NFL Insider says Rams are sleeper team for this quarterback in the draft

NFL Insider Jordan Schultz says Rams are a sleeper team for Michael Penix in NFL Draft.

When it comes to the Los Angeles Rams, they have seemingly been connected to the quarterback position throughout the draft process. Early on in the process, JJ McCarthy was a player that was commonly mocked to them with the 19th overall pick. However, since McCarthy’s has picked up potential top-5 buzz, that clearly took the Rams out of the running. Now, however, they are getting connected to the other quarterback that was in the National Championship game, Washington’s Michael Penix.

Bleacher Report’s NFL Insider Jordan Schultz went on the Pat McAfee show on Tuesday and listed a few teams would could be a fit or have interest in Penix. Said Schultz,

“I would say these 3-4 to watch out for Penix would be Seattle, Atlanta, and potentially a sleeper would the Rams. With Penix, he measure 6’2 and change and also measured 6’9 wingspan and measured the biggest hand size of any non-lineman at The Combine. And then you go back to what Kalen DeBoer, his head coach, I talked to him yesterday, ‘he’s one of the best leaders that he’s seen in his life regardless of sport.”

With other needs on the roster, it’s hard to see the Rams taking a quarterback. That’s not to say that it shouldn’t be something that is considered. We’ve seen the type of void left after Aaron Donald retired. Now, imagine that at the most important position on the field at quarterback. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some sort of succession plan in place. In fact, ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum mocked Penix to the Rams with the 19th overall pick recently.

Still, the Rams need to try to balance capitalizing on the current window while also building the team for the future. Helping Stafford with a player that can contribute right away that high in the draft will likely take priority. If Penix is there in the second round when the Rams are on the clock, that’s when it begins to become a conversation to be had. However, even then, adding a player that can contribute immediately at a larger position may take precedence.

Additionally, the Rams signed Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason and it sounds like Stetson Bennett could be returning to the team. With Garoppolo and Bennett, the Rams have their backup quarterback in place and three quarterbacks on the roster. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the Rams couldn’t take Penix and officially move on from Bennett and Garoppolo has a cap-hit of only $2.9M. However, it doesn’t make sense for the Rams to have made backup quarterback on their list of positions to address in free agency if they were considering taking a quarterback within the first two rounds of the NFL Draft.

As it stands, it seems like the Rams may wait until at least 2025 to bring in a succession plan for Stafford. They could also simply go the route of bringing in a bridge quarterback when Stafford does decide to hang up the cleats. For the time being, it seems more likely that the Rams are going to do everything they can to build around Stafford rather than try to have a succession plan behind him.