Rams No. 1 pick could be in a no-win situation

Let's make the obvious presumption that the Los Angeles Rams didn't send six draft picks to the Tennessee Titans to move up to the No. 1 overall spot in this month's NFL Draft so they could pick offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil of Ole Miss.

Tunsil is a heck of a talent but this is a power move. This is a quarterback move.

This is a move for either Carson Wentz of North Dakota State or Jared Goff of Cal. There are conflicting reports on whom the Rams might take.

In broad strokes, scouts tend to claim Wentz has greater long-term potential but Goff isn't far behind and is more pro-ready.

For Wentz, whatever concerns existed about level of competition have mostly evaporated via scouting combine, pro day and game film performances. Goff, meanwhile, is the darling of many analytic-based models.

All that is certain is L.A. sent its first-round pick (15th overall), two second-rounders (43, 45) and a third-rounder (76), plus its first- and third-round pick in 2017 for Tennessee's first-rounder (1st overall), a fourth-rounder (113) and a sixth-rounder (177).

Let's get the Tennessee evaluation out of the way. This was a no-brainer, an absolute haul for the Titans and a full maximization of the No. 1 spot in a quarterback-desperate league.

The Titans believe they found their quarterback of the future, Marcus Mariota, last year. With the Cleveland Browns sitting at No. 2 and, as always, in need of their own QB, the Titans' pick had immense value. If a team wanted Wentz or Goff, it had to get ahead of Cleveland and that meant Tennessee was the only option.

Titans first-year general manager Jon Robinson now controls six of the top 76 spots this year, so he can load up on promising players or deal in any direction he sees fit. And that includes having two first-round selections next year.

"I refer to [picks] as currency," Robinson said Thursday morning. "It allows us to move up and down in the draft. It gives us options. … We want to have multiple options."

For the Rams, the relative brilliance of the trade can't be measured until we find out what kind of quarterback Wentz or Goff becomes. The Rams are a big analytics organization, part of the Kroenke Sports-wide family of franchises that value it. There is no doubt they believe whomever they pick has the physical and mental tools to be a star at the most important position on the field.

In this case, though, analytics aren't enough. What can't be accurately predicted (although personality and even brain tests may give a good clue) is how the player will handle everything off the field, namely the combination of an immense microscope and a broad, bright spotlight under which he finds himself.

It's one thing to slowly develop into an NFL star, or reliable starter, on a rebuilding team in a small market with reasonable expectations. For a Bismarck-born, Fargo-based quarterback such as Wentz, that might be preferable.

Forget that now.

Same can be said of Goff. Even though he played in major college football, the challenges of going to the NFL remain considerable and there is no track record that playing in a certain college conference suggests success or failure.

Wentz was actually a bigger fish in a smaller pond then Goff. Wentz won multiple national titles in a state with few other entertainment diversions. Goff played on a rebuilding college program that was a sidenote in the Bay Area.

Being a first-round pick brings enough expectations; being the No. 1 overall selections brings All-Pro, Super Bowl and Hall of Fame expectations. You go No. 1 overall and fans think Peyton Manning, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck. You go first overall, you are supposed to be a transforming talent.

Anything less, even if it's good – a Matthew Stafford in Detroit, for example – brings a measure of disappointment.

Plus, the Rams aren't being constructed from rubble. They went 7-9 last season in St. Louis with running back Todd Gurley earning offensive rookie of the year honors. Their defense, built via their own haul of draft picks acquired from Washington in exchange for the selection that became Robert Griffin III, is formidable. They lacked a QB though and were entering camp with Case Keenum as the front-runner for the starting spot.

No one was penciling them in for the Super Bowl, but just winning a few games like most No. 1 pick quarterbacks do as rookies isn't going to cut it.

That's what one of these guys will be walking into.

Then there is the fact the franchise traded six picks for you – it's actually six picks for three picks – but the later-round selections don't hold significant value and can be quickly forgotten by the public.

No matter how it's framed, the Rams delivered a bounty for their next quarterback. For No. 1 overall this year, they gave up five top-76 picks over the next two years. That's a lot of potential talent. The first-rounder next year looms large, too. If the rookie quarterback struggles in 2016, as could be reasonably expected, then Rams fans get to sit through the 2017 draft possibly regretting everything.

Moreover, the young quarterback doesn't get the benefit of all of those potential difference makers around him for years to come.

Again, more pressure. Then there is the unique circumstance of this being the Rams' first season in Los Angeles. There is a huge focus on the team – everything from HBO's "Hard Knocks" to what will quickly become the favored team of an "Access Hollywood-"inspired media. They aren't in Missouri anymore.

Either Wentz or Goff would immediately become the face of a franchise that will operate in a massive, suddenly football-focused market. There is a ton that goes into that, both good and bad. No city celebrates young stars like LA. And none eat them up like it either.

So, yes, even additional pressure on the additional pressure.

Is Carson Wentz up for all of that? Would it be better to take Jared Goff out of the Pac-12 under this situation?

Giving up this much to go get a quarterback would be a big, bold move for any franchise. For the Rams, in this moment, it's an absolute monster.