Before suffering a serious knee injury this season, South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore was poised to give us a rare repeat from last year’s NFL Draft: an early first round running back selection. However, the severity of that injury and Lattimore’s inability to participate in the Combine cast serious doubt on his draft stock. Could he fall far enough to become a low-risk, high-reward steal for the Rams?

Teams willing to gamble a pick on the talented but unlucky SEC product will have to decide whether they think he is closer to Adrian Peterson or Ki-Jana Carter, but perhaps some more recent history will give better insight. Both Willis McGahee and Frank Gore suffered significant knee injuries while in college. They were 1st and 3rd round picks respectively, however most experts are not currently projecting Lattimore as an early round pick. Carter was one of the biggest busts in draft history. McGahee has made a nice career as a solid but unspectacular player, and Gore remains a franchise back after his 6th career 1000 yard season in 2012.

Statistically, it is hard to compare college players because of different offensive systems, quality of offensive lines, and caliber of opposing defenses. With that caveat in mind I looked at how Lattimore compares to the most recent top-10 running back, Trent Richardson. While clearly running behind a superior offensive line, Richardson averaged a full yard-per-carry more than Lattimore, 5.8 to 4.8, but they were very similar in one area: carries per touchdown (14.6 for Lattimore to 15.4 for Richardson).

However, since Lattimore lacks the breakaway speed of a Richardson or Adrian Peterson, I looked a little further to find perhaps a better comparable, and ended up finding one closer to home.

Last week we weighed the St Louis Rams' top needs that we'd like to see addressed in the 2013 NFL Draft. But of course, every draft class is different, and none come with a perfect set of players jigsaw-cut to fill any one team's roster holes precisely.

With that in mind, we reached out to Eric Galko of Optimum Scouting, a fantastic draft resource here on the Bloguin network. He and his team work year-round on draft content, and they will be providing us with their perspective on this year's draft class over the coming months. 

Here is our first Q&A. 

RamsHerd: The Rams’ primary needs look like right tackle, left guard, free safety and wide receiver (not necessarily in that order). How deep is the draft class at each position?

Optimum Scouting: With Taylor Lewan and Jake Matthews both returning to school, this class lacks as much as expected offensive tackle talent. Now, it seems after Luke Joeckel (Top 5) and Eric Fisher (likely Top 10), the class moves more towards right tackle only. But there’s quite a bit of depth there, especially in the mid-late first round. Guys like Justin Pugh, DJ Fluker, and Lane Johnson could all go into that mix.

At guard, Jonathan Cooper of UNC may be in reach of the Rams, and he could be an impact interior presence. But after the top 40 picks, the guard class goes downhill fast, and the value then develops again in the late 4^th round.

There’s loads of free safety talent in the 2^nd-3^rd round area. Eric Reid (LSU), Shamarko Thomas (Syracuse), Bacarri Rambo (Georgia), and Zeke Motta (Notre Dame) can all have value in that area.

And at receiver, even after investing heavily at receiver in the past two drafts, the Rams would be wise to capitalize on the receiver depth. We have close to 20 receivers with top three round grades. While they may change, it’s clear that, despite lacking an AJ Green/Julio Jones/Calvin Johnson type player, this class has loads of upside and depth. 

Related: Optimum Scouting's 2013 NFL Draft Big Board

Whether the Rams draft for need or follow a strict best-player-available strategy, at the end of the day Rams fans won't be happy unless the safety position has been markedly upgraded. 

In keeping with Brennan's review of the top safety prospects for the Rams in the draft, an internal poll (taken before Brennan's article published) firmly places "please, please, please, anyone but Craig" at the top of our needs list. I would have ranked "fixing the defense" slightly below "fixing the offensive line" earlier this season, but it appears that the pair of problems at left guard and right tackle split the vote.

Votes and comments from five of our writers after the break. This also marks the debut of two new writers on the site, Andy Selvy and Michael Lasquero. Both will be contributing draft content over the next few months. As you can see, while we have a ranking, we don't have a consensus. What are your top five? 

Around St. Louis, the name “Craig Dahl” evokes images of terror, missed tackles and blown assignments. 

“Dahl” has practically become interchangeable with a number of four letter expletives in and around the Edward Jones Dome and television sets showing Rams games on Sundays.

In fact, Pro Football Focus had Dahl rated as the 78th out of 88 safeties and fourth worst starting safety in the NFL last season among players who took at least 1,000 snaps.

Needless to say, it’s time for an upgrade across from Quintin Mikell, who was rated as the fifth best overall safety by PFF and lauded for his skills in the run game.

Luckily, the upcoming 2013 draft is chock full of talented safeties that Les Snead could snap up with one of the first round picks or in the second round, giving the Rams the first capable center fielder since O.J. Atogwe’s best season in 2007.

Mikell played primarily as a free safety under Steve Spagnuolo, but moved up into the box this year as the multifaceted pass-rush / pass coverage role that Roman Harper played in Gregg Williams' New Orleans defense.

This change in roles pushed Dahl to the free safety position. If this was youth softball, he would be the fat kid being pushed out to right field, where he could do no harm. But in the NFL, there is nowhere to hide. 

With that in mind, here’s a look at the top safety prospects in the 2013 draft the Rams could select:

Holding the #2 pick in the 2012 draft and a mandate to rebuild the St Louis Rams in his image, Jeff Fisher had a big decision to make. Should he stick with Sam Bradford, to whom the franchise had committed vast resources -- both financially and philosophically -- or move on and draft one of the two can't-miss phenom quarterbacks at the top of the draft? 

Writing for SI, Peter King wrote about this decision as the biggest and boldest move of the Rams rebuild. As the Redskins and Browns engaged in a high-stakes bidding war, Fisher had almost no choice but to do the deal. In draft value, the Rams made out like bandits, but many fans have been vocal about wondering if we should have taken the quarterback.

King lists two key factors: the coach's confidence in Bradford the player and Bradford the man, and the trade market for the 2nd pick, which was almost assuredly going to be used on Robert Griffin III. 

However, a third factor existed in the calculation. It has been almost taboo to mention Griffin's high-risk playing style as a determining factor. No one wants to sound like they are wishing injury on the man. But his collapse on a torn up field in a wildcard playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks makes the topic unavoidable. 

We can say it now. The Rams unquestionedly got the better end of this deal, and they are the franchise better positioned for a long run of playoff contention at this point in time. 

The end of a long year already feels like the beginning of something new for St Louis football. That's a great feeling, and an unusual one, for Rams fans inured to losing seasons.

A fan's normal practice come the first week of January is to stow all their Rams gear and their pride in the upper shelves along with the Christmas decorations and the summer shorts, things that won't be wanted or needed for a long time to come. I don't see that happening this season. While it wasn't a miracle season akin to Dick Vermeil's 1999, I think fans will wear their Rams gear a little longer and with a lot more pride in the coming months. 

Jeff Fisher said it best, reflecting on the team's outlook after a tough loss: "I think those guys in that room can stand up and look people in the eye and say, ‘Hey, the Rams are back.’ And that’s what we wanted to accomplish this year."

That's great. But now, what about 2013? 

Here are a few resolutions that the Rams should be making, and hopefully keeping: 

Do you believe in moral victories? If so, there was a lot to like in the St Louis Rams' spirited 20-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. If not, then the NFL Draft starts on April 25th and you can busily set yourself to playing armchair GM to get us to the next level. 

The positive signs of growth were on display for the Rams today. They went toe to toe with a team that had steamrolled its opponents over the month of December. (Final month tally for Seattle: 5-0 record, +138 point differential.) They brought the fight to Seattle in their vaunted home stadium, quieting the legendary 12th man for long periods of time. 

However, the pains associated with that growth were also on display, as a mountain of penalties from Jeff Triplette's crew nearly buried the young Rams, and wonky feet by both of their rookie kickers put the team .

That wasn't what beat them, though. They were out-talented by a Seahawks team that is three seasons into its rebuild, with remarkable rookie Russell Wilson escaping a jailbreak blitz to launch the Seahawks into scoring position on its go-ahead drive, and Richard Sherman making a spectacular break on Sam Bradford's final throw of the game to seal it. 

We'll have more time to reflect on this game and on the season. Quickly, though, here are three signs of growth, and three painful moments from my immediate recollection. 

Growing.

1. Chris Long and the Rams pass rush sacked Wilson 6 times, taking a share of the NFL lead. 

While rushing only four players on most downs -- one of our pregame keys -- the Rams put a massive load of pressure on Wilson and the Seattle offensive front, shutting down the NFL's most potent offense over the last month. Long tallied three sacks on his own, and Robert Quinn, William Hayes and Jo-Lonn Dunbar got to the QB as well.  

Unfortunately, that pressure didn't get home on key drives in the third and fourth quarter, as Wilson showcased his trademark escapability to set up scoring drives. 

2. Sam Bradford looked poised and protected behind a makeshift offensive line.

Paul Boudreau gets the positional coach MVP award for his work this season, which was capped by an offensive line featuring its tenth new starter of the season, right guard Chris Williams. Bradford had time to work in the pocket all game long, making hay from five-wide, no-protect formations.

Seattle's defensive backs did a good job taking away Sam's deep options, but he had a good (if not great) day throwing the football, capped by an Austin Pettis catch in the back of the end zone to give the Rams an early lead. The Rams offensive gameplan revolved around #8 today, and he held up well. Clearly, acquiring and coaching up weapons for this offense will be a priority this offseason. 

3. Steven Jackson looks far from done, but his backups got significant work. 

Pregame discussion featured an epic debate about Steven Jackson's future in a Rams uniform, questions that Jackson seemed ready to put to rest. Jackson got only eleven carries on the day, averaging nearly five yards per carry, and added seven catches on seven targets in the passing game, finishing just shy of 100 total yards on the day.

However, he also rested for significant stretches, which gave Isaiah Pead (21 yards on 5 carries) and Daryl Richardson (14 yards on four touches) time to do work. Pead seemed to benefit from the time more than Richardson, a reversal of early season trends. None of these backs took the game on their shoulders and put it away, which leaves a lot of questions to be answered this offseason, but it's becoming easier to see a scenario in which Pead grabs a significant share of a platoon. 

Pains. 

1. The rookie kickers struggled on the day. 

The Rams took a big risk by cutting veterans Josh Brown and Donnie Jones in favor of a pair of rookies, and in the early going that decision looked brilliant. Hell, without 58- and 60-yard field goals from Greg Zuerlein, and a touchdown pass off a fake FG from Johnny Hekker, the Rams don't beat Seattle in their first matchup.  

But both have been shaky commodities in the second half of the season, and both struggled a little today. Zuerlein missed a 50-yarder that he would have called a "gimme" in September, and Hekker failed to pin Seattle inside the 20 yard line on any of his punts. A 33-yard punt from his own 9 yard line set up Seattle's game-opening score.

That's a six-point swing in a seven-point loss. Not a killer, but setbacks from the feet in a game of inches are never good. However, both have bright futures with more work on their techniques. 

2. The Rams continue a trio of inexplicable trends. 

Our defense forced two more fumbles today, and recovered neither. That put an exclamation point on a bewildering trend: the Rams forced 17 fumbles on the season, and receovered only four, a crazy low 23.5% recovery rate. 

Meanwhile, the Rams continue to pick up foolish pre-snap penalties on both sides of the ball. We'll have to wait for Mike Sando's penalty watch for the final season tally, but eight of the Rams' 13 penalties on the day came before the snap. That's forty easy yards to an offense that wasn't getting any other help from our defense.

Finally, the Rams continued to lose the field-position battle. They came into the game with the worst average starting field position in the league, per Football Outsiders drive stats. Their average starting point is their own 23 yard line. Out of ten drives today, only three started beyond the 23, and their only "good" field position (starting point: their own 41) came courtesy of a botched onside kick call by Pete Carroll.  

3. Craig Dahl... 

Not sure I need to say more, other than that an athletic free safety has to be very, very high on the Rams' draft board in April. Very high. 

@ramsherd @dvond twitter.com/wynnde13/statu…

— Wynnde (@wynnde13) December 30, 2012

Earmuffs, Craig. It might get nasty in the offseason.