Rams hoping for that rare find at 37th overall

Rams hoping for that rare find at 37th overall

By Alden Gonzalez


LOS ANGELES -- Seven decades ago, the Los Angeles Rams took a flyer on a T-formation quarterback named Norm Van Brocklin. This was December of 1948. Van Brocklin had just led Oregon to a tie for the Pacific Coast Conference championship, but he still had another year of eligibility remaining and teams believed he would go back to school. He slipped all the way to the 37th overall selection, which at that time took place in the fourth round.

To this day, Van Brocklin remains the only 37th pick to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

He now signifies hope. Hope for teams scrambling to find that franchise cornerstone with the fifth pick of the second round. Hope for an organization like the present-day Rams, who, nearly 70 years later, won't make their first selection in the 2017 draft until, yep, 37th overall.

That pick will take place next Friday night, on April 28, probably a little after 4:30 p.m. PT. And there is really no telling which direction the Rams will go, because so many picks will be made before them and because so many of their positions need fixing. They badly need talent at receiver and tight end, but they also need depth at cornerback and safety. They need to identify their left tackle and center of the future, but they also need to start building the next wave of defensive linemen and linebackers.

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