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On Tuesday afternoon, the St. Louis Rams and Washington Redskins can sign the paperwork and make the deal official. For draft watchers, there is no need to wait. The Rams have the sixth pick, and can start planning their draft board accordingly.
The sixth spot is a tricky one, a place without easy answers. One name that could be in play for the Rams is LSU defensive tackle Michael Brockers. Matt Miller of New Era Scouting and the lead draft writer at B/R, says the Brockers could be their guy.
From what sources in St. Louis tell me, Snead and Fisher are not big Justin Blackmon fans. I think Brockers is their guy if they keep pick
— Matt Miller (@nfldraftscout) March 10, 2012
Brockers raises mixed feeling among draftniks. Despite a first-round grade from the notoriously finicky draft advisory board, he represents a bit of an unknown.
One thing he does well is hold the point of attack and stop the run. That fits an obvious need for the Rams, but a defensive tackle being picked in the sixth spot needs to have pass rushing ability ... lots of it. For Brockers, that exists only as potential at this point. The Rams coaching staff would have to believe that they can extract that potential from him.
Defensive tackles have been a regular feature at the top of recent drafts. However, few would, or should, compare Brockers to Ndamukong Suh or even Gerald McCoy, the interior linemen superstars from the 2010 NFL Draft. Nick Fairley might be a more appropriate comparison.
Here's a scouting report on Brockers from Mocking The Draft.