Rams senior personnel executive Taylor Morton has worked with general manager Les Snead for a quarter of a century, dating back to their time in Atlanta. Snead has always allowed his scouts to operate with their own personal touch, and Morton's has been consistent for a long time.

"I think everybody kind of has their own style as an evaluator, and it's kind of like being an artist and painting your own picture," Morton said.

Morton employs an "old school" approach to scout every college draft prospect, with a specialty in offensive linemen. He's employed those tactics to evaluate recent successes like Steve Avila and Beaux Limmer. Moving forward, Morton is adding deputy chief of college scouting staff to his title.

Responsibilities

Morton served as an area scout with the Falcons for 12 years while Snead started as a pro scout before being promoted to director of player personnel in 2009. When Snead took the Rams' general manager job in 2012, he took Morton with him, and the two have continued building a strong front office culture over the past 13 years.

Morton started in St. Louis as the college scouting director and then became director of player personnel in 2013 before transitioning to his current role as senior personnel executive, also known as over-the-top (OTT) scout. His new role as deputy chief of college scouting staff hasn't been specifically defined yet, but Morton has experience in leadership roles.

For the past several years, Morton has been charged with visiting schools in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, South Carolina and Georgia in August and September, gathering sources and watching practice. As a southeast area scout for most of his time in Atlanta, Morton established reliable relationships with a variety of sources at programs in the area.

Character and the film evaluations are the crux of his prospect assessments. He doesn't rely much on analytics, believing it's a piece of the puzzle but separates it from his film grades. This is where Morton's "old school" approach comes out.

There are sources he's known for 20-plus years who aren't merely business relationships, but personal ones. Morton said he will spend time catching up and talking about their families before moving on to players. Building those relationships is paramount for him, and signifies his style as an evaluator.

"I like to talk to as many people as I can at the school," Morton said. "Even though I feel like I know a lot of people, I try to meet as many new people as I can on a visit… Every time a scout goes into a school to visit, you should try to at least meet one new person that you don't know… That's what I would say my style would be."

Morton doesn't only talk to coaches and staff members – he'll get to know equipment managers, athletic trainers and even janitors. They are people with significant information and no agenda who will "give you great information."

"We're in a people business, and that's the person in personnel," Morton said. "... We rely on gathering the information and the background on the players. So the more people that you can meet on a school visit and the more people you get to know at these schools, the better, and the better information you'll get."

Once the season starts in September, Morton watches film on every player for the upcoming draft, similar to Brian Xanders. Everyone who holds the senior personnel executive title watches 15-20 players at each position and then discusses their findings in a weekly meeting with Snead and the staff. The grades for the universal "critical factors" as well as the positional ones are put into JAARS, the Rams' data aggregation program.

Then, they watch add-ons from the All-Star games and combine as well as individual cross-check positions, which are different for each OTT scout. Morton handles the entire offensive line, which gives him plenty of prospects to watch from January through March.

When scouting offensive linemen, Morton hones in on football instincts, which he said is the "hardest trait to gauge."

"I think the athleticism jumps out pretty quickly on a player, speed jumps out pretty quickly on a player, as well as their play strength," Morton said. "But I think looking for the intricacies… is very important for us in terms of how they play the position. And it's really an innate feel of playing the offensive line position."

Distinguishing whether actions stem from purposeful instinct or schematic comfort involves extensive film study and sourcing to understand how a player operates.

"That's why we have different cross-check positions," Morton said. "And Les wants a lot of different opinions on the player grade-wise… We don't want to just be one voice."

Still, the best evaluations come when everyone feels similarly about a player, especially in the later rounds. That's when lightning strikes, as it so often has for the Rams in recent years.

Successful Evaluations: Limmer and Avila

Avila was drafted as part of an overhauled rushing attack after a disastrous 2022 season. Los Angeles switched from a zone run scheme into a more diverse system, and that required a bigger and more versatile offensive line.

Listed at 332 pounds coming out of TCU, Avila was one of the bigger guards in the class, but still possessed enough agility to excel in various run concepts. Avila told The Athletic last year that one of the first things head coach Sean McVay told him when he entered the building was that they were changing the identity of their run game, and he helped them do it.

Learning and executing a vast play book requires dedication, a love for the game and specific physical tools geared toward the scheme. Avila had all of that.

"The high character that he brings to the table was definitely going to be a fit for us (and) what we're looking for. He's a good person," Morton said. "And then we were looking to get bigger and stronger on the offensive line, and he definitely brings an element of power to his game."

Avila's play strength was obvious from the film, and his character evaluation showed Morton and others the authentic joy and passion that Rams fans have come to love from Avila. That reassured them he'd have the mental and physical makeup to excel for the Rams, both on the field and in the locker room.

"We can watch them play on tape and grade all those physical traits, but what we're really trying to figure out is the human being, and their passion for the game of football," Morton said, "and that takes work."

Having started all 30 games he's played in over the past two seasons, including playoffs, Avila's impact has been sizable in his short time in the pros.

In 2024, Limmer was the Rams' most recent draft steal. After being picked in the sixth round (217th overall), he ascended into Los Angeles' starting lineup by midseason due to injuries. Limmer ended up taking the starting center job from lucrative free agent signing Jonah Jackson, who the team recently traded.

Coming out of Arkansas, Morton said sources described Limmer as dedicated and durable. He played at least 715 snaps in three-straight college seasons, including a few at guard, in an extremely tough SEC. Everything from Limmer having dinner with his parents at the Senior Bowl to encouraging conversations with his college coach raised green flags for the Razorbacks' center.

Something else that stood out was Limmer's "extreme strength," on tape and in his genes, as his father was a powerlifter. His football character was "off the charts," according to sources, so Morton knew Limmer had the mental and physical makeup to become a successful Ram.

Young interior offensive linemen often require time to adjust to the speed and strength of professional pass rushers, but Limmer's evaluation made Morton feel "good about his ability to come in and be ready to play quickly," even as a late-round pick. That materialized even quicker than Morton had expected.

"Just being able to see him come in and win a spot on the 53-man roster as a late round draft choice, I think that's the most gratified you are as a scout," Morton said.