Since the early days after the NFL Combine, the Rams' first round pick of Sam Bradford was essentially a given, despite lots of media-generated wind casting doubt on the pick. The intervening weeks drained the debate over his worth at the #1 spot, so that his selection was essentially a non-event. In fact, after Suh went to the Lions, and McCoy went to the Bucs, several draft commentators remarked: "Now the real draft begins." And the flurry of trades, picks, reaches and falls of the next 40 hours had us all dizzy.

But when the pieces of the Rams' draft finally settled, three picks are generating the most buzz: OT Rodger Saffold in the 2nd round, WR Mardy Gilyard in the 4th, and DE George Selvie here in the 7th.

ProFootballTalk
Rams may have gotten a steal in George Selvie http://is.gd/bGAwa #NFL

But on a Rams roster that is heavily comprised of late-round finds, all three of these players could get their chances to contribute.

Marquis Johnson (Alabama): 6'0" 180 lbs

DB George Selvie (USF):

LB Joshua Hull (Penn State): 6'2" 237 lbs

Quick Reactions

Both Johnson and Hull appear to be good camp players with the potential -- like the undrafted Quincy Butler last year, and "Mr Irrelevant" David Vobora the year before -- to earn a nice quantity of playing time.

jhesfellerIV
Marquis Johnson improved more than anyone else this year, but picked ahead of Colin Peek? Interesting.

The Patriots are notable in their interest, as they also like big physical corners with the instincts to play the ball. Johnson could wind up being a replacement for Jonathan Wade, a skilled player who just could not mesh with the Rams' coaching staff.

Selvie, meanwhile, could have an impact immediately on special teams, and as a situational pass-rusher, much as Leonard Little did early in his career.

bucco40
@RamsHerd saw him play many games at RayJay, his sophmore year was the best, then teams doubled him, a bit undersized to play DE though

Having a guy that teams are forced to pay attention to can make a huge difference for the guy on the other side of the line, as it did for USF teammate Jason Pierre-Paul... hopefully that bodes well for Chris Long's ability to increase his sack totals.

Penn State's Josh Hull profiles as a super-Vobora of sorts: like Vobora, he led his team in tackles after joining the team as a walk-on, and like Vobora there are questions about his ability to translate his game to the pros. Hull is just a bit bigger, faster, and comes from a D-I conference of higher renown.

While he will be hard pressed to crack the Rams' lineup playing the same position as James Laurinaitis, he may transition over into the strong side and spell the elder signee Na'il Diggs.

Yes, you read that right. For the second round in a row, the Rams spent two picks on a tight end with a funny name, and a project at defensive end. But this crop looks a lot more intriguing than the last -- less ready to start, perhaps, but both have high ceilings.

Fendi Onobun (yes, he also played basketball): 6'7" 249 lbs

Eugene Sims: 6'6" 236lbs

Ron_Clements
The Rams lead the league in West Texas A&M players - Keith Null and now defensive end Eugene Sims.

Quick Reaction

The Rams got the bonus pick in this round by dealing down one of their two fifth rounders to Atlanta, so the Falcons could jump up and take CB Dominique Franks.

OneRamsWay
Devaney says he was getting an itchy trigger to pull a trade and team had a big pool of players it figured would be available, inc. Davis.

Perhaps feeling heady after finally pulling off some sort of draft day deal, Devaney reached into the "project" folder to take Onobun.

Clearly, there's a strong comparison here to the Chargers' TE phenom, Antonio Gates. Both he and Tony Gonzalez have basketball pedigrees, and Gates arrived in the NFL as a very raw prospect. Gates didn't play a snap of football during his college career, while Onobun was a walk-on during his senior year, and only tallied two catches on the stat sheet.

Onobun is a project, no doubt, but he has confidence and skills to spare. (He also has a Twitter account.)

Fendi713
St.Louis Ram BABY! Yeaaaaa We Did IT!!

Meanwhile, Eugene Sims was among a group of seniors that led a resurgent West Texas A&M team defense. Here are some insightful quotes from his coach and linemates.

Even more intriguing about his production -- 56 tackles, 7 sacks, 13.5 tackles for loss -- is that he played DE in a 3-4 set, where traditionally the primary line crashing and pass rush duties fall to an outside linebacker. Lining up in a 4-3 as an edge rusher, Sims could feel unshackled.

Sims is just one of three new pass-rushing summer projects for Spagnuolo and Ken Flajole, with Hall Davis (5th round) and George Selvie (7th) joining the team after looking mostly offense at the start of the draft.

RamsGab
Lots of coaching up to do all over RT @RamsHerd: Spags has a whole toolshed worth of summer projects now.

miklasz
I like the Rams pick of WR Mardy Gilyard in 4th round, tremendous value. He's a playmaker. Their next 2 picks: Zzzzzz

TE Mike Hoomanawanui: 6'3, 271 lbs

DE Hall Davis: 6'4, 278 lbs

Quick Reaction

The Rams had their "sizzle" pick at the start of the morning, bringing Gilyard aboard, but with these next two selections Devaney and company clearly were picking from the "steak" column. These guys are simply huge for their positions. Neither Hoomanawanui nor Hall should expect to make much of a dent on the stat sheet, as Hoomanawanui is in the "big beefy blocker" category of tight ends, and Hall is in the "big, slow, run-stuffer" category of defensive linemen. In fact, I could see him playing at DT sooner than at DE.

Meanwhile, though, Seattle regained their monopoly on draft-day sizzle, turning their fifth-round pick into the Jets' all-purpose weapon Leon Washington.

As a Rams fan, you couldn't help but throw your hands up in dismay at the combination of events. Even if Washington has a long road back in rehab, the reward is potentially stunning for the relatively small investment. I find it really hard to believe that either of the Rams picks at this level will be that far separated from guys you could find in the undrafted list. The ceiling just doesn't appear to be that high here, even if Hoomanawanui has untapped potential in his big soft hands.

GreetingsADM
@RamsHerd But he has a funny name! Rams have a weakness to TE's with funny names.

Well, there's always that.

The Rams led off the third day of the NFL Draft with the first pick of the fourth round, and apparently the Rams war room was able to kick back with some mimosas, with little worry or debate over who they were going to take when the clock started.

OneRamsWay
Devaney says Gilyard was clearly highest rated guy on the board. Team knew last night he was going to be the guy.

The reception from fans? A collective hallelujah -- finally, the Rams had drafted a playmaker.

Quick Reaction

Ron_Clements
#Rams draft another little, fast receiver in the same mold of Donnie Avery. Love his quickness and versatility, but not good fit for Rams.

While Gilyard doesn't have the size I was hoping for at WR -- like Arrelious Benn, who went mid-2nd after the Rams added Saffold, or Brandon LaFell and Damien Williams, who went back-to-back in the 3rd after the Rams looked at Jerome Murphy -- his outstanding reach and vertical leap, and tenacity when fighting for the ball, should allow him to play bigger than he appears.

With his physical play and his razor-sharp cuts, I think he actually compares to another receiver on the Rams' roster, more than Avery: Brandon Gibson. While Gilyard has a better pedigree than Gibson, Gibson has the advantage of spending (most of) a year in the system. These two could push each other quite a bit in practice, bringing the best out of each other and creating a new competitive spirit among the Rams' receiver corps.

Gilyard also brings tremendous character to the Rams. While many playmakers available in the draft's third day come with quote-unquote character concerns, Gilyard brings a forthrightness, maturity and self-knowledge that only comes through living through tough times with eyes wide open.

Proof that you don't have to be a saint to live up to Spagnuolo's "four pillars."

For the second year in a row, the Rams used a third-round pick on a big, physical press corner. Last year's pick, Bradley Fletcher, showed great promise until he wrecked his knee in the "House of Horrors" (otherwise known as the Edward Jones Dome). Jerome Murphy isn't quite a re-do, as the Rams expect Fletcher to come back, but a continuation of the same philosophy on defense.

ottoman89
@zachmentz Yeah I'm super stoked for him! I love the 2nd rd pickup and LOVE LOVE Jerome Murphy!

Quick Reaction

The scouting reports on Murphy are very positive for what the Rams want to do. He's a very hard hitter, very confident physical player, who says he "hits like he doesn't care."

I like the pick, but I'm troubled by the Rams' lackadaisical approach to the necessary counterpart of having physical press corners -- their impotent pass rush. Without speed to the quarterback, even the best cover cornerbacks will eventually allow a window to the receiver. And we aren't drafting "cover" guys, we're drafting physical jammers, gamblers. This plan requires even more pressure to pay off.

Leonard Little is not showing signs of returning to St Louis, and even if he does, the Rams need to be grooming his replacement now. Re-signing James Hall is a stopgap solution at best, and Fred Robbins is simply a space eater, and possibly a rotational player. Cliff Ryan will be back, and he was firm against the run but again not fast enough to the passer.

TheGoldenHorns
@RamsHerd How about John Henderson from the jags for next years conditional 4th?

That's an idea worth exploring... And perhaps fifth round pick Hall Davis will help as well.

I can see the Rams keeping Barron as competition for Saffold, and in their ever-positive approach to younger players, are perhaps hoping to finally light a fire under Barron. Perhaps their ideal scenario is keeping all three players, starting Saffold at guard for a year, and keeping super-sub Adam Goldberg available off the bench.

But I don't see it happening that way. At this point, Barron is what he is. No amount of motivation will keep him off the top of the penalty charts, nor keep opposing bull rushers from bowling him over on their way to throwing the Rams' new face-of-the-franchise into the fake rubber dirt.

If Jason Smith is healthy enough to make Barron expendable, I foresee a training camp battle that, for all intents and purposes, is over before it begins. But the Rams will continue to publicly praise Barron for his work ethic and durability, and will deal him in August for a pick, a la Tye Hill.

With Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy available at the beginning of Day 2, the popular consensus was that the Rams would field dozens of calls for the top pick, and the hardest job would be simply picking the best offer. Devaney -- in a calculated move to fire up the hot stove -- openly said he would be "surprised" if the Rams ended up picking at #33.

But clearly, the demand for these QBs wasn't what we thought it was, as Clausen fell to #48 (giving the Panthers a "first-round pick" with their first pick of the draft), and Holmgren refused to bid against himself for McCoy, letting him dangle until the #85 pick of the third round.

So the Rams took the highest-rated player on their board, Rodger Saffold (76-Indiana). Here he is lining up against Brandon Graham, perhaps the best pure pass-rusher in the draft:

bpdouglass
@RamsHerd I think you are wetting yourself, I assume... Saffold is a fab pick man. REALLY like him. #Rams #NFLDraft

Not quite, but I'm coming around.

Initial Reaction: Disappointment

I admit, this is a pick that had to grow on me. I have no problem with the player, but I remain disappointed that Devaney didn't trade down to pick up more picks, and I wonder if they fell in love with their board without considering how many (or how few) other teams might be in the hunt for their guys.

Devaney and the Rams might have been expecting a king's ransom, and were unwilling to take a prince's dowry for the pick. But if you look at the teams that have been really aggressive in trading down, like the Eagles (with 9 picks now in the last four rounds), they aren't looking for "perfect" deals, just fair deals. Devaney has excelled in finding players in the later rounds, but deprived himself and the Rams of the opportunity to get more of these value picks. Meanwhile, only two other offensive linemen were picked in Round 2, OG Zane Beadles (#45, Denver) and OT Charles Brown (#64, New Orleans), hardly a run on the position.

Three players, two positions?

However, I am willing to put all of that behind me if the pick heralds the end of the Alex Barron era in St Louis. Immediately after the pick, the NFL Network posted the following projected starting offensive line for the Rams:

LT - J Smith / LG - J Bell / C - J Brown / RG - A Goldberg / RT - R Saffold

However, there is another, more troubling factor at work here -- uncertainty as to Jason Smith's long-term health. His concussion last season was much worse than the Rams expected it to be, and the length and severity of its lingering symptoms have to be a serious warning flag. He may never live up to his draft billing, and the Rams did the smart thing by adding competent depth at tackle.

miklasz
@RamsHerd After the Rams drafted OT-G Saffold, Sam Bradford, who was upstairs with the coaches, said: "My mom thanks you."

As I write, the Rams still own the first pick of the second round and we are less than one hour away from the announcement of the next draft choice. And looking at the lists of who's available, I don't see a strong candidate for the Rams to draft -- in short, who's the BATFAN?

I'm stealing this term -- Best Available That Fits Any Need -- from Josh over at Roar Of the Lions, who uses it to describe the draft strategy of Lions GM Martin Mayhew. The words "Lions" + "Draft" + "Strategy" just don't seem to go together, do they? But I have to admit, Mayhew and the Lions have been the model of aggressive deal-making all offseason, and both Suh (#2 overall) and Jahvid Best (#30) are players I would have loved to see on the Rams roster.

After the break, here's a list of players being touted, organized by position, as the draft restarts:

Quarterbacks

Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy -- obviously not a fit for the Rams any more, but just as obviously the juiciest bait in Billy Devaney's lobster trap as he trolls around looking for a trade down. Clausen lovers are still in shock, but his fall reminds me of Gilbert Arenas's fall in the NBA draft -- he used it as motivation and outperformed nearly every other pick in the draft until his idiotic handgun trick made him the poster boy for bad behavior.

Defensive Line/ Pass Rush

OLB/DE Sergio Kindle, DE Carlos Dunlap, DT Brian Price, DT Linval Joseph, DT Terrence Cody

rams106
@RamsHerd Sergio Kindle is someone they got to pick

I like the possibilities of Kindle as the Rams' year-too-late replacement for Aaron Curry, who I was very high on in last year's draft. But I'm both fascinated and terrified by the idea of drafting Mount Cody. Watching the Rams toy with gigantic, slow, out-of-shape Hollis Thomas last season, I wonder if Spagnuolo is dreaming up a scheme that revolves around a massive interior presence like his. Cody doesn't go side to side, doesn't rush the passer, he just creates an epicenter of destruction and a new center of gravity for the defensive line. I can almost see it working. But I can just as easily see it completely blowing up in the Rams' faces.

Big Target Receiver/Tight End

TE Rob Gronkowski, WR Arrelious Benn, WR Brandon LaFell, WR Damien Williams

Adam_Schefter
Rams now weighing multiple offers for pick No. 33 but also might hold tight to take a WR for Sam Bradford. #nfldraft

Gronkowski is the big question mark here, especially as the Rams showed a lot of love for Jermaine Gresham. Like Bradford, though, he missed most of the season, and back injuries tend to be pretty pernicious. Most of these receivers sit a shade below smaller but flashier guys like Golden Tate, and it's easy to see at least one of them falling to round three. LaFell is probably still my favorite of this group, but I like any WR who can come in and play the Hines Ward role -- running physical routes, making the tough grabs, and delivering the blocks downfield that can turn SJ's 20-30 yard runs into breakaway touchdowns.

Defensive backfield

S Taylor Mays, CB Chris Cook

zachmentz
@RamsHerd rams could use Mays..especially with Atogwe in so many trade talks.

[Edit: forgot my Mays commentary when I first published!] Taylor Mays is an intriguing talent, but one who has consistently hurt his case this offseason with poor play, poor attitude, or both -- most notably in the Senior Bowl. I'm also not ready to move Atogwe out of the Rams' plans for 2011 until his contract status is resolved. He's a player who did everything in good faith last offseason -- attended all the workouts, minicamps, preseason, despite not having a contract. As a reward, the Rams franchised him and failed to negotiate long term. Maybe this is a sign that the Rams don't want him that badly, but it's also possible that they do want him ... but at a lower price than he and his agent are asking for. All of the bargaining this offseason, including tendering him at the lowest level, leans more toward the side of gaining contract leverage with Atogwe, rather than trade leverage with other teams.

Complementary running back

Jahvid Best, Toby Gerhart, Dexter McCluster The Best pickup by the Lions really trumped this pick, and I wonder if they were strongly motivated to move up by an inkling that the Rams really liked him at #33. Gerhart is being touted in a lot of corners, and McCluster is a pre-draft crush of mine, but I don't see the value here at the top of the round. Depending on how deep they could trade down to, though, this becomes a real option.

Offensive line

OT Bruce Campbell, OT Vladimir Ducasse, OT Charles Brown ... or OT Jared Gaither Earlier today I tweeted that perhaps my ideal draft scenario involved trading down with Cleveland (targeting Colt McCoy), and sending their #38 overall pick to Baltimore for Jared Gaither, who has been put on the trade block.

TheGoldenHorns
@RamsHerd it's rumored that gaither has that barron like attitude

That could be so, but Gaither is much more technically sound, and plays a much smarter brand of football. I don't have a categorical problem with a "quiet" player, even one who is withdrawn in the locker room. I have a problem if that translates into stupid, lackadaisical play like the oft-penalized Barron has shown more often than not. ProFootballFocus's ratings absolutely love him, and making the move here would be an important part of protecting our investment in Bradford.

In Conclusion

ottoman89
Rams, trade this pick!

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The Rams select Sam Bradford #1 overall. Are things finally looking up at quarterback?

Is was a lot of hard work for Sam Bradford, to rehabilitate and work his way back to the position that, arguably, he held at the end of the 2008 season: the top overall pick. Six months of intense therapy, weight training, and throwing exercises, then weeks of navigating through the fog and smoke of the pre-draft poker game between the Rams' Billy Devaney, his agent Tom Condon, and the many other potential suitors around the league. And in the end, he becomes a Saint Louis Ram, the new face of the franchise.

This was no easy task for the Rams either, who had to be mightily tempted by the prodigious talents of Ndamukong Suh. How much of a sales job had to be made to coach Steve Spagnuolo? We'll never know. Spags must have been dreaming of the various schemes he could have drawn up around Suh since late December when the Rams locked up the first overall pick.

But guess what ... all that was the easy part. Now comes the hard work of making this work. Here's the five big tasks ahead, after the break:

1. Establish a Relationship

Spagnuolo has the defensive chops, has a creative and responsible mind, and has earned praise for his team-building ability. But his grip on the offense went beyond conservatism and into a realm of near paranoia. So many decisions were made on offense in 2009 based on a fear of what could go wrong -- playing for the tie against Jacksonville, punting on fourth and two against Washington, keeping the ball away from Jackson in the red zone (in favor of a never ending parade of ineffective wide receiver bubble screens, no less), keeping Null out of game action until we had no other alternatives.

Now Spagnuolo has a young quarterback who needs time to learn the pro game, and has a reputation for fragility. All signs point to a continuation of the extra-cautious, motherly approach. Will Spagnuolo be able to establish a relationship that challenges Bradford to lead, challenges him to excel, and gives him the opportunity to do so?

The great dynastic teams are often led by iconic pairings of quarterback and coach -- Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw. Tom Landry and Danny White. Steve Walsh and Joe Montana. Jimmy Johnson and Troy Aikman. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Other times, though, the fit isn't right. The star quarterback and the long-tenured, well-respected coach just can't click. John Elway didn't win a Super Bowl until after parting ways with Dan Reeves. Dan Marino never won one under Don Shula. And despite being ideally suited for each other, Jim Kelly and Bill Levy were paired in futility.

The pairing of coach and quarterback can make or break a franchise. The quarterback is now in place, and Spagnuolo has to prove he's up to the task.

2. Protect Your Investment

The Rams have to establish a secure pocket for Bradford -- not to play against the injury-prone label that Bradford has acquired, fairly or not, but to prevent him from becoming another top-picked tackling dummy in the mold of David Carr. If he takes the same number of hits over the next three years that Bulger and the Rams QBs took over the last three? Bradford's ceiling gets dropped dramatically.

(Where's David Carr today? Fighting to back up Alex Smith, another former first round bust fighting to stay employed by the 49ers past this year. That's not where we want our $50 million dollars to end up.)

The Rams have already taken steps to rebuild the pocket -- spending major dollars on Jacob Bell, Jason Brown and Jason Smith -- but instead of reaping rewards on those investments, we have watched these players succumb to the turf monster more often than to opposing linemen. This offseason, they made significant moves to stem the tide of injuries, replacing their strength and conditioning coaches, and (finally) replacing their nightmarish turf. But do the renovations end there?

The ends of the line are still major question marks. No one knows whether Jason Smith will turn into a 16-game starter at either tackle spot. And while 16 games is a near certainty for Alex Barron, that hardly rates as a positive for the man taking snaps behind him. Adam Goldberg has been competent in relief, but there's only one of him, and he only has so much to work with.

If Bradford is thrust behind a patchwork line and expected to show immediate returns on the investment of hope and capital that the Rams and its fans have made... we're in trouble.

3. Give him weapons to work with

To be optimistic, we can say that the Rams have two receivers -- Avery and Burton -- ready to enter the mythical third year in the NFL, when everything is supposed to "click." Give Laurent Robinson a medical redshirt for last season, and let him build on the momentum that he started to show, and that makes three. With Amendola and Gibson, we have two hungry and talented guys on the roster who will push for every chance at playing time. And, of course, we have the wise counsel, dogged determination, and multithreat capabilities of Steven Jackson.

To be pessimistic, we can point out that these six players combined to score only 12 touchdowns last season. That Jackson has little time left before the ruthless aging curve for physical runners (think Eddie George) catches up with him. That Avery and Burton and the rest make up an interchangeable stable of "#5" type receivers.

We can't dismiss the fact that among all this young receiver talent, there is room for some emergent growth. But we can't pretend that all will grow fast enough or high enough to form the nucleus of a legitimate passing game, without some additional catalyst. The Rams desperately need more competition here, more variety of threats (think big, physical WR/TE to pair with these slashers and slanters), more high-quality options.

Avery in particular is in the spotlight. He showed equal parts heart -- playing every game, with pain and through pain -- and immaturity -- highly visible touchdown dances when the team is getting blown out, near invisibility in other weeks -- in a difficult sophomore year. Reports are that he has followed Steven Jackson's example and rededicated himself to his training, and has added 15 pounds of muscle. That's a great start. But it seems to me that his surrounding cast -- Burton, et al -- is more like an entourage or a happy family than a source of budding rivalry, or outright competition to be the best.

Wide receiver is an extremely technically challenging position to play, especially with a young quarterback who is learning the flow of the offense. Precision and improvisation and incredible ball instincts are required just to make a single play work. Consistency of these attributes, play after play, is how a receiver develops chemistry with the quarterback.

There's two ways of looking at it: either Avery has untapped potential to reach this excellence, or he doesn't. Either way, he shouldn't be expected to raise the bar on his own. Perhaps he needs a serious challenger within the WR corps.

We've seen it happen before. Torry Holt had to live up to Isaac Bruce's pedigree, while Bruce had to rededicate himself to staying on the field, to prove to the brash young kid and everyone else that he was still #1. Each drove each other to greatness.

4. Get Him Signed

To be honest, this is the part I'm least worried about. Kevin Demoff and Tom Condon are professionals, and whether it's Khan's money or Kroenke's, the money will be there. The contract will be embarrassingly huge, and will be posterized in the upcoming debate over a rookie wage cap. But it's a part of doing business in the most successful sports business in the world. There's no getting around it.

5. Keep Your Fingers Crossed

We've had our debate. The Rams have made their choice. All we can do is watch and hope it works out.

If Pete Carroll can do it, we can too. Here's a pre-draft musical mashup. But if you're looking for hints? All I know is that we don't know nothing.

At first we all wanted a boy named Suh

But then some kid from Oklahoma grabbed ahold of us and wouldn't let go.

Now there's only twenty, twenty, twenty-four hours to go...

But who's going to sign the big contract? Khan or Kroenke? And will the team even be here in five year's time? I don't know, but I think it's gonna work out fine.