[RamWraith]

Thursday (before the draft) when I spoke to Shaw, and I asked him which players he liked best and in what order, he replied:

McFadden
Dorsey
C. Long

Friday when I spoke to him, Shaw said he was staying out of this, and it was Devaney's draft, and Linehan's (from the standpoint that Devaney wanted Linehan's input). Shaw wasn't going to argue on behalf of any other player. The only thing he said he told Devaney was, if you're going to take Long, try to move down a spot if possible and get him at 3. That's what the Rams tried to do, but ATL rejected the proposal of giving the Rams a second-rounder to move up a spot.

Shaw doesn't lie to me. Never. So I have no reason to disbelieve him on this one.

What I learned from him Friday was reported by me Saturday - Rams were still discussing Long or Dorsey, close to call, want to trade down, if they keep the pick, slight edge to Long.

And that's what happened.

The reason the board was tweaked? Simple. Because we had reported that Dorsey was the No. 1 player on the Rams' board (and by quite a gap), they wanted to save face for when they chose Long. After the board was adjusted, they had Dorsey and Long as virtual equals. It was easier to explain the decision to take Long.

Devaney has also made cryptic references to receiving "late information" about players.

I think Pro Football Talk is great. I'm a fan. I have it bookmarked. Never gonna knock those guys. But Shaw didn't draft Long. I suppose it makes for good fodder but it didn't happen that way.

-B

We've been reporting this since the draft (Dorsey was first on their board, and Long fourth, until the tweaking). It was in my Sunday column. Jim Thomas cited it, too. Not exactly new info.

But to repeat - yes they took Long (the lower-rated player) for three reasons. Intangibles; they just loved Long the person. 2, need at DE. And 3, some fear over Dorsey's leg.

-B
If you go back and read the Saturday paper, you'll see that we had this scoped out fairly well before the draft.

- internal debate about Long or Dorsey.

_ board tweaking.

- desire to trade down for right deal.

_ leaning Long.

Between what Jim Thomas wrote and what I wrote, it was all in there.

-B