Bernie Bytes: Brockers and the Rams strategy

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Originally Posted by NJ Ramsfan1

It's obvious we have very different viewpoints. I would have gladly taken one less future 1st round pick (the suggested Cleveland trade) and moved to #3 than take the Washington deal and moved to #6. We could have still gotten Blackmon (or even Richardson, for that matter) AND accumulated picks to build for the future. Of course what exactly Cleveland offered will never be known and it's now a moot point.

I don't understand what you guys don't get about this basic belief: It is easier to find a good, solid interior lineman in the latter rounds than it is to get a receiver who is regarded as a lethal offensive weapon for your 50 million dollar investment at the QB position. How can you not see the absolutely critical need (above all others, in my view) of getting Sam Bradford surrounded with high caliber help? Steve Smith? Austin Pettis? Please.

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Stephen Hill, Reuben Randle. Available at #33 and have the same exact career stats as Blackmon. They are also 6'3" and ran 4.4 seconds or faster forties. I loved Blackmon at #6. But he was not worth trading up, nor was he going to single handedly solve the problems with this team. I'll happily take Brockers and another starter when we can get Randle or Hill.

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Originally Posted by NJ Ramsfan1

It's obvious we have very different viewpoints. I would have gladly taken one less future 1st round pick (the suggested Cleveland trade) and moved to #3 than take the Washington deal and moved to #6. We could have still gotten Blackmon (or even Richardson, for that matter) AND accumulated picks to build for the future. Of course what exactly Cleveland offered will never be known and it's now a moot point.

I don't understand what you guys don't get about this basic belief: It is easier to find a good, solid interior lineman in the latter rounds than it is to get a receiver who is regarded as a lethal offensive weapon for your 50 million dollar investment at the QB position. How can you not see the absolutely critical need (above all others, in my view) of getting Sam Bradford surrounded with high caliber help? Steve Smith? Austin Pettis? Please.

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No. I wouldn't give one of our future 1st round picks. Cleveland wasn't going to give us more than Washington because they believed (and they were correct) that they would be able to get their guy for MUCH less by trading with Minnesota. We made a great trade with Washington. Jacksonville just swooped in and took the guy we wanted. It happens. The real loser there will likely be Blackmon. Jacksonville isn't exactly QB Town, USA.

As for getting good interior linemen in later rounds, sure, you can find them. But, why not take the guy you want.

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Originally Posted by tomahawk247

And they tried. If you read the piece elsewhere on this website you will see that. But the Cowboys wouldn't offer more.
So it comes down to whether you take Brockers at 6, or take him at 14 and get JUST and extra 2nd rounder.

The result we ended up with sounds good to me

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As I said earlier, the trade was made before we were on the clock. Seems to me we could've tried squeezing a bit harder. As I've stated, I'm not mad that we traded. I'm annoyed at how we traded. Had I been in the room, maybe my opinion would be different. However, I wasn't, so I'm just expressing my concern. As no one else here was in the room either, their opinion is no more or less valid. Just expressing.

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Originally Posted by HUbison

You would have passed up the Redskins trade for Blackmon?!

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i think the Redskins trade was the wrong choice. I stand by the fact that we should have taken clevelands offer.

I dont like the Brockers pick. I do not like it because it was a DT, rather I dont like that particular player at 14. This draft has too many DTs, and as such, we could have taken our run stopper later. At 14 i dont think any of the remaining WR merited that slot as well. I do think the highly touted Decastro would have been perfect there.

As it stands he went to Pitt- unbelievable how the rich get richer. We arent the Patriots who can afford to play draft roulette and trade up, down and all around as their system in NE jsut makes any players good.

My greatest fear is that we took Brockers too high, and at 14 would have rather had a more sure pick in someone like Decastro.

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Originally Posted by TekeRam

Stephen Hill, Reuben Randle. Available at #33 and have the same exact career stats as Blackmon. They are also 6'3" and ran 4.4 seconds or faster forties. I loved Blackmon at #6. But he was not worth trading up, nor was he going to single handedly solve the problems with this team. I'll happily take Brockers and another starter when we can get Randle or Hill.

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Are you stating that these 2 players had the same productivity that Balckmon had in college? Im pretty sure that Blackman posted more catches, TD, and yards than those 2.

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Originally Posted by HUbison

It's not often I get to say this, so take note........Bernie is absolutely 100% correct! I'll say it again: Bernie is absolutely 100% correct! Yes, Bernie, unfortunately it does. Some of these people just aren't getting it. That's not true, Bernie. By not selecting a WR with their first pick, Fishead has put the Earth in jeopardy of spinning backwards on its axis! No, no, no! Had this team added Blackmon or Floyd last night, Goodell would have simply handed over the Lombardi to Fisher, on the spot. Because we're fans; and we OBVIOUSLY know more about what the Rams need than the GM and Head Coach!

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Ahhh..Sarcasm! Better than a pot of coffee to start the day!

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Originally Posted by punahou

i think the Redskins trade was the wrong choice. I stand by the fact that we should have taken clevelands offer.

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That's an odd statement, since none of us know exactly what Cleveland offered.

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Originally Posted by punahou

I dont like the Brockers pick. I do not like it because it was a DT, rather I dont like that particular player at 14.

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And you are entitled to your opinion.

Of course Jeff Fisher, Les Snead and Mike Waufle are in complete disagreement with your particular opinion. But what do they know?

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Originally Posted by punahou

Are you stating that these 2 players had the same productivity that Balckmon had in college? Im pretty sure that Blackman posted more catches, TD, and yards than those 2.

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No, but they have had the same exact productivity in the career I was talking about... the NFL. Blackmon was in a spread offense. Randle and Hill were in run heavy and option offenses. Speaking of college careers is comparing apples to oranges. They're both fruit, but not the same. Randle was the #1 WR prospect coming out of high school. If you want to talk about places where they used to play, let's go back there.

Michael Brockers + Alshon Jeffery > Justin Blackmon.

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Originally Posted by NJ Ramsfan1

I don't understand what you guys don't get about this basic belief: It is easier to find a good, solid interior lineman in the latter rounds than it is to get a receiver who is regarded as a lethal offensive weapon for your 50 million dollar investment at the QB position. How can you not see the absolutely critical need (above all others, in my view) of getting Sam Bradford surrounded with high caliber help? Steve Smith? Austin Pettis? Please.

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Let me try:

I had Blackmon as our pick, would have loved to get him, biggest need no doubt. That being said he was not the only need we have several which we all agree. We could not afford to move up to get him we just couldn't too many needs.

Even if we could take a D lineman later, we would not get the additional second round pick needed to fill all those needs to be competitive now. You make it sound as if there will not be another WR like Blackmon in next years draft or the draft after that we have four first RD picks. How about we have 40 Mil in cap space. We can get a FA all pro receiver next year in free agency. It's a real possibility that we take a receiver in this draft has a great career as a Ram.

We are one of the worst run stopping teams in the NFL and we face Frank Gore and Marshawn Lynch in the west that we have to beat.... we had a need and we filled it.

For the last few years, the Rams haven't been very good. I don't believe many will argue with that observation.

Stan K. hired a proven head coach who garners respect from both players and other coaches. We have a new GM in Snead who received Fisher's blessing. Why not let these guys do their thing without second guessing their every move. Lord, we've only selected one player - ONE!

We have absolutely no idea of how Jeff & Les had their board stacked, nor do we know the exact parameters of criteria they relied on in stacking it up. As much as I enjoy reading everyone's posts here, I am glad Jeff and Les are making the picks.

I am really looking forward to rounds 2 & 3, and I'm confident we'll come away with a group of solid football players. The 2012 NFL draft is certainly not Jeff's first rodeo, and it will be interesting to see how Jeff goes about reconstructing the Rams thoughout the remainder of this draft.