2015 NFL Mock Draft: Rams aim for offense

So...

- This took me waaaaaaay too long. I wanted to get it done right after the draft, except...

- I put waaaaaaay too much effort into this. I looked into GM historical trends. I looked into positional trends. I looked at rosters and contracts and depth charts....for a 3-round 2015 mock nearly a year out. I'm not sure why I did this.

- That being said, try stifling your inner @PFTCommenter. There's no reason to emote over this. The picks? They're going to be 99% wrong even if 50% of these do end up being taken in the first three rounds. The order? Just like the MTD Mock Draft, I used Bovada's Super Bowl odds at the same time MTD did. And I made trades. And I made more trades. So calm thy inner internet commenter and try to be a good SB Nation bro.

- I also made trades because the current draft paradigm makes mocks without trades pointless. At least try. Fail, sure, but try. It's not as if my first 2014 mock was built for accuracy... Bear in mind the trade at #4 is a result from the trade in the 2014 NFL Draft that Buffalo made to move up for Sammy Watkins.

Enough. Onto mockery.

Round 1

Rd#	Ovr#	Team	Last	First	POS	School
1	1	TEN (via JAX*)	Winston	Jameis	QB	Florida St.
2	2	OAK	Mariota	Marcus	QB	Oregon
3	3	JAX (via TEN*)	Williams	Leonard	DT	USC
4	4	CLE (real via BUF)	Strong	Jaelen	WR	Arizona St.
5	5	NYJ	Agholor	Nelson	WR	USC
6	6	MIA (via MIN+)	Ekpre-Olomu	Ifo	CB	Oregon
7	7	WAS	Diggs	Stefon	WR	Maryland
8	8	TB	Petty	Bryce	QB	Baylor
9	9	MIN (via MIA+)	Gregory	Randy	DE	Nebraska
10	10	CLE	Calhoun	Shilique	DE	Michigan St.
11	11	HOU (via STL%)	Fajardo	Cody	QB	Nevada
12	12	NYG	Erving	Cameron	OT	Florida St.
13	13	DET	Mills	Jalen	CB/S	LSU
14	14	DAL	Green-Beckham	Dorial	WR
15	15	SD	Fields	Devonte	DE/3-4 OLB	TCU
16	16	PIT	Grant	Doran	CB	Ohio St.
17	17	KC	Ogbuehi	Cedric	OT	Texas A&M
18	18	STL (via HOU%)	Cooper	Amari	WR	Alabama
19	19	CIN	Edwards	Mario	DE	Florida St.
20	20	BAL	Waynes	Trae	CB	Michigan St.
21	21	CAR (via ATL^)	Peat	Andrus	OT	Stanford
22	22	ARI	Scherff	Brandon	OT	Iowa
23	23	CHI	Jenkins	Jordan	OLB	Georgia
24	24	ATL (via CAR^)	Collins	Landon	S	Alabama
25	25	NO	Perryman	Denzel	ILB	Miami
26	26	IND	Jackson	Tre	G	Florida St.
27	27	PHI	Beasley	Vic	3-4 OLB	Clemson
28	28	GB	McCarthy	Ellis	DT	UCLA
29	29	NE	Williams	P.J.	CB	Florida St.
30	30	SF	Smith	Derron	FS	Fresno St.
31	31	DEN	Johnson	A.J.	ILB	Tennessee
32	32	SEA	Kalis	Kyle	G	Michigan

^* - JAX gives 1.1, TEN gives 1.3, 2.3 and more TBD

⁺ - MIN gives 1.6, MIA gives 1.9, 3.9 and more TBD

^% - STL gives 1.11, HOU gives 1.18 and 2.18

^{^} - ATL gives 1.21, CAR gives 1.24 and 3.24

Round 1 Notes

- I'm comfortable with the top 6. Things got a little crazy after that. The Diggs pick is putting him on track to have a Tavon Austin coming out party.

- The first two trades assume the Titans jump Oakland to ensure they get one of the top two QBs. Miami hops Washington to assure them of a corner.

- Sure, the Houston-St. Louis trade seems wild. I'm much higher on Fajardo than most. I was last year too when I had him going 16th overall. Houston has to hop Detroit and Dallas who are in sellers' positions for a QB here to grab Fajardo. That leaves the Rams to take the fifth WR in the 1st round who still fits a top of the depth chart mold while picking up some draft capital later on because Les Snead is Les Snead.

- My favorite pick of the 1st round? Seattle taking RS sophomore Michigan guard Kyle Kalis to close out day 1. It's got about a 0.001% chance right now and yet it feels like something Seattle wold do right now if they could.

- No running backs because it's 2014 and no.

Round 2

Rd#	Ovr#	Team	Last	First	POS	School
1	33	JAX	Eskridge	Durell	FS	Syracuse
2	34	OAK	Johnson	Duke	RB	Miami
3	35	JAX (via TEN*)	Hawkins	Jerald	RT	LSU
4	36	BUF	Hogan	Kevin	QB	Stanford
5	37	NYJ	Yeldon	T.J.	RB	Alabama
6	38	MIN	Matias	Josue	G	Florida St.
7	39	WAS	Harris	Anthony	SS	Virginia
8	40	TB	Davis	Carl	DT	Iowa
9	41	MIA	Otis	Norkeithus	OLB	UNC
10	42	CLE	Davis	Mike	RB	South Carolina
11	43	STL	Joseph	Karl	FS	West Virginia
12	44	KC (via NYG#)	Robinson	Corey	OT	South Carolina
13	45	DET	Reed	Cedric	DE	Texas
14	46	DAL	Covington	Christian	DT	Rice
15	47	SD	Alexander	Vadal	G	LSU
16	48	PIT	Funchess	Devin	TE	Michigan
17	49	NYG (via KC#)	Fackrell	Kyler	OLB	Utah St.
18	50	STL (via HOU%)	Grasu	Hroniss	C	Oregon
19	51	CIN	Hundley	Brett	QB	UCLA
20	52	CHI (via BAL@)	Collins	La'el	LT/OL	LSU
21	53	ATL	Harold	Eli	OLB	Virginia
22	54	ARI	Cook	Connor	QB	Michigan St.
23	55	BAL (via CHI@)	Kouandjio	Arie	G	Alabama
24	56	CAR	Darby	Ronald	CB	Florida St.
25	57	NO	Ariguzo	Chi Chi	OLB	Northwestern
26	58	IND	Gurley	Todd	RB	Georgia
27	59	PHI	Greenberry	Deontay	WR	Houston
28	60	GB	Johnstone	Tyler	OT	Oregon
29	61	NE	Ajayi	Jay	RB	Boise St.
30	62	SF	Shelton	Danny	DT	Washington
31	63	DEN	Stanley	Ronnie	OT	Notre Dame
32	64	SEA	Heuerman	Jeff	TE	Ohio St.

^* - JAX gives 1.1, TEN gives 1.3, 2.3 and more TBD

^# - NYG gives 2.12, KC gives 2.17 and more TBD

^% - STL gives 1.11, HOU gives 1.18 and 2.18

^@ - BAL gives 2.20, CHI gives 2.23 and more TBD

Round 2 Notes

- Jacksonville is set to pack up their tools for their raw power move with two of the first three picks in the second round. While I've got them on track to use them both, I would expect that with a night to shop around, they'd find a way to sell one off.

- Oakland breaks the RB seal...with Duke Johnson. It doesn't make sense now, it won't next year...but it's Oakland so sure.

- That's a bland first half of the round, position-wise but with the skill-heavy first and the way things sit now, I struggled to see it otherwise.

- The Rams opt to go with a ballhawk in Joseph who fits the Rams' dual-safety backend and the top center in Grasu. Headlines? None. But headlines the Rams are coming off of a OT/DT first round. If that can fly...

- Cincy and Arizona with mid-2nd round QB pickups. Somehow, I think those would be less than absolutely positively received among their fan bases...

- Struggled again with Seattle because they're in the midst of their built roster window. They've got decisions galore coming down the pipe on who to retain, but the heat's not on them yet.

Round 3

Rd#	Ovr#	Team	Last	First	POS	School
1	65	JAX	Bibbs	E.J.	TE	Iowa St.
2	66	OAK	Parker	DeVante	WR	Louisville
3	67	TEN	Frost	Kris	ILB	Auburn
4	68	BUF	Russell	KeiVarae	CB	Notre Dame
5	69	NYJ	Washington	Tony	OLB	Oregon
6	70	MIN	Everett	Deshazor	CB	Texas A&M
7	71	WAS	Havenstein	Rob	OT	Wisconsin
8	72	TB	Shaw	Josh	CB	USC
9	73	MIN (via MIA+)	Wilson	Ramik	ILB/LB	Georgia
10	74	CLE	DePriest	Trey	ILB	Alabama
11	75	STL	Keeton	Chuckie	QB	Utah St.
12	76	NYG	Matthews	Mike	C	Texas A&M
13	77	DET	Humphries	D.J.	OT	Florida
14	78	DAL	Flowers	Trey	DE	Arkansas
15	79	SD	Anthony	Stephone	ILB	Clemson
16	80	PIT	Drango	Spencer	OT	Baylor
17	81	KC	McGee	Jake	TE	Florida
18	82	HOU	William	Daryl	OT	Oklahoma
19	83	CIN	Seumalo	Isaac	C	Oregon St.
20	84	BAL	Montgomery	Ty	WR	Stanford
21	85	ATL	Clark	Le'Raven	OT	Texas Tech
22	86	ARI	Thompson	Shaq	OLB	Washington
23	87	CHI	Drummond	Kurtis	FS	Michigan St.
24	88	SEA (via ATL~)	Doss	Lorenzo	CB	Tulane
25	89	NO	McKinney	Benardrick	ILB	Mississippi St.
26	90	IND	Bennett	Michael	DT	Ohio St.
27	91	PHI	Wright	Gabe	DT	Auburn
28	92	GB	Clark	Frank	DE	Michigan
29	93	NE	Jarrett	Kyshoen	SS	Virginia Tech
30	94	SF	Campbell	Ibraheim	SS	Northwestern
31	95	DEN	Golden	Markus	DE	Missouri
32	96	ATL (via SEA~)	Oakman	Shawn	DE	Baylor

⁺ - MIN gives 1.6, MIA gives 1.9, 3.9 and more TBD

^~ - ATL gives 3.24 via earlier trade, SEA gives 3.32 and more TBD

Round 3 Notes

- A defensively-heavy round, ending with an 11-pick run of defensive prospects. This is exactly what will happen.

- Minnesota jump up to grab Ramik Wilson ahead of Cleveland.

- Non-plussed by Garrett Gilbert lurking at the back of the depth chart a la Austin Davis, the Rams finally grab a QB with some potential to push Sam Bradford who would be heading into the final year of his rookie contract at this point in Utah St. funthing Chuckie Keeton.

- One pick later, the Giants add Mike Matthews further adding weight to the 3k Theory of Football Family Convergence that one day, the entire NFL will populated by descendants of Howie Long and Clay Matthews, Sr. Games will be entirely impossible to call, radio broadcasts will be rendered useless and referees will be wholly unable to determine which player committed which penalty amid a sea of Longs and Matthewses. It will be hell. The NFL will hit record numbers.

- Pittsburgh helps out the O-line by grabbing Baylor product Spencer Drango who sounds much more like a Bond villain than a football player.

So there it is, a donation for perpetuity. We'll revisit this in..what, maybe 5 months from now, but until then, here's a first attempt at reading the tea leaves.