FanPost

What we wanted in July 2010 and what we want now.

Hey all, been a bit absent from TST and only been reading stuff, not commenting so much, but feel I'll be more active as the build up to the draft intensifies. Hope you didn't miss me too much :P

This post is just gonna reference a speculative post I made in July and see how our opinions and desires have changed.

I made this post in July:

http://www.turfshowtimes.com/2010/7/19/1576410/next-years-draft-direction

It was actually my first ever post btw.

Basically, we came to a TST conclusion that our biggest need in this upcoming draft was a WR, followed by RB, then DT and DE were tied.

The prospects at RB, DT and DE have changed a fair bit, but Julio and Green were always at the top of our want and need list.

I'd be interested in seeing if any opinions have changed since July?

Also, I'd like to use this post as a means of finding out what happened to the formerly high billed prospects that have fallen out of 1st round contention and if any would be worth a punt in a later round.

This is the list of prospects that were seen as the premier talents going into this college season that have fallen off the radar:

Dajuan Morgan - DE

Greg Romeus - DE

Joseph Barksdale - OT

Travis Lewis - OLB

Jurrell Casey - DT

Deunta Williams - S

Rahim Moore - S

DeAndre McDaniel - S

Do any of these guys interest you?

The post was made with the assumption we'd have a top ten pick, which shows that we OVER achieved, despite the crushing disappointment that was Week 17. A great indication of the progress we have made over the past season.

It is somewhat surprising though that besides OT we haven't really addressed any of the needs that were seemingly needed back then. Rodger Saffold has been a revelation and Jason Smith has shown some positive steps, however we still need an WR, OG, OLB, DE, DT, RB and S (in no particular order).

The losing of Atogwe in my opinion has raised the need for a Safety and as I naively felt we'd retain him in July the only safety spot that needed upgrading was the Strong Safety spot. Now we have 2 Safety spots upgrade. Who presents the best value where?

People are obviously enamoured with Julio Jones (and for good reason) but you may all know that I do not see him as the best fit for the Rams. I prefer Baldwin in the 2nd round still.

At DE and DT we got breakout performances from two old guys in James Hall and Fred Robbins and while a repeat performance is not impossible, it is unlikely and it'd be unreasonable to expect similar production from mid 30 year old D-Linemen. Do you feel that Fairley (despite being off radar before this season) should he fall would be good value? Corey Liuget? Marvin Austin? Aldon Smith? Ryan Kerrigan? or is someone like Casey in a later round better value? Is Dajuan Morgan even in this draft?

Offensive Guard did not see any breakout or much improved performances, in fact I feel it regressed in the run blocking department while somewhat improving at pass protection. Moving back and snagging Pouncey makes a lot of sense to me and would allow us to get more picks so we can address both safety spots, both OLB spots and backup RB.

Cornerback may still need to be addressed. I feel that Fletcher and Murphy have fantastic potential to become starting CBs should we not retain Bartell when his contract expires. Despite this, should Amukamara be there when we pick at 14 I would not hesitate to take him. If Peterson is there I'd hope Devaney shows some Usain Bolt speed to the stage.

I really don't see the value in taking a RB in the 1st round anymore. While I am a fan of both Ingram and LeShoure I feel that with SJax there and value in later round guys such as Ryan Williams (former top RB Prospect), Quizz Rodgers, Demarco Murray, Kendall Hunter, Taiwan Jones, Jamie Harper and Noel Devine make a lot more sense for us. No need to reach for a backup RB in the 1st 3 rounds when at least one of these guys should last to the 5th round.

OLB is still a position of dire need. I really am an advocate of going OLB in the 2nd round. Bruce Carter or Mason Foster are my picks of choice. Akeem Ayers is seemingly the only 1st round 4-3 OLB in this draft not called Von Miller (who is a flat out baller) and it seems the consensus is that he is a bum with a high price, so I'd avoid him. Travis Lewis anyone? I'm personally not a huge fan, but as a 4th round pick I'd be supportive.

TE... well it's still only Kyle Rudolph. Anyone who presents good late round value? I was a fan of Anthony McCoy, Ed Dickson and Pitta in the past draft, although I don't feel anyone in this draft matches up to those guys in terms of late round value. In my opinion TE is a position that is solid and has potential, but lacks playmaking ability. Fendi is a project that I will still root for, but McDaniels scheme is not TE friendly and he needs a lot of work. Hoom looks like the starter but seemingly has injury issues. Bajema is a solid blocker, so he will stay and Fells is a jack of all trades master of none kind of TE. If I would replace any it'd be Fells because Hoom already has better hands and more blocking potential.

This post became a bit long... lol

The essence of this post is just to see how you'd like to approach the draft, get some info on the aforementioned 'fallen off' prospects and see some predictions.

I know we all have guys we like, however I feel that we need to now start looking at who we like in what the Rams seemingly want.

We've looked at late round power RBs, so Jamie Harper looks nice to me in the 6th.

We've looked at OG. Who looks like good value late on?

With the 4 pillars we can pretty much write off Marvin Austin?

Let's see what everyone thinks!

Thanks for reading!