The Los Angeles Rams made sure to target the defensive line early in the 2024 NFL Draft. The team took a pair of former Florida State Seminoles in the first two rounds with pass rusher Jared Verse in the first followed by defensive tackle Braden Fiske in the second round.
With the Rams losing Aaron Donald to retirement this offseason, reinforcing the defensive line was a necessity and Fiske will be one of many relied upon to try and do the impossible of helping to fill the gap left by the all-time great.
The Rams actually traded up in the second-round to take Fiske and the franchise has now locked him in to a four-year contract worth $9.4 million, via Tom Pelissero of NFL Network:
The #Rams agreed to terms with No. 39 pick Braden Fiske on a four-year, $9,410,122 contract that includes a $3,663,724 signing bonus, per source. The deal has $7,643,653 fully guaranteed at signing, including 15% of his Year 4 salary. Deal done by @AgentGrady_ @gradysports. pic.twitter.com/cEi6Zo3KGd
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) May 10, 2024
Fiske has the opportunity to make an immediate impact on a Rams line that has some promising young pieces. Last year, in his lone year at Florida State, Fiske was a second team All-ACC selection, finishing the year with 43 total tackles, nine tackles for loss and six sacks. Prior to that, he was a standout at Western Michigan where he had 148 total tackles and 27 tackles for loss in four seasons.
The Rams have an extremely promising line with the addition of Fiske and his college teammate Verse joining last year’s rookies Kobie Turner and Byron Young, as well as Bobby Brown and Michael Hoecht. An excellent athlete who thrives on getting in the backfield and making plays, Fiske is an ideal addition with a chance to be another impact player the Rams pick up through the draft.
Les Snead explains why Rams traded up to draft Braden Fiske
The Rams are known to be extremely aggressive with their draft picks, having no issues making necessary moves to get who they want and that was the case with Fiske. Les Snead and the front office traded away next year’s second-round pick in order to move up and take the Florida State product and Snead explained the reasoning behind it.
The general manager noted that there was a group of players the team targeted in the first round and that if they added a pass rusher, which was the case with Jared Verse, then they wanted to be aggressive in adding a defensive tackle in the second with Fiske being the main target there.
But by all accounts, Snead and the Rams had landed on Fiske as the person they wanted to add in the second round and were willing to do whatever was needed to ensure they got him.
