Rams News: Sean McVay & Les Snead Explain Decision To Trade Out Of First Round In 2025 NFL Draft

The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft has come and gone and for the eighth time in the last nine years, the Los Angeles Rams did not make a pick.

The Rams held the No. 26 overall pick but wound up trading down with the Atlanta Falcons jumping up to take Tennessee defensive end James Pierce Jr.

L.A. received a huge haul in return as they traded the Nos. 26 and 101 picks in this year’s draft for Nos. 46 and 242, as well as Atlanta’s 2026 first rounder.

“We had a feeling that this [trading out of the first round] was a possibility that could happen tonight,” head coach Sean McVay said at the end of the night. “Real credit to [General Manager] Les [Snead]… [Vice President of Football and Business Administration] Tony [Pastoors] had a bunch of great dialogue with teams throughout and ended up exactly where we wanted to be. To be able to get a future ‘one’ [first-round pick] is a big deal to just move back twenty spots. Obviously, the next couple of days will be exciting, but we feel really good about the way that tonight unfolded for us.”

McVay added that the Falcon’s offer was one the Rams couldn’t pass up, especially considering they had similar grades on a lot of players in the top 100.

“I think the biggest thing too is there is a lot of appreciation for…let’s just say your top 100 players and there is maybe not as big of a discrepancy between those guys that are in that top-fifteen to those guys that are maybe in our 85 to 100 [ranking],” McVay said.

“I think Les and his group [and] our coaches working in collaboration… there is a lot of appreciation for a lot of players that’ll be pulled off the board tomorrow and in the early parts of Saturday. I think looking at where our team is overall and the value that we were able to get to be able to move back just 20 spots felt like it was too good to be able to pass up. We’re going to come away with some good football players tomorrow for sure.”

Rams general manager Les Snead echoed McVay in that the Falcons gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse.

“That’s what the charts say. Again, having a ‘one’ next year…you have to have someone that really wants to come up to give up that type of pick. There were multiple teams that wanted to either come up from later behind us in the first round and even in the second round. It’s just the Falcons wanted Mr. [Tennessee Edge Rusher James] Pierce a little more than they [the other teams] wanted whomever they were coming up for.”

The Rams are now loaded with two first round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft when they may need a quarterback with Matthew Stafford nearing the end of his career. L.A. is also known for making blockbuster trades though, so who knows where those picks will be a year from now.

“For now, we do. For now,” McVay said of the team having two firsts in 2026.

Did Rams think about trading up?

While the Rams ended up trading out of the first round, Les Snead revealed that trading up and standing pat were also possibilities they discussed.

“We did have three strategies. One was move up, one was stay put, [and] one was move back,” Snead said. “Within that, you have to have… it’s not the same player. We felt like the draft was going to go that way a little bit. There were a lot of people who were attempting to move down so we were thinking, ‘Okay, maybe we could move up depending on who was there.’ Then there was a stay pat. Through it all, we always really discussed [whether there] would be an opportunity to move back based on being close to… whatever we call late [in the] first [round], close to the second [round]. A lot of times that is a good place to be if you want to trade back. That’s what we did and we thought the value… we had a lot of offers, but Atlanta’s value was best for us.”

While they didn’t make a pick on day one, the Rams will be very busy in days two and three now with eight picks at their disposal.