Most authorities believe that my Rams are going to take Sam Bradford. It's not without cause. Devaney seems to be giving them significant reasons to think so. Let's hope it's all combat deception.
Do you remember last year's draft? The Rams were doing everything possible to trade out of the #2 spot. We needed more help than that. As history now proves, the Jets were angling to move up in the draft and select a QB; Mark Sanchez to be more precise. He is now in a Jets uniform, so there is your proof. We were talking deal with the Jets from early on. As the march to the draft wore on, the Jets became increasingly confident that Sanchez would not be selected between #2 and #5. Ergo, there was no need to pay through the nose for the #2 pick.
The Jets began talking deal with the Browns. The Rams signaled that they would not be undersold. The Jets still lacked interest. The #2 pick gets a lot more cash than the #5 pick, especially if he just happens to be a QB.
In a last gasp move to salvage the deal, the Rams brought Mark Sanchez to St. Louis, burning one of our 30 official visits, and giving him a royal welcome. We began signalling that we would take Sanchez. The Jets smelled bullshit. They just didn't believe it. We had insisted that Bulger would be our starter in 2010, even to the point where Coach Spagnuolo met with Marc and gave him a personal guarantee of his status. Frankly, it was too late in the process to begin running the deception play. If we had wanted to do that successfully, we should have begun early, and signaled often that we were in the mood for a QB.
Guess what? This just might be what we are doing in 2010. Consider the following:
- Marc Bulger cleaned out his locker almost 2 months ago.
- We have not resigned Kyle Boller
- We signed A.J. Feely, and he is no starter.
- We still have Keith Null, but few NFL insiders yet view him as anything significant. They could be wrong, but has no standing at the moment.
- We have met extensively with Sam Bradford
- We interviewed his Doctor
- We have opened negotiations with his agent
- We will be at Bradford's ProDay today
- We will host him in St. Louis soon
- All of the NFL Insiders such as Schefter, La Canfora, Chris Mortensen, Alex Marvez and John Clayton seem certain we are taking Bradford
- All of draftnics like Mike Mayock, Mike Lombardi, Charles Davis, Bucky Brooks, Corey Chavous, Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr think we are taking Bradford
- Cleveland is rumored to be interested in Bradford. In fact this is more than a rumor, we have heard it right from Mike Holmgren's mouth. He has also stated he is willing to work a draft deal to move up and take Bradford.
- Washington is rumored to be interested in Bradford, although they are playing their cards close to their chest.
- Billy Devaney has been video taped on the NFL Network stating that he would love to deal the #1 pick and restock the team quicker.
So you put Devaney and Holmgren on the phone together and watch them make sweet music together. But all of this predicated on the strong strategic probability that the Rams will be selecting Bradford. If there is no credible threat that we will select Bradford, there is no need to negotiate with the Rams for Bradford. Allow the Rams to take Gerald McCoy, and consider making a deal with Tampa. It would be cheaper to go that route. If neither the Redskins nor the Browns believe the Rams are selecting Bradford, the deal falls apart.
I hope and I pray that this is just a case where Devaney began his deception ploy early enough for it work. I hope and I pray he is sending one false signal after another to prod Holmgren into make a deal. We don't have to make it that expensive for Holmgren either. Of course, it would be lovely if Shanahan shows some interest as well. This would heat the market, increasing the chance of a sale.
So what if the Rams make a deal with the Browns and get a 1-2, or even a 1-2-3. Well, I'll restate the program again. If we get a 1-2 from the Browns we will hold the #7, #33, #38 picks. If it were my call, I would do the following:
- #7 Trent Williams OT Oklahoma
- #33 Maurkice Pouncey C/G Florida
- #38 Tim Tebow QB Florida
That would be my call. If you take Williams, and if Pouncey falls to us in the 2nd, I think we just got the two best offensive linemen in this entire draft. When history is written, I think these two guys will become the two most decorated offensive linemen from this draft. You add those two solid rookies to our existing two solid linement (Jason Brown and Jason Smith) and then our offensive line problems suddenly evaporate. Now we have a solid line for both Steve Jackson and a rookie QB.
You know what I think about Tebow.
So why Tebow and not Bradford? Toughness. Recently, I heard Charley Casserly declare that the most under-rated attribute of a championship QB is physical and mental toughness. The quarterback gets hit on every play. He has to be able to take that beating without sustaining massive injuries, or loosing his confidence.
For any fan of the Rams, the significance and power of that point cannot be overstated. You know why this is important.
So let's hope this is all combat deception, or we are in for a lot of trouble. In my minds eye, I can clearly see Bradford behind Jason Brown against the 49ers. Mike Singletary loads the cannons and sends a maximum blitz over our left side. Alex Barron misses his block completely, as he so often does. Bradford is crushed from the blindside, and driven down on his surgically repaired shoulder. He has another 3rd degree sprain of the Acromo-Clavicular join with 3 torn ligaments. That's all she wrote: That is the end of the 2010 campaign. See you next year folks.
However, we should be prepared for Devaney to carry out the fake to the ultimate limit, perhaps even selecting Bradford on Thursday evening, just to turn around and pull an Eli Manning job. That's what it just might take to flush Cleveland and Washington out of the woods and make one make a deal.
