The St. Louis Rams’ reported trade with the Washington Redskins, centered around the No. 2 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, could be one of the biggest difference-makers we’ll see before April’s draft. With Washington in place as a team that’s unlikely to let Robert Griffin III slip, teams who’d hoped to grab the second-best quarterback in the draft with a later pick will have to begin thinking very differently; with the Rams newly stocked with draft choices, they look more like a franchise on the rise than they have since they cratered last fall.
A lot could still change between now and draft day, but the biggest question mark in the early part of the draft—who would trade up to grab Griffin, and what would they have to give the Rams to do it—appears to have been settled. For St. Louis, now, the question is what they’ll do next, not only with this year’s picks—the sixth overall and an additional second-rounder—but with the two new first-rounders they have to play with.
On this, the best day in some time to be Sam Bradford, related pieces from SB Nation St. Louis's 2012 NFL Draft coverage:
- Much more NFL Mock Draft coverage, centered around the inevitable trade.
- What the Rams do with Brandon Lloyd could decide whether they draft Justin Blackmon.
- What would've happened if the Rams had drafted Robert Griffin III after all?