St. Louis Rams NFL Draft WarRoom

by Jon Dove on Jun 9, 2011 9:00 AM EDT

Mocking the Draft wants to introduce you to an new article series taking a closer look at each team's draft workings. The WarRoom articles will give you a glimpse at the recent draft history and the decision-making structure of each NFL team. We will also include our thoughts about the structure and draft history.

Offensive Scheme: The Rams offense is going through a makeover after that addition of Josh McDaniels. McDaniels was brought in because Pat Shurmur accepted the Cleveland Browns head coaching job. Shurmur did an excellent job developing rookie quarterback Sam Bradford. His success will be a tough act to follow but Josh McDaniels is more than capable.

McDaniels failed as the Broncos head coach but mainly due to poor personal decisions rather than poor offensive production. He is going to bring a wide open offensive system to a team that has a nice base of talent. McDaniels will need to find ways to properly utilize the talent at his disposal. This means not ignoring running back Stephen Jackson but also continuing the development of Sam Bradford. This upcoming season will be a key to the long term success of this franchise.

Defensive Scheme: Steve Spagnuolo came to St. Louis from New York through Philadelphia where he learned under Jim Johnson. Spagnuolo is an aggressive defensive play caller that specializes in creating pressure. Like most defensives, Spagnuolo's defense is most successful when the pressure comes from the front four.

Thoughts: The Rams have drafted well since Spagnuolo and company came on board. They hit a home run with the selection of Sam Bradford. But they also did a great job fixing up the offensive line with the selections of Rodger Saffold and Jason Smith. The solid play up front played a major roll in the success of Sam Bradford.

This team is still a few players away from Super Bowl contention but they are on the right track. The past few drafts have shown management's good decision making ability. Continued success through the draft will be the key to long term success.

Five-year record: 21- 59

Coach: Steve Spagnuolo

GM: Billy Devaney

Recent Draft History: Click Here to see the complete draft history

Best Pick: Sam Bradford

Worst Pick: Donnie Avery

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worst pick

If you’re looking at a five year spectrum of Rams’ drafts, it’s hard to consider Donnie Avery the worst pick. Granted, he’s not the best, but the team hasn’t sustained the hit from drafting him that they did from picks like Adam Carriker or Brian Leonard. Of course, those players aren’t on the team anymore, but whiffing on those picks really hurt the franchise.

Now, if you’re cutting it off with drafts since Billy Devaney has been here, the case for Avery is stronger. However, it’s hard to see a receiver succeeding with the 2008 and 2009 version of the Rams.

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by Ryan Van Bibber on Jun 9, 2011 9:13 AM EDT reply actions

my goal is to try and keep it w/in the current gm/coaching staff

Jon Dove
NFL Analyst at Mocking the Draft
@Jon_Dove42

by Jon Dove on Jun 9, 2011 9:33 AM EDT up reply actions

I've been really impressed with what the Rams have been doing

they’re building for the long-haul. Give them and the Lions each 1 more solid draft and those 2 teams are going to be slugging it out for the NFC for the next decade.

by JazzyBBP on Jun 9, 2011 11:42 AM EDT reply actions

I like the sound of that

by zachmann21 on Jun 9, 2011 11:59 AM EDT up reply actions

But as a Rams fan

and also a fan of Bradford, I wouldnt be too excited watching Ndamakong Suh and Nick Fairley coming after him.

by zachmann21 on Jun 9, 2011 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions

I like Bradford alot, too

he’d probably be a Lion if it was for the “0-16 stay-in-school program”.

by JazzyBBP on Jun 9, 2011 12:52 PM EDT up reply actions

They've been solid up front

but they haven’t hit on prospects after the third round yet. TE Mike Hoomanawanui could be an exception to that rule, though.

Turf Show Times editor, Mocking the Draft writer, and I gots that Twitter too, yo.
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by 3k on Jun 10, 2011 11:22 AM EDT reply actions

The Rams finally got a scouting department.

For years the wasn’t a scouting department, GM and anything that even remotely resembles a front office / player personal operations. It changed in 2009 when GM Devaney finally took over that role while also bringing in Mike Williams who is the head of the scouting department coming from San Francisco. Billy Devaney, Mike Williams and John Mancini have been absolutely fantastic when it comes to drafting, and even the free agent signing’s have been home run’s as well. Jason Brown and Fred Robbins time with the Rams speaks for itself as well as finding quality depth.

The Rams are having the best drafts they’ve seen since the run from Pace to Holt in the late 90’s. Obviously though, the Bradford pick is what gets the fans in St.Louis excited and has essentially turned Billy Devaney, Mike Williams, John Mancini and coach Steve Spagnoulo into the smartest guys in the room because they opted to select Sam instead of Suh. That pick alone took balls, because of how perfect a prospect Suh was. But as good as Suh is, he will never in a thousand seasons have the kind of impact on the game that Bradford will. Bradford is already on the fast track to becoming a top 5 QB in the league and the confidence the front office had in seeing that speaks volumes of how well this organization is run.

by DaFranchiZe on Jun 10, 2011 12:54 PM EDT reply actions