Thursday, February 23, 2012

2/23 draft news: Richardson out of Combine


* Alabama running back Trent Richardson will not perform on-field drills at this weekend's Combine. He has notified all 32 teams that he had minor surgery on his knee three weeks ago to lessen discomfort. The injury was suffered in practice prior to the "national championship" game, so, early in January. The surgery is said to be no big deal per Adam Schefter, and Richardson is progressing on schedule. Skipping Combine drills is a precaution. NFL.com reports Richardson will hold his workout on March 27. Alabama's pro day is the 7th.

RamView reaction: Great, that's two prominent players with influence on the Rams' first round strategy who'll do nothing at the Combine. Many consider Richardson in the mix for any first-round pick the Rams make, with Steven Jackson turning 29 this year and having high mileage. Robert Griffin III will do the running and jumping stuff, which I find pretty pointless for QBs, but skip the throwing, which I find amazingly important for QBs.

* Mock news. At NFL.com, Steve Wyche projects the Rams to trade with the Browns and still get Justin Blackmon, who he calls a perfect fit, at #4. At ESPN.com, holding to the typical mock draft rule not to predict trades, Mel Kiper has the Rams taking Blackmon at #2. Not as big a Blackmon fan, Todd McShay's mock, from three weeks ago, sends Matt Kalil to the Rams at #2.

I wish I could be as sure as the rest of the world that the Rams will be able to trade #2 away. Will the Browns really need to trade up two spots? Miami's definitely not sticking with Chad Henne, but they could easily go after Matt Flynn. The Dolphins and Redskins, who somehow can spend a billion dollars on salary every year Daniel Snyder has owned them, and STILL come up something like $40 million under this year's cap, are top suitors for Peyton Manning, if/when the Colts cut him. If those two teams get their QBs, the Browns would be idiots not to stand pat. The Rams and Vikings ahead of them are not going to draft a QB. With the amount of not-idle talk in Seattle, maybe Cleveland has to trade up to 2 to guard against Seattle trading up to 3 as a backup plan if they can't get Manning, but the chances of Griffin simply falling to the Browns at #4 seem reasonably good right now. Rams Park should focus on that #2 pick with the mindset that they're going to be stuck with it.

-$-

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