Based on the Rams’ draft history in the Les Snead/Sean McVay era, it wasn’t much of a shock to see the club trade out of its first-round pick at No. 26 overall.
It was, however, a mild surprise that the club was able to net a first-round pick in next year’s draft as part of the deal to move back with the Falcons.
Los Angeles received No. 46 overall in the second round on Friday, Atlanta’s first-round pick in 2026, and a seventh-round pick in exchange for No. 26 overall and a third-round pick this year.
“To be able to get a future ‘one’ is a big deal to just move back 20 spots,” head coach Sean McVay said in a Thursday night press conference. “Obviously, the next couple of days will be exciting, but we feel really good about the way that tonight unfolded for us
“I think looking at where our team is overall and the value that we were able to get to be able to move back just 20 spots felt like it was too good to be able to pass up,” McVay later added. “We’re going to come away with some good football players tomorrow for sure.”
General Manager Les Snead noted that the Rams probably weren’t expecting a first-round pick to move out of their draft slot. But without a second-round pick after using it to trade up last year, the club was looking to pick up an asset.
“You have to have someone that really wants to come up to give up that type of pick,” Snead said. “There were multiple teams that wanted to either come up from later behind us in the first round and even in the second round. It’s just the Falcons wanted Mr. [James] Pierce a little more than [the other teams] wanted whomever they were coming up for.”
Snead noted that the Rams did try to move up in the first round, but claimed it was not for any player in particular.
“We just wanted to get up and see how it’d go,” Snead said. “We did try to move, but the value going up there that teams were asking was too much or more than we would give.”
So now the Rams have two first-round picks for the 2026 draft. And with their current quarterback going year-to-year, and the next crop of quarterbacks projected to be better than in 2025, Los Angeles is in a favorable position to potentially pick up a QB of the future.
The Falcons doubled up on quarterbacks during the 2024 offseason and they doubled up on edge rushers in the first round of this year’s draft.
A year after shocking many by selecting Michael Penix after signing Kirk Cousins, the Falcons dropped some more jaws when they traded their 2026 first-round pick to take Tennessee product James Pearce Jr. with the 26th pick. They had selected Jalon Walker out of Georgia with the 15th pick and it was no surprise to hear head coach Raheem Morris’s rationale for the selections in a Thursday night press conference.
“We definitely had to increase our rush, we definitely had to get our rush better and both of these players really make it better,” Morris said.
The Falcons gave up the No. 46 and No. 242 picks this year in addition to next year’s first and they got a third-round pick back from the Rams in the Pearce deal. Trade value charts make that a lopsided win for the Rams, but General Manager Terry Fontenot said the belief in the player was more important to him.
“We look at the trade charts and all that stuff, but at some point you have to look at ‘ok who’s the player and what are we really getting and is it worth it,’” Fontenot said. “That’s what you really have to do at some point. When you have that type of conviction in the player, that’s when you’re willing to do it.”
It’s the kind of gamble that leaves little wiggle room between looking like geniuses or fools for Fontenot and the Falcons. We’ll start finding out where they’ll land in September.
The Falcons moved back into the first round to double down on edge rusher.
Atlanta traded up to the 26th overall pick in order to take former Tennessee Volunteer James Pearce Jr. The Falcons selected Jalon Walker earlier in the first round.
The Falcons had to pay the Rams a heavy price to move back into the first round. They gave up the 46th and 242nd picks in this year’s draft as well as their first-round pick in 2026 in order to pick up this pick and the 101st pick.
Pearce had 7.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss last season.
Falcons General Manager Terry Fontenot raised a lot of eyebrows by picking quarterback Michael Penix in the first round last year. This move is another big swing and he may need both to pay off in a big way in 2025 in order to keep making the picks in Atlanta.
Jalon Walker won’t go far for his next stop in football.
Walker, a former Georgia edge rusher, has been selected by the Falcons with the No. 15 overall pick in the 2025 draft.
Walker was a one-year starter at Georgia, but was a heavy contributor in 2023 as well. After recording 5.0 sacks in 14 games in 2023, he recorded 6.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss in 2024. He appeared in 14 games with 11 starts for the Bulldogs in his final collegiate season.
In total, he recorded 12.5 sacks with 18.0 tackles for loss and a forced fumble in 43 games for Georgia.
Now he will head down the road from Athens to Atlanta to begin his NFL career.
Last year, the Falcons committed $100 million to quarterback Kirk Cousins, roughly six weeks before making quarterback Michael Penix Jr. a top-10 pick.
This year, the possibility of a Cousins trade looms over the team.
During a Wednesday pre-draft press conference, G.M. Terry Fontenot addressed a recent report from ESPN that the Falcons want a new team to pick up $20 million of Cousins’s remaining $37.5 million in full guarantees.
“We haven’t put . . . a number on it,” Fontenot told reporters. “We wouldn’t share specific conversations with what we’re doing, but no, we haven’t — to answer your question — we haven’t put a specific number on it.”
Fontenot later reiterated that it’s “not accurate” to say they’ve applied a number to what they expect a new team to pay.
Cousins has a no-trade clause, which gives him final say on whether a trade happens. And it’s hard to imagine him agreeing to a trade to a team that won’t install him as the starter. If he’s going to be a backup, why not stay put?
It also makes sense for him to show up and work out at the team facility. If he pops another Achilles tendon at the facility, he gets his money. If he gets injured while working out at the local Planet Fitness, the Falcons could void his remaining guarantees and move on.
