RamView AccuDraft 2013: Pick #3: Oakland

Sports Illustrated

Dion Jordan, DE/OLB, Oregon

I don't like passing on Luke Joeckel, and I can justify drafting him or Fisher here. With Jared Veldheer turning himself into the Incredible Hulk in the offseason, is it wrong to wonder if he'll keep the foot quickness needed to continue to improve at LT? Or where he buys his "vitamins"? With Khalif Barnes at the other tackle, and Alex Freaking Barron backing them up, it's not like we're talking about the Four Blocks of Granite in Oakland.

I also don't like passing on a defensive tackle here, because Oakland's about as poorly staffed there right now as the Rams are at safety (or running back, or wide receiver...). The Raiders were 31st in the NFL last year with just 25 sacks, making pass rush a crying need, and if you can match one of the top players in the draft to your most crying need, you do it, so let's put Dion Jordan in Silver and Black. Oakland can play him all over the place Demarcus Ware-style, he suits well to all types of defensive fronts, he produced in college, and he's such an athletic freak he actually started at Oregon as a tight end. I can't really decide which DT to pick if I go DT here, and that is always such a bust-y position to pick this high, I'd be comfortable as Raiders GM to wait to the 2nd and 3rd rounds to pick one.

Oakland can easily afford to trade down from #3. If they're taking Jordan here, they could just as easily move down a little, take Barkevious Mingo and come out about even. Plus, Mingo ran faster at the Combine than Jordan; they still pay attention to that in Oakland, don't they? With all that in mind, my #1 move as Raiders GM right now would be to get on the phone to Miami. Not only do the Dolphins have extra second and third-round picks this year, if you're the Raiders, wouldn't you like to undermine your worst rival's efforts to trade Branden Albert? I won't plug a Miami-Oakland trade into this mock, but it would make a ton of sense.

The Eggles are on the clock!

-$-

RamView Accu-Draft 2013: Pick #2: Jacksonville

KSL.com

Ziggy Ansah, DE, BYU

Heh, RamView is a big fan of the Zig, though if the Jagwires do pull the trigger and draft him #2, it will be one of the riskiest picks in the history of the draft. There are times when Ansah completely disappears. Like all of Senior Bowl week, for instance. Leading up to the game in Mobile, you saw a guy who couldn't beat anybody off the line, showed no second move, couldn't get off a block, played way too high in every drill... I'd have said he'd be lucky to be a third-round pick.

Put Ansah in the game, though, and he turned into Jason Pierre-Paul. He took your breath away. He was in the QB's face constantly. He beat single-teams. He beat double-teams. He beat guys outside, he beat guys inside. He had a couple of sacks, a million pressures, blew up screen passes and even stopped the run. What was Ansah's play of the game? Was it when he went through a guard and a chip-blocker to sack Ryan Nassib and strip the ball out in the 4th? Or was it when he got off a good block by the tight end in space and stuffed Denard Robinson on an end-around? Robinson runs a 4.43, for heaven's sake! And Ansah tracked him down!

Ziggy Ansah is a freak. I have little qualm comparing him to Pierre-Paul for his impressive athleticism. At 6'5", 270, he ran every bit as fast at the Combine as Dion Jordan, who's a popular projection here, but one who gives up 25 pounds to Ansah. The Jagwires have needed a threat off the edge like Ansah ever since they stole St. Louis' expansion franchise and entered the league. The all-time Jagwire sacker is Tony Brackens, with 55 sacks. Ansah or Jordan could get there in 3-4 years.

The first thing new head coach Gus Bradley's defense in Jacksonville needs is, like he had in Seattle, a Chris Clemons, an up-the-field penetrator and pass-pocket disruptor. Ziggy Ansah does that better than anybody in this draft. And while he may be steak tartare, that's still a tasty dish, and Bradley is just the coach to refine Ansah into a player whose game is well-done.

Ha, I'm not going to write this long about either of the Rams' picks. Better pick up the pace.

The Raiders are on the clock!

-$-

RamView Accu-Draft 2013: Pick #1: Kansas City

Detroit Free-Press

Eric Fisher, T, Central Michigan

It's 4/20, and it may look like I'm high on many picks today, but with 2013 widely regarded as the least predictable draft ever, what sense does it make to copy nearly every other mock draft and put Luke Joeckel at the top, when the Chiefs reportedly are still deciding between Fisher and Joeckel?

It makes sense for the Chiefs to look at the top two tackles. It's a big positional need even if they fail to trade franchised lineman Brendan Albert. And the Chiefs really need to spare their fans another high pick on defensive line. Joeckel's ranked by many as the best player in the draft at any position. RamView happens to think that honor should belong to Fisher, so I have the Chiefs in his future.


There's little hiding that I've been very high on Fisher. He was the dominant player of Senior Bowl week. He has the best feet of any lineman prospect I've seen in years. I'd argue he "outplayed" Joeckel at the Combine, besting or matching him at every event except the 3-cone. He has elite footwork, handwork and anticipation to mirror any speed rusher, and if you're a DE without a lot of speed trying to beat him with a bull rush, well, best of luck. Fisher already looks like a near-Pro Bowler as a pass protector, and he's a nasty, tenacious run blocker on top of  that.

Eric Fisher's a total package, and total packages should be taken at the very top of the draft.

The Jagwires are on the clock!

-$-

Mock draft-a-palooza!

With less than a week to go before the 2013 Draft, here is every expert projection for the Rams' picks I could find. You'll notice that West Virginia WR Tavon Austin is slotted to the Rams the majority of the time at #16. Any mock that doesn't have the Rams picking Austin has him off the board earlier, quite often to Tampa Bay at #13, but the Jets have been projected to take Austin at #9 in some. And we currently have the Vikings making a major effort to trade up, a move I completely expect is with drafting Austin in mind. The chances of most of these mock drafts being right about the Rams getting Austin are decreasing by the minute, 7 on the Wonderlic or not.

Though the names differ, safety is a pretty popular projection for the Rams' second pick in the first round. Yet to my knowledge, the Rams had only one safety in for a pre-draft visit, and that was Shamarko Thomas, who I haven't seen projected as a first-rounder anywhere. The Rams' first three picks last year were all here for pre-draft visits; I'd think that's worth paying attention to when trying to predict where the Rams will go.

The experts' current projections, as of noon 4/19:

Todd McShay, ESPN.com
Rams pick at 16 - Cordarrelle Patterson (WR, Tennessee)
Rams pick at 22 - Eddie Lacy (WR, Alabama)

Mel Kiper, ESPN.com
16 - Tavon Austin (WR, West Virginia)
22 - Kenny Vaccaro (S, Texas)
46 - Montee Ball (RB, Wisconsin)

That's Kiper's prediction of who the Rams will pick. His "A-Draft", which goes by who he'd take if he were each team's GM, looks like this:

16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Eddie Lacy
46 - Shamarko Thomas (S, Syracuse)
78 - Hugh Thornton (G, Illinois)

Charles Davis, NFL.com
16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Eric Reid (S, LSU) (Also, ?!?!?!?)

Daniel Jeremiah, NFL.com
16 - Kenny Vaccaro
22 - Cordarrelle Patterson

Bucky Brooks, NFL.com
16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Eddie Lacy 

Pete Prisco, CBSSports.com
16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Jonathan Cyprien (S, Florida International)

Rob Rang, CBSSports.com
16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Eric Reid

Pat Kirwan, CBSSports.com
16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Eric Reid

Clark Judge, CBSSports.com
16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Matt Elam (S, Florida)

Don Banks, CNNSI.com
16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Kenny Vaccaro

Vinnie Iyer, SportingNews.com
16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Eddie Lacy

Tony Softli, former Rams VP of player personnel
16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Matt Elam
On his website, Softli takes credit for drafting Jason Smith. 

Scott Wright, NFLDraftCountdown.com
16 - Chance Warmack (G, Alabama)
22 - Tavon Austin
46 - Arthur Brown (OLB, Kansas State)
Very much an outlier among mock drafts, but this isn't a very recent effort... it's dated March 22. This has been a go-to draft site for me in the past, so that's a bit of a surprise. There's nothing worse than a football website that isn't kept up to date, am I right?

Peter Schrager, FoxSports.com
16 - D.J. Fluker (T, Alabama)
22 - Eric Reid
46 - Eddie Lacy
Schrager's mock is a shock, but he had Austin and Patterson off the board at #16. Awesomely, he's working on a 7-round mock that will be posted next week.

A couple of sites have beaten him to the punch. I couldn't tell you if either of these sites are ever very accurate, I just think it's awesome they throw 6- and 7-round mocks out there. Talk about getting into your work...

WalterFootball.com
16 - D.J. Fluker
22 - Alec Ogletree (LB, Georgia)
46 - Eddie Lacy
78 - Terrance Williams (WR, Baylor)
113 - Shawn Williams (S, Georgia)
149 - Oday Aboushi (OL, Virginia)
184 - Gerald Hodges (LB, Penn State)
This would be a close to excellent draft if it happened this way, and credit to Walter Football for doing their homework - almost all of these players were Rams Park pre-draft visitors.

Draft-Tek.com
16 - Tavon Austin
22 - Alec Ogletree
46 - Phillip Thomas (S, Fresno State)
78 - Chris Harper (WR, Kansas State)
113 - Montee Ball (RB, Wisconsin)
149 - Matt Scott, QB, Arizona. Seriously?
184 - Lerentee McCray (OLB, Florida)
222 - Josh Boyd (DT, Mississippi)
This mock kind of loses me after Ogletree. Harper makes Brandon Gibson look fast. Ball is usually a second-round projection vs. a fourth. And I have no flipping idea why they expect the Rams to use any pick on a QB. I'd get behind them drafting a punter before I'd say drafting a QB makes any sense whatsoever.

OK, that just leaves RamView to contribute my own draft mockery here over the weekend. Feel the anticipation!

-$-

Rams' schedule released

The regular season schedule is out, and the Rams will open the 2013 season at home against the Big Dead. They're slated for two national TV appearances, a (stupid) Thursday night game at home against the 49ers at the end of September, and a Monday night appearance, again at home, against the Seahawks at the end of October. Based on last year's records, the Rams have the most difficult road schedule in the league and the 4th-hardest schedule overall. Here's the whole lineup:

Game 1 - Sunday, September 8 - 3:25 - Home
Rams get to open the 2013 season at home after opening in Detroit last year. The Big Dead will hope to protect new QB Carson Palmer a little better than they protected Kevin Kolb - NINE sacks - the last time they were here.

Game 2 - Sunday, September 15 - 12:00 - Away
Well, let's get the reunion game with Steven Jackson out of the way early, shall we? SJ39A joins a lot of offensive starpower in the Georgia Dome, but their offensive line may take time to jell after offseason changes.

Game 3 - Sunday, September 22 - 12:00 - Away
So - Janoris Jenkins could start the season having to cover Larry Fitzgerald, Julio Jones (or Roddy White) and Dez Bryant? Lace those shoes tight. Tony Romo got the inexplicably big contract, but the Rams will have to do a lot better against Demarco Murray than they did in their last trip to the Jerry Dome.

Game 4 - Thursday, September 26 - 7:25 - Home
Seems really unfair, to both teams, to set up such a physical matchup on just three days' rest. Rams better not plan on a third straight OT game in this series, since the 49ers have switched from David Akers to Phil Dawson at kicker.

Game 5 - Sunday, October 6 - 12:00 - Home
Gotta be honest, the Rams' home schedule at least starts pretty favorably. Shad Khan gets to take on the first NFL team he tried to buy, and Blaine Gabbert returns home, if he's still employed by then. Jagwires were 1-7 on the road last season.

Game 6 - Sunday, October 13 - 12:00 - Away
Texans will be coming off a Sunday night game in San Francisco. The Rams were 1-12, quarterbacked by Keith Null, and stricken with swine flu the last time these teams met. They stayed close by shutting down Arian Foster, but gave up 196 to Andre Johnson on 9 catches.

Game 7 - Sunday, October 20 - 12:00 - Away
The Rams haven't won in Carolina since forever, and if they cover Steve Smith this week, it will also be for the first time. This game starts a tough 3-week run against dangerously mobile quarterbacks. Panthers were surprisingly just 3-5 at home last season.

Game 8 - Monday, October 28 - 7:30 - Home
Nice, Goodell, extra rest for the Seahawks before a key division game. Thanks a lot. They'll be coming off a Thursday nighter in Arizona. Major test for the Rams; Seattle's on the Super Bowl short list after adding Percy Harvin (if he can stay off IR this long) and a ton of defensive firepower.

Game 9 - Sunday, November 3 - 12:00 - Home
Even worse scheduling by the NFL here: Rams coming off a Monday night war, Titans coming off...a bye week. Screw you, Goodell! A matchup against Gregg Williams won't exactly be what the doctor ordered after a battle with Seattle. Jeff Fisher surely would have preferred a lot better scheduling for his reunion game. The Rams BETTER be picking this for one of their throwback weeks, btw.

Game 10 - Sunday, November 10 - 12:00 - Away
Second time this season Sam Bradford will square off against another QB taken first overall. Just a little reminder that Bradford's never had more to prove than he'll have in 2013.

Bye week. Nobody likes to settle, but looking at those first 10, I wouldn't be unhappy getting here at 5-5.

Game 11 - Sunday, November 24 - 12:00 - Home
Marc Trestman (really?)'s Bears come here off a home game against the Super Bowl champ Ravens. This'll be the best chance this season at an actual full Dome. Jake Long should help the Rams improve on last year's performance against Chicago, when Bradford was sacked six times.

Game 12 - Sunday, December 1 - 3:25 - Away
Daunting closing stretch for the Rams - all three road division games come in December. More brilliant NFL scheduling.




Game 13 - Sunday, December 8 - 3:25 - Away
Another 2-INT performance by Jenkins isn't out of the question here - Carson Palmer has chucked 50 picks the past three seasons. Arizona was only 5-11 last season, but they did go 4-4 at home.

Game 14 - Sunday, December 15 - 12:00 - Home
12 of the Rams' 16 games are against teams that went 7-9 or better last year. Rob Ryan gets a shot at getting back at the Rams for not hiring him in January, but he'll have to improve a historically-bad defense to do so. Steve Spagnuolo's 2012 D finished 32nd in the league and allowed over 440 yards a game.

Game 15 - Sunday, December 22 - 12:00 - Home
And Tampa's defense finished just 29th in the league last season, not helped by Lance Kendricks' 80-yard TD against them last December. Lance is still catching his breath from that, btw. The Rams do at least have six games against bottom-10 defenses from last year.

Game 16 - Sunday, December 29  - 3:25 - Away
Rams have to close in Seattle, where they never win, for the second straight season, as I stick another large pin in an uncomfortable place in my Roger Goodell voodoo doll.



I know I say something like this every year, but I'm not sure the NFL could have made this schedule any harder if they tried. Seattle gets extra rest before their game here. Tennessee WAS one of the most winnable games on the schedule before Goodell gave them an extra freaking eight days off. And what the hell is with all three road division games in the last month? In retrospect, shedding Steven Jackson and Danny Amendola from the roster doesn't seem to have been the best way to prepare for this schedule, either. If Jeff Fisher manages to bring this thing in at 8-8, Rams fans should be damn impressed.

-$-

Rams micro news, 4/17

 Just a few items that have popped up during the quiet before next week’s NFL draft storm:

* The NFL releases the 2013 regular season schedule Thursday night. Since the Rams got a national TV game in preseason, it'll be interesting to see how much exposure they'll get there in the regular season. Let's not count NFL Network's worthless Thursday night games, btw. The Rams-49ers games were so epic last season, I don't know how you can keep those off national TV if you're the NFL. And it's not like Rams-Titans or Rams-Falcons wouldn't be full of story lines.

The Rams will open the season on the road if the current pattern holds. Since 2006, they've been home, home, road, road, home, home, road.

* Clemens re-signs. The Rams re-signed quarterback Kellen Clemens to a one-year deal. His demotion still stands, though, if you want to call it that. Jeff Fisher made it pretty clear Clemens will enter camp as the #3 QB behind Austin Davis. In the only free agency capsule I got up last month, I predicted Clemens wouldn’t make it out of camp because the Rams would stick with 2 QBs, and I’m sticking to that, but Clemens is good insurance to have around if a QB is injured before the start of the season. And if Sam Bradford would happen to get hurt a few weeks in, I expect Clemens will be available to sign as an emergency QB. I’m unaware of any interest in him outside of the Rams, though injuries around the league will change that.

* Chris Williams signs. The Rams now have three players from the top half of the first round of the 2008 draft on the roster. The #14 pick that year by the Bears, Williams played at left and right guard down the stretch for the Rams last season while they withstood their near-annual rash of offensive line injuries. Williams’ own injury history isn’t great, and he’s really a finesse blocker, but he’s got experience at both guard and both tackle positions. He’s expected to compete to start at LG, but I can also see him replacing Wayne Hunter as the third tackle; optimistically, he could save the Rams a roster spot on the o-line. There’ll be a lot of shaking out to be done in camp, though.

Additional note: the #6 pick from the 2008 draft, Vernon Gholston, was also briefly a Ram in training camp last year.

Arbitrators heart Stan. Did Stan Kroenke pick the judges in the ongoing Dome arbitration case himself? They’ve have had $millions of love for him so far. First, the Rams win over the St. Louis CVC on the scale of the upgrade necessary to upkeep the Dome; now, the arbitrators have ruled the CVC owes Kroenke $2 million in legal fees. The Rams asked for $3.5 million, but the arbitrator told Kroenke he’ll have to pay a L.A. law firm helping out on the case himself.

And let me state here how it thrills me to no end that Kroenke has lawyers from Los Angeles who are in effect helping him fight to get out of his stadium lease here in St. Louis. There’s no lawyers in New York who could have helped the Rams on this case? Washington? Chicago? Just had to be L.A., huh, Stan?

From the article, posted on STLToday last week, it also sounds like St. Louis County is starting to get pissy about the costs the CVC is ringing up, including the deal recently signed with Goldman Sachs to advise how to keep the Rams in the St. Louis area. Yeah, because political in-fighting will make keeping the team so much easier.

* It might be a little noticeable by now that I have had nowhere near the time I had the past couple of years to keep the blog and the site very up-to-date this offseason. (Doesn't help, btw, that Blogger is one of the worst editing tools in the history of computing. Why can I not cut simple text from one document to another without having it filled with useless HTML statements that wreck its appearance in the blog?) But this isn’t the worst Rams blog on the Internet for nothing! Having botched the Combine this year (only saw the offensive player workouts) and free agency, the next item for RamView to botch would be the 2013 Accu-Draft, but I have a plan for that. If all goes as planned, I’ll assemble a 32-post mock first round on the blog this weekend and dress it up with various items I usually throw into the annual Accu-Draft.

That’s if all goes as planned, of course.

 -$-

Rams keep Governor's Cup!

Although the Chiefs and Rams will not play one another in the 2013 regular season, the NFL did not match them up for their traditional preseason matchup in the 2013 preseason. The Royals' home schedule is supposedly to blame. Well, that means the Rams get to keep the Governor's Cup an extra year, then. They've held it since 2010, retaining it last August with a 31-17 win in St. Louis.

What the Rams did get this preseason that they don't usually get is a national TV appearance. It'll be their third game, too, which is supposedly the important one in preseason. That game, at Denver, will be shown on CBS.

Here is the Rams' 2013 preseason schedule, with final dates and times to be made official later:

Game 1 - August 8-12 - @ Cleveland
Game 2 - August 15-19 - vs. Baltimore
Game 3 - Sat. August 24 - @ Denver
Game 4 - August 28-29 - vs. San Diego

-$-