Friday, October 26, 2007

Pace not retiring

Orlando Pace says in an interview with the Post-Dispatch published today that he intends to return next season. As the article mentions, it's not a crazy question to ask him - he's played 11 years now and has missed most of the last two with major injuries.

It's great to know Orlando's intentions early since it could have had a major impact on the Rams' 2008 draft strategy. Without Orlando, they probably would have to look for a tackle with their likely top-5 first round pick. With Orlando, although he didn't look like his old self before his injury, they're still set at the starting tackle positions and just need to fill out the depth. They can do that with a later draft pick or a veteran FA signing. I'd think about doing both. The timeline in the article has Orlando fully recovering by May, easily in time for training camp.

So I'm definitely ruling out offensive line (no guard or center out there's worth a high first-rounder) for the Rams' first-round pick in April. I'll continue the evolving process of elimination in future posts.

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