Rams, Lions Both Won Braden Fiske Trade

When the Rams traded the 57th overall pick and their 2024 second and fifth-round selections to Carolina for their 39th overall, many saw it as a massive overpay to move up 18 slots, considering the value of second round picks.

The Rams didn't care. They wanted Braden Fiske and they got him. It's safe to say the move paid off, considering Fiske led all rookies in sacks last season and was a finalist for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Fast forward to the 2025 NFL Draft. Through a series of trades, the Rams' 2024 second-round pick eventually became Detroit's, and the Lions used it to select Tate Ratledge, a game-changing guard that ESPN's Ben Solak listed as one of the top five rookies to watch this season.

"The retirement of Frank Ragnow is a huge blow to the Lions' offensive identity and locker room -- no two ways about it," wrote Solak. "Even if they took a generational center with their top pick, there would still be concerns about losing a franchise cornerstone like that. But the position is now doubly tenuous with Ratledge as the expected replacement."

"A high school tackle who played guard at Georgia, Ratledge only ever practiced at center in college -- he never saw game action there. There's a substantial increase in the mental ask for a center relative to guard, not to mention the mental leap from collegiate to professional play. The Lions desperately need their second-round rookie to get up to speed, fast."

At the NFL Combine, multiple SEC defensive linemen stated Ratledge was the toughest offensive lineman they faced, and that's a conference that had Tyler Booker in it.

Obviously the Rams nailed the Fiske selection and it was a selection I personally supported from the moment it happened. However, it does lead to the point of leveraging the future for the now, something Snead pioneered to a level no one else has been able to replicate.

The Rams are expected to say goodbye to Kevin Dotson in the near future for financial reasons so it appears Ratledge would have been the perfect replacement, if not at the very least a critical depth piece for a position heavily afflicted with injuries in 2024.

The price of business.

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