Over at Sports Illustrated, columnist Don Banks has his hindsight 20/20 draft posted, in which he looks back at the players and results to assess what teams should have done in the draft. And what did his hindsight tell him about the St. Louis Rams?
With Detroit picking Michael Oher first overall, he has the Rams drafting Georgia QB Matt Stafford. It's not a bad hindsight pick at all, of course, since we're talking hindsight, maybe we should have made some sort of trade in 1998 to get Peyton Manning. Here's the quibble I have with Banks' analysis:
there's no team in more obvious need of a new starting quarterback for 2010. With that in mind, and Smith having underperformed as a rookie, I'd select Stafford here, with the knowledge that St. Louis could have given him a redshirt season of sorts while Marc Bulger and Kyle Boller served out this long and trying season for the Rams.
Maybe, but the offensive line would have been so bad that the third QB would have been playing by week 5 rather than week 14. The real issue I have here is his claim that Jason Smith has underperformed. Wrong. Smith played like a champ in the starting lineup, rarely making the same mistake twice, and the Rams obviously miss his presence on the field. Now, he could have said "disappointed," disappointed in the sense of Smith being injured this season.
Speaking of the draft, Illinois WR Arrelious Benn will enter the NFL Draft.