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Sure, you could say they should not have bet so much on upside at #2 overall. But that has worked out to great benefit in the past.
A much bigger mistake was losing Jenkins and keeping Austin. Because they KNEW or should have known what they had in those 2 players after having them for a few years. That was a much worse evaluation by Snead. And I'm gonna assume he was part of those evaluations and should have forced the issue even if Fisher balked. And I doubt Fisher did. He wanted to keep Jenkins. So I put the Jenkins/Austin mess mostly on Snead.
I think that the JJ decision came down to a bang for the buck thing for the Rams, max. Pure and simple.
IOW, it's not that they didn't know what he could do or that they didn't want him. They just didn't want him at a salary beyond a certain point. And the Rams were confident in their ability to find and develop another CB talent to replace him, if necessary.
JJ, on the other hand, insisted on top dollar. Can't say that I blame him, either. Plus, history shows that he was right about his value.
Therefore, I can't say that the JJ "mistake" was on a par with the GRob mistake. Picks at #2 overall in a loaded draft don't come along very often. GRob was a colossal "might have been".
As to Austin? Man, that was an epic fubar that still defies explanation. No hindsight needed on that bad call. The league is probably still laughing at that mistake. That one I put on Fisher, btw.
