Schatz: Rams’ win-now approach makes their draft strategy baffling

The Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams spent last season jostling for supremacy as the NFL’s best team.

The Seahawks ultimately got the last laugh, prevailing for a nail-biting 31-27 NFC Championship Game victory en route to their Super Bowl triumph.

Instant Reaction: How Rams’ blockbuster Myles Garrett trade impacts Seahawks

Since then, the NFC West rival Rams have countered with a series of bold offseason moves.

In March, the Rams addressed their secondary issues by trading for All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie and signing free agent cornerback Jaylen Watson.

And on Monday, the Rams shockwaves through the football world by acquiring two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett in a blockbuster trade with the Cleveland Browns. Garrett, the league’s premier pass rusher, broke the NFL single-season record with 23 sacks in 2025. The 30-year-old superstar has 83 sacks over the past five seasons – 17.5 more than any other player over that span.

With their aggressive offseason, the Rams are clearly in win-now mode as they look to maximize their Super Bowl window with 38-year-old quarterback Matthew Stafford. The reigning NFL MVP signed a one-year, $55 million contract extension on May 21 that ties him to the Rams through the 2027 season.

“The Rams are trying to win this thing this year,” FTN Fantasy’s Aaron Schatz told Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy shortly after news of the Garrett trade broke on Monday. “… I think this may put the Rams a little bit ahead of the Seahawks – although in the numbers for the FTN Football Almanac that I’m working on, even though the Rams moved up, we still have them slightly behind the Seahawks, because the Rams have a slightly harder projected schedule.

“They’re obviously the two best teams in the NFC, so it absolutely makes things harder for the Seahawks. No question.”

But as Schatz also pointed out, the Rams’ clear win-now approach seems at odds with their decision to select Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson at No. 13 overall in April’s NFL Draft.

That decision left many pundits scratching their heads, including Seattle Sports’ Brock Huard.

For one, the Rams chose to draft a developmental quarterback for the future rather than a potential difference-maker for 2026.

And secondly, many draft experts didn’t even have a first-round grade on Simpson. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah ranked Simpson as the No. 36 overall prospect in this year’s draft class, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler ranked him at No. 42 and ESPN’s Jordan Reid ranked him at No. 50.

“The question is, why the Ty Simpson pick?” Schatz said. “All these (offseason) moves are in the same direction, except the first-round pick. The fact that they used this year’s first-round pick on a developmental quarterback doesn’t make any logical sense when you look at the other moves that they’ve made.

“It’s very strange. They could absolutely use a third wide receiver or more offensive line depth. There’s a lot of other things that the Rams could have used.”

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