By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Apr. 26 2008
The signing of Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long by Miami on Tuesday took
much of the suspense out of the 2008 NFL draft. But the Rams are doing their
part to provide some intrigue.
As the rain fell Friday evening, multiple team officials insisted the
organization was still grappling with the issue of whether to draft Louisiana
State defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey or Virginia defensive end Chris Long at No.
2 overall.
About the only thing conceded on the eve of the Rams' 14th draft in St. Louis
is that Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston no longer is in the mix at No.
2. Barring a trade down, two team officials said Gholston would not be the
team's choice.
So that leaves only Dorsey and Chris Long as options for St. Louis, with the
very latest indications showing a slight tilt in Long's direction. If that
indeed turns out to be the case, it will be an interesting decision. Because if
you polled the entire football department at Rams Park — scouts, personnel
executives, coaches, and management — Dorsey would probably win the "popular"
vote.
Which probably explains Billy Devaney's terse but pointed reply Thursday when
asked if the Rams would stick to their draft board in the first round.
"It depends," replied Devaney, the team's executive vice president of player
personnel.
In other words, it depends on whether the team drafts Dorsey or C. Long.
That's because Dorsey is the top-rated player on the Rams' board. According to
one team source, Arkansas running back Darren McFadden is No. 2; Jake Long is
No. 3; Chris Long is No. 4; and Gholston a somewhat distant No. 5.
But another team official denied that Chris Long was ranked No. 4.
Wait, there's more. . . .
League sources told the Post-Dispatch on Friday that the Rams' draft board was
"tweaked" Thursday evening, and that Dorsey and Chris Long were now ranked
pretty evenly at the top of the board.
The same source who denied that Chris Long was No. 4 also denied that any
last-minute tweaking had occurred. But no one denies that Dorsey is indeed at
the head of their board.
In any event, it now looks like Long may be the Rams' choice — by a whisker or
two — over Dorsey. And that wasn't the case earlier in the week.
Make no mistake, there are people at Rams Park who prefer Dorsey over Long; and
those who prefer Long over Dorsey. But even the dissenters — either way — can
live with the other candidate.
Dorsey is the better prospect, according to most projections. He has a better
chance of being a great NFL player than Long. One veteran NFC scout said if
Dorsey is the pick, "that just makes the Rams' defense a lot tougher."
But Long fills a greater need at defensive end, and probably is a safer pick.
(Although Rams teams doctors have cleared Dorsey medically, there is a chance —
however unlikely — that Dorsey's stress fracture may cause further troubles in
his right leg.)
The Rams got only 5 1/2 sacks from their entire defensive end corps last
season.
Leonard Little played in only seven games before aggravating a toe
injury that required surgery. He turns 34 in October. The other starting end in
2007, 31-year-old James Hall, was cut at the start of free agency only to
re-sign a few weeks later for a lesser salary.
Then again, the Rams aren't nearly as deep at defensive tackle as some might
think. La'Roi Glover turns 34 in July and is in the final year of his contract.
Claude Wroten, a third-round pick in 2006, has been a big disappointment to
date.
It was fairly quiet Friday on the trade front. New Orleans, picking at No. 10
overall in the first round, did indeed dangle offensive tackle Jammal Brown in
a possible trade that also would have involved swapping first-round picks. But
as of Friday night, nothing serious had materialized there.
For starters, the Rams were leery of picking at No. 10 overall — it's a little
out of range in terms of the top players in the draft. And Brown, despite
making the Pro Bowl in 2006, was banged up in '07 and didn't play particularly
well.
There were a couple of nibbles from the New York Jets, who pick No. 6 overall
and are eyeing McFadden. But they were just that — nibbles, nothing remotely
serious. In addition, all was quiet in Atlanta, where the Falcons are sitting
at No. 3 overall and thought to be interested in Dorsey.
On the other hand, the Rams did have conversations with Philadelphia concerning
a possible trade for Eagles cornerback Lito Sheppard. But there were no formal
offers made, and two Rams officials emphatically shot down rumors that the Rams
were offering a second-round pick for Sheppard.