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spagsbacker
I think it was a fair draft. I think most of us can acknowledge that Akers and Jefferson were viewed as 3rd rd picks...not 2nd. Thus, I don't think the value was terrific. I think they might end up being good to great players...particularly Akers. I don't love Jefferson's age, but I do like his ability to separate. I think the T Lewis pick was the best, a high ceiling pick that carries some risk, but I was expecting him in the 2nd, so I was happy with it.
I think neglecting the o line is simply ignoring the obvious. Rams o line was awful last year. I don't think they were improving. They were bad and the players will only improve marginally as their ceilings are pretty low. Whitworth is not getting better and plays most important position on line. Blythe is bad. Allen is a bust. Noteboom has shown nothing in 2 years except he is either average at best or injured. Corbett couldn't stick with the Browns. Havs is fair...he's ok when healthy. Somehow J Jones who could easily be our future LT dropped to our picks in the 2nd rd, and the Rams chose to pass. Would he have helped this year? I would say maybe, but feel that issue is very shortsighted when contemplating your LT solution for the next decade. There were also plenty of opportunities to upgrade our C, or at least add some competition to our G position.
The O Line was our biggest question mark last year. Gurley had no holes to run through. Defenders were all over Goff when he dropped back to pass. He does not thrive under pressure. So, sure I like the potential of Akers and Jefferson, but not sure how they will improve our offense. On the other hand, there are plenty of teams that thrive with o lines made up of no name players and mid rd picks. Im just not sure they guys we have can accomplish this. Im pretty sure they cannot. It does not feel like Rams made an honest assessment of their talent. We again went with splashy offensive weapon picks, that is their mojo. Maybe it will work.
Snead and McVay do not let the draft come to them. They decide beforehand who they hope to draft and that is fine, but that is the strategy. I watch teams like the Bills who let the draft come to them....getting great value when a guy like Epenesa drops to the 2nd and Moss who everyone here seems to love drops to the 3rd.
We will see how it works out. I liked the players we drafted for the most part. I worry the o line will again wreck the season.
I think wrt the WR position the Rams did a good job playing to the strengths of the draft.
I've seen it mentioned that they forced WR there at 57 and you somewhat allude to this in the round 3 label on Jefferson. But look at the available players when they were up. If they don't address wideout there what is it going to look like come 84?
The answer is a very big dropoff. The difference between Jefferson or Mims to the options on the board like Duvernay was significant. At least to my eye. So IMO the decision to go WR there at 57 had just as much to do with the relative strengths of the draft than anything else, where the Rams tried to align their needs to where they can best fill them based on that.
I really don't have any complaints on how the Rams maneuver in the draft or how they prioritize and align needs. Because not drafting OL is moreso an organizational decision probably made before the draft that they're going to roll the dice on what they have in house. Again. Now you and I agree that is probably a mistake. I still feel that way. But I don't want to turn my dissatisfaction with their OL plan into something bigger than it is. I wanted Hennessy badly. I was hoping they'd jump up and take Jones in the worst way when he was available longer than I had expected.
But for whatever reason they felt like they were lacking more in skill position players. They chose a less safe route. But I'm not so in love with my own assessment that I can't accept their approach might work. And I'm not saying you are either btw. Truth here is that the Rams obviously felt that their RBs and WRs weren't good enough. And I can't disagree with that no matter how much I might have wanted OL. So for me at least I'm just gonna cross my fingers and hope these guys are correct.
