Rams News: LA Front Office Exec Allows Peek Behind Curtain of Unique Draft Process

How the LA's approach yields fruitful results.

Dec 25, 2022; Inglewood, California, USA; The Los Angeles Rams logo at midfield at SoFi Stadium. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead and his crew have a fairly unique method when it comes to appraising pre-draft prospects, writes Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic.

Snead's special assistant, Andy Sugarman (who by the way is based in Northern California, not Southern California, when he's not in-season), visits at least two dozen NFL hopefuls every year from March through the draft. In 2024, he visited 33 such college prospects.

As Rodrigue describes it, Sugarman makes it his mission to take stock of the talent of these players after the team's coaches and scouts have already narrowed down their own lists.

Even at the 11th hour, Sugarman occasionally is sent out to investigate a fresh draft candidate, depending on the feelings of the rest of the Rams' front office.

“They get into debates on guys and I get sent,” Sugarman reflected.

Sugarman has been with the Rams for 16 seasons and five as Snead's special assistant. Prior to his Rams tenure, he worked as an offensive assistant for the San Francisco 49ers from 1998-2003, the Detroit Lions' tight ends coach from 2003-05, and the Atlanta Falcons' offensive assistant coach.

Rodrigue notes that Los Angeles generally does not make a standard official visit, like most of the rest of the NFL, in large part to keep their candidates secret ahead of the selection process.

During possibly daylong sessions, Sugarman runs through players' college playbooks, requesting that they essentially teach them to him. Sugarman here looks to see if players are aware of their teammates' scheme assignments, how they think analytically about other opponents, their memory for certain moments, including alternate schemes in the Senior Bowl if they made it that year.

Following this, Sugarman will bring the player to lunch, and will note how a given prospect behaves with regards to attendant waiters, fans and cashiers, and with Sugarman himself.

“You really get a chance to know a person,” Sugarman said told Rodrigue.

“It’s just a different way to look at it,” Sugarman added. “I don’t have a scouting background. I have a coaching background. You look at things a little differently, you look at what the schemes are and whether they are making mistakes or not.”

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