2018 NFL Trade Machine: Shane Ray to the Rams
By Erik Lambert
One would think the Los Angeles Rams have done plenty on the 2018 NFL trade machine already, but they’ve been aggressive all year. What’s one more?
The truth is everything they’ve done up to this point has been geared towards winning a Super Bowl now. This year. So sacrificing another draft pick to get a player who can help towards that endeavor would likely sound great from their end. What else could they possibly pursue? They already added two corners and a wide receiver via trade over the past few months. Is there another name out there who could help?
One area that could be considered a concern is their edge rush. Despite having two dominant interior men in Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh, their dealing of Robert Quinn to Miami may have exposed a serious lack of depth on the edge. Right now Matt Longacre and Samson Ebukam are looking like the starters with a pair of late round picks in Trevon Young and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo behind them. Not ideal.
Shane Ray could find new life in Wade Phillips reunion
The Denver Broncos are facing a tough decision. Having just added Bradley Chubb in the 1st round, their edge rusher situation is set along with Von Miller. What they need to figure out is their plans for former 1st round pick Shane Ray. It’s clear he isn’t a good fit for the team’s new 4-3 defense and that problem is made worse by persistent wrist issues he’s having.
The team already declined to pick up his 5th-year option. This means unless he’s franchise tagged or extended during the year, he’s likely to be a free agent in 2019. Unless the Broncos are willing to risk losing him for nothing, the odds are they might try to move him for something in return. Even a mid-to-late round draft pick.
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This is a potentially perfect situation for the Rams. They need edge rush help and run a 3-4 defense, the one that Ray was originally supposed to play in. Wade Phillips was, in fact, the man running the Broncos defense when Ray was drafted back in 2015. He actually had eight sacks in 2016 during their final year together. This is a reunion the Rams absolutely want to make happen.
It comes down to just how much the Broncos still think they can get from Ray and what their price would be if made available. Odds are the closer the deadline gets, the lower the price.