Draft thoughts

Most draft analysts seem to be giving the Rams a grade in the B to B-minus range for this year's draft picks. I'd have to say I'm comfortable with that. They addressed several positions well. You could figure out their thinking on just about every pick. (Unlike, say, the 49ers taking LaMichael James. Is that a franchise that's really short at RB?, or the Redskins taking Kirk Cousins.) They by all accounts got a bunch of talented players. (So did every team, right?) I think on the average, they got decent value for their picks. Some were reaches but others looked like bargains. What I'm not thrilled with was the amount of risk they took with a lot of their picks. Seems like a 2-14 team needs to add guys who can play now, not guys who might be good in 2-3 years, or guys who might end up in jail in 2-3 years. Draft thoughts by player:

14 - Michael Brockers: one big year in college at a position he's not going to play in St. Louis, and he's the #6 man on their board? Wow. Good value at 14 + a draft pick, though. My concerns about changing his position, his fitness, and LSU's bad record producing d-linemen remain.

33 - Brian Quick: Ray Sherman knows a lot more about receivers than I do, and he says Quick is going to be the next Terrell Owens. We'll see. I don't think he was a top-of-2nd-round value, he's extremely raw, and he's one of many Rams draft picks who didn't play against very tough competition.

39 - Janoris Jenkins: you guys out there yelling, "drafting Boy Scouts didn't work!" have pretty damn short memories. The Super Bowl champion Rams were built with men who were and are exemplary off the field. Kurt Warner. Trent Green. Isaac Bruce. Torry Holt. Orlando Pace. Adam Timmerman. Grant Wistrom. Mike Jones. That was the thing that made their victory even more joyous. Granted, those weren't all drafted players. But character always has mattered and always will matter. I didn't think the idea behind accumulating draft picks was so you could just roll the dice with them. Jenkins has the talent to pay off big-time if they can keep his nose clean. Fisher sure didn't do that with Pac-Man Jones. I have no evidence to suggest it a good idea for this franchise to draft this player at this time. With a more veteran locker room, maybe.

50 - Isaiah Pead: probably drafted a little too high, but he also fills a need the Rams have left unanswered for about five years. Badly-needed infusion of speed.

65 - Trumaine Johnson: a good draft value and his off-field transgression looks like a one-time thing to me. Lack of tough competition is an issue, as is a likely position change from corner to safety, where I assume they'll look at him to replace Craig Dahl. Unless their opinion of Darian Stewart varies vastly from mine. I also didn't think secondary was an area of bad enough need at this point to use another pick there. Might have been a good opportunity to take a guard or a WLB.

96 - Chris Givens: badly-needed speed element and field-stretching receiver. Some call him the best route-runner in the draft; some say he runs routes like Mardy Gilyard. Great draft value, though; you could easily make a second-round case for him.

150 - Rokevious Watkins: scouting reports give me the impression he's not the mauling guard the Rams need. Fitness is also a question. But he could be a valuable swing man.

171 - Greg Zuerlein: talk about freaking gambles - they draft a kicker one day and boot the veteran kicker the next. I hope they've got somebody on speed-dial in case this kid starts shanking kicks all over the place. The draft value is correct IF you believe in drafting kickers. Later in the week I'll post my list of one player at each position the Rams ought to have drafted instead. They're pretty much caught with their pants down if this pick doesn't work out.

209 - Aaron Brown: admire the kid. No idea why they thought he had to be drafted. They didn't completely ignore WLB by making this pick, but they might as well have.

252 - Daryl Richardson: poor level of competition but has some elite athletic skills. To make the team, all he has to do is beat out Quinn Porter. Not a high hurdle. If your #252 pick can make the roster, it's a good pick.

The Rams got talent. I'm concerned too much of it, especially at the top, projects as talent down the line instead of right away.  Three rap sheets in ten picks wasn't really the ratio I was looking for with a rebuilding team with a young roster. And how many times have Rams fans been promised that so-and-so is going to be a great player once we get him coached up? Fisher and Snead set the bar high for themselves with their opening draft. They're going to have to have some gambles pay off and Fisher's going to have to prove he and his staff are an x-factor that will create star players.

Well, I sure know I'd never turn my finances over to these guys. We'll see how they do with the football team.

-$-