Morris Claiborne is headed to Tampa Bay after receiving 86% of the votes for the #5 pick. Justin Blackmon was a distant second with 6%. So far the draft is going according to general thinking, with the top five looking like this:
#1 Indianapolis Colts – Andrew Luck (QB, Stanford)
#2 Washington Redskins – Robert Griffin III (QB, Baylor)
#3 Minnesota Vikings – Matt Kalil (OT, USC)
#4 Cleveland Browns – Trent Richardson (RB, Alabama)
#5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Morris Claiborne (CB, LSU)
Let’s move on to St. Louis at #6…
With Justin Blackmon still on the board, most people would expect the Rams to draft the Oklahoma State wide receiver. I still believe it’s quite high for a player not comparable to AJ Green or Julio Jones in terms of physical potential, but Sam Bradford needs a legitimate target. Blackmon has a lot of body control and enjoyed mass-production in college. He’ll tend to have one ugly mistake per game, but he’s also very competitive with that ‘alpha male’ streak you want in a top receiver.
With two picks early in round two, the Rams need to weigh up whether they can still find a top receiver later on. Of the other options listed here, no others scream better value than Blackmon. Expect the Rams to contemplate further trade options to accumulate more picks ahead of a major rebuild.
If they don’t move down and just aren’t interested in Blackmon, Jeff Fisher could look to bolster both lines. They need an interior defensive line presence to compliment the edge rushers they’ve drafted in recent years. Dontari Poe could be asked to lose weight to fit into a three-technique role in the NFL – it might actually be his best position. I prefer Fletcher Cox as a pure 3-4 end, but he could still receive interest in the 4-3. Riley Reiff is the best tackle left on the board and would provide a book-end for Roger Saffold. Right tackle at #6? Seems a bit of a luxury, but Fisher always had great offensive lines in Tennessee.
Just seems to make sense for Blackmon to be the pick
If they’re going to commit to Bradford (which the trade with Washington indicates), they have to get him some playmakers to help him out.
Seems a little high for Blackmon but none of the other options seem to make as much sense…if they do decide to go WR is there any chance they have Floyd higher on their board or is that just crazy talk?
Take Blackmon or trade down.
Trading down makes sense, and I’m sure there will be at least one team that will love to trade up in order to get Blackmon, overpaying just a little bit.
I think the trade down route is extremely likely.
I can see them going OT to protect Bradford, with the two early picks in rnd 2, there are still plenty of playmaker WR’s on the board.
Strong draft for both WR and OL. Although I think the WR pool is deeper. The WR pool is also kind of weird. There seems to be a very flat talent curve on it this year. It is even probable that a guy taken in round 2 could vault over the #6 overall WR pick and be better even with a single offseason’s development.
For LTs, this doesn’t appear to be the case. There are a few LT prospects in this draft Reiff is a marginal but legitimate LT prospect. I think if the Rams are thinking WR and OT at the top of the draft, they will end up with better results if they focus on OT first. The difference between Reiff at 6 and whomever they have available at 33 is going to be greater than the difference between Blackmon and whatever WR is available at 33.
Food for thought though. Might St. Louis’ #33 be a possible trade scenario for us? Should St. Louis take Reiff, might they want to move up back into round one to take Floyd at 12? St. Louis does have a lot of pick in the next few seasons. Swap say our 2012 #1 and 2013 #4/#5 for Rams 2012 #2 and one of 2013s #1?
I voted for Fletcher Cox. The Rams play in a league with some serious run-first teams. They got beat up all last year by lynch, gore and the beanie wells, all of whom rushed for over 1000 yards. This is the way the NFC West seems to be developing. With six games against division opponents that run the ball hard each year, I have to believe that the Rams will seriously consider an elite DT like Cox. WR is a VERY deep class this year, and there is a plethora of talented WR that will be waiting at the top of round two. Take your pick.
I absolute agree with caleb on this one. I thought the Rams have invested a lot in the oline recently and other than a back to work with they have to be thinking defensively cbs and run stopping players alike. They were horrible against the run. Yes Bradford needs help but theres way to many points being scored to make Jackson usable anyways.
Am I the only one who could see Jeff Fischer taking a chance on Michael Floyd?
JF has taken chances on character issues before, and Floyd has the size, strength and speed to be a #1 WR in the NFL, even more than Blackmon, IMO.
Tyler Wilson stock just took a hit. I suspect he will have a new offense to learn this year. Maybe we can get him on the cheap. Then again, he is very much like Flynn, so why bother.
Fletcher Cox for all the reasons Caleb said plus he is going to be a monster at the next level. If Coples and Upshaw are gone, he is easily my choice at #12 for the Seahawks.
They should probably pick a receiver in the first and a defensive tackle in the second. Because the top four wide receivers will be gone by the time they get a second pick. It seems like you can pick a defensive tackle later because the premium is on defensive ends that can rush the passer. So I would wait for the second or third and get a DT and DE then.
I like how people say Justin Blackmon is not as good as Julio Jones or A.J Green, yet he won the Biletnikoff award even when they were playing college ball at the same time. Seems funny to me…
Yes Kevin, However there is a problem with saying that Blackmon is as good as Jones of Green simply because he won the award. We have a player on our team (Golden Tate) who won the award and he was not drafted by us until the 60th pick in the draft. Now Jones and Green where both still Jones and Green that year and Tate beat out all three of these guys for the Biletnikoff award. Does this mean automatically that he is a better Pro Receiver that Green and Jones, and is better than Blackmon will be? I think based on two years of Tate you can allready figure out who is better out of the three that are al.ready pro.
All that said, I have no opinion as to whether Blackmon or Floyd are better, I just want to warn you of using college awards as a sign of great NFL success. Reggie Bush (though it was taken back) was the Heisman. Leinart as well (correct?), and wasn’t Tebow. I believe that Our wonderful Linebacker that did some horrible play on the football field, Curry was the Butkus Award winner. All of these players minus Tebow have done nothing worthy of mention in the NFL. Tebow has done nothing truly worthy of mention at the QB position, but as a kind of glorified H back Full Back, QB hybrid winning games in the final minutes but was traded for next to nothing by the team that he did do well for.
Floyd or Blackmon.
College awards don’t mean squat in the NFL. See: Michael Hass, Golden Tate, Michael Crabtree, Braylon Edwards, Antonio Bryant, and Charles Rogers.
Yes, I looked up who they were. Big names, lots of misses.
This is where the draft will start to get interesting. Everyone is assuming the Rams will pick WR, OT, or DT. I agree with that assessment, but which way they go here could very well influence the next several picks, and perhaps a few rds.
If they take Blackmon, Floyd could go to Miami or Buffalo, and that could start a run on the top WRs. The best 5 or 6 might get taken in the first rd alone.
If they take Cox, Poe, or Brockers, there could be a similar run on DTs in the later parts of rd 1. All three of them as well as Still, Worthy, Thompson, Ta;Amu, and Chapman could be gone by the middle of rd 2.
If they take Rieff or Martin, or maybe even DeCastro, start saying goodbye to all the O linemen in a hurry. There are a lot of teams with this need.
I honestly think Floyd has a chance to be drafted ahead of Blackmon. I like them both a lot.
The problem with this mock draft is it is following the groupthink that is published on every site. This draft is as likely to fall this way as a typical March Madness tournament is to have all 4 number 1 seeds make it to the final four. The challenge is figuring out where does the upset happen? It is tough to know what Mike Holmgren is holding close to his vest, for example. Of these first picks I think the upset is most likely to be at number 4 with Holmgren eschewing Richardson for Blackmon, Claiborne, or even the mystery choice behind door #3–like Tannehill or even Floyd.
I’m with the DT bandwagon on this one. Theres no guideline to go by being a new head coach and GM duo. But I remember Fischer having a guy named Haynesworth and I think he liked him, just not the attitude. And I believe the Rams need more help on the defensive side. Remember they have a 3 season draft plan now and DTs take the longest to acclimate to the NFL.
Rob or Kip- whoevers doing these I think you should have a 5th choice on all of these being a trade out of spot.
The thing is BJA – what do we do if people vote for trade out? It’s just a basic mock format where people vote, we’d then have to vote on who trades up and why.
Thanks for your comment, Belgaron, I agree 100%. The most surprising result would be for nothing surprising to happen. And pick #4 is a volcanic hot-spot for a surprise in the top ten.
Anyway, I voted Blackmon here, cuz I can’t see any surprises happening here. Yes, the defense could use help, but for once the national punditry is right: they have to protect their investment in Bradford and give him a weapon or he will continue backsliding.
I wish Floyd had been included in the vote though. I’d be curious to see how many votes he’d peel off.
Rob- People say they think they are going to trade out anyways. I get what your saying but thats only if trading out gets the most votes, and if most the people here think that shouldnt it be a consideration? You dont need to change anything else, just go through each team at each spot and if someone thinks thats where the trade is they can just leave it in the comment section, i guess its just so if someone gets it exactly right they got proof lol.
I like Blackmon, but there have been so many busts coming from pass happy college programs if it was me I dont know if I could pull the trigger. If Ryan Tannehill is going early in the draft could get interesting at this spot if Miami is targeting Tannehill and if anyone wants to get ahead of the Fins then St Louis would have the trade partner. But thats the only real trade potential i see developing for the Rams.
If they see Reiff as a All-Pro LT he could be the pick. But I’ve never seen Fisher take a tackle this high or even in the first round.