3 Questions For Anyone Who Thought The Rams Should Have Taken Maualuga

[AvengerRam]

1. How many hours of game film (specially edited to show Maualuga's play) did you watch?

2. What did you think about Rey's personality and demeanor when you had your private meeting with him?

3. After speaking with other pro scouts and coaches, what do you think the main reason was that every team with a first round pick passed on him?

[AvengerRam]

Anyone...?

Anyone....?

[bruce4life]

I didn't care which MLB we picked. In my opinion we could not go wrong with either of them. Since I am from Southern California and watched numerous games a year to see that REy will be a player in the NFL. Our boy James on the other hand was a machine in college. I dont think we could of made a misktake

[SJacks039]

I'm not saying laurinitis is a bad pick. Actually, I am really excited about him. I just thought that Mauluga was the consensus choice between Laurinitis and him, but i guess I was wrong. I trust Spags and DeVaney and trust in their pick. I don't think we were wrong either way.

[AvengerRam]

That's the point, really.

If the Rams had selected Mauluga, I would have been fine with the choice, given that the Rams Front Office watched a ton of game films (I didn't), met with Maualuga in a pre-draft visit (I didn't) and had the opportunity to speak with other coaches and scouts (I didn't).

The fact that they did all those things and still passed on Rey (along with every other team in the top 37 picks), means there was something they saw or heard that they did not like.

That's good enough for me.

[Chris58]

Like SJacks says, either one would have been a great choice. I too saw lots of PAC 10 games the last two years and Rey never failed to impress. As to a personal interview and what the other scouts/coaches told me, I know you're being cute by half AV, so I can't answer those. But something Rey said/did must have sent off bells. As to why the others fell in line to let him drop, I don't care much. Just look at the herd mentality that goes on in the stock market by so-called geniuses.

Barring injury, I think Rey will be a great NFL player. So will Laurinatis. Glad we got him.

[Irishrover40]

I totally agree with AV. The selection we took IS really the only selection deemed appropiate. I heard that were some "character" issues. True or not, as AV said, AND I took notice of that on Saturday, Rey had some 37 chances to be drafted before he was finally selected and was bypassed completely our of the 1st round Ya just have to say that just maybe a whole bunch of people just saw something that us fans, totally knowledgeable or not, that got them to pull back and move on---enough said!!!!

[RamsInfiniti]

It's amazing how a guy like Laurinaitis is "rated lower" than Maulauga despite the fact that it continually gets noted that Laurinaitis can play all three downs, is a leader, consistent, is good in pass coverage, a reliable tackling machine, and has no character issues ...

I guess Maulauga gets that higher grade because he hits harder ... I guess his potential character issues, inconsistencies, low wonderlic score, questions about his three down abilities, and inability to name the vice president of the U.S. don't factor in ...

HE'S A HARD HITTER!! WHAT WERE WE THINKING!!! GEEZ!!! LAURINAITIS SUCKS BECAUSE HE DOESN'T HIT HARD ENOUGH ....

[AvengerRam]

At the risk of treading onto dangerous ground, I wonder how many people would have different opinions if Laurinaitis was the long-haired, bearded Somoan, and Mauluga was the clean-shaven, blonde (when not shaved) haired Caucasian.

[39thebeast]

From what I hear when scouts really scrutinized the tape he made alot of mistakes that were covered up by his elite supporting cast. That is what really made him drop not the character concerns

[Mooselini]

I preferred Lauranaitis over him towards the end. I'm glad we got him

[Ramblin` Ram]

my theory is that the peeps who think Rey is the better MLB are the ones who used to believe that Roy Williams was a great safety..

[MoonJoe]

At the risk of treading onto dangerous ground, I wonder how many people would have different opinions if Laurinaitis was the long-haired, bearded Somoan, and Mauluga was the clean-shaven, blonde (when not shaved) haired Caucasian.

To be perfectly honest I had not heard of Laryngitis until draft day. He wasn't on the list of players we had invited in and because I too live in the greater LA area I really knew about Maualuga. I would taken either one though based on scouting reports that I saw. And as far as the Samoan issue, none of that is important to me. I grew up in South Torrance (South of LA and near Carson where a lot of Samoans have settled) and they are equal to any other race of human being that decides to play football in my book. I base my pick's on the heart of the player and I think they both have a lot of heart.

Joe

[tomahawk247]

i remember Laurinaitis from seeing a 2009 mock draft near the start of the 2008 season, and he was a top 3 pick alongside Andre Smith

[RAMarkable]

To be perfectly honest I had not heard of Laryngitis

Laryngitis...? Heh, that's pretty funny Joe. Of course, it's rather difficult for anyone to hear from someone with "laryngitis". And after that one all I know is that its getting late and time to go home.

WHAT SAY YE?