The Super Bowl is a clash of two transfer strategies. While the Los Angeles Rams rely on trades for top-class performers, the Cincinnati Bengals exercise patience and trust mainly young talents from the draft.

Los Angeles/Munich – Every Super Bowl is known for special stories that determine the lead-up to the game.

Last year, it was the battle between veteran star Tom Brady, who found a new team after 20 years in New England, and Patrick Mahomes, who entered the final game of the NFL season as the defending champions with the Kansas City Chiefs.

This year is no different.

On February 13, the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams will also face off against two philosophies that could have a lasting impact on what happens in the biggest sports league in the world.

Odell Beckham Jr. and Von Miller suddenly in Super Bowl

Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. couldn’t hide their grins after the NFC Championship Game. “It’s just surreal, I’ve known him for so long,” Miller exulted as he put his arm around the star wide receiver.

“Everything went bad,” Beckham added when asked about his time with the Cleveland Browns. “I was getting calls every day from Von and Jalen (Ramsey, ed.), ‘Man, come on, come here.'”

Joyous appearance by @VonMiller and @obj pic.twitter.com/Zj6nLN56JJ

– Lance Pugmire (@pugboxing) January 31, 2022

“It’s a really fantastic moment to be standing here with my brother Von. We talked about it so many times but never thought it would really work out. And now we’re standing here.”

The two stars’ statements perfectly mirror Rams general manager Les Snead’s approach. For years, the Los Angeles team has pursued an aggressive strategy to be successful as quickly as possible. And successful means winning the Super Bowl.

Los Angeles Rams: A Team for Hollywood

Miller and Beckham, who both started their seasons with other clubs, are just two examples of this strategy that has now catapulted the Rams into the biggest game in American football for the second time in four years.

Great and, above all, established stars adorn the Rams’ roster year after year. Instead of selecting young, talented players in the draft, Los Angeles has been diligently trading picks for high-profile players since 2016. A team full of stars, as only the streets of Hollywood usually are.

A year ago, for example, two first-round picks, a third-round pick and quarterback Jared Goff went to the Detroit Lions, who in return sent playmaker Matthew Stafford to California.

Snead also gave up two first-round picks for star cornerback Jalen Ramsey, with another first-round pick going to New England for wide receiver Brandin Cooks before the 2018 draft.

Les Snead: “Long-term ideas” at the forefront

“To me, scenarios like this are just special opportunities,” Snead explained on “The Herd” show in November. “When you decide to make a move like that, there’s always a short-term idea and a long-term idea behind it.”

He added that it was “not just about 2021. When we decided to bring Matt Stafford in, it wasn’t just about 2021, it was about 2022, 2023 and the years after that. “

After trading their first-round pick to Detroit for Matthew Stafford, and their second- and third-round picks to Denver for Von Miller, the Rams still scheduled to have 8 picks in 2022 draft.

Rams last first-round pick was Jared Goff in 2016, their next scheduled 1 is in 2024.

– Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 7, 2021

The constant trades, however, also show that Snead’s plans don’t always work out. Goff and Cooks lost in the Super Bowl with the Rams in 2019, meanwhile playing in Detroit and Houston.

When the Rams do strike in the draft, however, they have usually hit the mark in recent years as well. Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp and Taylor Rapp are three prominent examples.

Cincinnati Bengals: Talent from their own ranks

Meanwhile, comparatively sedate Cincinnati is pursuing a quieter and more natural path to success.

The many years in the bottom third of the NFL are paying off with the Bengals’ third Super Bowl appearance, because bad seasons mean a high pick in the following draft and thus the best chances for young talent.

The AFC champions’ offence in particular is brimming with former college stars: quarterback Joe Burrow is currently taking the NFL by storm, coming to Cincinnati in 2020 as the number-one pick and Heisman Trophy winner.

Receiver Tee Higgins followed a round later, with star rookie Ja’Marr Chase drafted fifth last year. Running back Joe Mixon (2nd round 2017) and tight end C.J. Uzomah (5th round 2015) are also “homegrowns. “

Even kicker Evan McPherson, the youngest hero in a Bengals jersey, fell into the team’s lap in the fifth round of last year’s draft.

You can’t do it without free agents

The defence also features a number of players who came to the Bengals via the draft: Pass rusher Sam Hubbard (3rd round 2018) and safeties Jessie Bates (2nd round 2018) and Vonn Bell (2nd round, 2016) are key pillars of the defense.

RING THAT BELL!

Watch on CBS pic.twitter.com/dDZVDGwW3i

– Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 30, 2022

“We’re just a special team that’s capable of doing special things,” Head Coach Zac Taylor summed up happily after the AFC Championship Game. “We believed in it from the beginning, even when people didn’t believe in us.”

Cincinnati can’t do without outside help, though: star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson moved to Cincinnati as a free agent, as did pass defenders Chidobe Awuzie and Eli Apple. All three were key contributors in the Championship Game against Kansas City.

Cincinnati Bengals: Rapid success surprises even Burrow

It is a moderate and, above all, traditional path that the Bengals are currently taking. The franchise, which is not otherwise one of the most glamorous in the NFL, prefers to raise its own stars instead of relying on trades.

This strategy brought Cincinnati many years of success, even if “homegrowns” like Carson Palmer, Andy Dalton, Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson and A.J. Green never came close to a Super Bowl.

Still, the quick success surprises most; after all, the Bengals were the worst team in the league two years ago. “I think if they would have told me on draft night that I would be here in two years, I would have been shocked,” Burrow admits.

Super Bowl LVI: 60 minutes will decide

So the conditions ahead of Super Bowl LVI could hardly be more different.

A young surprise team with nothing to lose meets a star team for whom the Super Bowl is without alternative.

They are two philosophies that could hardly be more different. One thing, however, is true for both sides: In the end, 60 minutes (maybe even more) on a football field will decide the winner – no matter who has how many stars in their ranks.