Quote
dzrams
What do you envision if they do draft OL with their first three picks but none of them play much this year?
I'm not sure if you are asking me or someone else but I will respond.
First, I said one of their first three picks...not all three as that is extremely unlikely but something that would make me smile broadly. But if it is all three, here's my reaction.
Fans would point to that scenario as a colossal failure, but not me. If they draft that much talent and the current roster performs better, that means they would be performing far greater than my expectations and the offense would be a top five unit barring major injuries to the "skill players". We would then have three players that were developed to mitigate free agent losses and hopefully two of the three or even all three would be ready to take over and a dynastic Ram OL (like the 70's, 80's, and to a lesser extent GSOT lines) would have been born. Dynamic skill players are available every year but a dominant, cohesive OL is rare and a thing of beauty. They make even middling RB's into pro bowlers. They elevate the numbers of their QB because he can trust his protection. Receivers get time to develop longer routes and OC's have more options INCLUDING simply running it down the opponent's throat and demoralizing them (like the Ravens did to the Rams in 19).
Yeah, that's my vision. A dream created by my memories of Tom Mack, Dennis Harrah, Jackie Slater, Orlando Pace, Doug Smith, Adam Timmerman, Andrew Whitworth, Duval Love, Rodger Saffold, Doug France, Kent Hill, Irv Pankey, Tom Newberry, and Rich Saul.
I don't even expect linemen to be fully developed early in their careers. But those exceptional ones are stalwarts well into their 30's and generally cost less than their "skill" counterparts to keep.
