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Rams’ Picks So Far a Bit Confusing

Whew!  The first day of the 2008 NFL draft is finally over!  And a much-anticipated day it was.

Once the Dolphins answered the question of who was going to be the first pick overall earlier in the week, attention shifted to the Rams.  Would they select Chris Long, Vernon Gholston, Glen Dorsey, or even Darren McFadden, or would they make a trade-down deal with Kansas City, New Orleans, or Atlanta?  New Orleans created a bit of a stir by lowballing the Rams with the offer of their first pick, the tenth overall, and OT Jamaal Brown for the Rams’ first pick, an offer the Rams wisely rejected.  Nothing developed on any other trade front.  Late yesterday evening draft reports began to surface that the Rams were moving away from selecting Glen Dorsey and that, in fact, Chris Long would be their first pick.

And that’s exactly what happened.  In the end, after all the research and discussion, the Rams’ War Room opted for the safe, solid pick in what I believe was not only a needs-based selection but also a public relations move.  The Rams obviously needed a defensive end, for reasons that have been well-documented.  But they also needed to recover from  a series of poor defensive line selections, marked by the choice of such stalwarts as Jimmy Kennedy, Damione Lewis, and Ryan Pickett.  Indeed, many commentators said that the Rams’ failures in selecting defensive linemen made the choice of Dorsey a suspect one, especially given his injury history.  Clearly, the sentiment was there that if the Rams chose Dorsey, and he was injured in 2008, there would be public relations hell to pay. Devaney and Linehan would be skewered by that pick and thoroughly roasted in the media.  I believe that, in the end, neither wanted to take that risk.

Long’s selection has been widely applauded by Rams’ fans, as it should be.  Even though I believed that Dorsey would have been the better, and more dynamic, pick, I am not at all unhappy about having our defensive line anchored for the next ten years or so by Howie’s kid.  This is the return of Grant Wistrom.

OK, so the Rams are playing it safe and solid, and catering to the fans.  Well, they must have thought that their mission was accomplished, because then they went ahead and selected Donnie Avery, the wideout from Houston.  This choice was still echoing in Radio City Music Hall when the criticism began. Linehan was looking for a receiver with top-end speed and when the time came for the Rams to make their second choice, I think Rams’ fans were expecting to hear “DeSean Jackson” or “Limas Sweed,” perhaps.  Avery was rated way down the list of receivers, so far down that spending a second round pick on him just doesn’t seem to make sense.  Personally, I think he will be a super addition to the team, and the Rams filled a huge need by taking him.  But it seems that the positive PR gained by the Long pick was immediately dissipated by the choice of Avery.  Within minutes after the selection I was seeing all manner of negative comments about Devaney and Linehan in various blogs.

So, one up and one down, at least in the public eye, so far for the Rams.  With this kind of start, anything is liable to happen on Sunday.  We at Ramblings will be working overtime to both keep you informed and to give your our take on what our Rams are doing to get back into contention in the NFL.

It should be reallllly interesting!

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 2:28 am and is filed under Glenn Dorsey, 2008 NFL Draft, Miami Dolphins, Vernon Gholston, 2008 Draft, Donnie Avery, Chris Long, 2008 NFL Off-Season, Atlanta Falcons, Jimmy Kennedy, General NFL, Off-Season Moves, St. Louis Rams, New Orleans Saints, Rams Defense, Ryan Pickett, Kansas City Chiefs, Rams Offense, NFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.