Chris Long thinks Rams should trade up for this ‘amazing’ defensive player

A former no. 2 pick for the Rams wants the team to trade up for Byron Murphy

It has been 16 years since Chris Long was one of the most talked about prospects in the draft at this time of year, as he then went second overall to the St. Louis Rams behind Jake Long and over Matt Ryan. In fact, Long was drafted so long ago that the player who was the 10th pick in his class now holds the third pick of this class: Patriots linebacker/head coach Jerod Mayo.

Mayo’s team is expected to pick a quarterback, but Chris Long thinks that his former team should trade up to get back into the top-10 to select who he believes is a rare prospect at the defensive tackle position in Byron Murphy of the Texas Longhorns.

On his Green Light podcast this week, Long spoke to NFL Network’s draft expert Daniel Jeremiah and he went on and on about how “amazing” Murphy is, noting that while there’s a deep group of NFL edge rushers there are not many game changers at the defensive tackle position. Given that L.A. just saw a great defensive tackle retire, Long wonders if the Rams are keeping quiet on Murphy hoping to move up from 19 to go get him.

Long: Is this Byron Murphy silence…I mean, I feel like we haven’t heard anything about him relative to his skillset. I think he’s amazing, I really like this kid. I wonder of the lack of noise is a product of a bunch of people hoping he will be there for them. How high do you think he will go?

Jeremiah: Top-10 (then he speaks for a while)

Long: I agree…There’s one tier of superpower edge rushers, then there’s the Josh Allen, Trey Hendrickson tier and those guys are elite but they won’t be T.J. Watt. And then there’s like the next 25 guys, they’re helpful. There are only a few game changers at defensive tackle and then the tier below them are a lot smaller. I think Murphy as a guy who can walk in and help right away. I think about the Rams, I wonder what the Rams are gonna do. When I looked at their team last year, the reason they were successful last year—obviously the d coordinator was great, he was rewarded—but the reason was Aaron Donald. He’s gone now. Could they make a move and go up and get Murphy? They’re going to have to move up, but I do think with them they’re gonna look up front.

The Rams pick 19th, which is expected to be too late for Murphy. A team like the Chicago Bears that only has two picks left in the entire draft after 9th overall might be willing to move down if they lose out on one of the elite wide receiver prospects. If not them, the Jets, Vikings, and Broncos might be open if they don’t get the players they wanted, such as Minnesota and Denver missing out on quarterbacks. Or a team could have traded down with the Vikings or Broncos and be willing to move down again.

On the edge rushers, Chris Long said he wasn’t sold on Dallas Turner as the number one guy, he’s a fan of Laiatu Latu. “If Laiatu Latu had no injuries, he might be my guy. He reminds me of T.J. Watt. I love Jared Verse. The ceiling with Verse…”

Will the Rams go defense this week with their first pick and will they trade it? It’s not a Long shot.