St. Louis Rams: The Draft Road So Far - Day 1 & 2

Over the last few months, some of you may have noticed a string of thought I've tried to weaved into some of my articles about the NFL Draft and the St. Louis Rams? For me, this draft was about preparing for a shift from years of building a roster, to one where "designed depth" would be added. Let me explain this a bit before you shrug it off...

When Jeff Fisher and Les Snead arrived in St. Louis, they had the very edge of nothing to work with on the roster: a few key players existed on defense, and a single guy with potential - Sam Bradford - on offense. Fisher and Snead began adding layer to the team vision they'd decided on, with defense leading the way. Rams fans cheered or jeered each subsequent NFL Draft. The picture of who St. Louis could really wind up being in the long term finally started to materialize in 2014. The defense is slammed full of talent. The offense though, had taken a back seat for the most part. Quite a few wide receivers heard their names called by the Rams in rounds 1 thru 4 on draft days, while only a single lineman - tackle Greg Robinson - garnered Day 1 attention.

This is just my opinion, but while Jeff Fisher is widely known as a "players coach", far too many people think this moniker is limited to being a guy who makes his charges feel happy to be playing for him. Much more important, Fisher believes in his ability to develop talent, and he's exhibited the patience to do so. Late round and un-drafted linemen have been taken under his and the coaching staffs' wings to learn how to be NFL players. Some work out, and some don't, but the idea here is actually very simple: with limited draft stock each year, a team has to find a way to make later round players into something that'll matter in the long run...

I never realized just how much Fisher believes in the developmental tree he has growing on the roster until just prior to the 2015 NFL Draft. His faith in offensive line coach Paul Boudreau's ability to groom players seems unshakable, with the team riding prospects Barrett Jones, Brandon Washington, Travis Bond and Demetrius Rhaney into the 2015 season. They've added two new linemen to the mix, with Rob Havenstein and Jamon Brown in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, respectively...

Most fans got a little Day 1 whiplash when Fisher and Snead selected running back Todd Gurley at #10 overall. I have to admit, I was a little shocked, but not as much as others. I mentioned something along this line in a Mock Draft I wrote in early April:

"... At running back, I'm not as sold on Tre Mason as others. Don't get me wrong: Mason had a good rookie campaign. But the need to meet a marginal offensive line half way may be the way to go too. A running back like Indiana's Tevin Coleman is going to creep into the first round of this draft. He's the closest thing to Marshawn Lynch that I've seen in quite a while. Lynch made the Seattle line look better. Somewhere lost on the Rams' roster is a young guy named Zac Stacy. Hard running, he's lost favor with Fisher. So what exactly is the Rams' head coach searching for at running back?"

OK, my bad on the Coleman prediction... But I had Fisher's thought paradigm down. He took who could be - barring those pesky ACL thingy-s - a top 10 NFL running back in Todd Gurley. This fits the designed depth mold perfectly, in that dialing key components - up or down - is key before settling into whether Fisher and Snead's team vision is on course. I think it is...

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On a side note: I know with all the re-location chatter, Turf Show Times is welcoming in quite a few new readers from the L.A. area. The comment threads have been raucous at times of late, but we give some leeway during the tension filled pre-draft, and Draft Day. This is quite possibly the largest Rams fan site, but it's also a family. Starting today, I'm going to be looking in on the comments. I'd ask the veteran TSTers to let some of our new friends know what will happen when they cross the line when it comes to rudeness, or a lack of civility...

PARTY ON! Let's have a great Day 3 of the 2015 NFL Draft!