Claude Wroten, freaking idiot

Firmly cementing his status as one of the biggest freaking idiots to piss away an NFL career, and as one of the league's biggest draft busts of recent years, fucking idiot Claude Wroten has been suspended for a year by the NFL for violating the league's substance abuse policy.

I don't know if I should be more disappointed by Wroten's complete idiocy, or that nobody's really surprised he finally toked his way out of the league.

Claude will be remembered most for:
* Howard Balzer's radio rant against drafting him right after he was picked,
* that time he tore off the door of his girlfriend's apartment and got arrested,
* that time he got suspended for four weeks,
* and that time he got suspended for a year.

Howard, and most of us in Rams Nation, knew in our bones in 2006 that drafting Wroten was a very bad idea, and the fucking idiot didn't do a god damn thing to prove otherwise. As Jim Thomas mentions more diplomatically in his article, what a colossal clusterfuck the Rams made of the third round of the 2006 draft. Three picks and nothing but arrests and suspensions to show for it.

As for Claude Wroten, who Scott Linehan should have cut last season in the first place, may you never darken the door of Rams Park or any other NFL facility again.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.



Wroten is banned for 1 year by NFL
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
07/24/2008

If there was any doubt about the third round of the Rams' 2006 draft being a disaster, Wednesday's suspension of defensive tackle Claude Wroten makes it official.

The Rams had three third-round picks that year, and none of them will play a down for the Rams in 2008.

Speedy but undersized linebacker Jon Alston was released by the team at the end of training camp last year. He subsequently signed with Oakland.

After a couple of scrapes with the law, tight end Dominique Byrd was cut shortly after this year's draft. One of the lasting memories of Byrd at Rams Park is that he occasionally was asked to stand up during position meetings because of his penchant for falling asleep at work.


And now Wroten. The No. 68 overall pick in '06, and the first of the third-rounders that year, he was suspended for the entire 2008 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. According to an NFL statement, Wroten cannot be reinstated any sooner than May 30, 2009.

"We're moving on," coach Scott Linehan told the Post-Dispatch Wednesday night. "That's it. It's a league matter. The league has informed him he will not be eligible for the league season and training camp."

Wroten entered training camp as the backup to La'Roi Glover at the "3-technique" position, and the No. 4 tackle overall in the defensive line rotation. So in that sense, his suspension had negligible impact on the depth chart.

"It doesn't change much," Linehan said. "He was back a little bit in the depth."

Glover and Adam Carriker remain the starters. Clifton Ryan remains the top backup, and now could play even more this season. The Rams probably will take seven defensive linemen into the regular season, with defensive ends Leonard Little, Chris Long and James Hall, and end-tackle swingman Victor Adeyanju, joining Glover, Carriker and Ryan among the final 53.

So barring an injury at training camp, the Rams don't feel a pressing need to find a replacement for Wroten. But in the larger picture, the suspension has to rate as a huge disappointment to the organization. He was drafted as the eventual successor to Glover, who turned 34 earlier this month and is entering the final year of his contract. But by the time the suspension is lifted, the team will have received only 25 tackles and 1½ sacks from Wroten.

Wroten was suspended for the first four games of the 2007 season for an earlier violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy, and his stock dropped in the '06 draft because of marijuana-related issues in college at Louisiana State.