What Draft Strategy Do You Currently Favor?

[AvengerRam]

This is kind of a follow-up to the McFadden thread.

Which draft strategy would you favor if the draft was this week?

[moloch41]

I would pick "Other", but it's going to depend on how the season ends and what other teams are in the Top 5. If we could trade down and still get Jake Long, i would favor that. If not, I think we should stay put and select him.

[TekeRam]

Choosing Jake Long means one of 3 things. Pace or Barron can no longer start and we have a cap hit to swallow either through their high salary to not start or by trading. Jake Long will eat up huge cap space while not starting. We use one of three highly rated tackles who have high cap numbers to play guard.

I refuse to think that Pace is done until he tells me so.

Now, I choose best DE available, because i feel that is Chris Long, Howie's kid and is a Peyton Manning for DE's. Little needs someone who can take the double away from him, or someone who can thrive while he's getting doubled. We have a strong inside now in Ryan and AC. Give me Long and we'll give the Offesnive Coordinators hell!

Spend the money on a free agent lineman or two, and get a couple guys later in the draft.

[moloch41]

Choosing Jake Long means one of 3 things. Pace or Barron can no longer start and we have a cap hit to swallow either through their high salary to not start or by trading. Jake Long will eat up huge cap space while not starting. We use one of three highly rated tackles who have high cap numbers to play guard.

I refuse to think that Pace is done until he tells me so.

Now, I choose best DE available, because i feel that is Chris Long, Howie's kid and is a Peyton Manning for DE's. Little needs someone who can take the double away from him, or someone who can thrive while he's getting doubled. We have a strong inside now in Ryan and AC. Give me Long and we'll give the Offesnive Coordinators hell!

Spend the money on a free agent lineman or two, and get a couple guys later in the draft.

I would have to see who the FA lineman are this year. I think Jake Long is a keeper and would be a good replacement for Barron- who might be able to play one of the guard positions better than he does the tackle, but who knows. I don't think Pace is done just yet. He's had some unfornuate injuries in recent years, but I don't necessarily think it's a sign of things to come even know those things usually don't get better with age. Besides, I don't think his play has declined all that much over recent years.

Does anyone know who the FA DE's and OT's are going to be this year? I know that can change with the Franchise Tag and stuff, but as of now- do you know who they are?

[PossumBoy9]

If we could trade down and still get Jake Long, i would favor that. If not, I think we should stay put and select him.

Long is quickly becoming one of the most overrated prospects I can remember by some fans.

[jquarando]

Does anyone know who the FA DE's and OT's are going to be this year? I know that can change with the Franchise Tag and stuff, but as of now- do you know who they are?[/quote]

I got this from footballs future.
FA OT's:

OT Nat Dorsey UFA Cleveland Browns
OT Trai Essex RFA Pittsburgh Steelers
OT Cory Lekkerkerker RFA San Diego Chargers
OT Sean Locklear UFA Seattle Seahawks
OT Todd Steussie UFA St. Louis Rams
OT Travelle Wharton UFA Carolina Panthers

FA DE's

Jared Allen, UFA, Kansas City Chiefs
Justin Smith, UFA, Cincinnati Bengals
Mike Rucker, UFA, Carolina Panthers
Terrell Suggs, UFA, Baltimore Ravens

Looks like the tackles available would be depth chart fillers. The DE's out there will prolly be resigned or tagged just like last year.

[jquarando]

I chose other cause I want the rams to win. Winning is fun. Even with that strategy i see us winning about 4 games keeping us in the top ten. With that pick I would get Kenny Phillips if he is available. Watching this guy everyone once and a while on saturday was pretty exciting and reading scouting reports says he is a good pick and drafting between 8 and 10 that wouldnt be to early to take a safety.

Does anyone know how they determine the draft order for the remaining rounds?

[keith m. klink]

i said trade down , we need some help , now this is the thing , from now until april , alot of things change , especially who is going to be drafted and where. last year at this time ADAM CARREKER was slated at the 3rd rd , so things change . BUT the most important things in this draft for the rams are .

1st. if the rams finish in the top 5 -7 , they need a starter at DE or TACKLE . don't worry about the PACE- BARRON situation . if we don't get the very best O-TACKLE , than we better get the best DE .

2nd . goes the same as the first . as it goes right now , concensus is JAKE LONG-T , or CHRIS LONG-DE. ( this is just for now ) the rams need to walk away with one or the other , and the second round has to follow suit.

[moloch41]

Long is quickly becoming one of the most overrated prospects I can remember by some fans.

I really do think he's probably the best OT in college right now. I watch a lot of Michigan games and they seem to get most of their yds when they run behind him. As for whether or not he's worth the Overall #1- I'm not sure. But I do think he's going to be taken in the Top 5.

[jquarando]

1st. if the rams finish in the top 5 -7 , they need a starter at DE or TACKLE . don't worry about the PACE- BARRON situation . if we don't get the very best O-TACKLE , than we better get the best DE .

At least if we bring in the best OT we can bring in someone to compete with barron. Maybe some competition would push him to become the tackle we need him to be.

[keith m. klink]

hey , if he can't show he can be that tackle , then there is no reason he couldn't be the 3rd tackle : ala : todd stuissie . until he decided he needed to work to be a starter . we need another franchise/ long term tackle on this team , and this year proved that beyond any doubt .

[BigGameMN]

I voted to stay in the top 5 and take the best available. We have some major holes (DE, OL, S, LB, WR) so I don't think we can just target one position. Also you can put me in the Jake Long is way overated camp. Also his stock is falling. He may be another Alan Branch.

[txramsfan]

i said trade down , we need some help , now this is the thing , from now until april , alot of things change , especially who is going to be drafted and where. last year at this time ADAM CARREKER was slated at the 3rd rd , so things change . BUT the most important things in this draft for the rams are .

1st. if the rams finish in the top 5 -7 , they need a starter at DE or TACKLE . don't worry about the PACE- BARRON situation . if we don't get the very best O-TACKLE , than we better get the best DE .

2nd . goes the same as the first . as it goes right now , concensus is JAKE LONG-T , or CHRIS LONG-DE. ( this is just for now ) the rams need to walk away with one or the other , and the second round has to follow suit.

It's difficult to trade down in today's NFL. How about Laurenitis? (sp)

[RamOfDenmark]

I would stay in the top 5 and select the best DE available. It looks to me like the Leonard Little era is coming to an end - and without him on top of his game we have absolutely ZERO pass-rush and that will make it very hard for the defense to improve overall.

Another thing is the fact that standout DE's NEVER hit the free agent market anymore, they are always locked up in long-term deals or tagged when their contracts expire, so we can forget FA for filling that need. All teams know how crucial that position is, after QB I would generally say DE is the most important position on a football team. We need new talent at DE more than anything else in my opinion.

I would also consider trading down for more picks, but that is hard to pull off sometimes, you need to find the right partner and all that. But if the offer was attractive enough then that would be a good option too.

[BigGameMN]

I would stay in the top 5 and select the best DE available. It looks to me like the Leonard Little era is coming to an end - and without him on top of his game we have absolutely ZERO pass-rush and that will make it very hard for the defense to improve overall.

Another thing is the fact that standout DE's NEVER hit the free agent market anymore, they are always locked up in long-term deals or tagged when their contracts expire, so we can forget FA for filling that need. All teams know how crucial that position is, after QB I would generally say DE is the most important position on a football team. We need new talent at DE more than anything else in my opinion.

I would also consider trading down for more picks, but that is hard to pull off sometimes, you need to find the right partner and all that. But if the offer was attractive enough then that would be a good option too.

It scares me when a team (especially mine!) targets one position and takes the best player at said position. That is how busts occur.