Draft implications in Thursday nighter … It probably wasn’t at all what the NFL schedule makers were thinking when Las Vegas was drawn to play the defending Super Bowl champion Rams in this week’s Thursday night game in what was expected to be a battle between two contending teams with serious playoff aspirations. The Raiders do still have some slim playoff hopes, but for the most part this game is about draft positioning. Indeed, if the Rams were to lose tonight they would drop to 3-10 and, at least for a few days, Detroit which owns the Rams 1st pick in this year’s draft as a result of the Matt Stafford trade, would be sitting on the 2nd pick overall after Houston. And it will be tough for the Rams who could be forced to start Baker Mayfield, who just claimed off waivers a couple of days ago, at QB with incumbent starter Matt Stafford out for the year and John Wolford, his back-up, ailing. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Rams will also be without all-World DT Aaron Donald who is out with an ankle sprain and star WR Cooper Kupp. Otherwise, the embattled Rams appear to be good to go.
