If I were the Rams GM v2.0 / Three Round Mock Draft
With the Combine over, Pro Days in full swing and the major excitement of Free Agency finished it seems about the right time to revisit the “If I were the Rams GM”-cum-Mock Draft mentality.
Rather than leap right into a Mock Draft it’s probably best to take a moment to analyse the Rams current projected starting roster and see what looks good, not so good and down-right awful!
Let’s start with the Offense. For the purpose of this I’m assuming Holt is going to be released.
Offense:
QB - Bulger 6’3 205
RB - Jackson 6’2 235
FB - Karney 5’11 255
TE - McMichael 6’3 255
WR - Avery 5’11 185
WR - Burton 6’1 200 #3 WR - Stanley 5’11 180
LT - Barron 6’7 315
LG - Greco 6’4 315
C - Brown 6’3 320
RG - Incognito 6’3 320
RT - Bell 6’4 295
The addition of Mike Karney at fullback is a solid addition by the Front Office. It gives S-Jax the lead blocker he has needed and wanted (@sj39 - I love waking up to good news. We (Rams) just signed FB Mike Karney. Who says complaining don’t get u anywhere..Lol (joke)).
The loss of Holt is a worry. Avery is not a prototypical #1 wideout and probably better suited to a #2 speedster role. Burton will benefit from playing time and hopefully if he can stay fit he’ll be a valuable member of the offense. McMichael will be coming off injury and is much better at catching than blocking. Rumours are that when the Rams are not pounding the rock they’ll be operating out of a West Coast Offense, which means McMichael will be a go-to guy for Bulger. Bulger himself needs to snap out of a rut. After making the Pro Bowl he has posted to abysmal years, but the decimation of the line due to injuries and poor play can be partly blamed. Moving on to talking about the O-Line…
The release of Pro-Bowler Orlando Pace has left many pundits pre-empting the choice of Eugene Monroe or Jason Smith at 1.2, but Billy Devaney has announced the line will be as above. Barron is supposed to be more comfortable as a LT, but at the end of the day false-starts and bonehead mistakes can’t be excused. Many were worried by Jacob Bell’s loss of weight mid-season (to 280lbs) and he’ll have to bulk up in order to be a successful RT. The signing of Jason Brown is exactly what the doctor ordered and Greco, a 4-year starter in college, has to be given a chance.
The overall opinion of the offense is that we have possibly one of the weakest wide-receiving corps in the NFL and an O-Line with a few questions to answer. Good news is that S-Jax is a stud and when healthy he can do serious damage, especially now he has Karney in front of him. OT and WR have to rank very high on the needs list and should be addressed early. It is conceivable that the Rams would look for the above O-Line to start in 2009 but only if their draft board sees some players slip in other positions. Say that they take Aaron Curry at 1.2 and then see Kenny Britt slip to them at 2.2? Or *shock horror* they pick Michael Crabtree at 1.2 and James Laurinaitis or Alphonso Smith is available at 2.2 whilst there has been a run on OTs?? It’s unlikely that a Day 2 O-Lineman is going to crack the starting line-up in my opnion…
Defense:
DE - Long 6’3 265
NT - Ryan 6’3 315
DT - Carriker 6’6 310
DE - Little 6’3 265
SLB - Culberson 6’1 245
MLB - Draft 5’11 235
WLB - Witherspoon 6’1 240
CB - Bartell 6’1 210
CB - Hill 5’10 185 #3 CB - King 5’11 195
FS - Atogwe 5’11 210
SS - James Butler 6’3 215
Many fans are very excited about the Rams secondary after they re-signed Ron Bartell, tagged Atogwe and signed SS James Butler, but personally I’m not jumping on any band wagon about how great this unit will be. Bartell and Atogwe were both there last year, so Butler is the only new addition and he didn’t exactly garner high levels of interest in Free Agency. I’m not slamming the unit, I’m just not brimming over with the optimism of others. We need to remember that in 2008 we allowed the 2nd most points per game (29.1), allowed the 4th highest number of passes over 20yds (51) and =5th highest number of passes over 40yds (11) whilst making only 12 interceptions (5 by Atogwe) which ranked 21st in the league. It’s not like we had run-stuffing safeties either and teams beat us deep. We were the 4th worst team by average yards per rush (4.9) and also allowed the 2nd most rushing touchdowns (26). We are in desperate need for another corner to play alongside Bartell as Hill and Wade look like busts, while King is still an unknown after his injury in 2008.
As for the linebacker trio, Witherspoon wants to move outside where he is more supposed to be effective while Draft and Culberson are ‘upgradeable’. The D-Line is also middling at best. Chris Long will improve as he learns the game more and his motor and work ethic leave him in good stead. Little is in a contract year, but is certainly ageing. Carriker would benefit from having a bigger body alongside him than Ryan, who has not set the world on fire by any means.
On the plus side, Steve Spagnuolo, our new Head Coach, did mastermind the defeat of the 17-0 Patriots and their ‘unstoppable offense’ two years ago in the SuperBowl. If we can create a better pass-rush it will have a knock on effect of making the defensive backs job easier, so look for Spags and Billy D to look for situational pass-rushers on Day 2 come Draft Day. A Nose Tackle would also be nice, but for me defensive back depth is key. On a shaky looking unit the depth is paper thin and that’s a worry…
My Mock Draft
Round 1:
Jason Smith - OT – Baylor - 6’5 – 310
Smith’s draft stock has been rising a lot in the past few months. The former tight-end had an excellent combine in the workouts and in the interviews. Spagnuolo stated he want to build a team around his 4 Pillars of, “Faith. Character. Core values. Team first.” Smith fits that bill. He also has potential to be even better than advertised as he is a relatively raw prospect, although there is a risk with him that is more so than with Eugene Monroe. I also think that the Front Office will really like how agile he is because of his TE background, meaning he will be able to get outside and into the second level, hopefully opening up holes for Action Jackson.
Round 2:
Sean Smith – CB – Utah – 6’3 – 215
If Kenny Britt is still there, I think we take him, but it looks like the Giants will snap him up as Burress’ successor. Some may this is too high for Sean Smith but after selecting Avery ‘early’ last year I think Devaney will go with his big board and do what’s needed. If they can drop down a few spots and take him, they should. They may look at corners like Alphonso Smith, Darius Butler and D.J. Moore if they are still on the board, but they will be poor match-ups on the lanky wide-receivers of the NFL and susceptible to jump balls. Don’t forget that twice a year the Rams play Larry Fitzgerald and T.J Houshmandzadeh, two big wideouts. Sean Smith is agile and great intangibles and showed during the ‘bama game that he can play in the high pressure games. We are DESPERATE for defensive backs, I could even see us taking one of the top rated Safeties if they are ranked high enough by the FO and there has been a run on OTs and CBs.
Round 3:
Brian Robiskie – WR – Ohio St – 6’3 – 210
A possession receiver with good route running skills and safe hands to play opposite Avery, with Burton in the slot. His Dad, Terry, was an NFL player and wide-receivers coach. He was noted at the North team’s Most Outstanding Player at the Senior Bowl and looks a solid, dependable receiver who some teams will pass on as they fall in love with faster, less-talented players.
I’m not going to actually pick players any further as I’d really be guessing as my knowledge of college football isn’t all that and it really is needle-in-a-haystack stuff. I can see us taking a Defensive-End, Nose Tackle and Middle Linebacker. Hopefully we’ll pick up a project Safety too.
Summary:
Taking into account my draft picks the 2009 Rams would line up on Offense with Robiskie as the #1 WR and Avery as #2 (Burton in the slot). Jason Smith would start at RT, moving Jacob Bell back inside to LG. Hopefully Greco would push Incognito for the starting spot at RG. On Defense Sean Smith would start opposite Bartell and that would probably be the main change unless a NT or MLB excelled at camp. We have a lot of needs, too many to fill in one draft unfortunately. It’s slightly a case of turning it over to a new regime and hoping that they will do something that the last lot didn’t! If the O-Line can keep Bulger standing it will make the world of difference. Add in a starting corner and better pass-rush and the D simply HAS to improve (it can’t get any worse!)
2 years ago
