The St. Louis Rams have been quietly making the rounds at the Senior Bowl this week, watching prospects practice and taking in the conference-like atmosphere of the whole thing. Rams staffers in Mobile have probably had plenty of conversations with prospects, but we know that two of those conversations have involved a wide receiver and a defensive tackle that they spoke with last week at the Shrine Game.
South Florida is officially on the Rams radar as a recruiting source. Last year they drafted two players from the school - CB Jerome Murphy (R3) and DE George Selvie (R7) - and continued conversations this week with DT Terrell McClain. You can see why the Rams might like this guy, high motor, student of the game, etc. Here's an interview with McClain from New Era Scouting which gives some insight into what kind of player he is.
Another player the Rams talked to at the is East Carolina WR Dwayne Harris, a smaller, small school wide receiver with good production numbers both as a receiver and return man. I've never seen the guy play, but scouting reports note a guy who looks more like a tough running back with the ball in his hands (i.e. YAC)...stop me if you've heard this before. It sounds an awful lot like the scouting reports for Mardy Gilyard.
Whether or not they draft either of those guys remains to be seen. The Rams will talk to tons of players in the weeks leading up to the draft, and there's more insight as to the team's plans and approach to the draft than there is to which players they'll take.
It's early and there's not much to go on, but this says to me that the Rams are looking at all kinds of receivers, not just the so-called #1 receiver types. Ideally, this would suggest they're keeping an open mind about upgrading the 3-6 receiver spots as well as the number 1 job.
Or, given the scouting reports on Harris and his size/shape, maybe the Rams see him as their version of the scatback, a poor man's Dexter McCluster. His speed is OK for a receiver, but it's good for a running back.