PALM BEACH, Fla. – Les Snead is never one to take sole credit for the success of the Rams' player personnel staff, so it's understandable that humility, shock and hesitancy naturally kicked in upon being told he is the winningest general manager in franchise history, and asked what the distinction means.
"How am I supposed to answer that?" Snead told theRams.com.
Entering his 14th season overseeing the Rams' personnel decisions, Snead has contributed to a combined 119 wins across the regular season and playoffs in his tenure, making him the winningest GM in franchise history. The Rams have had 17 general managers in their history; Snead was the 17th when hired. He has accumulated an overall regular season record of 111-100-1 through his 13 years on the job.
"I call it fortunate, because it would take longevity to earn that," Snead continued. "So that would be the (thing), right, fortunate, because you can try your best, you can be somewhat good, you can provide an edge, but boy, there's so many bounces of the ball that had to go your way. And then the other part would be, being fortunate to be around a lot of good people to help it, help you get to this point as an individual.
"Football is not a one-person show. At all."
Early years
When Snead initially got the job, one of the first things he remembered was Vice President of Communications Artis Twyman asking him to wear a tie for his introductory press conference.
"That's the last time I've worn a tie at a press conference," Snead said.
"I remember just being probably jacked about, okay, this is like a dream come true, and can you do your part in helping bring an organization together to be as collaboratively competent as possible. And I say that in a way of, in all the sports I've ever played, whether it was even tennis, I enjoyed doubles over singles. So for some reason, how I'm wired, doing hard things with other people has always been more fulfilling to me personally."
At the time, the Rams had also hired Jeff Fisher as their head coach, and Snead was inheriting a roster coming off a 2-14 record in 2011. Moreover, that roster had endured one of the most challenging stretches in league history with a 15-65 overall record from 2007-2011, worst-ever by an NFL team during a five-year period.
Still, it was the realization of a dream job for someone who began his career spending nearly 15 years in various scouting roles. He began his NFL scouting career as a pro scout with the Jaguars from 1995-97 before moving on to the Falcons in 1998, kicking off a 13-year tenure that included serving as director of player personnel from 2009-11, a pro scout and the team's director of pro personnel.
The early years of Snead's Rams tenure included some aggressive moves. Snead orchestrated a trade sending the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 draft to Washington in exchange for the sixth and 39th picks that year, plus Washington's first-round picks in 2013 and 2014. In April of 2012, he made two more trades that gave the Rams the ability to make four selections in the Top 50 in the 2012 draft. He later used the surplus of picks to trade up from No. 16 to No. 8 in the 2013 draft and take wide receiver Tavon Austin.
Snead's first-ever draft pick as general manager of the Rams was LSU defensive tackle Michael Brockers, who went on to spend the first nine years of his NFL career with the franchise and become a veteran leader on defense and within the locker room. That first draft class also included a sixth-round pick named Greg Zuerlein, who stabilized the kicker position for the next seven seasons.
Defensive lineman Aaron Donald came along with the 13th pick in the 2014 draft, then running back Todd Gurley (10th overall) and offensive lineman Rob Havenstein (57th) in 2015, then quarterback Jared Goff (first) and Tyler Higbee (110th) in 2016, then wide receiver Cooper Kupp (69th) and safety John Johnson (91st) in 2017. From 2012-2017, Snead made 52 selections in the draft, with five earning All-Pro honors, the most in the league during this timeframe.
"(What) you remember most is, we weren't having as much success, so you were picking earlier," Snead said. "And we also had made some trades, so you had some years (where) we had multiple picks in those early portions of the first, second and third round, and so that's what you remember most. And then when you get to this point, you're like, wow, I wish I would have, from an individual standpoint, had this much experience then and now, because like, oh yeah, you were just a rookie learning how to shoot then."
The Rams parted ways with Fisher after the 2016 season, then hired a 30-year-old head coach who would team up with Snead.
Partnering up with McVay
Sean McVay saw the game through a similar lens as Snead, and McVay's ability to understand both sides of the ball – even as an offensive-minded coach – was instrumental in helping Snead assemble the roster.
"At that point in time, right, Sean was definitely a part of a new iteration of coaches in the NFL," Snead said. "Some that were very good at calling plays, and then when they got the head coaching job, they were still coming to call plays. And so with Sean being on the offensive side of the ball, he's very in tune with offense, but he's also very in tune with the league's defenses. It was very, very impactful to work with someone to construct a team, to engineer a team, to build it, to weigh which positions matter and why on both sides of the ball, because he was knee-deep in the weeds trying to get a first down, trying to get a touchdown. ... There was a lot of chemistry and compatibility as we started that journey, because he was very clear and concise on the why. And that was definitely fun to go through that."
Year 1 of the partnership produced immediate results. The Rams reached the playoffs for the first time since 2004 and clinched the NFC West for the first time since 2003, going 11-5 before falling to the Falcons in the wild card round.
The team followed that with a playoff appearance in the 2018 season, narrowly missed the playoffs in 2019, returned to the postseason in 2020 before breaking through in 2021 with the franchise's first Super Bowl title in Los Angeles – and doing it in their own stadium.
"That window, that phase, getting there (to the Super Bowl), losing, eventually getting back, winning, I think really, probably early in the interview process, you realize, okay, Sean's a difference-maker," Snead said. "And then once we got on the grass, before we started keeping score – OTAs, training camp, scrimmages – you remember, 'Wow, he's a difference-maker. He's inspiring the team to go execute those differences.' So it was one of those moments, like, wow, it would be nice to take advantage of this, and to actually take advantage of it (was) very, very fulfilling, to climb that mountain. I remember Kara, my wife, saying that the best thing that ever happened to us was losing the first Super Bowl. I still dissent that, (but) what I can say is by losing that one, the one we did win, really tasted well, smelled really good, probably based on the stench of losing one."
One of the hallmarks of the McVay-Snead era has been roster flexibility and agility, whether it was the 'F Them Picks' era of trading first-round picks for proven talent – headlined by acquisitions of Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford and Von Miller; Odell Beckham Jr. was signed late in the 2021 season – or the post-2022 season "remodel" to get their salary cap back to a better place,
Snead said the swapping first-round picks for proven talent chapter stemmed from having several players in their prime, and the Rams picking later in the draft given how consistently that group was winning a lot of games.
"So there was the thought of, okay, in this window as we try to reach the peak, would it be better to use those picks to add another player that's in his prime, to add to this group in their prime and let them go for it," Snead said. "And that's what we did and it worked."
It's hard for Snead to pick a favorite draft pick or class, but for him, what stands out is the human element of helping those players achieve their NFL dreams.
"Always look back on it, and you always appreciate, wow, that's a young kid that dreamed about playing pro football, and now he's getting his shot," Snead said.
Looking to the future
Snead and McVay currently enter the 2025 season tied with the Chiefs' Andy Reid and Brett Veach, the Bills' Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane, and the 49ers' Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch for the longest-tenured active head coach-general manager partnership in the NFL. This will be their ninth year working together.
Under Snead's guidance, the Rams have recorded seven winning seasons, reaching the playoffs six of the last eight seasons with two Super Bowl appearances and one Super Bowl title. He has orchestrated 51 trades, which ranks in the top half of the league since 2012. The Rams have selected 106 players in the NFL Draft under Snead, with seven receiving All-Pro honors. In addition to Ramsey, the franchise has also acquired All-Pro players such as linebacker Bobby Wagner and offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth. Credit is also due for the college free agent process – notable undrafted additions include punter Johnny Hekker, long snapper Jake McQuaide, linebacker Cory Littleton, offensive lineman Coleman Shelton, offensive lineman Alaric Jackson and safety Jaylen McCollough.
Over the last two years, the Rams have drafted players who have won NFL Rookie of the Year Awards (Jared Verse, Defensive) or finished as finalists (Puka Nacua, Offensive; Kobie Turner, defensive; Braden Fiske, Defensive).
Though the personnel staff experienced a couple departures this offseason in James Gladstone and Jake Temme, overall the player personnel staff will go into Snead's 14th season with 15 members who have been on it for at least eight years, including seven who have been with Snead since the beginning of his tenure in 2012.
"Goes back to how we started this conversation, fortunate to have longevity and continuity," Snead said. "So with that comes a lot of history, a lot of mistakes, lessons learned, and a lot of ops to apply it. And then a lot of opportunity to go, wait a minute, we've been in this long, can we actually see what might be around the corner that others who are just starting this journey can't, because they're in a different phase and have less history. So that's where we're at."
