Glenn Dorsey

Based on a recent radio interview with Rams VP Billy Devaney, the Rams' pick at #2 overall if the Dolphins take Chris Long will be LSU DT Glenn Dorsey, unless serious questions are raised by his upcoming workout.

From what I currently know, I'd prefer Jake Long or Vernon Gholston, Long for sure, over even a healthy Dorsey. I'm confused that Dorsey weighed in at the Combine at 297 when the NFL lists him as 20 pounds heavier. I'm confused to see scouting reports on last year's LSU defense say you can run right up the middle on them, and that Ali Highsmith is the heart of the defense more than Dorsey is. You can run right at Dorsey? Do the Rams need to add that element to their run defense? I don't need this much confusion with the #2 pick overall.

To his credit, Dorsey won almost every trophy college football had to award last year. He took home the Lombardi Award (best lineman or LB) (not to be confused with the Lombardi Trophy), the Lott Trophy (award for personal character and athletic excellence), the Nagurski Trophy (best defensive player), and the Outland Trophy for best offensive or defensive lineman. He's been a high-quality football player.

And there's a lot to be said for the strategy of just drafting the guy who won the Lombardi Trophy. The last one the Rams drafted was Grant Wistrom. Other past winners: Randy White, Lee Roy Selmon, Cornelius Bennett, Warren Sapp, Julius Peppers, Terrell Suggs, Tommie Harris and AJ Hawk.

The Nagurski Award has a decent history, with Sapp, Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey, Roy Williams, and Suggs among past winners.

And plenty of outstanding pros were Outland Trophy winners, including Merlin Olsen and Orlando Pace. (Pace won the Outland and the Lombardi in 1996.) Other winners: Alex Karras, Tommy Nobis, Ron Yary, White, Selmon, Mark May, Bruce Smith, Will Shields, Jonathan Ogden, Chris Samuels, John Henderson, Jammal Brown and Joe Thomas.

Of course, I've been doing some cherry-picking the last three paragraphs. ZACH WIEGERT won an Outland, too. So did Robert Gallery, Rien Long and Kris Farris. Lombardis have been won by the likes of Jamal Reynolds, Corey Moore and Percy Snow. True, Dorsey has won both awards, just like Orlando Pace, White and Selmon. And Tracy Rocker. And Steve Emtman.

Emtman's case just shows that while awards could be a good measure of a player's pro prospects, they sure can't predict injuries, which have taken down award winners like Emtman, 2005 Outland winner Greg Eslinger, 2004 Lombardi winner David Pollack or 2000 Nagurski winner Dan Morgan.

And injuries are the big issue in Dorsey's draft background. If the Rams are going to make him their first round pick, at a position they arguably don't have a need, he'd better perform and test out physically like the Terminator at his workout.