We are just a short week away from the start of the 2022 NFL Draft, an event that signals the start of the off-season of NFL activities and provides a more accurate overview of the level of success that each of the league’s teams are likely to have.

Recently, though, a new trend in team building has emerged: bringing in proven veterans, particularly quarterbacks.

The prime example is the reigning champion Los Angeles Rams, who are one of eight teams that will not have first-round picks this year, because they have traded away this privilege in order to bring in veterans for immediate success, although the move may ultimately leave them without enough talent in one or more positions.

In fact, the Rams haven’t had a first-round selection since taking Jared Goff with the first overall pick in 2016 and won’t be able to draft in this round until the 2024 Draft.

The Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, who used their first-round picks to move up in the order to take franchise quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, respectively, are another example of this trend.

In short, this will be the third time in four years that at least seven teams will have no first-round picks, something that has happened just twice in 52 years of the current draft era.

According to former Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager and SiriusXM analyst Mark Dominik, this is due to an increase in the salary cap, which allows every team to stockpile stars, and general managers willing to take more risks.

“Having a proven talent, especially because some of these guys are elite, is better than having a first-round pick that you are hoping is going to be as good,” Dominik said.

The Rams’ path to immediate success

The Rams‘ management has taken this strategy of having the best players available, even if they can no longer fully retain them the following year, and gambling their future in exchange for immediate success.

The first such move made by general manager Les Snead was to pay two first-round picks to move up in the draft order and take Goff in 2016. Then they gave up their 2018 first-rounder to take wide receiver Brandin Cooks in 2018. In 2019 they gave up their first-round pick to accumulate more picks.

The following year they paid up with their next two first-round picks to acquire All-Pro corner Jalen Ramsey, and last year they gave up two more first-round picks and Goff himself for quarterback Matthew Stafford.

All of these moves would lead to a Super Bowl championship in 2021.

This strategy has been repeated by other teams, for example, the Denver Broncos, who gave up their first-round pick this year to take veteran Russell Wilson. Denver hasn’t been able to draft a franchise quarterback since the retirement of Payton Manning in 2015, who came to the team via free agency and this motivated their move for Wilson, a proven entity.

Among the eight teams that gave up their first-round picks this year, the Broncos were one of six that did so as a payout for quarterbacks, along with the Rams, Cleveland Browns (Deshaun Watson), San Francisco 49ers (Trey Lance), Indianapolis Colts (Carson Wentz) and Chicago Bears (Justin Fields).

The others are the Las Vegas Raiders and Miami Dolphins, who surrendered their first-round picks for explosive receivers, with the Raiders going for Davante Adams from the Green Bay Packers, and the Dolphins getting Tyreek Hill from Kansas City.

Marca

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