Mock Draft

[msha]

First post here in a while. I love mock draft season and will rpobably spend more time here now that the Rams will have a good spot in the draft. I won't predeict who the new coach and GM will be, but Spags and Billy D. are done in St. Louis. I've heard the A.J. Smith and Jon Gruden rumor and wouldn't be opposed to it. But this draft will assume we stay put and have the 2nd overall pick.

Resign:
Brit Miller
Brandon Lloyd (A MUST!!!!)
Danny Amendola
Gary Gibson
Chris Chamberlain
Bryan Kehl
Darian Stewart
Donnie Jones

Cut or Let Walk:
Jason Brown
Jacob Bell
Josh Brown
Justin King

Restructure Jason Smith's Contract

Sign:
Dennis Dixon (Steelers have Dixon, Batch, and Leftwich as FAs, they won't keep everyone)
Jacob Tamme
Cortland Finnegan (don't like him, but he's good; and it seems Bartell won't make it back)

Rd. 1 – Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State
I think this pick has to be Justin Blackmon whether we re-sign Lloyd or not. Blackmon is the elite WR that Bradford and the offense need. Kalil would be nice, but he can't directly cause us to score more than 10 points a game next year.

Rd. 2 – Jerel Worthy, DT, Michigan State
Every year first round talent falls into the second round. This year it could be Brandon Thompson, Peter Konz, Zach Brown, or Dant'a Hightower. I'll go with the most likely to fall to us with the run-stuffing Worthy. He could start right away and help solidify the 32nd ranked run D.

Rd. 3 – Levy Adcock, OT, Oklahoma State
Here's where we start to adress the O-Line. Blackmon's teammate at OSU has given their potent offense plenty of time to throw, and he should do the same here as our starting right tackle.

Rd. 4 – Mike Brewster, C, Ohio State
And more offensive line picks. I've seen him projected anywhere from the 2nd to the 5th round. With at least Konz and Ben Jones ahead of him at the position, Brewster could fall to the beginning of the fourth round. He can sit and learn for a little on the bench and eventually become our starting center for the future.

Rd. 5 – Cyrus Gray, RB, Texas A&M
Backup RB has always been a need for the Rams. They just don't have the luxury of drafting one in the earlier rounds. Gray had a nice career at Texas A&M and should be able to back up Jackson from day one.

Rd. 7 – Case Keenum, QB, Houston
Why not? The record setting QB had a great career at Houston and got some Heisman talk this year. He didn't lead Houston to a BCS bowl this year, but still led the Cougars to a 12-1 record. He's worth a late round flyer here.

QB: Bradford / Dixon / Keenum
RB: Jackson / Gray / open
FB: Miller
WR: Lloyd / Blackmon / Amendola / Salas / Pettis
TE: Kendricks / Tamme / Hoomanawanui
LT: Saffold
LG: Smith
C: Wragge / Brewster
RG: Dahl
RT: Adcock

DE: Long / Sims
DT: Worthy / Gibson
DT: Bannan / Robbins
DE: Quinn / Hall
OLB: Chamberlain
MLB: Laurinaitis
OLB: Hull / Kehl
CB: Fletcher / Gordy
FS: Mikell
SS: Stewart / Dahl
CB: Finnegan / Murphy

K: open
P: Jones
KR: Pettis or Salas
PR: Miller?

Feel free to debate, criticize, compliment, anything.

[Rambunctious]

I really like 99% of this mock. Not a fan of Finnegan but I won't deny he is talented.

[sosa39rams]

Nice mock. We actually dont have a 5th round pick and we do have a 6th, you got that mixed up.

[msha]

Thanks. I'm not a huge fan of Finnegan either, really. We just really need some help at CB for next year. As for the 5th or 6th round pick, I did mix that up. If Gray wouldn't fall to the 6th, we could look at a guy like Dan Herron at RB for Ohio State or a speed guy like Jeff Demps at Florida.

[TylerBishop]

Unrealistic.

First, no way Smith restructures in a beneficial way for 2012. Why would he? The best you could expect there is him taking a huge bonus in '12 and being an FA in '13, but that hurts our cap in a year we need to rebuild

Second we need to move a way from this "that'll do" mentality. We need to be striving to get better everywhere.

I like Lloyd a lot but if MCD is gone so is he.

Brit Miller is a mediocre fullback, at best, I would let him battle it out in training camp for a minimum contract.

Gibson and Kehl can find another place to live. They are JAG talent and can go meet up with Spags somewhere else.

I'll resign Stewart he is ascending and appears to be an NFL starter in the right system.

Donnie Jones makes too much and doesn't kick the way modern punters do. He also is responsible for not kicking to the sidelines in some of the Peterson TD's this year...CUT!

Chamberlein can stay fro a backup and ST position, but he's not a starter

Amendola stays as a slot guy, he's a stud.

As for the FA's..

Tamme is like the second coming of Bajema. He can't block good and is a marginal athlete. Peyton made him look good one year...buyer don't bother.

I like Finnegan and so does Tenn. he will be resigned.

I don't mind Dixon, Ill take however the new coach feels knows the system the best. Dixon doesn't bring something special I'm looking for, so why plan on him.

As for the draft...

Love Blackmon, but we should probably do everything we can to trade down to get him. Scouts say he is not Julio Jones level talent, I disagree, but if that's the perception he may not be #2 overall worthy. So we may be able to get him at a better value.

Worthy is a good pick if he's available

Adcock is also a god pick if available. many scouts give him a 2nd round grade. We all know how the draft goes though.

I also don't mind Brewster and Gray . Ok depth hopefully, no diamonds in the rough though.

Kennum, I don't think you have to draft a QB go get an undrafted FA or two for 3rd stringer. You may cut them anyway so why waste a pick (classic Rams style)

[msha]

I think J. Smith would restructure his contract. He'll either have to take a pay cut here or take one somewhere else. If he doesn't take one here, then so be it. We can cut our losses and get rid of him. I made this before I heard Lloyd's comments, so he's probably gone. But if we wants to stay, I'd still take him. Miller may be mediocre but I don't want to spend a mid round pick on a FB or give the money that it would take to get a good FA (still don't know why we got rid of Karney, Jax loved him). Gibson and Kehl are both backups on here. They are certainly not long term solutions for their respective positions. We agree on Stewart. I actually do agree with you about Donnie Jones, I just don't know who to put there. I would love to wait for LSU's punter Brad Wing, he's a playmaker who even (should have) scored a TD this year called back for taunting. I agree Chamberlain isn't the solution, but it's hard to give us new starters every position. As for Tamme, we have to get a backup somewhere. He showed flashes with Manning and should be an upgrade to Spach and he's shown more than Bajema. Finnegan might not leave, but neither of us can be certain. Maybe he'd come here if Fisher is the new HC. Dixon has upside and Pitt can't keep all their backup QBs, why not take a flyer on someone. And if Fisher is the new HC, I hope he doesn't bring VY or Kerry Collins. I'd love to trade down too, but not too far. I don't buy Cle. trading up to get RG3. I don't know if Brewster or Gray are diamonds in the rough and I'm pretty sure you don't know either. If we could find the diamonds in the rough, maybe we'd be the new GM. As for Keenum, I don't think it's a waste of a pick. Houston was great with him, sucked without him when he was hurt. We may cut any player we draft in the 7th round, too. We'll have to "waste" that pick on someone I guess.