Champion Rams finally start draft with Wisconsin OL Bruss

By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams showed up fashionably late to the NFL draft on Friday night to make their first pick, grabbing Wisconsin offensive lineman Logan Bruss at the back of the third round.

The Rams used the 104th overall selection to get Bruss, a hulking lineman who played mostly right tackle for the Badgers.

He will be an immediate candidate to start at right guard for the champs after the departure of Austin Corbett to Carolina in free agency. He is the third Wisconsin product on the Rams’ offensive line, joining two starters: right tackle Rob Havenstein and left guard David Edwards.

Bruss said Edwards showed him the ropes in his first season in Madison, and it’s remarkable to think he’ll be doing the same in Los Angeles.

After trading away their first three selections to secure the veteran talent that won the title, the Rams were the last team to make a pick in the three-day draft.

They finally got in the game by using the compensatory pick — the 40th selection in the third round — given to them for losing executive Brad Holmes to Detroit.

The Rams didn’t make a first-round pick for the sixth consecutive season after trading their 2022 choice — and their 2023 selection — to Detroit for Matthew Stafford, who promptly led them to a championship. Los Angeles also dealt its second-round and third-round selections to Denver for its half-season rental of Von Miller, who played a major role in the title run.

The Rams will be busier Saturday with seven picks in the final four rounds. General manager Les Snead has a solid track record of finding important contributors at the back of the draft, and he’ll have to be sharp again with several departed contributors from the title team.

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