NFL Draft 2013: St. Louis Rams Trying to Trade 22nd Overall Pick
By Josh Hill
Trades seem to be a hot topic as we head towards Thursday night’s kick off of the NFL Draft. The San Francisco 49ers and Atlanta Falcons are teams looking to move up to the top of the draft to select an elite prospect, but not everyone wants to move up. The St. Louis Rams are a team trying to trade down, and they can do so with the luxury of two picks.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the St. Louis Rams 22nd overall pick in the draft is “clearly for sale”, and a trade may happen with a quarterback-needy team looking to move up into the first round.
Rams' second-first round pick, No. 22 overall, clearly is for sale. STL looking to deal out of 22.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 25, 2013
The move makes sense for both the Rams and any one of the teams that are favored to trade back into the first round. Jacksonville, Buffalo and Cleveland all are looking to draft a quarterback and all are vying for the same guy: E.J. Manuel. Dont’ count out the Eagles trading up to grab Manuel either, as the Florida State product said yesterday that the Eagles want him “pretty bad”.
St. Louis is likely going to draft Cordarrelle Patterson 16th overall, and unless Kenny Vaccaro falls to them at 22nd overall, a trade will likely happen with one of the mentioned teams. Cleveland is the team looking to trade up the most, as they don’t have a second round pick and could only be in the running to draft Manuel if they traded up.
Interestingly enough, the Browns would be trading into the first round to draft a replacement for the last guy they traded back into the first round to select — Brandon Weeden.
Either way, the Rams are looking to deal the 22nd pick and more than a few teams will be approaching them with offers they hope won’t be refused.