Could be the most insightful interview I've seen with Les about the draft.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJkVCL5YHM
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIJkVCL5YHM
Insightful Interview With Les Snead, PFF Guys
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- #4
Maybe this was also posted already, if not, some good interviews here.
Snead, Devante, McDuffie
Some interesting admission on the Greg Robinson pick by Snead.
View: https://youtu.be/UsyYbZdJQWs?is=VCC9-MraO33DMN-o
Snead, Devante, McDuffie
Some interesting admission on the Greg Robinson pick by Snead.
View: https://youtu.be/UsyYbZdJQWs?is=VCC9-MraO33DMN-o
The above "Buss'in with the boys" Snead interview might have been his best interview that I have seen. Gets into a lot about team building and some behibd the scene stories.
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- #8
Thanks start around 1 hr 6 m time. Good look back at Les' early days with the Rams progression.
This also might have been posted, I apologize if it was. This was behind the scenes leading up to those interviews. Gives a sense of the Rams organization's culture.
View: https://youtu.be/TRW2Fwi9LCw?is=eIN74a-5cuZIyD4_
View: https://youtu.be/TRW2Fwi9LCw?is=eIN74a-5cuZIyD4_
I know his GM speak annoys some but I could listen to Les talk draft and roster building any day. I really liked how he politely push back on the "concesus big board". Those are fun to look at but they don't match up with the teams boards.
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- #12
One thing I found insightful was how les described the Rams draft board 15:45 into the video.
He says the Rams have a tight draft board of 75 players but really 25. Then he says it's really about 20 players they really want. He does say they go a little more for need as they get to the 3rd and 4th rounds. Then talks about trading up and content creators' questions when the Rams move up to draft and or take someone earlier than expected.
During this McVay/Snead era. I thought they had combinations in mind with early-round picks. If they got a player in one position, they had some in mind for next pick at another position. I don't know exactly if that plays out. The thing I found interesting is they have a really tight group of players in mind.
I think it's safe to say these were some of the 20 or 25 players they really wanted.
13/1
Ty Simpson, QB
61/2
Max Klare, TE
3/3
Keagen Trost, OT
197/6
C.J. Daniels, WR
232/7
Tim Keenan III, DT
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Yeah, its hard to believe that they are that selective, dismissing say 50 other top guys and focusing on those 25 or so that they really like.
Of course, thats why they have a great culture. They don't want headcases. They bring in leaders abd guys who love football.
In the Taylor Levan interview, Levan talked about his Titans teams, where you had guys that you thought should be cut and weren't. He mentioned one guy who was a real asshole, and when he finally got cut, he pissed on the sauna rocks so when guys came into the lockerroom it literally smelled like hot piss. Snead then responded that the guy should have been cut earlier.
Well, the Rams don't even bring guys like that into the building to start with. Snead mentioned this in an earlier interview, where he said if guys don't buy in, that lockerroom can become a very uncomfortable place for you. So they try to prevent those guys from being here.
Isaiah Wilson (their 2020 first-round pick) most likely. He seemed like the guy who was likely to do that, and he was a first-round pick who had no business being a first-round pick with his notable headcase shit, and his claim to fame was being big (and often bigger because he was completely out-of-shape at Tennessee camps). He's now apparently pursuing a career as a very shitty rapper without any natural talent.
(Honestly, Lewan was a pretty awful person as a young player at Michigan, but to his credit, he seemed to grow and mature a lot when he came into the league and hasn't been in any trouble or even any incidents with his team since his college days.)
Either way, shows the people whom McSnead look for in drafts. It's a very interesting watch.
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- #15
Eliminating head cases and going more for older/mature players has been a great formula for Snead and the Rams.
Snead's the one who said they cut the draft list down. It's the 20-25 players they think they have a good chance of being available for the Rams to draft? The odds that Simpson would be available at 13 were about as close to 100% as possible. That eliminates all other QBs.
IF TE was their preference early in round 2, how many others were they interested in?
I went down the rabbit hole here and had AI do some research. Here are the top five TEs drafted.
2026 Rookie Tight End Scouting Reports
Here are the scouting reports for the top six tight ends selected in the 2026 NFL Draft: [1]
Kenyon Sadiq (Oregon | Drafted: Round 1, Pick 16, New York Jets): Sadiq is an elite, modern "move" tight end who made waves by setting the tight end record with a blisteringly fast 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the combine. He possesses massive down-the-seam explosive threat and great after-the-catch playmaking ability. He is slightly smaller framed for an in-line blocker but is highly versatile and capable of lining up across the formation.
Eli Stowers (Vanderbilt | Drafted: Round 2, Pick 22, Philadelphia Eagles): A former quarterback with an elite football IQ, Stowers is a premium, pure receiving weapon. He shattered combine records for tight ends with a 45.5-inch vertical and an 11'3" broad jump. His athletic profile mirrors a big-slot wide receiver, making him a major mismatch nightmare, though his in-line blocking strength requires refinement.
Nate Boerkircher (Texas A&M | Drafted: Round 2, Pick 24): Boerkircher serves as a highly reliable, prototypical inline tight end. He wins with outstanding hand placement, consistent leverage in the run game, and safe hands as a short-to-intermediate safety valve over the middle.
Marlin Klein (Michigan | Drafted: Round 2, Pick 27): Emerging from a run-heavy college program, Klein is arguably the most polished and physical point-of-attack blocker in this group. He has the frame to anchor against NFL edge rushers on day one, supplemented by a sneaky capability to peel off on play-action leaks.
Max Klare (Ohio State | Drafted: Round 2, Pick 29, Los Angeles Rams): Klare is a highly explosive, versatile tight end who combines elite spatial intelligence against zone defenses with an alpha, catch-and-attack mentality. He spent time as the featured weapon at Purdue before refining his toolset at Ohio State. He offers a stellar balance of route-stem nuance and a workmanlike attitude in the block game.
Sam Roush (Stanford | Drafted: Round 3, Pick 5): Roush brings a highly technical approach to the position. He excels at manipulating defender leverage at the top of his routes and boasts a reliable catch radius, projecting as a stable, traditional three-down option. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
Why the Rams Selected Max Klare
The Los Angeles Rams selected Max Klare at Pick 61 overall to secure the prototypical chess piece for Sean McVay’s offense. Despite having a seemingly crowded tight end room, the Rams targeted Klare for several crucial reasons: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
1. The Golden Rule: "You Have to Block to Get the Rock" [1]
In Los Angeles, playmakers must block to earn snaps. While the Rams already have specialized options—like Terrance Ferguson (pass-catcher) and Davis Allen (blocker)—Klare offers the ideal hybrid utility. At 6'4", 246 pounds, he is slightly leaner, but tape shows he hits like a brick, effectively neutralizing edge rushers while maintaining high-end receiving upside. [1, 2]
2. Elite Route Nuance and Zone Identification
Klare possesses some of the most natural, fluid receiving mechanics in the 2026 class. He excels at manipulation at the stem of his routes, reducing defenders' angles quickly after the catch, and masterfully locating soft spots in zone coverage. For a processing quarterback like Matthew Stafford, a tight end who instantly diagnoses zone coverage is an invaluable security blanket. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
3. Alignment Versatility for 12 and 13 Personnel [1, 2]
Sean McVay loves utilizing multi-tight end sets to keep defenses guessing. Klare brings extensive experience lining up in-line, in the backfield as a move-blocker, in the slot, and even split out wide. This gives the Rams the flexibility to execute heavy run block looks and explosive chunk plays from the exact same personnel grouping without tipping their hand. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Then I asked who would be similar to Klare. The answer: In this group, you can eliminate Sadiq, as he would be long gone before the Rams #2 pick. So that leaves 3 possible TE's the Rams might have on their list. Of the first two picks, that leaves 4 possible players that made the list. With three remaining picks, they could have had 3 or 4 players on the list for each pick. We will never know for sure, but it's possible. For the years that they had a lot of picks, the 20-25 could have been expanded to 30 or so. They still have the 75 player names to review as the draft unfolds. I feel the Rams have been so tight on draft picks that they really do have a short, focused preferred list.
| Prospect | Team | Key Shared Attribute with Max Klare |
|---|---|---|
| Sam Roush | Chicago Bears | Elite spatial awareness, zone-busting intelligence, and high-effort blocking. |
| Oscar Delp | New Orleans Saints | Fluid slot capabilities, identical size profile, and high-end YAC potential. |
| Kenyon Sadiq | New York Jets | High-volume target capability and formation-wide alignment versatility. |
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I'm sure the Rams loved him, he would have been a great fit but they probably knew he'd be off the board.
What surprised me was Marlin Klein going that early. He was my favorite midround range option. Seriously undervalued him I guess, thought he was a project lol.
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- #17
I thought he was too similar to Ferguson. He is lighter in weight and a weaker blocker. It would be very interesting to find out exactly how much interest the Rams had in him.
Thus far reports from Eagles camp & offseason OTA's have been that Stowers has been invisible. So he might nit make a big impact this year. Their beat reporter the other day said the most impressive TE behind Goedert has been Mundt. Yikes!
Now, Mundt is a good blocker and the Eagles will get back to being more of a running team this year. So Stowers might not be counted on much.
I've read the same reports. In listening to McVay speak on the importance of the TE group to be able to do it all (including blocking) I'm not sure that Stowers would have been one of their top choices. That is, not unless, they were one of the teams who supposedly felt like he could transformed into an X WR.
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Snead and McVay have done several interviews lately.
In one I was happy to hear Snead admit that in hindsight it was good that some of those draft day trade up attempts didn't happen.
My guess at what happened during Draft Day(s) 2026:
The Rams planned to take Ty Simpson, but wanted to move down first. They had a deal set with the Lions to move down to #17, but that fell through when Miami selected OT Kayden Proctor right before their selection. They didn't want to risk a trade down past #17 for fear that Arizona might move up ahead of them and take Simpson so they just selected him at #13.
In the 2nd round I believe that Snead wanted to do the teammate thing again and nab Simpson's former teammate WR Germie Bernard. I believe if they would have made the trade down with the Lions they would have traded up to make this happen. But with Bernard off the board I believe they sat back and took the highest rated player on their trade board in the 2nd round in Max Klare.
In one I was happy to hear Snead admit that in hindsight it was good that some of those draft day trade up attempts didn't happen.
My guess at what happened during Draft Day(s) 2026:
The Rams planned to take Ty Simpson, but wanted to move down first. They had a deal set with the Lions to move down to #17, but that fell through when Miami selected OT Kayden Proctor right before their selection. They didn't want to risk a trade down past #17 for fear that Arizona might move up ahead of them and take Simpson so they just selected him at #13.
In the 2nd round I believe that Snead wanted to do the teammate thing again and nab Simpson's former teammate WR Germie Bernard. I believe if they would have made the trade down with the Lions they would have traded up to make this happen. But with Bernard off the board I believe they sat back and took the highest rated player on their trade board in the 2nd round in Max Klare.