Off-Topic » The Los Angeles Rams still haven’t made a first-round dra

THOUSAND OAKS John Kelly Jersey , Calif. (AP) — ft pick in the Sean McVay era.The NFC champions traded the 31st overall pick to Atlanta on Thursday night, picking up the 45th and 79th overall selections while also sending the 203rd overall pick to the Falcons.The Rams have four picks among the top 100 selections after making the deal. General manager Les Snead had expressed an interest in increasing his draft capital after trading away several key picks in recent years to bolster their veteran depth, and he found a willing partner in the Falcons.“Early in the process, we knew the pool of players that we might be dealing with” for the 31st pick, Snead said. “You always have a few favorites that if they did fall — you didn’t project them to — that maybe you hold pat and pick. But if those chosen few didn’t, we felt it would be better to add another third-round pick and have four picks in the top 100 instead of three.”Atlanta used the 31st overall pick on Washington offensive tackle Kaleb McGary.“A lot of the things that we anticipated played out,” McVay said. “It’s something we feel really good about. When you look at the entirety of having those four picks in the top 100, we feel really good about coming away with four good football players. … It worked out the way that we wanted to.”Los Angeles added the Falcons’ two picks to its 94th and 99th overall choices, giving the Rams one second-round pick and three third-round picks on what should be a busy Friday. The Rams traded away their own 2019 second-round pick last year to get cornerback Marcus Peters from Kansas City.The Rams have not made a first-round selection since 2016, when they traded up with Tennessee to select Jared Goff with the No. 1 overall pick. Snead has a history of big hits with his highest draft picks, which have included Aaron Donald and Todd Gurley.But McVay has transformed Snead’s roster into back-to-back NFC West champions during his two-year tenure without help from a first-round rookie. The coach clearly wasn’t bothered by the decision to move back for an extra pick on Friday John Franklin-Myers Jersey , even with distinguished talent still available Thursday night at No. 31 in the Rams’ areas of need on the offensive line and the secondary.“It feels par for the course,” McVay said. “There’s going to be a lot of really good football players that are drafted (Friday). We are going to feel good.” ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Broncos general manager John Elway continued his latest coaching search Thursday by interviewing Zac Taylor, the Rams‘ 35-year-old quarterbacks coach who’s long on football pedigree but short on experience.Elway and player personnel director Matt Russell flew to Los Angeles to interview Taylor near the Rams’ headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California, a day after meeting with former Colts coach Chuck Pagano in Denver.Elway also plans to speak with Bears assistant Vic Fangio, Patriots assistant Brian Flores and Steelers assistant Mike Munchak.With the Rams off this weekend, Taylor also is expected to meet with the Arizona Cardinals about their head coaching vacancy.Elway is searching for his fourth head coach in six seasons after firing Vance Joseph on Monday withtwo-year record of 11-21.“This is no fun going through this. It’s not something I want to do, but then again, I understand what my job is,” Elway said. “My job is to give us Brian Allen Jersey , the Denver Broncos, the best chance to win.”That could be by hiring Taylor, a high-risk/high-reward outlier on Elway’s short list of candidates .Taylor has never been a coordinator much less a head coach. But the son-in-law of former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman has a strong track record working with quarterbacks and has earned praise in his two years on Sean McVay’s staff.He also has football in his blood: Taylor was the 2006 Big 12’s Offensive Player of the Year at Nebraska; his father, Sherwood, was a defensive back and captain at the University of Oklahoma; and his younger brother, Press, 30, is the QBs coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.While Elway’s other candidates either have deep defensive roots or lots of experience, Taylor is the only one who boasts strong credentials in the run-pass option craze that has filtered from colleges to the pro ranks in recent seasons.And Elway concurred with cornerback Chris Harris Jr.’s assessment this week that the Broncos have fallen behind by not adapting on offense or defense in the three years since they won their last Super Bowl title.“Yeah, no doubt, especially if you look at where the rules are going Joseph Noteboom Jersey ,” Elway said. “The rules are getting shifted to the offensive side, too. We’ve relied on our defense for a long time. I think that we’re still going to rely on the defense, but we definitely have to get better on the offensive side.”Taylor tutored the Rams’ receivers in 2017 and was Jared Goff’s position coach this season, when the 2016 top overall draft pick threw for 32 touchdowns and 4,688 yards while leading the Rams to a 13-3 record and the NFC’s No. 2 playoff seed.After college, Taylor served as a graduate assistant and tight ends coach on Sherman’s coaching staff from 2008-11 at Texas A&M, where he worked alongside current Broncos offensive assistant Klint Kubiak.Taylor jumped to the NFL in 2012 as a member of Joe Philbon’s Miami Dolphins staff and tutored Ryan Tannehill during the quarterback’s most productive seasons from 2013-15.He served as the Dolphins’ interim offensive coordinator for the final five games in 2015, then returned to the college ranks for a year as offensive coordinator at the University of Cincinnati.