[ramsman34]

The Rams are not going to stray from their draft value and their buckets/pods of players. They will move around as best they can to target the guys they really want. I can’t see them taking a QB I. The first round. Unless they trade to the bottom of the round and get more picks AND, the QB they want is rated by them to be taken that high or close to that high. I also agree that they have fewer holes and no glaring need for a player to start right away. So they can take the best player they feel fits the Rams AND can come in and compete for early playing time.

The Tams are in a great place now as far as the draft and adding players to the 2025 roster in general. I think we will all be pretty happy with what they do even though history shows they will acquire a few players none of us saw coming.

[actionjack]

We should hear pretty soon what crazy cool location the Rams will do there "draft house" .
10 days away!!

[Elvis]

[BobCarl]

...pods of players. ....

help me fathom this term in reference to a draft

a single "pod" implies a group/plurality of players ... "pods" implies a group of groups

so selecting from a "pod" of running backs may or not be as high of a priority as a "pod" of defensive backs .... how are pods evaluated against each other when a non-pod and higher-valued player is available?

[actionjack]

small group

[Elvis]

small group

What are the odds 1 will be a Ram?

[Elvis]

help me fathom this term in reference to a draft

a single "pod" implies a group/plurality of players ... "pods" implies a group of groups

so selecting from a "pod" of running backs may or not be as high of a priority as a "pod" of defensive backs .... how are pods evaluated against each other when a non-pod and higher-valued player is available?

Snead/Rams been doing this pod/bucket thing for years. Jourdan did a great article last year on the whole draft process:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/546127 ... he-scenes/

This from today's piece which is also really good:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/627123 ... ean-mcvay/

4. Snead’s call sheet
Snead “calls” the draft similarly to how a coach calls a game, including his use of a sheet that looks a lot like one of the giant play cards coaches often hold on the sidelines, though his is digital and displayed on a massive double screen in the draft room. The sheet looks like a series of rectangles that split players by position into four overall tiers and nine different buckets. They are organized in those buckets by their JAARS tab (Snead can immediately recall an evaluation because he instantly sees the tab color and some of the symbols in the tab). There are no round-by-round grades. By mid-April, all draft-eligible players are split into the buckets based on the Rams’ finished evaluations, which include the medical and character checks completed in March and, for some, notes from the traveling visits. The buckets aren’t always “rankings” — some are lateral to others.

[Elvis]

We talked about the buckets here:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=16888&hilit=finding+rams

[BobCarl]

Jourdan did a great article last year on the whole draft process:

I read some of the info from her series of articles. Jourdan deserves the highest sports journalist award available for that work.

[BobCarl]

There are no round-by-round grades. By mid-April, all draft-eligible players are split into the buckets (and tiers) based on the Rams’ finished evaluations,

good info .... and it leaves a lot of ambiguity ...

7 tiers, one for each round vs 4 tiers as defined by Snead ... I applaud the notion of not sticking to the traditional pigeon holes (how much difference is there anyway between a #32 overall pick and a #33 overall pick?). I'm pretty sure a lot of teams define their own tiers too.

Draft time journalists are stuck putting players in to 7 tiers (8the tier if you count UFAs).

Gotta love the conundrum of relying on the media.