When you’re a Rams fan like me, the games usually result in crushing disappointment and agony. But there is always that small glimmer of light in the distance. April. No, games are not being played. No, touchdowns are not being scored. It is the draft, the best day of the year for many Rams fans. Then they can think to themselves, “next year will be different.” Let’s take a look at some of the Rams options going into the upcoming draft and who they might pick as they look to build a winning team.
The Rams hold the second overall pick in the 2012 draft. The question is what they will do with it (assuming they do not trade the pick). The Rams’ weakness at the wide receiver position is well known. Their ineptitude is overwhelming. Rams receivers had the fourth most dropped passes in the entire league this season, and the Rams rank dead last with only three plays of over 40 yards. They are desperate for a “big play” man and Justin Blackmon out of Oklahoma State could be that. Currently, Blackmon is rated 8th on Scouts Inc.’s Big Board. He possesses what the Rams need at wide reciever and could be a perfect spark plug to this dead offense. Blackmon had 121 receptions, 1522 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns last season for the Cowboys.
The Rams have other issues and could look to address their weak secondary before they spring for a receiver. If that were the case, Morris Claiborne, corner back, out of LSU would be a match made in heaven. Claiborne is ranked 6th on Scouts Inc.’s Big Board. Watching the Rams try and defend on the outside is worse then having to sit through Sex and the City 2 on NFL sunday. Claiborne is a pure cover corner and can immediately solve that problem. Claiborne led LSU with six interceptions, and he also adds much needed life to an anemic return game.
There is one other position that the Rams are in dire need to improve: offensive line. The Rams have had a problem blocking up front for the run and the pass ever since the end of the “Greatest Show on Turf” era. It’s not that they haven’t tried to fix it. Since 2005, the Rams have drafted five linemen in the first three rounds. Conventional wisdom would say that’s fine because all five should be still in their prime and make for a top line in the league. Only problem, the Rams are bad at drafting. Of the five they drafted, none have made a Pro Bowl and only two remain with the team. The two that are still here have combined to miss 26 of the 80 games since they have been in the league. Cut and dry, the Rams need stability on the line. I know that nobody wants to see the them waste yet another high pick on another lineman, but Matt Kalil out of USC could very well be on the Rams radar for the 2nd pick. Kalil is rated number 2 on Scouts Inc.’s Big Board and could be an immediate plug-in to a feeble front five. The Rams have a 70 million dollar investment in Sam Bradford that is dangerously close to catching Marc Bulger syndrome. They need to protect him.
All in all, it’s tough to say how the Rams might use their pick this year. Part of that is the strong likelihood that they may look at these players and feel that they are reaches so high in the first round making them more inclined to trade the pick to Cleveland or Washington or another team interested in quarterback Robert Griffin III from Baylor. I don’t have a crystal ball, but don’t be surprised if one of these three players finds themselves suiting up for the Rams next year.
