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The Los Angeles Rams have a reputation for finding overlooked gems in the NFL Draft, and general manager Les Snead and coach Sean McVay may have struck gold again with offensive tackle Keagen Trost, a third-round pick out of Missouri.
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The 25-year-old recently landed on The Athletic’s list of 15 ‘Future Hits,’ young players scouts and team executives around the league expect to have a long-term impact, a sign the pick is already turning heads.
A mid-round steal: evaluators praise newest lineman
“Big, strong and powerful,” an AFC Scout said. “Another mid-round offensive lineman that L.A. will maximize.”
“Proved (his) power is real and is calm, balanced and poised,” an NFC executive added.
The outside praise lines up with what drew the Rams to Trost in the first place: his flexibility along the offensive front and the experience he built up at Morgan State, Indiana State, Wake Forest and Missouri, where he finished 2025 with a Pro Football Focus grade of 92.0, the highest among offensive linemen in the country.
At 6-foot-4 and 311 pounds, the lineman is a jack-of-all trades who can pass-block at an elite level and pave the way in the run game, a combination that could prove useful in protecting quarterback Matthew Stafford and clearing lines for Kyren Williams and Blake Corum.
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What sets him apart further is his ability to line up at left or right tackle, and guard when needed, the kind of positional range McVay prizes in his linemen. Trost checks every box heading into his first season in Los Angeles.
That upside will have to wait, however. Trost is on injured reserve and will miss the first four games while recovering from a preseason hamstring injury. When he returns, he’s expected to back up starter Warren McClendon, though with McClendon set to hit free agency after the season, Trost could find himself starting sooner than expected.
Sean McVay explains the appeal
McVay has already made clear why that flexibility matters to him.
“Especially if you’re not a guy that’s coming in as a plug and play starter, especially on the offensive line and you end up being the third or the fourth tackle, you gotta be able to play the right or the left,” McVay said.
“For us with him, he’s fortunate enough that he can swing inside, he could really play center if he had to. That value is incredibly versatile when you’re typically going with eight offensive linemen on game day.”
That adaptability and potential leads to one question: Could the Rams have found their next Rob Havenstein?
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This story was originally published September 8, 2026 at 11:04 PM.