St. Louis Rams: 2015 NFL Draft "What If-s?"

The #10 overall draft pick for the St. Louis Rams is a tricky one. All the mock draft generator sites seem to lend toward a trade down (or trade up?), but I'm not sure Les Snead will be asked to join the pick swap party in 2015. Am I the only one who's noticed how little the media draft mavens are heralding the player class of 2015? It's because - outside of some stellar defensive front seven talent - this draft class really isn't all that impressive. Since the Rams defensive front seems all but set, the 31 other NFL teams have a good idea what Les Snead won't" do on draft day. Say what you want, but it's a part of the draft day dance to insinuate interest in one player or another to gain some much needed bargaining leverage.

While it's true the Rams at #10 could turn into a hot property if a player a few teams covet falls, I'm not seeing any kind of draft pick windfall to make Snead jump at a trade offer. So who do the Rams select if they're locked in at #10? I guess it's about what Snead and head coach Jeff Fisher have on their wish lists. It also comes down to which player will control the draft board in the first round. With quarterbacks Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston and defensive tackle Leonard Williams projected as a virtual lock to go in the top five or six picks, the guy I think who'll set the first day of the draft's trend will be: Brandon Scherff, offensive tackle, Iowa.

Even though many mock drafts have him sliding a tad, I see him as the first offensive lineman being taken in the 2015 NFL Draft. Teams are titchy folks, and Scherff will start a small run at his position. If you look at the draft order from 1 to 9, you'll see a few teams who need to shore up their offensive lines. In fact, an argument can easily be made that EVERY team picking in the Top 10 could use help at tackle, guard or center in a big way. I think Scherff will be the first tackle off the board, and force at least two teams to follow suit. The 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement has made selecting any position in the NFL Draft more tenable.

So if this is the case, what happens if Winston, Marrota, Williams, Scherff, and let's say Andrus Peat and Ereck Flowers account for six of the Top 10 picks? You guess it! It's going to be "skill position" player time. Add Amari Cooper as a pick before St. Louis at #10, then for the sake of argument throw in Randy Gregory and Danny Shelton. Now the Rams are sitting there at #10, and no one is calling Les Snead with a trade down. Who do you take, if the St. Louis needs list includes - but not limited to - OL, OLB, ILB*, QB...

-- * I put inside linebacker on the needs list for the Rams since the depth behind James Laurinaitis is non-existent, and there are two players who could fill the need, - McKinney(Miss St.) and Kendricks(UCLA) - but taking one of them at #10 would be a huge stretch.