With the 112th pick of the 2011 Draft, the Rams take Greg Salas, WR, Hawaii

[general counsel]

Somehow i dont see our drafting as a ringing endorsement of Mardy Gilyard!

Guys, the fact that we have specific needs doesnt mean that there are players available that the professional talent evaluators (unlike us FANS) believe fill those needs. THe people that run the rams arent stupid. They know what we need. They also know our talent a lot better than fans know our talent (including medical situations) and have a far more informed opinion of the various available talent at different positions.

Drafting a guard just because we need a guard simply does not improve the roster if the talent evaluators dont believe that the best available guard is better than what we have. Said another way, even if the best available guard is marginally better than what we have, if the experts (and i dont mean kipper) think that we can upgrade more at another position by taking a player that we have graded incrementally higher than what is on our roster, than taking the guard is not the best move.

One thing is for sure. The rams knew that they had to get bradford better weapons. That was the #1 need on the team. You guys may not like the players we are picking, but i dont see how you can deny that our focus is on the #1 need on the team.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[AvengerRam]

. Has Amendola's size limited him in that role? .

Hell yeah it has. He gets pushed off his routes, and can't fight for the ball against bigger DBs.

I like Amendola, but I think he may be the most overrated Ram.

[AvengerRam]

This. I'm thinking they stand pat at WR this year. I would love to have Sidney Rice, but we don't really ever go after those big name free agents (except for offensive lineman it seems). Two WR's in a row kind of confirms we won't be going after Rice IMO.

Perhaps, but don't forget, we have a new owner now, so the past may not apply.

[Rambos]

Last year Marty could not get the playbook down... Rams on Pettis

When the Rams interviewed Pettis at the NFL Scouting Combine in February, he wowed coaches and scouts with his extensive knowledge of Boise’s offense.

“He could tell you everything about the wide outs, but I’m not so sure he couldn’t design the offensive line and what their protections were,” Head Coach Steve Spagnuolo said. “He was really impressive.”

“A guy as smart as he is, he’s going to be able to play right away,” General Manager Billy Devaney said. “He’ll pick this stuff up. (QB Sam) Bradford’s going to love him.”

[rammiser]

I think the above post is all I need to hear.

[shower beers]

Trust. Fearless. Intelligent. These words have been flying out all over the media describing these two receivers. To me, the most memorable negative moments from last year were drops. Fells against SF, the multiple drops against Seattle. Now picture those routes run by guys being described with those words. Odds are, we make nearly all of those plays, or at the very least will be doing a whole lot better. Also, don't forget Brandon Gibson just flat out not getting to the first down marker a couple of times, for some odd reason. I think those types of plays are being corrected with this new crop of guys.

You have to imagine the front office has been prepping for life without Julio Jones for quite some time. Conventional wisdom says the number 1s in this class are gone, so you beef up your roster with dependable, fearless, intelligent players who combined, make up for the lack of a true number 1. You take the pressure off of relying on one player.

[md8]

Amazing to me how us fans think we know better than the guys who nothing but all day to go over tape and plan for football.

Well the "experts" who do study game tape and get paid, aren't really high on these players either. Most think these guys will be lucky to be a #3 WR. Which we really don't need.

If we needed depth I might be ok with these picks. But I think our strength is that we have a bunch of average WRs. So our 4th, 5th 6th WRs are better than most teams. Problem is, our #1 and 2 are worse than most teams.

This was a deep defensive draft. We could have been drafting future starters, instead of our #4, #5 WRs at best. Only way these guys move up is due to injury or if we cut someone.

Mcdaniels has to be having a big say in things. He likes to get rid of the offensive players the team already has and get his own guys. Problem is, he's not that good at evaluating talent.

[berg8309]

Well the "experts" who do study game tape and get paid, aren't really high on these players either. Most think these guys will be lucky to be a #3 WR. Which we really don't need.

You mean the talking heads? Like when Trent Dilfer guaranteed that Bradford would be a bust and Clausen would light the league on fire? The same guys who claimed we got an absolute steal with Claude Wroten in the 3rd round, who turned out to be nothing. The same guys who said Devon Hester was by far the worst pick the Bears made the year they drafted him? The same guys who wondered why we'd take a lower ceiling Long over the ultimate of ultimate sack machines Vernon Gholston?

Usually the fans are down on a guy because the talking heads are, because we don't have time to go through all the tape ourselves of every player. Most of our opinions are based on media experts combined with our own limited ability to view tape, most of which happen to be highlight reels. The fact the media confirms fans expectations is no surprise, they gave us our expectations. They aren't worthless at evaluating talent, by any means, but they also aren't right on every point by a long shot. I prefer the team's decisions over the media's.

Mcdaniels has to be having a big say in things. He likes to get rid of the offensive players the team already has and get his own guys. Problem is, he's not that good at evaluating talent.

Really? Looked like the Pats built pretty decent offfensive rosters while he was there, and I guarantee you Belli didn't make McD sit in the corner and take what was given to him. Thomas might turn out to be a good WR, apparently the Broncos new front office loves Tebow as well, and Moreno isn't the worst RB out there by any margin. The Broncos sucked last year because their defense didn't exist, not because they couldn't score points. To claim McD can't evaluate talent that works in his system is a pretty far stretch if you ask me. Poor draft pick and players management, perhaps, but he doesn't get to trade the picks and players anymore. He just gets to tell the GM which guys fit his system. And any front office that tells the offensive coordinator to screw off and just work with whatever the GM decides to give him is a front office that is doomed to fail.

[rammiser]

Well the "experts" who do study game tape and get paid, aren't really high on these players either. Most think these guys will be lucky to be a #3 WR. Which we really don't need.

If we needed depth I might be ok with these picks. But I think our strength is that we have a bunch of average WRs. So our 4th, 5th 6th WRs are better than most teams. Problem is, our #1 and 2 are worse than most teams.

This was a deep defensive draft. We could have been drafting future starters, instead of our #4, #5 WRs at best. Only way these guys move up is due to injury or if we cut someone.

Mcdaniels has to be having a big say in things. He likes to get rid of the offensive players the team already has and get his own guys. Problem is, he's not that good at evaluating talent.

What experts? Mel Kiper and Todd Mcshay? Ive heard nothing but good things from Gruden and Mariuchi about these two guys. Yes they actually were in the football game. So you think Mcdaniels came in and trumped Devaney and Spags? Come on man Devaney isnt stupid. Also just so you know while Mcdaniels was coahing in New England during all three of their Superbowls the wr's were Deion Branch,Troy Brown,David Patten and David Givens. Do you look at those guys and say wow man they were great wr's? I dont, if anything I say they were all mediocre. This system doesnt need Randy Moss and Terell Owens on the outside. Which is one of the reasons Mcdaniels let Marhsall go to Miami on top of the fact he was a head case. Some of the best wr's ever to play this game were 4.5 40 guys. I trust our front office to know more than most of the so called experts. Some where Chris Carter has a big smile on his face about both the guys the Rams drafted for wr's. After all Carter was too slow to succeed at wr.

[Goldenfleece]

Drafting a guard just because we need a guard simply does not improve the roster if the talent evaluators dont believe that the best available guard is better than what we have.

Of course, this makes sense. The surprising thing here is that this there wouldn't have been anyone at any of the numerous positions of need at which the marginal gains would have exceeded those at receiver. There was no safety significantly better than undrafted free agent Darien Stewart? No defensive tackle better than UDFA Gary Gibson? No OLB better than Bryan Kehl? No runningback better than Kenneth Darby?

I don't want to pan Salas the receiver prospect; he's good value in round 4. But this leaves us with a lot of unaddressed concerns on a defense that was below average even with Hall and Robbins finding the fountain of youth.

[PeoriaRam]

Im starting to get really confused here. Are they really THAT unhappy with what we have on the roster? I am starting to see a trend though. Big vertical possession wide receivers compared to the small speed guys we got on the roster. What I have a problem with is that this team still has a lot of needs, particularly at OG, OLD and both Safety positions. I hope they have plans to address them in FA.

Their names are James Butler and Craig Dahl. Which is why we're loading up on wideouts. We need to score to compensate for the inevitable long bombs they will surrender.

Adding guys who can catch the ball in traffic sounds great, but the Bennett debacle leaves me a little skittish about that particular wideout subspecies, and I think the biggest problem with our red zone offense is now Cleveland's head coach.

Still I wanted wideouts, and they got wideouts. Gilyard's gone for sure now, Gibson might be on the outside looking in, or Avery's comeback from injury could be even slower than he was indicating (and he said all his speed hasn't come back.)

[berg8309]

Of course, this makes sense. The surprising thing here is that this there wouldn't have been anyone at any of the numerous positions of need at which the marginal gains would have exceeded those at receiver. There was no safety significantly better than undrafted free agent Darien Stewart? No defensive tackle better than UDFA Gary Gibson? No OLB better than Bryan Kehl? No runningback better than Kenneth Darby?

Maybe not, and the draft position of current roster players make no difference what-so-ever. I mean, why shouldn't the Pats take Mallet? There has to be better talent than 6th round draft choice Tom Brady. That's a poor argument to say "This guy was undrafted, therefore there are players in the draft better than him"

For instance, this year is supposed to be horrific for safeties, so maybe there isn't one better. The Rams might be more interested in seeing who is on the free agent market later than taking a player in the 4th they don't like for the sake of having drafted a guy at a particular position.

[Goldenfleece]

Maybe not, and the draft position of current roster players make no difference what-so-ever. I mean, why shouldn't the Pats take Mallet? There has to be better talent than 6th round draft choice Tom Brady. That's a poor argument to say "This guy was undrafted, therefore there are players in the draft better than him"

For instance, this year is supposed to be horrific for safeties, so maybe there isn't one better. The Rams might be more interested in seeing who is on the free agent market later than taking a player in the 4th they don't like for the sake of having drafted a guy at a particular position.

I wouldn't use those examples if the guys had obviously outplayed their draft position. I didn't mention Vobora, for example, who was "Mr. Irrelevant" but has clearly shined beyond a seventh round grade. In my opinion, we might be starting a fair number of guys who wouldn't make it out of training camp on other teams.

[PeoriaRam]

For instance, this year is supposed to be horrific for safeties, so maybe there isn't one better. The Rams might be more interested in seeing who is on the free agent market later than taking a player in the 4th they don't like for the sake of having drafted a guy at a particular position.

To be fair, there are times when I think Def Leppard's drummer would be a better safety than Dahl or Butler.

[berg8309]

I wouldn't use those examples if the guys had obviously outplayed their draft position. I didn't mention Vobora, for example, who was "Mr. Irrelevant" but has clearly shined beyond a seventh round grade. In my opinion, we might be starting a fair number of guys who wouldn't make it out of training camp on other teams.

My point was just that adding where a player was drafted (or not drafted) has absolutely no bearing upon whether the team needs to upgrade or not, and seems like an attempt to skew the perception of a player's ability .