 WILL FUTURE NEEDS DICTATE THIS YEAR'S DRAFT? BY
THE GOAT (March 10) |
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DEPTH. We do need a ton of
depth....There is little depth at DT, DE, interior O-line, TB, or FB this year, and there
are looming problems at corner, OLB, and WR next year. Trading down and picking up 2 extra players who could be plugged in would be very important to this team (getting a prospect similar to Spikes or Coady is a real possibility). WRS: Some think the Rams don't need another receiver right now. I couldn't disagree more. * Do not let Bruce's big year allay the concerns about missing most of the last two years with injury. Even if he never misses another year I think we have to assume he could go down at any time. On the bright, side one of the Chargers Air Coryell receivers, Joiner, was hurt almost all the time until he turned 28, and was never hurt again. * I tend to think of Az as strictly a slot guy. I am not sure he could just move outside and not miss a beat. And I'm not positive they will resign him, especially if he continues to drop passes. If he gets an offer similar to the ones we have seen this offseason for Miller, Tucker, and Jenkins, he might be gone. * Proehl will be 33 going into next season. The difference between this team being very good and average is the passing game, and the difference between our passing game being amazing and average is Isaac Bruce, Tory Holt and Az Hakim. Look at what happened when we lost Holt for a little bit in the playoffs: the offense stalled, putting additional pressure on defense, which became less effective. The fact is that the overwhelming presence of our receivers flooding zones and attacking zones is the basis of the offense. Plus we need a developmental receiver for next year if Proehl doesn't come back I hope they look there early... The way the draft is stocked at WR and LB and the way it breaks for CB, DT, RB, we could come up at 31 having to choose between somebody who has a first round grade at receiver and a defensive player with a second/third round grade. What do you do at that point? It looks like linebacker in the first, but if the good ones are gone, why not take the best available guy even if it's a receiver? I didn't say we should ignore the other positions...I'm not advocating using all 10 picks on receivers, or the first one for that matter. Though if the best player available is a receiver I would take him. TE. In Ernie's defense---he does scare teams. He is fast (combine 4.55 at 260 lbs) and very, very strong. If he can get the ball, he is hard to bring down. He is the closest thing we have to an every down tight end, although he is still learning how to catch the ball (he was second string behind Bruener at UW). His entire first year was wasted as they tried to turn him into a fullback. He hurt his neck couldn't get his head around to focus on passes (remember that ridiculous brace)...and then he blew his knee. His value is in being on the field every down so he won't tip defenses on run/pass. He will be a definite upgrade this year, IMO. OL: Most of the mock drafts have the Rams taking an OT at 31. With Pace, Timmerman, Tucker, Nutten, and McCollum they have a ton of green invested there, and they have two prospects (Spikes and Froh) with the potential to pull in similar paydays. But the mock drafts do not take backups into account----they see Miller depart and just pencil in RT for our pick. DT--HOVAN: Hovan has been portrayed as being a smallish overachiever, but his stock is rising. At the combine he weighed in at 305 and his combine numbers are golden . He was the second strongest of the DTs (behind much discussed Jutlander Leif Larsen, who in addition to setting a strength record recorded one of the top Wunderlich scores of the day). He ran a 4.95 forty, and was (by a very wide margin) the best tester in the cone and shuttle drills designed to measure lateral quickness, change of direction and burst. His 4.16 shuttle time is eye popping. Other guys we are looking at like Fred Robbins (4.72) and Steve Warren (4.56) aren't even in the same ballpark. Watching Hovan on draft day will be tense. If he can run the gauntlet and slide past the Packers at 15, Jets at 16 & 18, and slide down to 31, he would be a steal. DTs & TEAM SPEED. Another tackle linked with the Rams, Darwin Walker, weighed in at 6'2.4", 293 pounds and ran an incredible 4.69 (not a typo) forty yard dash in his private workout. That is interesting, because I remember seeing an interview with Armey and how the team was built for turf. One rival GM used D'Marco Farr as an example, calling him a pro bowler on turf, and average on grass. Armey said this was by design. He has built the team around quickness and speed rather than size...The past few years have shown that guys like London are more effective than guys like Eric Hill, based solely on speed and quickness. Though bear in mind that the 40 times at the combine come from a slow surface and the players run last after they have already done 4 drills three times each (Shuttle, cone, vertical, broad jump). The combine track is also very slow... scouts regularly add .1-.15 seconds to fast tracks like Tenn., FSU, Wisc., and tack on an additional .05 for shoes in some instances (Bly got a .1 for the UNC fast track and .05 for wearing nubs, making his 4.46 a lot less impressive last year |
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