Rams' main issue is draft, not Linehan

[laram0]

Yeah But.......

If you want Linehan to cook the dinner he should be "involved" in buying the groceries.

[jkramsfan]

Yeah But.......

If you want Linehan to cook the dinner he should be "involved" in buying the groceries.

can't you picture him standing there at a stove with his hands on his hips and that blank stair as he tries to figure out how to turn it on,I know that has nothing to do with football but after LARAMS quote it made me think that.

[HUbison]

The Rams have had a lot of opportunities in the Draft - and blew a disproportionate amount.

I'd be curious to hear definitions for both "blew" and "disproportionate". Seems like there's a lot of wiggle room on both sides of that debate without establishing those definitions.

[jquarando]

The Rams' overall draft record is abysmal. They have drafted only four Pro Bowl
players since moving to St. Louis in 1995: offensive tackle Orlando Pace, wide
receiver Torry Holt, running back Steven Jackson, and cornerback Dre Bly (who
earned Pro Bowl honors after signing with Detroit).

For some reason I remember Little and Kevin Carter making pro bowls. We drafted those guys. Did he mean offensive pro bowlers? He mentioned dre bly, did dre bly play wide receiver? Sometimes I wonder if Bernie even follows stl sports.

[Tony Soprano]

I'd be curious to hear definitions for both "blew" and "disproportionate". Seems like there's a lot of wiggle room on both sides of that debate without establishing those definitions.

Top 12 (ish) picks Damione Lewis and Jimmy Kennedy - 1st Round Pick Robert Thomas
along with DE Hargrove immediately come to mind .

[39thebeast]

heres how we fix our drafting. What ahs been the most reliable 1st round position to draft recently?

Answer: Linebacker look at how well forst round LB's have done AJ Hawk, Ernie Simms, John Beason, Patrick Willis (leads league in tackles, Demeco Ryan (4th round)

we fix our problem by drafting James Laurantis and move spoon who would be a Juliann Peterson type of player on the outside plus its his natural postion

[chiguy]

It's not as if we haven't tried to address the offensive line. We took Dustin Fry in the 5th this year and Ken Shackleford in the 6th. The year before we picked up Mark Setterstrom (who became a starter for us) and Tony Palmer (who has played in 8 games for Green Bay in the last 2 years). We used a first round pick on Alex Barron the year before that.

So over three years we had three 6th rounders, a 5th rounder, and one 1st rounder on the offensive line. (By the way, you forgot Incognito...3rd round? I can't recall.) All this despite the fact that our QBs have been getting pummeled left and right over the years. That's especially true in the Martz offense where you needed good offensive linemen since you had minimal protection schemes. Color me unimpressed with this record.

Besides, I think that all of this is too little too late. We should've probably drafted a tackle sooner than we did and tried finding a guard or two earlier as well. Offensive line is a place where you constantly bring in players, improve depth, and have a lot of competition...more so than anywhere else, I think, because it is so fundamental. Take last year for example. We had a lot of cap space and a bunch of young guys on the line, some of whom might not be the real deal for one reason or another (Romberg, Terrell, Incognito). As far as we can tell, they never even made an attempt to get a guy like Eric Steinbach. I find that inexplicable given our youth on the line and the fact that we only saw decent play for the last eight games or so.

Just my two cents.

[HUbison]

Top 12 (ish) picks Damione Lewis and Jimmy Kennedy - 1st Round Pick Robert Thomas
along with DE Hargrove immediately come to mind .

Each of those guys contributed. Maybe they weren't pro bowlers, but they contributed. In this league, I'd say "blowing" a pick would be a Jacoby Shepard type pick where a high pick is spent on someone with little to no field time. But for sake of argument, let's say each of those 4 picks were "blown". Is 4 picks over 7 drafts "disproportionate"?

[txramsfan]

HUb, I do believe that they contributed but not in the way first round picks should. DLew and Kennedy were busts, but was Pickett? I don't think so. Thomas was a major bust.

However, look at how Thomas, DLew and Kennedy rated coming out of college? All were considered high draft picks by most services. They just didn't pan out. I don't think it has anything to do with the scouting, it's just the draft is such a crap shoot who knew?

C'mon Bulger being drafted late by New Orleans? Romo being drafted late by the Cowboys? Fletcher not being drafted at all? The draft is just not predictable.

[Goldenfleece]

So over three years we had three 6th rounders, a 5th rounder, and one 1st rounder on the offensive line. (By the way, you forgot Incognito...3rd round? I can't recall.) All this despite the fact that our QBs have been getting pummeled left and right over the years. That's especially true in the Martz offense where you needed good offensive linemen since you had minimal protection schemes. Color me unimpressed with this record.

Besides, I think that all of this is too little too late. We should've probably drafted a tackle sooner than we did and tried finding a guard or two earlier as well. Offensive line is a place where you constantly bring in players, improve depth, and have a lot of competition...more so than anywhere else, I think, because it is so fundamental. Take last year for example. We had a lot of cap space and a bunch of young guys on the line, some of whom might not be the real deal for one reason or another (Romberg, Terrell, Incognito). As far as we can tell, they never even made an attempt to get a guy like Eric Steinbach. I find that inexplicable given our youth on the line and the fact that we only saw decent play for the last eight games or so.

Just my two cents.

I agree with you that we need to be constantly bringing in players for the offensive line. I left out both Incognito (3rd round) and Terrell (4th round ), who were both drafted in the last three years in addition to the ones I named. It seems to me we have been drafting for the line, but we could do a better job of addressing it in free agency as well. Last year was a bad year for it because teams were awarding guards with record deals. Suddenly guys like Kris Dielman and Eric Steinbach were getting paid like Steve Hutchinson, who himself had gotten a bigger deal than any guard in NFL history.

[chiguy]

I agree with you that we need to be constantly bringing in players for the offensive line. I left out both Incognito (3rd round) and Terrell (4th round ), who were both drafted in the last three years in addition to the ones I named. It seems to me we have been drafting for the line, but we could do a better job of addressing it in free agency as well. Last year was a bad year for it because teams were awarding guards with record deals. Suddenly guys like Kris Dielman and Eric Steinbach were getting paid like Steve Hutchinson, who himself had gotten a bigger deal than any guard in NFL history.

Ah, I also forgot about Terrell (easy to do, huh). I agree that they got expensive last year, but the Rams had cap room to burn. And in hindsight, I think its clear that it would've been money well spent.

[ramsplaya16]

Anyone think theo epstien will come over from the redsox? Lol

[Bar-bq]

Bang on target.

You draft bad, you play bad. Our record has been just appaling. Look at the Chargers, who were last year, and are still this year starting 'home grown' players- they drafted them to be factors on their team.

If you can't do that, the bottom line is that you'd better be prepared to be dealing with some High picks.

Kennedy, Hargrove, Lewis, Archuleta, Thomas, Canidate, Fisher and Alston all on day one. I'd be surprised to see how many actually still are signed. I'd bet you could count it on three fingers.