The Los Angeles Rams enter the 2023 NFL Draft without a first-round selection. This year’s pick conveys to the Detroit Lions as part of the Matthew Stafford deal that landed L.A. a Super Bowl victory in 2022. Their first selection is currently the 37th overall pick.
However, that doesn’t mean the Rams won’t leave the draft with a significant influx of young talent. They own their own second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh-round picks, as well as a few others acquired via trade. Additionally, they are set to land compensatory draft picks from free agents that departed in 2022.
Projected out by Over The Cap’s Nick Korte, the Rams are slated to have four compensatory draft picks in 2023, the maximum amount a team can have without receiving a specialty compensatory selection.
This includes the rule that grants teams a comp. pick if they have a minority staff member promoted to another team, like Brad Holmes becoming the general manager of the Lions last season. In 2022, the Rams had five compensatory picks.
The first of their 2023 comp. selections comes from Darious Williams. Williams had an elite 2020 season for the Rams, but could not replicate the results in the 2021 Super Bowl campaign. He signed a contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars and started in 13 of their 19 games, including one postseason start.
The Rams will likely receive a fourth-round pick for Williams, although a chance exists that the pick falls to the fifth round.
Austin Corbett signing a deal with the Carolina Panthers will net the Rams a fifth-round selection as well. Corbett was the starting right guard for the Rams in 2020 and 2021, and started all 17 games for the Panthers before unfortunately tearing his ACL in Week 18.
Finally, the Rams are set to receive a sixth-round pick for now-L.A. Chargers defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day, as well as a seventh-round pick for fifth-round draft pick and now-Houston Texans edge rusher Ogbonnia Okoronkwo.
Les Snead says Rams have 10 2023 draft picks
The combination of already-owned picks and compensatory draft selections has general manager Les Snead believing his team will make 10 picks in late April.
Coming off of a disastrous 2022 season that saw the Rams miss the playoffs and lose nearly all of their major stars to injury, L.A. should be able to infuse some youth back into the building. That and the return of their veteran stars should absolutely give the Rams some hope that they can compete for a Super Bowl in 2023.
