Back to the combine! It's better than Christmas!

Last Thursday night's NFL Total Access was our first broadcast from combine in Indianapolis.  That is a significant significator.  It's the official start of the NFL draft season.  It's the unofficial start of the NFL business season also.

Love it!

I was pretty excited when I saw that the gang had been fully reassembled:  Mike Mayock, Charley Casserly, Charles Davis, Mike Lombardi, et al.  We'll be seeing Bucky Brooks and Corey Chavis soon also, I am sure.  I had heard rumors that Charley Casserly had signed exclusively with CBS Sports, and I was worried we wouldn't be seeing him on the NFL Network this year.  It is a good thing that rumor was false.  It wouldn't be the same without him.

It is so damn good to see you guys again!  You have no idea.  I was going to blog on this subject Thursday night, but I was a little preoccupied with prep for my next surgery on Feb 28, and a number of other mundane household subjects.

Sometimes I get a good feeling.  I get a feeling that I never, never, never had before.  I gotta feeling that this is going to be a really good draft.  The crop looks bountiful.  The crop looks good.  I am confident that we have some franchise changing players scattered across the top of this draft.  I am sure some of these kids will make it to the Hall of Fame.  It won't surprise me when they do.

Last year I complained bitterly about the poor quality of the seniors, the QBs and the offensive linemen.  I didn't like the Linebackers either.  Von Miller was the sole exception, and one of the three most exciting players in the Draft last year.

2011 was a poor draft year.  This is not the case in 2012.  This is a PH PHAT draft class.  The prospects look damn good to me thus far.  I am excited.

Speaking of Charley, he had the first Mock draft of the combine last night, and I think he pretty well nailed it.  Charley's list looked like this

1. Colts:  Andrew Luck QB Stanford
2. Browns (from Rams):  Robert Griffin III QB Baylor
3. Vikings:  Matt Kalil OLT USC 
4. Rams (from Browns): Justin Blackmon WR Oklahoma State
5. Bucs:  Trent Richardson RB Alabama
6. Redskins:  Morris Claiborne CB LSU
7. Jaguars: Quinton Coples DE UNC
8. Dolphins:  Riley Reiff OT Iowa
9. Panthers:  Michael Brockers DT LSU
10. Bills:  Courtney Upshaw OLB Alabama

Most of the others felt he nailed it too.  The most critical critique came from Coach Brian Billick, who said "Charley's got 9 out of the top 10 players, and 6 in the right spot, so he's only wrong by 4.  That's pretty good!"

I would say it's probably a little more accurate than that.   What are the points of disputation here?  I think they are as follows:

1. The Redskins won't take Morris Claiborne
2. The Bucs will take Morris Claiborne one spot earlier
3. The Bucs won't take Trent Richardson. They already have a damn good power-back in LeGarrette Blount.
4. The Redskins won't go quietly into the good night without a QB in this draft.  Rumor has it that they are adamant about getting Robert Griffin III.  Charley is presuming the Rams will chose to drop back just a couple of steps to gain some extra picks and still get our man (Justin Blackmon) a little bit cheaper.  I think that's a pretty good guess.  I can't see our team passing on some extra picks, but we won't want to lose Justin Blackmon either.  Most believe we would be reaching for him at the #2 pick, based on our critical need.  This is probably and accurate assessment of the situation.
5. It is questionable whether the Dolphins would take another tackle so high in the draft when they already have the best OLT in all of football.  Riley Reiff would be relegated to right tackle duties, and generally, you don't take a right tackle so high.  Charley has said this himself.  I do understand the logic, though. Riley Reiff would seem to be the perfect bookend companion and counterpart to Jake Long.  If you get Peyton Manning in Miami, you might want to make this pick.  It will be a very tempting choice if Manning comes to town.
6. Some would dispute the Bills taking Courtney Upshaw, but the more I think about it, the more I think it is the perfect fit.  The Bills play a 3-4 defense and they need a pass-rushing elephant linebacker.  There is none better in 2012 draft than Courtney Upshaw.  He is an ideal choice for their needs and scheme.  Call me foolish, call me irresponsible, call me a dreamer, but I think he would go great with Marcell Dareus.  Wait... hasn't that been tried?  Did that workout once before?
7. Many of us are still questioning whether Trent Richardson will wind up going so high in the draft.  It's not that he's unworthy of the pick, he is a very worthy dude, but rather the fact that the RB position is so deeply deprecated in the modern NFL.  Most GMs just don't believe that you take an RB so high in the draft.  As always, it will only take one GM to make it happen, tho.

I look forward to many more of these blog posts as the Draft season continues.

NFL Path to Draft put the Rams on the clock Thursday

Intro

Unless you’re some kind of deranged lunatic or something, I know you DVR every episode of Path to the Draft, and review carefully. To do otherwise would be immoral, unethical, and beyond the pale of any acceptable human conduct. This is just one of those thing you have to do in life, or you really won’t know what’s going on.

Last Thursday

Naturally, our Rams are not getting as much press this year as last. We draft #14, not #1. We aren’t in the leadoff spot, and we aren’t going to set the table for everybody else. Still, we have gotten some attention, and that reached a pre-draft apex on Thursday.

D'Marco Farr, Munchkin pass rusher extraordinaire on our 1999 Super Bowl team, was the guest analyst. As we all know, he is the color guy on Ram broadcasts these days. It was interesting to see that, once again, and I are agreeing on most points. You see, all of us runt defensive tackles think alike. We could have been the Mercury twins on the D-Line. He’s a Gemini and I am a Virgo.

What are those points of agreement?

1. 1. If Julio Jones is there at #14, it is the biggest no-brainer of all time. I said just about the same thing a month ago.
2. 2.
We are in danger of not getting a receiver if we stay put. We will be fortune if he falls to us.
3. 3. If we can’t the receiver, Missouri DE/LB tweener Aldon Smith would be a very good choice.
4. 4. Mark Ingram is an option also, because we have no competent back up for Steve Jackson.

There was one point of disagreement though. D'Marco Farr doesn’t think that a move up the board is either likely or reasonable given the number of needs we have on this team. D'Marco may just be echoing information he has been given by insiders, such as Devaney himself. I may not be disagreeing with D'Marco on this point.

Also, there was no mention of Mike Pouncey from D’Marco. This surprised me. Our need(s) at guard are nearly as great as our need at the WR position. Mike Lombardi mentioned this immediately when they went to him.

Aldon Smith?

I have praised tweeners several times in the last few months, and particularly DE/LB tweens, describing them as the most destructive and disruptive players on the defense. I have also praised their bargain basement prices. Because these guys are usually projections, you can get them cheap, in the later rounds. The #14 pick the 1^st round wasn’t exactly what I meant when I said that. With that said…

Aldus Smith is one hell of a pass-rusher who reminds me of two men: Charles Haley and our own Leonard Little. He is one of those super-lean, greyhound defensive ends who just sprint around tackles and make free-runs on their way to sacking the QB. Even if he doesn’t get home, he forces the QB to change his underwear at half-time. All else being equal, I would love to draft this kid. Unfortunately, all else is not equal

It is difficult for me to see Aldus Smith getting a lot of snaps at DE for the Rams, unless it is the result of an injury. Chris Long and James Hall have proven their worth as our starters. We nailed 43 sacks last season as a result of their strong play. Fred Robbins has to be given considerable credit for getting home also. Because Gary Gibson is the other DT, and Fred Robbins has 11 years in the league, I think DT is the much greater priority.

Now on the other hand, if we were going to use Aldus Smith as the Will Linebacker, I would consider him a very exciting pick. As Steve Wyche correctly pointed out, Spags believes our biggest weakness is our outside linebackers. Teams love pitchouts and quick hitting stretch plays that go wide. They think they can hit our OLBs hard and fast, and we haven’t given them a reason to think otherwise. We were hurt much worse by the outside breakaway that the run up the middle last season. We have a great need at OLB.

Now for the rub: Would Spags want to use Aldon Smith in this capacity? If he does, we also need to grapple with the fact that we are drafting a projection player at #14, which is not usually considered a good value or risk. If Spags would use him like this, I would draft him. I think Aldon is a special player, and I would love to have that kind of defensive force at the WLB. In this case, I would gamble.

Mark Ingram

Although I have seldom mentioned this fact, Mark Ingram is one of my favorite guys in this draft. How can you not love this kid? If you loved Emmitt Smith, you have to love this kid. I remember the day, some 3 years ago, when a dude at work first told me Alabama had an Emmitt Smith clone, and he’s the son of Giant receiver Mark Ingram. I scoffed, and declared that this is just because he wore #22. Since that day, Mark Ingram has given me about 1,000 reasons to eat my words. I enjoyed the piece Marshall Faulk did regarding Mark Ingram, as he also prosecuted the case for baby Emmitt.

The case for and against Mark Ingram with the Rams is very, very complicated. There are a pros and cons to it that are tough to sort out. I’ll try to do it quickly in two lists of bullet points.

Pros

• Steven Jackson has had a preposterous workload over the past three years. None of us like to think of the day when Steve Jackson wears down or retires, but that day is coming.
• The Rams have no competent back up for Steve. When he gets hurt, the running game dies, and we become mono-dimensional.
• All recent Super Bowl champions have had running back committees. No recent champion has had a single sledgehammer back.
• Mark is one hell of a good kid. You gotta love this kid.
• Others (not me) have frequently compared Sam Bradford to Troy Aikman. Everybody (and I mean everybody) compares Mark Ingram to Emmit Smith. You draft Ingram and we are 66.66667% of the way to putting the triplets back in business again.

Cons

• There is a theory that Jerry Jones never drafts offensive linemen in the first round. Rather, he always takes a flashy and exciting play-maker.
• You know Jerry loves Emmitt to death, and misses him terribly. There is a theory that Jerry is laying out there in the weeds, getting ready to pounce on Mark Ingram at #9. You know this would be a very popular pick in Dallas. The fans will forgive him immediately.
• Believe it or not, we might not get a shot at him.
• Josh McDaniels is now our OC. We are going to the Spread.
• In the Spread, balance means throwing 2 or 3 times for every run.
• In the Spread, balance is more about ensuring that everyone touches the ball than a 50/50 run pass ratio.
• In the Spread, the most lethal sort of back is a Marshall Faulk, Therman Thomas, C.J. Spiller, Jhavid Best type of guy. The Spread requires a back who is a deadly and elusive receiver circling out of the backfield.
• You can make a very good case that acquiring Reggie Bush on the cheap would do more to enhance Josh McDaniels’ offensive agenda than anything else.
• How will Josh McDaniels make use of two sledgehammer backs in his Spread offense?

My two cents

The notion of assembling a new set of Triplets on our roster is a very, very exciting idea. You have to be galvanized by the notion of putting Sam Bradford together with Mark Ingram.

However, let’s remember that Michael Irvin was the first of the three Triplets in Dallas. Right now, we have nothing like him. A.J. Smith and Julio Jones look a hell of a lot like him, if you ask me. I still believe the Receiver is our first and greatest need.

Wouldn’t be just fucking incredible if we could get both Ingram and Green somehow? Oh well, we can always dream.