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When it comes to the NFL Combine, there are always going to be some overreactions. It’s how players like Tavon Austin have jumped into the first round or how Tutu Atwell becomes a mid-second round pick despite having fourth-round value. Teams value speed and athleticism, especially at skill positions on offense.
Atwell wasn’t a need for the Rams in the 2021 NFL Draft, but in large part because of his speed, he was taken over Creed Humphrey. It’s still one of the biggest draft gaffes of the Les Snead era. It’s also partially why there is some PTSD when it comes to someone like Kenyon Sadiq. After running a 4.39 and the fastest 40-time for a tight end since at least 2003, Sadiq has been a common selection in mock drafts to the Rams.
In his post-combine mock draft, ESPN’s Jordan Reid had the Rams taking Sadiq with the 13th overall pick. Said Reid,
“After finishing four points short of making the Super Bowl and with quarterback Matthew Stafford playing year-to-year at this point of his career, the Rams need to maximize their short-term window. Coach Sean McVay incorporated a lot of 12 and 13 personnel into his offense last season and showed a lot of creativity in deploying multiple tight ends. Sadiq serves as an extra receiver and would give the Rams a versatile game breaker they don’t have at the position. And while he is known for his receiving (51 receptions for eight touchdowns last season), Sadiq is also a physical run blocker.”
Reid isn’t the only one who has the Rams taking Sadiq at 13th overall. Yahoo Sports’ Nate Tice gave the Rams Sadiq and said, “Yes, the Rams could add to their defensive backfield here, among other positions, but Sadiq would further weaponize a Rams offense that asks its skill players to do a bit of everything around the formation.”
Devin Jackson of the Philadelphia Inquirer was also among those that had the Rams drafting Sadiq in the first round. It’s not surprising to see Kenyon Sadiq as a popular choice for the Rams at 13th overall. This is who I had in my latest Rams mock draft, and he is clearly a popular choice among the experts.
The biggest issue with the potential selection of Sadiq is that he plays tight end and the Rams have such a large need at cornerback. It’s worth noting that in Reid, Tice, and Jackson’s mock drafts LSU’s Mansoor Delane was gone before pick 13. The same can be said about Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs. In Tice’s mock draft, Jermod McCoy went right before the Rams at 12 while Reid had the Rams still getting the Tennessee cornerback at 29.
In the cases that Delane, Downs, and Styles are all gone, what is the alternative? If Sadiq is the best player on the board, is the alternative to reach on a cornerback simply because there’s a need at cornerback? How the draft is thought about needs to be adjusted slightly as there are some unrealistic expectations on the impact of a rookie cornerback in this defense.
If a team is addressing needs in the draft, that team’s roster is likely already in a bad spot. Ideally, and this is how the Rams tend to approach things, teams are addressing immediate needs in free agency and then filling future holes and finding building blocks in the draft. At the end of the day, everybody should know that the draft is a projection. Ideally, the Rams aren’t going into the draft with any glaring needs. It’s a reason why they already re-signed an experienced swing tackle in David Quessenberry. Quessenberry may not be the solution, but he provides flexibility.
Players can take a few years to hit their ceilings and if teams are only targeting needs, it’s very easy to limit the overall roster build. Not every player is going to work out and if a team is only addressing needs in the draft, a miss is only doubling down on that need. Drafting solely for need is very short-sighted.
The draft should be approached with a two-to-three-year-ahead mindset which is how the Rams have approached it in the past. It’s a reason why having an idea of what the future depth chart looks like and what contracts are expiring is important. With that said, the only tight end currently under contract after this season is Terrance Ferguson. The Rams can bring back Colby Parkinson, but adding to the position is necessary.
This time of year with the draft starting to pick up and mock drafts floating around, it’s easy to lose the forest for the trees. A period of the offseason that tends to get forgotten about is free agency which happens before the draft. This is where the Rams should be addressing immediate needs such as cornerback. If the Rams sign Jamel Dean or trade for Trent McDuffie, it allows them to be more flexible. That’s not to say that a rookie cornerback can’t be helpful, but the expectation of what that player will provide doesn’t match the likely reality.
Taking a player like Sadiq comes down to drafting for need or drafting best player available. In the case that Delane, Styles, and Downs aren’t available, a serious argument can be made that Sadiq would be the best player available. That’s not to say teams should ignore needs entirely, but at the end of the day, the goal of the draft should be to select good players. There needs to be a balance in that approach and sometimes those things line up. However, having to find a role for a good player is a much better problem to have than forcing a role for a bad player.
The best example of this was when the Rams selected Aaron Donald in 2014. Donald at 13 was a luxury pick in a sense as the Rams had three first-round picks in Michael Brockers, Chris Long, and Robert Quinn on the defensive line. That’s without mentioning Kendall Langford who was signed in free agency in 2013. If theS Rams had drafted for need in 2014, they end up with safety HaHa Clinton-Dix. Earlier in that draft, need and best player available lined up when the Rams selected Greg Robinson. While Robinson didn’t work out, he was a consensus top-three prospect in the class.
Again, the experiences with Atwell and Austin make the hesitation for Sadiq understandable. However, Sadiq isn’t a player that just jumped onto the scene and has risen because of a fast 40-time. This is a player that’s been considered a top-15 prospect for much of the college football season and overall draft process. The Combine only confirmed what we knew which is that Sadiq is a special athlete.
It may not be the preferred option, but the Rams drafting a tight end, especially if it’s Sadiq, shouldn’t be seen as this ridiculous idea. Falling into the trap of drafting solely for need, especially with the Rams so close to a Super Bowl, is easy. This team may only be a few pieces away, but the player that gets them over the hump likely won’t be a rookie. Those pieces should be acquired via free agency or trade. The Rams’ roster is in a much better spot than it was after 2022. Their past draft success and the overall health of this roster is what gives them the flexibility to make a pick like this.
The last part of this is the fit. The Rams ran the most plays out of 13 personnel last season. Their 30.5 percent rate out of 13 personnel was over double the rate of the next closest team. They ranked inside the top-5 in EPA per pass and EPA per rush out of the personnel grouping. We’ve seen how three tight ends can be used at the same time in this offense successfully. A player like Sadiq allows them to continue building on that, especially as teams look to get bigger at linebacker to counter the NFL’s recent uptick in running the ball.
Outside of Sadiq, Jaime Eisner of The Draft Network and PFF’s Trevor Sikkema had the Rams taking Delane at 13. Said Sikkema,
“The Rams have big-time secondary needs heading into free agency. If Delane makes it to them here at No. 13, it’s hard to think he won’t be their guy. He has so much inside-out versatility as a man-coverage defender. There was no athletic testing for him at the combine, but that shouldn’t matter much.”
It would be difficult to find anyone complaining about the Rams taking Delane given the need at cornerback like you might if they take Sadiq. The NFL’s free agency period opens next week which should offer a lot more clarity. There’s over a month and a half until the draft in April and a lot is going to change between now and then.