Mel Kiper Re-Grades Rams' 2011 Draft

by Ryan Van Bibber on Jan 12, 2012 9:36 AM CST in 2011 NFL regular season

The prince of hair pieces rolled his post-season re-grades for the 2011 NFL Draft. It's an update to the grades he gave teams in the days immediately following the draft last April. Not surprisingly, Kiper drops the St. Louis Rams' grade from a B to a C, and regardless of what you think about Kiper, it's hard to disagree with a tougher assessment of the Rams' draft class.

After all, the draft record is one of the reasons the team is hunting for a new GM.

Here's Kiper's assessment:

Summary: The selection of Robert Quinn deserves a little context. Although I had wide receiver as the top need on the St. Louis board, this really wasn't a team in position to forgo future draft choices to trade up and get the likes of Julio Jones. So when Atlanta moved up and got Jones at No. 6, St. Louis was stuck at No. 14 with no obvious wideout help available in that value range. I didn't have defensive end as a top need, but Quinn represented an exceptional value at No. 14, and I think we started to see why late in 2011. Remember, this is a guy who sat out all of 2010. Had he played, I think we're looking at a certain top-five overall pick. With Quinn and Chris Long on the edges for the future, the Rams have a pass rush in place for years to come. After that, however, the draft got a lot spottier in terms of production than I would have guessed. Lance Kendricks should become a pretty good player but didn't exactly explode in 2010. Same goes for Austin Pettis and Greg Salas, who put up almost identical stat lines in 2011. However, both came on late and couldn't crack a wide receiving corps that really wasn't that good. After that, there isn't much to speak of. All in all, although I love Quinn's future, it was a pretty weak class given that the Rams needed immediate help for their big holes and didn't get much. It could get better, but it's a little weaker than it looked eight months ago.

Four of the eight players drafted were dumped before the end of the season. Only seventh-round pick Mikail Baker was let go because of injury. I suspect that Austin Pettis won't last long either, which discards a third pick.

Brick Top's rookie review will be up later today for your perusal.

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Comments

Yeah, but the upside on Jabara Williams is tremendous!

Oh, wait.

"Fac Fortia et Patere"

by FailureDrill on Jan 12, 2012 9:43 AM CST via Android app reply actions

He became the feel good story of the year!!!!!!!!!

Go RAMs !!!

by VETT on Jan 13, 2012 7:14 AM CST up reply actions

salas

broke his leg, so I think its unfair to say he “…couldn’t crack a receiver corp that wasn’t that good.”

I miss the good old days of Warner to Holt

by guitrguy on Jan 12, 2012 9:43 AM CST via Android app reply actions

...or that he came on late!

Came on late? After he was on IR?!

by Oski Bear on Jan 12, 2012 9:45 AM CST up reply actions

before he got injured..

he was looking like the guy from Hawaii..breaking tackles and showing some slipperiness.

Just got hurt.

Story of the season really..

by Bralidore on Jan 12, 2012 9:46 AM CST up reply actions

+1

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is where the Stanley Cup can be found.

by Pekka for Predator Pontiff on Jan 12, 2012 10:50 AM CST up reply actions

We seem to have a knack for getting seemingly talented WR's

who can’t seem to stay on the field.

by bailorg on Jan 12, 2012 10:56 AM CST up reply actions

?

who have a knack for decent to bad wrs that cant stay healhty

Rams Bulls and Mets allllllllll day also i do love white castle

by G unit Rams on Jan 12, 2012 11:00 AM CST up reply actions

I get where he is going with this.

Laurent Robinson- a couple of years ago, looked good, got injured, couldn’t afford to keep him. He leaves. Does wonders for Dallas.
Mark Clayton- Looks good last year. Great chemistry with Bradford, Injured. Not great this year.
Danny Amendola- Looking like the next Wes Welker. Injured.
Greg Salas- Starting to put up good numbers. Injured.
Danario Alexander- If he wasn’t so fragile, could definitely turn into a Number 1 Receiver. Of course, we knew this before we got him.
See a trend here? While they may not be great. The flashes of brilliance some of them showed, say Robinson, was awesome. Not much you can do about that, except maybe get a knew strength and conditioning coach?

by slimshaney13 on Jan 12, 2012 12:51 PM CST up reply actions

The only problem

with robinson is he was the same WR as he was in st. Louis. The difference being that in dallas he is playing the #4 reciever and defences are more worried about there better recievers. In st louis he was over matched playing as a #2 reciecer playing defences best corners.

by Valley Ram on Jan 12, 2012 3:58 PM CST up reply actions

Complete and utter bullshit

He was the #2 WR while Austin was out, and outscored Dez Bryant in that stretch.

"To crush the Seahawks, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women."

by STLRambler on Jan 12, 2012 8:01 PM CST up reply actions

yup i can see a trend

donnie avery looking liek a num one last preseason and got hurt

Rams Bulls and Mets allllllllll day also i do love white castle

by G unit Rams on Jan 13, 2012 8:41 AM CST up reply actions

Robert Quinn is a beast.

"St. Louis Rams -- Where every year we are 3 years away."

by holtfan on Jan 12, 2012 9:48 AM CST reply actions

The point made in this article is what worries me about trading out of our #2 overall pick. The drafting done by this team has been horrendous – hopefully the new coach and GM can improve in that area.

by Telephun on Jan 12, 2012 9:51 AM CST reply actions

I'm not sure Fisher will have decided

Before the draft LOL

by Sggladden on Jan 12, 2012 9:59 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

Kendricks is my biggest disappointment

I hated passing on the DTs on the board for him and he flat out sucked last season. The real annoying thing is by all rights he should be a good player… maybe better coaching can turn him around.

by Sggladden on Jan 12, 2012 9:57 AM CST via mobile reply actions

Yeah he should be a great TE

But we need a competent FULL collection of coaches that can do the job.

Seriously, no QB coach!!!

by Danrarbc on Jan 12, 2012 10:05 AM CST up reply actions

+1

In a draft deep with good DT’s, we passed all of them up for a pair of back-up receivers and another TE. We drafted 2 TE’s the previous year. We all saw just how bad our defensive line and LB’s sucked against the run last season. Now you know why. Anyone that still thinks Spags and Devaney deserved another year has to have rocks in their heads.

by Da Rams! on Jan 12, 2012 10:28 AM CST up reply actions

i think he will

he has the tools and the coaching we had was beyond terrible so new coachs should get some of these underachievers on our team going well next year

Rams Bulls and Mets allllllllll day also i do love white castle

by G unit Rams on Jan 12, 2012 11:01 AM CST up reply actions

I just think the nerves hit him.

The rest of the team was sucking. It was just a trend in the Lou last year. No one else was catching balls early on, so when it came to him, he maybe freaked out a little as a rookie. Things happen. I think if he gets a full training camp under his belt, he will get better. I mean he showed some flashes of brilliance last year when he was dropping passes. If we can get other receiving threats on the team, I think he will definitely get better.

by slimshaney13 on Jan 12, 2012 12:55 PM CST up reply actions

if we get The Chud he could really help out Kendricks as he's done wonders with other TE's

by diehardram87 on Jan 12, 2012 2:00 PM CST up reply actions

The biggest disappointment for me

Is not taking Mason Foster. I know I’m not the only TSTer that wanted him in the 3rd. It will be especially brutal if Pettis doesn’t stick. OLB was such a big need. I believe that if they drafted Foster, and kept Jabara on the team, the LB corps would have been a strength and wouldn’t present a need like it does again this year. Stupid!

by mcihaelT on Jan 12, 2012 10:08 AM CST reply actions

Justin King

Rocks!

by OakCityRam on Jan 12, 2012 10:15 AM CST reply actions

+1

by slimshaney13 on Jan 12, 2012 12:56 PM CST up reply actions

No OL =

no big numbers on offense. Keep the #2 pick and draft Kalil…a WR/QB/RB is the fancy paint job on a car…the OL is the drive train. Bradford can go to pro bowls if he has a good OL to operate behind.

"rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength"...Eric Hoffer

by BaldBilly on Jan 12, 2012 10:34 AM CST reply actions

As bad as the OL was they still played better than the WRs.

We need to draft WR’s more that OL. We just need to get line help through free agency. If we pass up Blackmon then we’ll repeat last season.

by Da Rams! on Jan 12, 2012 10:39 AM CST up reply actions

yup

Rams Bulls and Mets allllllllll day also i do love white castle

by G unit Rams on Jan 12, 2012 11:01 AM CST up reply actions

The only reason

our OL looked worse was because of the offene McStupid tried to run. Which is why it looked alot better when clemens started. The style changed more like a west coast style. And who says saffold or smith cant be coached back up to good tackles? I say trade down to get more picks and possibly 2 first round DT?

by Valley Ram on Jan 12, 2012 11:04 AM CST via mobile up reply actions

I just have to disagree with this.

While, our OL isn’t great by any means, I don’t think we know what we have until we get a new OLine Coach.

by slimshaney13 on Jan 12, 2012 12:57 PM CST up reply actions

So any news on Fisher?

At this point if rather get him right now or move on. We need good coordinators and they are gonna be gone by the time Fisher is done making a franchise sell him their souls

Note to Douglas M: Remember that 99% of what I say involves BS

by King Sam Rules! on Jan 12, 2012 10:59 AM CST via mobile reply actions

I agree w Kiper

After Quinn we blew the draft……Again!

by fearsomefoursum on Jan 12, 2012 1:31 PM CST reply actions

We've been blowing drafts for years

The GSOT days are the last times we could look at a draft and say to ourselves, this makes me feel good about our roster. 8 months before this draft looked weak, I’m sorry, but it looked weak when Kendricks name was called. It looked even weaker when Pettis name was called. We had Paea, Wisniewski, Austin or Gilbert still up in the second. Mason Foster, KJ Wright, Jah Reid, or Drake Nevis were all available when we grabbed Pettis.

Wolf. Wolfgang Wolf

by dbcouver on Jan 12, 2012 2:31 PM CST reply actions

Here's the latest Miklaz rag on this very thing. Totally appalling how our drafts have turned out.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bernie-miklasz/bernie-talent-is-biggest-need-for-rams/article_a8a18af0-cc61-57b6-9564-888243c70b6d.html

Wolf. Wolfgang Wolf

by dbcouver on Jan 13, 2012 1:04 AM CST up reply actions

I think

Kendricks will get it together this year. I think it was mcdaniels complicated plays.

(Love by many hated by most) St. Louis Rams

by J-RAD2 on Jan 12, 2012 7:52 PM CST via mobile reply actions

Poor Coaching

The sad fact is that all the Rams players regress after they arrive. Saffold was a better player in year 1 than 2, and Kendricks was a better player in the preseason than the regular season. This points to poor (or no) coaching.

"To crush the Seahawks, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of the women."

by STLRambler on Jan 12, 2012 8:03 PM CST up reply actions