The Athletic’s Mike Sando shared what NFL executives had to say about the Rams trade for Braden Fiske
One of the more controversial moves of the NFL Draft last week seems to be what the Los Angeles Rams traded away to move up and get Florida State defensive tackle Braden Fiske. In the trade, the Rams gave up a 2025 2nd round pick to move up 13 spots with the Carolina Panthers to acquire Fiske.
The Rams spent more on Braden Fiske than they did on Jared Verse, according to the ESPN, OTC, PFF, Stuart and Baldwin charts*.
*including a 10% discount on the future second, assumed to be pick 48
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) May 3, 2024
The Athletic’s Mike Sando asked NFL Executives around the league of their thoughts on each team’s draft class. Executives specifically brought up the move that the Rams made to go up and get Fiske. Said one executive,
“We liked Fiske, but what they gave up, I mean, can you find another trade in the second round that gave up as much as they gave up, over the last 10 years? I don’t even know if they are weighing the trade calculations.”
According to Sando, “Execs saw that as behavior consistent with having a strong head coach. They also cited reports suggesting the Rams explored trading into the top 10 for tight end Brock Bowers (or possibly Byron Murphy II).”
The move to go up and get Fiske was a bold one. It was the most expensive Day 2 overpay of the last six drafts. With that said, he was very clearly a player that the Rams liked and felt would be a good addition to their defensive rotation. Until Fiske gets the field, there will be questions on whether or not the move up was worth it.
As Bill Barnwell noted this week,
“Trading up still pays off less often than the teams that move up would hope. When a team traded up for a player, his performance over the first five years matched or surpassed the cost his team paid in draft capital just 42% of the time…Nearly 23% of the picks were total busts who produced zero value for their new teams, including 16% of the players who were acquired via trade-ups on Day 1 or Day 2 of the draft.”
In which @billbarnwell comprehensively addresses a bunch of (unfounded) arguments in favor of trading up, including “What if this player is really high on our board?” and “Our team can identify trade-up targets!”
The underlined part here is remarkable!https://t.co/bJsnKaWIzQ pic.twitter.com/P28gPra5NV
— Computer Cowboy (@benbbaldwin) May 1, 2024
Whether or not the trade up was worth it will only be determined by how Fiske performs on the field. The Detroit Lions traded away a 2025 third round for a project offensive tackle from British Columbia with a rugby background. Meanwhile, the Rams invested in a second-team All-ACC defensive tackle which is overshadowing a potential poor investment or trade up move from Brad Holmes and the Lions.
The Rams obviously liked Fiske enough to move up for him and trade away future assets. However, NFL executives and analysts around the league continue to question whether or not it was the right move.
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