The New York Giants, now owning the No. 10 overall pick, could lead to some heavy altering of what the Los Angeles Rams may do in the draft.
The Los Angeles Rams are no strangers to using first-round picks to secure players, and they did so earlier this offseason with the acquisition of Trent McDuffie. General manager Les Snead always finds ways to put the team into advantageous spots, and the 2026 NFL Draft may be more of the same.
Seeing as the New York Giants sent Dexter Lawrence II to the Cincinnati Bengals for the No. 10 overall pick, this will heavily impact the draft, but even more so for the Rams. The Giants are a wide receiver-needy team, and one that could go after the presumed crown jewel pass catcher in this rookie class.
The Rams' No. 13 overall pick has also now become far more valuable, and teams wanting to target the top half of the blue-chip players in the draft could be more willing to give up more draft capital to leap up and land said players.
That said, here are the possibilities that the Lawrence trade will have for the Rams.
Drafting a Wide Receiver
There have been plenty of mock drafts that have the Rams staying pat and taking either an offensive lineman or a wide receiver. The final mocks before the Lawrence deal were nearly all unanimous in USC's Makai Lemon.
Lemon would be the kind of tough and YAC route runner that would match up well with Matthew Stafford and the Rams offense. However, his skill could lead the Giants to take a swing instead.
The other receiver that has been linked to the Giants and Rams is Arizona State's Jordyn Tyson, who held a private workout to showcase that the hamstring issues that kept him out of the NFL Combine and Pro Day were a one-off situation.
Despite the workout, Tyson has also dealt with a torn ACL, PCL, and MCL in 2022, a broken collarbone in 2024, an ankle injury ahead of the 2025 season, and a hamstring ailment.
Tyson may be one of the best receivers in the draft, but it would be hard to ignore his injury history. Considering the Rams already had to deal with Davante Adams missing multiple games due to a hamstring injury, they may steer clear.
The same can be said for the Giants, who are now in a prime position to draft Lemon at No. 10 overall. If the USC prospect is off the board, the Rams may choose instead to trade back.
Trading Back
There were already some deep feelings that the Rams would trade out of the No. 13 overall pick, to help stack some more draft capital for 2026 and beyond. If there is an opportunity for Snead and the front office to move back while acquiring another first-round pick or something high, that is very likely to happen.
With the potential that the Giants may also take either Lemon or possibly top offensive lineman, Francis Mauigoa, this may prompt the Rams to want to move back anyway.
Even more so than that, there could be even more teams calling to move up, considering the Giants may have thrown a proverbial wrench into everyone's draft boards and plans.
Granted, nobody knows how a draft board will shake out, but the No. 10 pick going to New York can have heavy implications on other teams needing to make a move to secure a player they deem to be a top choice.
This is where the Rams could use the opportunity to move back while picking up even more draft capital than they expected to before the Giants moved into another prime position.
Multiple teams seem to view the draft as being top-heavy in the first round, and then a drop-off in talent occurs somewhere in the middle of the first round. If that is the case, the Rams could use this as an opportunity to acquire some much-needed draft capital for 2026 and beyond.