Rams facing hard decisions for NFL draft
By Bryan Burwell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Friday, Mar. 28 2008
On the surface, the notion of drawing the second pick in the NFL draft sounds
like one of those can't-miss, bulletproof positions any team would love to be
in. But looks can be deceiving.
As we draw within a month of the NFL's annual talent lottery, the unsettling
draft history of the Rams makes you wonder if they'll turn an ideal situation
into a blessing or a curse.
In a draft that is supposedly deep in talent and top-heavy in star quality,
theoretically you would think the Rams couldn't go wrong. Yet who knew being
No. 2 could be so complicated? Until now, there has been a great debate about
not only who will still be there, but also what position player (offensive
line, defensive line, running back) makes the most sense. Add to that
confusion, the intrigue provided by the Miami Dolphins' new team president Bill
Parcells, who traditionally loves being wildly unpredictable and purposely
secretive, and you have the sort of volatile mixture of uncertainty that makes
you wonder just how many ways things could go wrong for the Rams.
Fortunately, though, there's a new twist that could make the Rams' decision a
lot less complicated than anyone could have expected. If LSU's brilliant
defensive tackle, Glenn Dorsey, is as healthy as he looked in his Pro Day
workout two days ago, Rams executives can stop wondering about what to do with
the second pick. If Dorsey has a clean bill of heath — and right now it appears
that he does — the 6-foot-1, 297-pound All-America may have elevated his status
to the point where the Rams can't afford to pass him by.
For all the bluffing that Parcells is bound to do over the next three weeks,
the reality is, Dorsey does not fit the bulky profile of a 3-4 run-stuffer that
Parcells traditionally prefers to anchor his interior line. So unless the
Dolphins can trade the pick to a team that desperately craves Dorsey, Miami
likely will go after Virginia's defensive end Chris Long. And then the guessing
game begins for Rams fans, who have spent the entire winter fretting over what
the "new" decision makers at Rams Park will do.
First of all, let's eliminate the one thing they can't do.
It has been said before, but it's worth repeating: It would be beyond idiotic
to draft
Darren McFadden unless they're certain he's the next coming of Jim Brown, Barry
Sanders and Emmitt Smith all rolled into one. It would be a tremendous waste of
a high pick to invest in a running back because they already have a young and
frighteningly talented one in
Steven Jackson, who just might be the second- or
third-best yardage producer in football in this new Al Saunders offense.
So that leaves the Rams with some difficult choices, and at this point in this
franchise's history, these are choices they can't afford to blow. That
No. 2 pick better be an immediate starter and the sort of player who quickly
becomes a dominant star in the league. If the Rams believe offensive tackle
Jake Long is the second-best player in the draft, then they should by all means
take him regardless of how many offensive tackles they already have. If they're
convinced he's that valuable, he can play guard for a few years until Orlando
Pace retires. But from all indications, there's no way Jake Long would be rated
higher than a healthy Dorsey on many NFL draft boards.
And after Dorsey's impressive workout in Baton Rouge two days ago, if Dorsey
isn't regarded as the Rams' best bet, it can only be because of bad medical
evaluations on his healing knees or legs. After that Dorsey workout in front of
a building full of NFL coaches, scouts and personnel executives, most of them
left breathless, convinced Dorsey had returned to his place as the best athlete
in the draft. More than one set of eyes who was at the Dorsey workout said
privately that he looked like the kind of player who could become another young
Warren Sapp.
The new-look Rams front office under Billy Devaney's rule needs to come out of
the box strong, but if you think drafting this high in the first round makes
Devaney's job easier, guess again. There are no guarantees in the draft,
particularly at that second pick. Over the past six drafts, the No. 2 position
has provided a mix of hits (Julius Peppers, Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush, Ronnie
Brown) and colossal misses (Robert Gallery, Charles Rogers).
Blessing or curse? One month to go until we find out.
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