Los Angeles Rams GM Les Snead Offers AFL Draft Strategy: ‘Tear It Down’ to Avoid ‘no Man’s Land’
Los Angeles Rams General Manager Les Snead has advised Australian Football League (AFL) clubs facing strategic crossroads to embrace a full rebuild rather than lingering in a state he terms “no man’s land”-neither actively rebuilding nor contending. Snead’s insights, gleaned from the Rams’ own Super Bowl-winning formula, center on aggressive roster turnover through trades to capitalize on a window of opportunity when key players are in their prime.
The advice comes as several AFL teams, including Melbourne and Carlton, navigate uncertain futures, having recently traded star players like Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver, and Charlie curnow, alongside the departure of Tom De Koning as a free agent. Snead’s philosophy challenges the conventional approach of incremental “building,” advocating rather for a decisive shift toward acquiring premium draft picks and strategically rebuilding through the draft when a team isn’t immediately competitive.
Snead explained that the Rams’ 2022 super Bowl victory was built on a foundation of players in their prime,acquired through trades utilizing high draft picks. “In the year we won the Super Bowl… we had a lot of players in their prime,” he said. “So we used like some of our premium draft picks to make trades, to bring in other players in their prime. That might not be the strategy if you’re not there yet.” He specifically cited the acquisition of quarterback Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions as an example of this approach, adding a prime player to an already competitive core.
He further elaborated on the pitfalls of remaining in “no man’s land,” defining it as a situation requiring a complete overhaul. “No man to me is you’ve got to tear it down first.Which is, ‘oh wow, we have to tear this thing down over two seasons.’ That ought to be fun and I’m sure the fans are going to have trust in us, right?” Snead advocates for a swift and decisive “remodelling” of the roster, notably for teams with aging players, rather than attempting a prolonged, uncertain rebuild.
