The big Pro Day show tomorrow is at Auburn, where all eyes will once again be firmly fixed on Cam Newton. However, Auburn's a big time SEC program, which means there's always more than one name to keep an eye on there. Obviously, Nick Fairley is out of play for the St. Louis Rams too. One name to watch at Auburn is WR Darvin Adams.

Adams plays taller than his 6'2" measurement, but he's skinny at just 185 lbs. He has shown an ability to off the line well, including against press coverage, and he can beat defenders for jump balls because he plays taller than his height. There are also questions about his consistency. Adams isn't a must-have, but he's one of those raw, late round players worth keeping an eye on during the draft. 

Speaking of Pro Days, there are two other biggies tomorrow where the Rams will surely be represented. Arkansas OL DeMarcus Love is a mid round candidate at offensive guard; Ray Dominguez is a later round OG candidate. 

Beside Arkansas and Auburn, Oklahoma is having their Pro Day tomorrow. RB DeMarco Murray is the most notable player of interest for the Rams in Norman. Free safety Quinton Carter might be the best available FS in the draft, and could be had in the second or even third rounds.

The best interview in my relatively short day at the Combine yesterday was Baylor OL Danny Watkins. If there were an interview equivalent of a 4.2 forty, the 26-year-old did it. Watkins possess a calm, humorous, assuring demeanor and just enough "aw shucks" (doubtlessly part of the Canadian DNA) to be a St. Louis favorites...if the St. Louis Rams draft him.

Age is the only thing limiting Watkins' draft stock right now, and after yesterday it might not be limiting him all that much. Asked if he thought his age was a limitation, he remarked, "well, I don't have arthritis." That was it. Questions about his age quelled with fell swoop. Just enough sarcasm to lightly say, don't be an idiot. Watkins has just four years of football on his body, unlike some seniors heading into the draft that have more than a decade. 

Watkins, from British Columbia, did play hockey as a kid. His hockey career ended when he tipped the scales at 270 lbs as a high school senior, a little big even for an enforcer. He did note that knowing how to skate translated directly to playing offensive line, the quicker feet in the run game, the agility of skating backwards made it "all very natural" to Watkins. 

As far as which teams he's met with, all of them, or he will meet with all of them. Which goes to show you the value of guards and just how highly regarded Watkins is in the eyes of NFL personnel folk. 

Transferring to Baylor from JuCo in 2009, Watkins never played with Jason Smith. He did, however, note the recent legacy of Baylor linemen in the NFL. When I asked him about the opportunity to play next to Smith in the NFL he simply stated "it'd be great."

Former BYU running back Harvey Unga is the man of the hour for the upcoming NFL Supplemental Draft. The St. Louis Rams are one of four team that are said to have the most interest in Unga, according to a Yahoo Sports report. 

We discussed this possibility in a post last week. Unga profiles as something of a tweener, with the scouting report at Mocking the Draft of the opinion that he profiles more as a fullback. However, Unga did show some nice hands out of the backfield, which is something the Rams coaching staff desires in their running backs. 

I don't know anything about Unga other than what the scouting reports say. A tough player who can fight through contact he might be a nice short yardage and goal line option, saving some wear and tear on Steven Jackson. Is that worth a fifth or even fourth round pick? 

Some links...

• Two more players will be available in the supplemental draft: Truman State (MO) WR/RB Vaness Emokpae and Illinois DT Josh Price-Brent. Neither player is expected to be drafted, though Price-Brent could fetch an extra seventh round pick.
• National scouting grades are out for some big names in the 2011 NFL Draft. Washington QB Jake Locker got a 6.7, ninth overall. A couple players that could be of interest to the Rams with a top ten pick at Iowa DE Adrian Clayborn, who tied with Nebraska CB Price Amukamara with 7.3, and North Carolina DT Marvin Austin.

  So, my 2011 mocks are now underway.  No doubt, every pick will manifest itself as reality 11 months from now.  Seriously.  This is a true statement.  Fuh real.  Can cutta (Louisiana speak - we won't go there since I'd probably be the only translator).

  Yeah, things look a certain way in the summer and after a season of play, extra assessment and some wackiness off the field, things change.  How much?  For some, not so much, but for others, a hell of a lot.  Let's look at my first mock and investigate what I missed ; in part 2, we'll see if we can draw some analogies to my 2011 version.  Is the first pick and jump intro getting too formulaic?  It depends on what your definition of "is" is...

3k's 2010 mock draft from May 2, 2009

1.) Oakland Raiders (1-15) - Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma St.

  Immediately, part of the problem jumps out - the order messes everything up.  Oakland won five games and picked 8th; I think that gives me license to blame Al Davis for everything that follows. 

  Because I try to both assess and predict needs for each time come the next draft, certain players get pushed up and others get pushed back.  Still, in terms of value, this was a hit.  Eventually, this would morph into the Bruce Campbell pick which did happen...in the 4th round.

  Jump back in time with me...oh damn.  Almost forgot the jams.  How about the instrumental from Over by Drake.  Great production (warning: the hook has profanity, so if you are offended by such language, put on something more your style).

Yes.  Begin.

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That which doesn't kill us...yada, yada, yada. Lost in the pre-draft hoopla about Sam Bradford's injury was how hard he worked to come back from it. You saw the results at his pro day, but the effort that went into making  that day happen deserves mention. 

This is from Dr. James Andrews, the A-list surgeon for pro athletes. 

He was ready to go. He had been building strength, working 12 hours a day to get his body in shape. He was in excellent shape for Pro Day, and he had a spectacular day. Some (scouts) said he had the best Pro Day since Troy Aikman.

When Sam called me that night, after his workout, he was like a kid on Christmas day. Very excited. He knew he had done a good job. Sam is a wonderful kid and very deserving of everything he's gotten. He's the kind of kid you'd like to have as a son.

That Bradford was able to get himself back into consideration for the top pick in the draft after barely playing in 2009 is a feat in and of itself. And it didn't come easy. Having been burned drafting QBs in the first round before, St. Louis Rams GM Billy Devaney had a long list of things to check out before making Bradford the league's highest paid player. Topping that list was character, and Bradford's efforts to recovery and rebuild his shoulder and his recovery provided some answers to that question. 

Speaking of Bradford, ever wonder what happened to the BYU linebacker that took him out? Now you know. 

  You guys asked for em by a pretty wide margin.  After the jump, 32 grades, 32 chances to rip into me, but first, a note on post-draft grades:

  In the immediate period after the draft, we saw less grades than we did repetitions of the refrain, "Grading a draft makes no sense until you've seen the class play out for three years."  To a degree, that's absolutely true.  But I'm going to do it again anyway for two reasons that deserve explanation:

  1.) People want to read them - The fact that grades beat out a 2011 mock in the above poll prove that draft grades are popular.  Maybe more important, they're popular despite the fact that the three-year caution everyone gives before throwing their grades out is pretty common knowledge.  I'm not saying my intent is just to do what people want or that we at TST or SBN should constantly throw up polls just to determine what we should write about, but it should have some weight, especially when a poll is that lopsided.

  2.) Grades are as subjective as anything else - How do grades really differ from any other perspective-driven analysis?  The scale for grading can be very individual (as some of the SBN community grades affirm) and very subjective (as the disparity between different peoples grades affirms).  How is this different from say a mock draft?  And yet nobody's saying "we can't do a mock draft until after the draft to determine how viable these prospect rankings are," and for good reason.  Some of my grades are bound to be way off; others may end up being on the mark.  But this doesn't differ much from anyone elses grades, anyone elses mock drafts or, ironically, the actual draft itself and front offices' prospect evaluations.  If Joe Haden becomes Tye Hill 2.0, hindsight will provide us with the wisdom we, and obviously people who get paid for stuff like this, lack right now.  Should that stop us from assessing the moment?  If so, what is the point of even having a place like Turf Show Times?  And so what if we're all wrong?  Isn't uncertainty an enjoyable facet of sport?  C'mon, just enjoy it.  Besides, I need company in 2013 when somebody looks for these in the search engine.

  Useless, stupid, unnecessary, wrong, foolish grades after the jump.

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It will shock you to learn that NFL team evaluate talent differently. It's okay, breathe. 

How do I know this? Well, one reason are leaked photos of the Dallas Cowboys' draft board. Here's the clearest picture and another picture, sans Jerry Jones. 

They had Golden Tate with a late third round grade; he went to Seattle with a late second round pick. It looks like they have the Rams' second round pick, OT Roger Saffold, graded as a third round pick. They had Bradford graded as the top pick. Those are the only Rams picks I see. If you're handy with the computers, I urge you to break out more info and see what other picks they have graded where. I'd be interested to see, as would we all.

The seventh round vs. undrafted free agency, it's kind of a lottery with players acquired through those routes, subject to the vastly different opinions of how a team grades talent and how they set up their draft board. The St. Louis Rams announced their "eighth round" picks this week. As usual, there are some intriguing prospects among the group. 

University of Louisiana Monroe linebacker Cardia Jackson has been on the Rams' radar for some time. LB coach Paul Ferraro has been communicating with the LB prospect after seeing film and pro day results. Here's what the ULM linebacker told Ferraro:

I told him you get me in and I’ll do the rest and make you proud.

Jackson led his team with 117 tackles last season. His 381 career tackles give him sole proprietorship of the Sun Belt Conference record. Outside linebackers in a 4-3 defense are a little different than the pass rushers in a 3-4 and they certainly don't get drafted the way the pass rushing specialist do. Hopefully the Rams can find some talent at LB among their UDFAs. 

Minnesota LB Simoni Lawrence is another UDFA to keep an eye on as rookie camp gets underway. He's a former safety who ran a 4.55 in the 40 this year. You can read his scouting report here.

Here's a complete list of the Rams UDFAs.