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The Los Angeles Rams and head coach Sean McVay went from a Super Bowl title to a 5-12 record in 2022. And along with that, the team’s “f*** them picks” mantra has left them, again, without a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Just because the team doesn’t have a first-rounder doesn’t mean they can’t find a perfect Rams draft fit on Day 2 or 3. And that perfect pick should be Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell.
The Rams don’t have a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, but they do have a good number of picks. The team actually has 11 selections over the course of Day 2 and Day 3 of the draft, meaning they should be able to get some good young players in the door to freshen up the roster.
And the roster needs freshening up. The franchise went all in to win a Super Bowl, but it all came crashing down last season as injuries to Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp severely hurt the team. In the 2023 offseason, the team didn’t make many moves either, signing just two lower-level free agents.
The Rams need to start building for the future in the 2023 NFL Draft, and the perfect first step to do that is to draft Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell.
3. Aidan O’Connell is an NFL-ready QB
Aidan O’Connell is a 6-foot-3, 212-pound quarterback who started for two seasons at Purdue. Over this time, he threw for 9,219 passing yards, 65 touchdowns, and 30 interceptions.
O’Connell has NFL QB size, and at Purdue, the Illinois native ran a pro-style offense that saw him take snaps from under center, something that is happening less and less at the college level these days.
The QB stands tall in the pocket and delivers throws accurately and on time. He didn’t do any of the athletic testing drills at the NFL combine (more on that below), but he impressed scouts throwing the ball. The Purdue signal-caller completed 47-of-50 passes, and the three misses were drops by his receivers.
Reports from the combine were that only Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud, who will likely go No. 1 or No. 2 overall, was better throwing the ball in drills.
O’Connell is a throwback pocket passer who is excellent in play-action. That might not be a huge selling point for all the coaches looking for the next Josh Allen or Jalen Hurts, but for an offensive guru like Sean McVay, that sounds like something he can absolutely work with.
2. Aidan O’Connell is underrated due to his lack of athleticism
While Aidan O’Connell has more strengths than many draft pundits give him credit for, he also has his deficiencies. If he didn’t, he be going in the first round, not the third or fourth.
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If this was 1992 or even 2002, O’Connell might be one of the highest-rated prospects in this draft. However, his lack of athleticism will hold him back in the modern NFL. Teams these days are looking for QBs with big arms who can move both inside and outside the pocket, and the Purdue signal-caller simply isn’t that type of player.
Without a first-round pick, the Rams will have to take a shot on a quarterback who isn’t perfect by current NFL standards. However, with Sean McVay as his coach, O’Connell will be able to utilize play-action and get the ball out of his hands quickly, which could negate some of his athletic deficiencies and play to his strengths, which are reading defenses and accuracy.
1. Matthew Stafford is on his last legs
The final reason Aidan O’Connell is a Rams draft fit is that Los Angeles needs a QB of the future now.
Matthew Stafford was an excellent NFL quarterback, and he won the Rams a Super Bowl. He turned 35 in February, though, and even in a time when QBs are playing into their late 30s or even 40s, Stafford is old by NFL standards.
Stafford has already played 14 NFL seasons and started 191 games. Much of that was with the Detroit Lions, where he took a lot of punishment. The QB has been sacked 444 times in his career, which is the 15th-most in league history.
Also, the injury Stafford went out with in 2022 was a scary one. He had a spinal cord contusion, and he decided to let the injury recover on his own, without having surgery. Hopefully, this will only be a small blip on the radar of Stafford’s career, but any time a neck and back injury is involved, it’s scary.
All this adds up to the fact that the Rams draft needs to include a quarterback, and with Aidan O’Connell’s Stafford-like in-pocket style, he would be a perfect fit to learn from a similar QB.
