Rams say they won't reveal top pick decision before draft

The Los Angeles Rams now own the first pick of the NFL draft. No other team can affect what they do with the pick, of course, so there's no reason for a smokescreen now.

Yet, the Rams won't say what their plan is for the first pick, which they acquired Thursday in a trade with the Tennessee Titans.

"We do have a few players in mind," Rams general manager Les Snead said with a grin during Thursday's news conference.

"We’ve been doing this a long time and I can never, ever remember coming out two weeks before the draft and saying, ‘This is the guy we’re taking,'" Rams coach Jeff Fisher said.

"There will be suspense leading all the way up to [the draft]," Snead said. "It’ll be good for the networks."

"You guys would have nothing to do for the next two weeks if we told you now," Fisher said.

The pick will be a quarterback, unless Fisher and Snead were really throwing everyone off. They openly discussed Carson Wentz and Jared Goff, the top two quarterbacks in the draft, and how they had workouts with them more than a month ago.

Beyond that, the Rams didn't give any clues on which quarterback they'll take. Nobody seems to know for sure. Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times said the Rams were leaning toward Wentz but Goff was still in the mix. Adam Schefter of ESPN said the Rams were leaning toward Goff. So it might be a crazy couple weeks coming up with everyone trying to nail down who the pick is. And Bruce Tollner is the agent for both Wentz and Goff, so the news might not come from an agent either, as is often the case.

Is it possible the Rams don't have their minds made up? While Snead said "there's a lot of hay in the barn" when it comes to the pick, the Rams coach and GM didn't say they've settled on a guy (and obviously didn't say who it was). It's possible the Rams knew both quarterbacks were worthy of the top pick, grabbed the top pick now before someone trumped their offer, and will figure out their preference before the draft. Most likely, the Rams know who they want and have reasons for not saying who it is. Perhaps they will entice the Cleveland Browns to swap picks from No. 2 to No. 1 in a trade, though that wouldn't happen if the Rams prefer Wentz over Goff or vice versa. Perhaps the secrecy is to keep their options open in case of an unforeseen last-minute development with Wentz or Goff, like a freak injury. Maybe it's just typical football paranoia.

Either way, even if the Rams were certain who their top pick will be, they weren't saying on Thursday. We'll see if they can keep it a secret until they're on the clock.