INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Although the Los Angeles Rams are squarely in a window for championship contention, they were focused primarily on the long-term future at this NFL draft.
Starting with their shocking decision to use the 13th overall pick on Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson — who won't play important snaps this season unless things have gone very wrong — the Rams clearly demonstrated they believe they can win it all with the players currently under contract.
Los Angeles made only five selections in the smallest draft class in this franchise's 80-year history, and every selection was a player who won't be expected to contribute much in 2026. That was by design, according to assistant general manager John McKay.
“Where we’re at now, especially in Day 3, you’re saying, ‘What is our vision for this guy? How is he going to make our team?’” McKay said Saturday. “Because it’s not going to be an easy team to make this offseason. For us, having a fewer number of picks and (choosing) guys we really believe in was a good thing for us.”
What’s more, the Rams have some big decisions to make soon. Players who will be up for second contracts within the next calendar year include Puka Nacua, Byron Young, Kobie Turner, Steve Avila, Jared Verse, Braden Fiske and several other regulars.
“When you look at our free agents coming up after this upcoming season, that was something we really wanted to be able to plan for, because it's a high number of guys,” McKay said. “A high number of high-level contributors. We were fortunate our roster is in a place where we don't have a ton of glaring needs. We were able to take guys that we really felt confident in being contributors right away, but also being starters three or four years down the line, whatever it may be.”
The Rams used their second-round pick on tight end Max Klare, who plays perhaps LA's deepest position, and they used their third-round pick on Missouri's Keagen Trost, who might compete for the right tackle job.
Los Angeles then traded three late picks to move up 10 spots Saturday to grab Miami receiver CJ Daniels in the sixth round before using its last seventh-round pick on Alabama defensive tackle Tim Keenan III, a potential depth piece.
The selection of Daniels seemed important for a team that doesn't have a proven No. 3 wide receiver behind Nacua and Davante Adams. But the front office clearly wasn't terribly worried about the position, since it waited until the end of the sixth round — and to be fair, this scouting operation has found a couple of elite receivers in the third round (Cooper Kupp) and the fifth (Nacua).
But the Rams have been closely following Daniels for at least a year, according to director of scouting Nicole Blake. When Daniels slipped to the sixth round, the Rams felt they had to go up to get a player who largely fits their preferred profile for receivers.
“You didn't think we would leave the draft without a receiver, did you?” Blake said with a grin.
The Rams' first pick after Simpson was another surprise: Ohio State's Klare, chosen late in the second round Friday.
That's because Los Angeles already had five tight ends on its roster, including four who played extensively last season while Sean McVay employed plenty of three-tight-end sets. The Rams even drafted tight end Terrance Ferguson in the second round last spring.
The 6-foot-4 Klare started his college career at Purdue. His athleticism and separation skills essentially made him a hybrid wide receiver at times, and that could be the way McVay envisions his use.
“There’s nothing better than 13 personnel," Klare said, referring to offensive schemes employing one running back and three tight ends. “You always see those clips pop up, and it’s always fun to watch the guys get after it together, so I’m pumped up to be a part of that.”
The Rams finally addressed a position of need when they picked the well-traveled Trost. He was a right tackle at Missouri, but also played left tackle during his three previous stops during seven seasons of college ball.
Trost, who is older than Nacua and several Rams veterans, could compete with Warren McClendon at right tackle, or he could be a backup swing tackle along with David Quessenberry.
“(Trost) could really play center if he had to,” McVay said. “Fortunately we’ve got some depth at that spot, but that value is incredibly versatile when you’re typically going with eight offensive linemen up on game day.”
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Ty Simpson, selected in the first round of the NFL football draft by the Los Angeles Rams, poses with family members during a press conference on Friday, April 24, 2026, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)
President Donald Trump and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after an unspecified threat. There did not immediately appear to be any injuries.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Donald Trump's attendance at Saturday's annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington for his first time as president is putting his administration's often-contentious relationship with the press on full public display.
Trump arrived Saturday night to an event where the leaders of a nation at war mingled with celebrities, journalists and even a puppet — Triumph the Insult Comic Dog — in a dinner that typically generates debate about whether the relationship between journalists and their sources should include socializing together and putting aside sometimes adversarial relationships.
Trump was being watched closely at the event held by the organization of reporters who cover him and his administration. Past presidents who have attended have generally spoken about the importance of free speech and the First Amendment, adding in some light roasts about individual journalists.
The Republican president did not attend during his first term or the first year of his second. He came as a guest in 2011, sitting in the audience as President Barack Obama, a Democrat, made some jokes about the New York real estate developer. Trump also attended as a private citizen in 2015.
Trump entered the subterranean banquet hall of the Washington Hilton to the strains of “Hail to the Chief” and greeted prominent journalists on the dais, also pausing to laud White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a cheerful pointing of his finger.
Past dinners have also featured comedians who poke at presidents. This year, the group opted to hire mentalist Oz Pearlman as the featured entertainment.
Trump’s appearance is rekindling a longer running debate about the dinner and events like it — in particular, whether it is poor form for journalists to be seen socializing with the people they cover. The New York Times, for example, stopped attending the dinner more than a decade ago for that reason.
“What was once (a fairly long time ago) a well-intended night of fundraising and camaraderie among professional adversaries is now simply a bad look,” wrote Kelly McBride, ethics expert at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank.
Between berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like the Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press in court and restricting press access to the Pentagon, the administration’s animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Trump’s second term.
On the eve of the dinner, nearly 500 retired journalists signed a petition calling on the association "to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”
The WHCA president, CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang, said the organization was fighting for all different forms of the press that have a line in to the American people. “I don't think people realize how closely we are working with the White House,” she said on CSPAN before the dinner convened. “The relationship is important. It can be complicated. It can be intense. But it is robust.”
Welcoming guests, Jiang alluded to the contentious relationship in thanking Leavitt “for everything your team does to work with us every day, whether you like it or not.”
Veteran reporter Manu Raju of CNN, as he entered the Washington Hilton for the dinner, said it was not his role to express his opinion on Trump's relationship with the press. “I'm not an activist,” he said. “My job is not to protest.”
A few dozen protesters stood across the hotel in the runup to the event. One was dressed in a prison uniform, wearing a Pete Hegseth mask and red gloves. Another carried a sign saying “Journalism is dead.”
Many reporters who attend consider it a valuable opportunity to get story ideas and establish personal connections with those in government, one that may pay dividends with returned telephone calls in the future.
Journalists often invite sources as guests at the dinner. It will be noticed Saturday whether administration officials who have also expressed hostility to the press will attend, and with whom they will be sitting. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was invited by the New York Post; Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were NBC guests.
The Associated Press invited a former Trump official that it sued last year. Taylor Budowich, a former White House deputy chief of staff who crafted communications policy, was a named defendant last year when the AP sued the administration after it reduced its access to the president because the news outlet did not follow Trump's lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
“We maintain professional relationships with people across the political spectrum because we are nonpartisan by design — focused on reporting the facts in the public's interest,” AP spokesman Patrick Maks said.
The White House correspondents will also hand out awards for exemplary reporting. That includes some stories that displeased Trump, such as one from the Journal about a birthday message Trump once sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The story led to a presidential lawsuit.
AP journalists Collin Binkley and Sagar Meghani in Washington contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Cheryl Hines pose for photographers at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump arrives to the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin speaks to the media after being removed from the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
People are seen outside of the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives at the White House Correspondents Dinner at the Washington Hilton, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
A woman is escorted from the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach Fla., Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
