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Rams GM Les Snead to Isolate for Rest of NFL Draft After COVID-19 Diagnosis

Blake SchusterSenior Analyst IIIApril 30, 2021

FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2020, file photo, Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead speaks during a news conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis. The Rams haven't made a first-round draft selection since picking Jared Goff back in 2016. They don't have a first-round pick in the upcoming draft, and they don't have a first-rounder next season, either. Even Snead acknowledges that his strategy of abandoning the top of the draft for a half-decade makes it slightly more difficult to patch the holes that constantly pop up on any NFL team's roster. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead will self-isolate after testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning, according to Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic

Jourdan Rodrigue @JourdanRodrigue

Snead has mild symptoms. He says he felt some aches and such last night and is still hoping for the best. “Definitely know there is a virus trying to attack the body...right now in a good spot.” Snead caught COVID in between vaccinations - days away from a second shot.

Snead, 50, told reporters he was set to receive his second dose of the vaccine in two days. Both he and head coach Sean McVay had a close contact with a Rams staffer who later tested positive and the GM is now experiencing mild symptoms. 

McVay tested negative for the virus. 

The general manager will remain isolated throughout the remainder of the draft while McVay is expected to return to the team's war room on Friday. 

Los Angeles did not make any selections on Thursday and isn't slated to pick until the end of Round 2 at No. 57 overall, followed by two more picks in Round 3. In the meantime, Snead said he plans to camp out in his garage, which he claimed he already converted into an office and jokingly mentioned adding a mattress.  

Snead has served as the Rams general manager since 2012 and recently landed quarterback Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions for Jared Goff, two first-round picks and a third-round pick. That'll make it seven consecutive years the Rams have not drafted in the first round. 

L.A. traded its firsts in 2020 and 2021 to the Jacksonville Jaguars for cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

The GM still expects to be wired into all the goings-on at the team's Malibu draft house. He just won't be there to help dictate the action in person.