Los Angeles Rams 'fired up' after ending first-round pick drought with Jared Verse

Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead famously wore a shirt that said “(expletive) them picks” at the Super Bowl 56 victory parade following a string of trades that left them without a first-round pick since 2016. On Thursday night, the Rams ended their first-round pick drought.

The Rams picked Florida State defensive end Jared Verse with the No. 19 pick in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft, filling a big need at pass rusher. Prior to Thursday night, the Rams hadn’t had a first-round selection since they drafted quarterback Jared Goff at No. 1 overall eight years ago.

“He was one of our highest-rated guys in terms of intangibles,” Snead said of Verse. “We have something where the coaches and scouts can say, ‘Look, make this guy a Ram.’ And he was one of the probably top three players in terms of stamping, ‘We want this guy to be a Ram.’”

RAMS' 2024 DRAFT PICKS: Full list of team's round-by-round selections

Verse produced 41 tackles, 12.5 tackles for loss and a team-high nine sacks for Florida State last year. He was a first-team All-ACC selection.

“The way he plays the game from the first snap to the last snap of the game. He wears people down. He’s physical (and) he’s violent. His football character shows up on the tape,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “And when you hear about the way he’s wired, the way he interacts with his teammates, those are all things that we’re looking for and those are the types of people that we want to be Rams. He certainly checks a lot of those boxes.”

The Rams entered this year's draft with 11 total picks, which was tied with the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers for an NFL-high.

The Rams were expected to draft a defensive player in the first round after the retirement of three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald, one of the most decorated players in franchise history.

Verse is the first Rams defensive player picked in the first round since the club selected Donald in 2012 when the franchise was based in St. Louis. The Florida State product won’t be asked to fill the massive pass-rushing void left by Donald, but he should provide the Rams with some much-needed juice off the edge.

“To address an outside edge rusher that can affect and influence the game. We’re never gonna ask anybody to replace Aaron (Donald). But you do want to continue to build the front (and) continue to be able to do those types of things, and Jared represented the opportunity to do that,” McVay said. “To be able to get a player of his caliber was really encouraging and everybody was fired up about that.”

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Los Angeles Rams end NFL draft first-round drought, pick Jared Verse