If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times…there is no better way to find out who your favorite NFL team’s next star may be, or where that team will be making their selection in the draft, than a mock draft eight months in advance.
Over at Sporting News, Eric Galko is helping to spare fans the guessing game of where college football’s top players will be taken in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. For the Los Angeles Rams, it appears they’re committed to QB Jared Goff for at least another year, despite the fact that the team – at least by the looks of their draft spot – won’t fare too well in the upcoming year.
5. Los Angeles Rams: Bradley Chubb, DE, N.C. State
Whether or not it’s smart, the Rams are likely to give Jared Goff the 2017 and 2018 seasons to prove he’s their franchise quarterback. They’ve added weapons around him, and they’ll likely use the draft to keep their defense a strength. Chubb could be coveted like former N.C. State standout Mario Williams was in his draft class.
USC quarterback Sam Darnold is long gone, in case you were wondering. The New York Jets, whom nearly everyone expects to be picking No. 1 overall in next year’s draft, scooped him up immediately.
Selecting the nation’s top defensive end isn’t a bad call by Galko. There are some questions along the Rams’ defensive front, which is typically considered one of the team’s strengths. That said, DE Dominique Easleywill miss the entirety of the 2017 season after suffering an ACL tear in early August, and OLB Robert Quinn, who has yet to log a snap this preseason, has only played in 17 games over the last two seasons.
That name (Chubb) sound familiar? It should. Bradley’s older brother, Brandon, signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2016. He got stashed on the practice squad in early September, only to be cut outright about a week later. Their cousin, Nick Chubb, is currently the starting running back for the Georgia Bulldogs and entered his college career as back to Todd Gurley.
The Rams, as Galko notes, have added plenty of weapons around Goff in a very short amount of time. It remains to be seen if one will prove themselves a top-5 pick, but one could argue that offensive tackle, specifically one of the blindside variety, will be a top need for the Rams in 2018, as Andrew Whitworth will be quickly approaching the age of 37 when next season kicks off.
For now, Rams fans can put their mind at ease. One cannot question the accuracy of the mock draft. One can only accept it as truth.
Welcome to Los Angeles, Bradley Chubb.