He's not what Rams need, but Ginn is tough to ignore

[RamWraith]

By Jeff Gordon
STLTODAY.COM SPORTS COLUMNIST
Friday, Apr. 13 2007

We know what Mike Martz would do if HE were running the Rams draft room this
year. Mad Mike would be all over receiver/return specialist Ted Ginn Jr., the
explosive offensive talent from Ohio State.

Ginn is the Great X-Factor in the April 28-29 NFL Draft. He hasn’t fully
recovered from his foot injury, yet he still ran some 4.4 40s for scouts during
his Wednesday showcase.

When healthy, this man is one of those rare game-breakers. Mad Mike could not
have resisted his speed with the 13th overall pick in the draft.

But Martz is gone. This is Scott Linehan’s show now. He isn’t big on
four-receiver offensive sets.

His Rams have already swapped speed for size, landing rangy receiver Drew
Bennett and allowing Kevin Curtis to depart. His Rams have already made a big
investment in tight end Randy McMichael.

This team is committed to power running and a balanced offense built around
running back Steven Jackson. Ginn would seem to be a luxury, despite his vast
promise on kick returns -– a nagging Rams weakness since the glorious Tony
Horne/Az-Zahir Hakim Era.

Given his lack of size -– he is 5-foot-11, 178 pounds -– Ginn seems unlikely to
become a No. 1 or No. 2 receiver at this level. How could he hold up?

Would be the next Dante Hall or the next Desmond Howard?

The Bears were thrilled to draft Devin Hester, but that team didn’t have many
weaknesses. It could afford to take a specialist. The Rams are a .500 team in
need of sweeping improvement.

In this corner of cyberspace, it seems obvious that the Rams need to draft a
defensive tackle, defensive end or linebacker in the first round to add some
heft to the defense. NFL Draft experts expect the Rams to go that route and
most fans are demanding it.

The Rams can always draft a return specialist (again!) later in the draft and
hope for the best. Maybe they can get lucky in the third or fourth round.

Maybe they can fix their problem by fixing their return blocking, which has
been inconsistent at best.

And yet . . .

The Rams cannot ignore Ginn’s playmaking ability. Linehan went to Columbus for
Ginn’s workout, along with offensive coordinator Greg Olson, receivers coach
Henry Ellard, special teams coach Al Roberts and personnel czar Tony Softli.

“I saw it with my own eyes with Devin Hester last year on Monday Night
Football,” Linehan gushed to the Akron Beacon-Journal. “He changes games, he
affects games. (Ginn) is going to do the same things at the next level that
Devin is doing. What Devin did in college, (Ginn) has done here at Ohio State.
You have to game plan around a guy like that.”

So there will be some twitching in the war room as the first round unfolds. The
Rams will have to at least consider Ginn, just as they considered drafting
quarterback Jay Cutler last year before opting to trade down in the round to
select cornerback Tye Hill.

Should the Rams swing a deal for defensive tackle Kris Jenkins -– spending,
say, a second-round pick in the process -– then drafting Ginn would make more
sense.

But if the Rams don’t deal for Jenkins, the team absolutely, positively must
shore up its front seven with that first pick in the draft.

It could be defensive end/tackle Adam Carriker. Or defensive tackle Amobi Okoye
(if the team could trade up in the round). Or defensive end Jamaal Anderson. Or
defensive end Jarvis Moss. Or linebacker Patrick Willis.

The Rams need somebody capable of stepping into their playing rotation right
away. This team improved its depth in free agency, but didn’t add a big impact
defender.

In two weeks, the Rams need to start the draft by doing just that.

[laram0]

AHHHH the big " IF ". If the Rams trade for Jenkins??? Ginn makes more sense.


I agree, our return game needs alot of help and Linehan is comparing him to Devin Hester. Maybe Linehan is the best poker player ever or he will draft Ginn? Hmmmmm?

[Fortuninerhater]

The Rams would be foolish to draft Ginn with the 13th pick if he isn't going to be anything more than a 4th receiver. You can find a return man on the streets if that's what has coach Linehan so enamored.

The key to a good returner is good blocking. If you don't have that, it makes no difference who's back there.

[Bar-bq]

Mmmmm...

My favourite kind of smoke...

[ramsbruce]

Ginn is tough to ignore if your first need is a WR/KR, for the Rams he should be easy to ignore.

[ramsplaya16]

ginn is actually pretty easy to ignore....im doing it right now...lol

[AvengerRam]

I love the comment about how Martz would take Ginn.

Let's see... Mike Martz was the head coach for six Rams' drafts. In those drafts, how many times did he select a WR with a first round pick...

Hmmm.... oh, yeah... ZERO!!!

[RedArcher7]

But how many times did he take useless offensive players?

[BigGameMN]

By the looks of things he will NEVER recover from that sprained ankle/foot he got back in January. I mean come on. Toughness has got to be an issue for this guy. You can't have him spraining an ankle and missing 2 seasons.

[AvengerRam]

But how many times did he take useless offensive players?

In the first round?

Let's see:

2000 Trung Canidate - useless offensive player
2001 D.Lewis, A.Archuleta, R.Pickett - all defensive players
2002 Robert Thomas - defensive player
2003 Jimmy Kennedy - defensive player
2004 Steven Jackson - STUD offensive player
2005 Alex Barron - solid offensive player

So, Martz selected 3 offensive players with his 8 first round picks, 1 is a Pro Bowl player, 1 is a solid player with HUGE upside, and one was a bust.

Yeah, Martz really was into wasting first round picks on bad offensive players.

This concludes this week's episode of "Sportswriters Talking Out Of Their Posteriors."

[Bar-bq]

This concludes this week's episode of "Sportswriters Talking Out Of Their Posteriors."

Next week-- "Sportswriters talking Out Of Their Anterior Cruciate Ligaments"

Be sure to stay tuned at 8:30 for "When Doughnuts Go Bad"