- Rams Sharp Draft Value Rank: 22 of 32 teams
- Rams AV Model Draft Value Rank: 23 of 32 teams
- Rams OTC Model Draft Value Rank: 13 of 32 teams
Los Angeles Rams Draft Value vs Other Teams:
The Rams’ draft value is 10% lower than the league average of all 32 teams. 21 other teams have more draft value entering the 2023 NFL Draft.
Los Angeles Rams Draft Prediction:
Mock draft expert Ryan McCrystal predicts the Rams could target a pass rusher like BJ Ojulari (EDGE, LSU) with their top pick at No. 36 overall in the second round.
The Rams do not have a first-round pick.
Los Angeles Rams Strength of Schedule, 2023
The Los Angeles Rams have the 15th hardest NFL strength of schedule for the 2023 NFL season.
Los Angeles Rams Offense: Depth Chart, Analysis & Draft Needs
Rich Hribar breaks down the offensive depth chart by position for the Los Angeles Rams, identifying areas where the team could improve in the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft.
2022 Los Angeles Rams Offensive Rankings
Quarterback Depth Chart, Rams:
- Matthew Stafford
Not much of anything went right for the Rams in 2022.
Matthew Stafford started the season with issues surrounding the elbow on his throwing arm and then only lasted nine games due to a spinal contusion.
Prior to being shut down, Stafford was having arguably the worst season of his career.
The Rams had a 3-6 record while Stafford had just 10 passing touchdowns and eight interceptions. His 3.3% touchdown rate was tracking to be his lowest since 2012. His 6.9 yards per pass attempt was his lowest rate since 2018, and his 10.1 yards per completion was his lowest since 2010.
On top of all of that, he was also sacked on 8.7% of his dropbacks, the highest rate of his career.
Stafford turned 35 this February, and Sean McVay has already said the quarterback will have “no limitations” coming into the offseason.
Stafford is signed through the 2026 season, carrying dead cap hits of $111.5 million, $91.5 million, $42 million, and $18.5 million over the remainder of his deal.
For at least the next two seasons, the Rams really cannot do anything here but hope Stafford bounces back.
If last season wasn’t enough evidence, the Rams currently have the worst backup quarterback situation in the NFL. As of right now, they do not even have a quarterback other than Stafford under contract.
The team likely would prefer someone with experience, but with a plethora of late-round draft picks, the Rams easily could use one of them on a rookie passer.
Running Back Depth Chart, Rams:
- Cam Akers
- Kyren Williams
- Ronnie Rivers
The Los Angeles running game was a nightmare in 2022.
Rams running backs were:
- 29th in the NFL in carries (320)
- 25th in yards per carry (4.1)
- 22nd in success rate (36.3%)
- 26th in rate of runs 10 or more yards (8.1%)
- 29th in yards after contact per carry (2.7)
While the running game was an overall disappointment, there were signs of life from Cam Akers to close the season.
Coming back from an Achilles injury that limited him to just one game in 2021, Akers had limited playing time and production over the front half of the season.
He played 40% of the offensive snaps or fewer in nine of the opening 11 games and was even shut down for two weeks prior to the trade deadline due to being unhappy with his role in the offense.
Then the team released Darrell Henderson and swerved into throwing Akers into the fire with nothing left on offense.
Over the final six games of the season, Akers played 72% or more of the snaps in five of those games.
Over that span, Akers led the NFL in rushing (512 yards), was eighth in expected points added per rush (0.05), and 10th in success rate (45.2%) carrying the football.
While that late-season success is something the Rams hope is a sign of what a healthy version of Akers can provide in 2023, he has only provided spurts of production thus far and is in the final season of his rookie contract.
The Rams should want more insurance and contractual depth at the position. They only have Kyren Williams signed beyond this season while having exclusive rights to Ronnie Rivers after 2023.
Wide Receiver Depth Chart, Rams:
- Cooper Kupp
- Van Jefferson
- Tutu Atwell
- Ben Skowronek
- Lance McCutcheon
- Austin Trammell
Through all of the issues, Cooper Kupp was still productive prior to missing the final eight games of the season due to an ankle injury.
Through the first nine weeks, Kupp was second in the NFL in targets (93), second in receptions (72), fourth in receiving yards (813), and third in touchdowns (six) among all wide receivers. Kupp was leading the league with 33.2% of the team targets over that span.
That was even with expected regression coming off of his blistering 2021 season.
Kupp’s yards per catch went from 13.4 yards down to 10.8 from the season prior while his 8.3 yards per target were the second-lowest rate of his career.
Kupp is expected to be 100% this summer. He turns 30 this June and is still locked up under contract through 2026.
By all early accounts, this passing game will still need to be carried by him.
Allen Robinson was traded to the Steelers, but the reality is he did not offer much last season.
In his only season with the Rams, Robinson averaged just 3.3 receptions for 33.9 yards per game.
His 10.3 yards per catch were a career low after just 10.8 yards per catch in 2021. He averaged just 0.93 yards per route run, 118th among all wideouts with 100 or more routes run.
We got a good look at the rest of this depth chart to close the 2022 season when both Kupp and Robinson were sidelined.
Among 143 wide receivers to run 100 or more routes last season, Tutu Atwell was the most respectable at 41st (1.68) while Van Jefferson checked in 85th (1.24) and Ben Skowronek 120th (0.92).
Atwell was selected in the second round of the 2021 draft and still has two years remaining on his rookie contract.
He has a clean path to playing time but also is just 5-foot-9 and 165 pounds. It is hard to see him as more than an ancillary contributor.
Jefferson is in the final season of his rookie contract while Skowronek and 2022 preseason darling Lance McCutcheon are signed through 2024.
Tight End Depth Chart, Rams:
- Tyler Higbee
- Brycen Hopkins
- Hunter Long
Tyler Higbee set career highs in targets (108) and receptions (72) in 2022 as he was force fed more opportunity given the offensive struggles.
While Higbee was fifth among all tight ends in catches last season, his 8.6 yards per catch ranked 59th while his 5.7 yards per target were 58th.
Higbee is 30 years old and entering the final season of his contract.
The team added Hunter Long from Miami in the Jalen Ramsey trade. Long is currently the only tight end signed for the 2024 season, which would be the final year of his rookie contract.
Offensive Line Depth Chart, Rams:
LT: Joe Noteboom
LG: Alaric Jackson/Tremayne Anchrum
C: Brian Allen/Coleman Shelton
RG: Logan Bruss/Zach Thomas
RT: Rob Havenstein/AJ Arcuri
Here is where a lot of the offensive problems for the Rams began in 2022.
The Rams threw any and everything at the wall with their offensive line with the most frequent offensive line combination playing together for just 10.9% of the offensive snaps.
That was the lowest rate in the league for any team’s most often used line combo. The next closest team (Chicago) was at 17.1%.
The Rams had just three different sets of line combinations play over 100 snaps together last season with the most frequent one playing 126 total snaps together.
By the end of the season, the Rams used 15 different combinations of five linemen that played double-digit snaps in 2022.
Football Outsiders credited the Rams with 71.0 adjusted games lost to injury across their offensive line, the most for any team in any season since they began tracking things in 2014.
The results from that were what you would expect. The Rams allowed a pressure on 34.9% of dropbacks (22nd) while their quarterbacks were sacked on 10.0% of their dropbacks (31st).
Every single offensive lineman on the roster missed multiple games with the exception of Rob Havenstein, who was the only lineman to play in all 17.
Havenstein and center Brian Allen are the two players here that are above the fold starters. The rest is up in the air.
Havenstein was 27th in grades among offensive tackles per Pro Football Focus in 2022 while Allen was 17th among centers.
After losing Andrew Whitworth to retirement after their Super Bowl win, left tackle was a disaster in 2022.
The team extended Joseph Noteboom last offseason hoping to fill that void, but Noteboom only played in six games. On the field for those six games, Noteboom allowed pressure on 10.4% of his protection snaps, which was 91st out of 95 tackles to play 100 or more snaps in protection a year ago.
Noteboom is still signed for the next two seasons with $21.5 million and $15 million in dead cap charges, but the team should still press him for competition.
Both guard spots are open competition with Alaric Jackson expected to be the front-runner at left guard and 2022 third rounder Logan Bruss at right guard.
Bruss tore his ACL and MCL in the preseason and missed all of his rookie year. Coleman Shelton filled in and led the team in snaps at center last season, but he has played both guard spots over his career, including last season.
As far as contractual depth goes here, everyone mentioned to this point is signed for multiple seasons with the exception of Jackson, but the team has restricted rights to him in 2024.
Even with the team having multiple bodies signed beyond this season, expect more competition and depth to be added here via the draft.
Los Angeles Rams Defense: Depth Chart, Analysis & Draft Needs
Dan Pizzuta breaks down the defensive depth chart by position for the Los Angeles Rams, identifying areas where the team could improve in the upcoming 2023 NFL Draft.
2022 Los Angeles Rams Defensive Rankings
Interior Defensive Line Depth Chart, Rams:
- Aaron Donald
- Jonah Williams
- Marquise Copeland
- Bobby Brown
- Earnest Brown IV
- Larrell Murchison
- T.J. Carter
Aaron Donald is still here, for now, which is nice.
Donald had an injury-plagued 2022 which kept him to just 11 games. He was still Aaron Donald when healthy.
Donald makes the jobs of everyone around him easier, which is good because the Rams don’t have a lot of quality elsewhere on the interior.
Both Greg Gaines and A’Shawn Robinson are gone, the two interior defenders who played the most snaps after Donald.
Jonah Williams (2020 undrafted free agent) and Marquise Copeland (2019 undrafted free agent) showed some potential as run defenders but will be in bigger roles for 2023.
EDGE Depth Chart, Rams:
- Michael Hoecht
- Keir Thomas
- Daniel Hardy
- Zach VanValkenburg
Michael Hoecht is a fascinating player.
He was on the Rams as a 310-pound defensive tackle, but as injuries swept through the defense, he played the back half of the season as the team’s No. 2 standup pass rushing linebacker opposite Leonard Floyd.
From Week 12 on, he led the team with 4.5 sacks. As currently constructed, he’d be the team’s top edge.
Keir Thomas and Daniel Hardy combined to play 119 defensive snaps in 2022, and Zach VenValkenberg did not see the field as an undrafted rookie.
This is the full extent of the Rams’ depth chart at edge.
Off-ball Linebacker Depth Chart, Rams:
- Ernest Jones
- Christian Rozeboom
- Jake Hummel
Ernest Jones is a fun player who was a key piece for the Rams’ 2021 Super Bowl run as a rookie. He made some strides in 2022 next to Bobby Wagner and will be the top linebacker for 2023.
Jones’ ability in the middle of the field allowed Wagner to pursue more things near the line of scrimmage. Jones recorded a tackle on an impressive 22% of his run snaps but did less near the line in terms of tackles for loss and run stuffs.
Christian Rozeboom and Jake Hummel were special teamers and only Rozeboom got on the field for defensive snaps — a total of seven.
Cornerback Depth Chart, Rams:
- Derion Kendrick
- Robert Rochell
- Cobie Durant
- Shaun Jolly
Derion Kendrick played 44% of the team’s defensive snaps but struggled as a sixth-round rookie. He ranked 85th out of 87 qualified outside cornerbacks in adjusted yards allowed per coverage snap.
Robert Rochell was an average corner as a fourth-round rookie in 2021 but did not get on the field often in 2022, playing 2.4% of the team’s defensive snaps. He’s in line to be the No. 2 outside corner across from Kendrick.
Cobie Durant, a 2022 fourth-round pick, got some run as the team’s slot corner starting in Week 13.
He was fairly productive from that point on, allowing four receptions on 10 targets, just 0.38 yards allowed per coverage snap, and recording two interceptions.
If there is a bright spot for this secondary group, it might be Durant.
Safety Depth Chart, Rams:
- Jordan Fuller
- Russ Yeast
- Quentin Lake
- Richard LeCounte
Nick Scott and Taylor Rapp each played 90% of the defensive snaps for the Rams in 2022. Neither will be on the roster in 2023.
Jordan Fuller has always had promise and was the defensive play caller for the 2021 season, but he missed nearly all of 2022 with just three games played.
Russ Yeast and Quentin Lake combined for 176 defensive snaps in 2022.
There is a need here.
