If there’s a team that could swing a big trade for a proven veteran before or during the NFL draft this year, it’s the Los Angeles Rams. They’ve done it before, landing players such as Brandin Cooks, Jalen Ramsey and Matthew Stafford for first-round picks during Sean McVay’s tenure.
There are no indications they’ll make such a blockbuster move in the next week, but nothing can ever be ruled out with Les Snead and McVay.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has one potential target for the Rams to consider, however. That player is Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II. In Barnwell’s annual mock draft where he comes up with a trade for each team in Round 1, he pitched the idea of the Rams acquiring Surtain in a massive deal with the Broncos.
Broncos get: 1-19, 2025 first-round pick, 3-99
Rams get: CB Pat Surtain, 2026 fifth-round pick
Barnwell isn’t suggesting the Rams will make such a move and he has no inside information, but he’s simply sharing a trade that “might make sense,” as he put it.
There aren’t many players who are simultaneously playing at that level and for a team that’s rebuilding.
The Broncos might be the lone exception, which is why a Surtain deal would be plausible. The Rams already showed they were willing to spend this much for a complete cornerback when they acquired Ramsey in 2019, and Surtain might be the former Jags star’s successor as the league’s best player at the position. Surtain is excellent in coverage on the outside and in the slot, capable of shadowing the opposing team’s top wide receiver, and is physical enough to hold his own as a tackler. He just turned 24 on Sunday and will make a combined $23.3 million over the next two years with his fifth-year option, giving L.A. plenty of runway as it negotiates a new extension with him.
If the Rams were going to make such a significant move at cornerback this offseason, it likely would’ve come before they signed both Darious Williams and Tre’Davious White. While neither cornerback should prevent the Rams from acquiring a young cornerback, particularly one of Surtain’s caliber, those signings do make it less likely for a trade like this one to happen.
There are no indications the Broncos want to trade Surtain, who’s their best player on the roster, but as Barnwell notes, they’re rebuilding and could use as many assets as they can get – especially if they want to move up for a quarterback in this year’s draft.
As unlikely as this trade is to happen, it’s fun to think about the Rams acquiring yet another young star, even if it rids fans of seeing them make a first-round pick for another two years.