Rams not sending coach, GM to Scouting Combine

The Los Angeles Rams are looking to improve their championship roster this offseason, and they will try to do so without having their head coach or general manager at the NFL Scouting Combine.

The Rams informed the NFL on Sunday that neither Sean McVay nor Les Snead will attend the Combine in Indianapolis. That is consistent with how they have operated over the past few years. Los Angeles will still send medical staff and some scouts to Indy, according to Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic.

McVay and L.A.’s brass have moved toward working mostly virtually during the pre-draft process. They were already trending in that direction prior to the pandemic, and they have done well in the draft in recent years.

“We’re always trying to build to where you don’t necessarily have to be there (in person),” Snead told Rodrigue last offseason. “That’s a model we’re trying to come up with.”

The rationale behind the Rams’ approach was explained in more detail a year ago. Now that they won the Super Bowl, they can certainly make the argument that whatever they are doing is working.

Also, it is worth noting that the Rams have no picks in the first two rounds this year. They probably would have taken the same approach with the Combine regardless, but that could be a factor.

It goes without saying that the draft is important, but the Rams have chosen to sacrifice draft capital for star players in recent years. That approach paid off in a huge way, and one star player has hinted that he wants them to stick with it.