Los Angeles moved down four spots in the fifth round on May…

The trade took place on May 1, 2021 during the fifth round of the NFL draft. The Rams' official announcement says Los Angeles sent pick No. 170 to Houston for pick No. 174 and pick No. 233. The NFL draft trade tracker records the same exchange. Houston used No. 170 on TCU linebacker Garret Wallow, while Los Angeles selected Northwestern defensive lineman Earnest Brown IV at No. 174 and Maryland running back Jake Funk at No. 233. The legacy row had the correct structure and date, but the generic Even Trade treatment did not account for how little direct NFL value the two Rams selections ultimately produced compared with Wallow's longer Texans tenure.

Wallow became a useful depth linebacker and special-teams player rather than a full-time starter. Current NFL career records show 17 games with two starts for Houston in 2021, 13 games with three starts in 2022 and two final Texans appearances in 2023. Across those 32 Houston games he recorded 36 combined tackles, one sack and one pass defended. He was later waived in 2023 and continued his career with Tennessee, Denver and San Francisco, but those later stops are not part of Houston's return. For a fifth-round trade-up, three seasons of active-roster and special-teams availability represented a modest but tangible result.

Brown supplied a smaller contribution for Los Angeles. The Rams kept him on the practice squad throughout the 2021 Super Bowl season, then he appeared in five games with three starts in 2022 and seven games without a start in 2023. Rams and Pro Football Reference records credit him with 14 combined tackles across those 12 appearances. Los Angeles released him in January 2024, and his later time with Tampa Bay and Dallas is excluded from this trade evaluation.

Funk also functioned mainly as depth and special-teams insurance. NFL records show 10 Rams games in 2021 and five more in 2022. He carried the ball twice for five yards during that 15-game Los Angeles tenure and did not record a reception for the club. The Rams waived him during the 2022 season, after which he continued elsewhere. Because his offensive role was minimal, No. 233 added roster utility but little measurable football value to the Rams' side of the deal.

This is a narrow Houston win rather than a major draft success. Wallow's 32 games and five starts gave the Texans a longer direct contribution than Brown and Funk provided individually or in high-impact terms, even though the Rams did receive two players and meaningful special-teams depth. A B- for Houston and C+ for Los Angeles reflects that modest separation. Neither side found a long-term starter, so the grade gap stays small and no later non-team career production is used to inflate the outcome.