Rams go Long
By Jim Thomas
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Sunday, Apr. 27 2008
Chris Long wants to see the Gateway Arch as soon as he gets to St. Louis.
The Rams want to see sacks from Long as soon as he gets here.
Straying from their final board to address a major need, the Rams selected
Long, a defensive end from the University of Virginia, with the No. 2 overall
pick in the draft Saturday.
"We really like his ability to rush the passer," said Billy Devaney, the Rams'
executive vice president of player personnel.
Operating in a 3-4 defensive front at Virginia, Long played inside a lot but
still registered 14 sacks last season.
"We plan to utilize him out in space more," Devaney said. "He'll be able to
show just what kind of athlete he is — how good he is coming off the ball, and
what a good pass rusher he is. ... We really expect big things of him as a pass
rusher."
The Rams need big things from him as a pass rusher. The team got only 5 1/2
sacks from its entire defensive end corps last season. Although he had only
seven sacks total in his first three seasons at Virginia, Long blossomed as a
pass rusher in his senior year.
His 14 sacks in 2007 tied for third in the nation. He also registered 23
quarterback pressures with nine pass deflections. Those totals helped Long —
son of Hall of Famer Howie Long — earn Atlantic Coast Conference defensive
player of the year laurels. He also won the Ted Hendricks Award, which goes to
college football's top defensive end.
When asked if he could help the Rams' pass rush, Long replied, "I hope so. I'm
a day-to-day guy. I'm not going to set any big goals. I'm just going to try to
chip away and make sure people think I'm worth the pick and worth the money,
because this is a big investment, and I'm just humbled and honored."
Long began the week ranked No. 4 on the Rams' draft board behind LSU defensive
tackle Glenn Dorsey (1), Arkansas running back Darren McFadden (2) and Michigan
offensive tackle Jake Long (3).
Although Dorsey still ended up the top-ranked player on the Rams' board, the
final "tweaked" rankings, which apparently occurred Thursday night, had Chris
Long rated much closer to Dorsey, according to a team source.
"The only thing I can say is everybody tweaks their board right up until the
end, and that's from top to bottom," Devaney said. "We had some late medical
information on people, where we took some people off of our board that were
possible mid-round picks.
"You find out some character information as you go along late in the process,
and you kind of move some guys around. ... There's fine-tuning right up to the
very end. And did we do that? Absolutely. So did 31 other teams."
Team sources said no late medical information came up regarding Dorsey.
When asked why the team picked Long over Dorsey, Rams coach Scott Linehan said,
"It's close, because they're both great players. >From the very beginning that
was really the hardest part. It's kind of like you pick one of your children or
something.
"But at the end of the day, Chris was really what the doctor ordered, not only
for our defense, or our football team ... but just what he will be able to do
and bring to the team as far as all the (intangibles)."
There was plenty of support for Dorsey in the building, including defensive
coordinator
Jim Haslett.
"I love Dorsey," Haslett said. "I think he's a monster inside. He's one of
those guys that comes along about once every 10 years. But to find defensive
ends in this league that are effective and can do a lot of things, they're hard
to find. Chris kind of falls into that category."
It's not as if Haslett was banging the table for Dorsey.
"I was happy we got either one," Haslett said. "If we'd have gotten an
offensive lineman, I would've been happy because I know we would like to run
the ball, too. I think our choices that we had in Jake Long and Chris Long and
Dorsey, you can't go wrong."
Team sources said there was only one substantial trade scenario that unfolded
Saturday involving the No. 2 pick, and that was with Baltimore with the No. 8
pick. But the Ravens were offering only picks, no veteran players.
Linehan immediately named Long the team's starter at right end. But in a
conference call with reporters in St. Louis, Long said he was taking nothing
for granted.
"I'm going to have to earn whatever I get," Long said. "There are guys that
have been busting their tails there. Make no mistake about it, my first order
of business is to come in and try to work hard and earn the respect of the
veterans and learn from them."
Long was in St. Louis two weeks ago for his pre-draft visit with the Rams.
"I know it's a great city," he said. "When I visited, I couldn't go in the
Arch. I want to go in the Arch, so if you all could hook it up. ..."
