THE MISERY THAT IS ST. LOUIS FOOTBALL

[Silas]

Would not like to see the Rams or any other NFL team move out of the country. The only place I can see the Rams going is L.A.. What is the latest on a new Stadium being built in the LA area?

 

[ANGELAKERAMS]

The worst pick was Jason Smith.

When you whiff on the #2 overall pick in the draft, it's going to set the franchise back a few years.

And I'm still not sure they didn't whiff on the #1 overall pick the following year.

 

[ANGELAKERAMS]

By dealing Jason Smith to the New York Jets for fellow offensive tackle Wayne Hunter, the Rams made it official.

The second overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft climbed atop the franchise’s Pantheon of Failures.

The Rams have done a consistently poor job of drafting since the Mad Mike Martz Era, when Super Bowl architect Charley Armey somehow lost control over personnel. The franchise has made some memorable blunders at the draft since then, overreaching and gambling and generally missing the boat.

But Smith turned out to be the biggest mistake of them all. Here is how they rank in this corner of cyberspace:

1) Jason Smith, OT: Once upon a time, Smith played tight end for Baylor. Then he added muscle and moved to tackle. The Rams saw him as a uniquely athletic prospect. General manager Billy Devaney believed Smith could grow into something special. Smith didn’t. A spate of nasty concussions further limited his development. Smith immediately fell to the second unit behind failed Chiefs tackle Barry Richardson during Jeff Fisher’s first training camp as the new coaches discovered his same old shortcomings.

The following assessment from Smith’s NFL.com draft profile proved prescient: “Raw in his pass-set technique, standing a bit upright and backpedaling instead of sliding to mirror his man. Locks onto his man at first, but eventually loses his balance and grip due to his average upper-body strength and footwork. Does not have much of a punch in pass protection. Can lose the hands battle on the line.”


That sounds like Jason Smith all right. Alex Barron wasn’t great during his penalty-prone five years as a Ram, but at least he wasn’t helpless against the pass rush.

2) Eric Crouch, WR: The Nebraska quarterback arrived with the 95th overall pick in 2002. Martz had a brainstorm: This college football star could become an explosive yards-after-catch receiver! That was an interesting theory, but in real life Crouch had no desire to go into traffic to catch passes. The experiment failed and Crouch beat a hasty retreat home. Also failing that year: The attempted conversion of Ohio State quarterback Steve Bellisari to safety. Ah, the memories we have!

3) Tye Hill, CB: The 15th overall pick in the 2006 draft arrived brimming with confidence. He looked the part of playmaker. He sounded the part. Then the games started and he began biting on pump fakes and getting lost in coverage. Hill ended his Rams career with four interceptions in 21 starts. Just four selections later San Diego drafted future Pro Bowl cornerback Antonio Cromartie.

4) Claude Wroten, DT: The Rams saw first-round talent in him. A drug bust at LSU caused him to sink to 68th overall in the 2006 draft. For a year, anyway, he appeared to be a solid pick. But those drug issues followed him into the NFL and cut short his Rams career the next year. He was last seen with the Edmonton Eskimos this summer before getting clipped.

5) Jimmy Kennedy, DT: He was supposed to go much higher in the 2003 draft. The Rams hadn’t given him a lot of a thought. But when he fell to the No. 12 slot, Martz and Co. figured “We have to take this guy, right?” Wrong. “They didn’t need me; I was just the best available,” Kennedy said in 2009. “It was kind of like a red-shirt year when I first got there. I had Lovie Smith, he left. … Jim Haslett. I had Mike Martz, he got sick.” Kennedy fashioned an enduring but unspectacular career, but look at some of the guys the Rams passed on to take him: Troy Polamalu, Calvin Pace, Willis McGahee and Dallas Clark.

6) Dominique Byrd, TE: The 93rd overall pick in the 2006 was an excellent athlete. But he wasn’t the world's most dedicated athlete. He and fellow tight end Joe Klopfenstein (46th overall pick that year) were supposed to fit Scott Linehan’s offensive vision. Byrd made Klopfenstein look like Jackie Smith by comparison; ‘Nique caught six passes during his two forgettable St. Louis seasons.

7) Mardy Gilyard, WR: The offensively challenged Rams picked him 99th overall in 2010, hoping to tap his big-play potential. Although he brought some energy to the squad, he wasn’t exactly a quick study. He lasted long enough to catch six passes and return 16 kickoffs before washing out. Tampa Bay found a potential star receiver that year in Mike Williams just two picks later.

8) Jon Alston, LB: This undersized Stanford linebacker arrived as the 77th overall pick in that tragic 2006 draft. He had some special teams potential, but his Rams career lasted three games. He moved on to Oakland and actually started eight games during a two-year span. Useful outside linebacker Clint Ingram (46 starts in the next four years) went to Jacksonville just three picks later.

9) Donnie Avery, WR: The first receiver picked in the 2008 draft will spend his career being compared unfavorably to Eagles star DeSean Jackson, the seventh receiver picked in that draft. The Rams grabbed Avery for his speed, but injuries derailed his career here. His halting transition from a collegiate spread offense to NFL route running did not help either. That wasn’t a great draft year for receivers, but still . . .

10) Travis Scott, G: This fourth-round 2002 pick was just a part-time player at Arizona State. He seemed as surprised as anybody else that any team drafted him. He hung around the franchise for a year after straining some fat during his first camp. He never fashioned his doughboy physique into NFL condition and he departed without ever playing in a real game.

You could argue that five or six or nine other players deserve to make this top 10 instead. But you be hard-pressed to name a more disappointing recent Rams draft pick than Jason Smith.

 

[Red_Chaos]

7) Mardy Gilyard, WR: The offensively challenged Rams picked him 99th overall in 2010, hoping to tap his big-play potential. Although he brought some energy to the squad, he wasn’t exactly a quick study. He lasted long enough to catch six passes and return 16 kickoffs before washing out. Tampa Bay found a potential star receiver that year in Mike Williams just two picks later.

sigh, i remember the kid, was kind of happy we drafted him in the 4th....

 

[Retroram52]

That is a pretty darn good list AngelLakerRams. The hall of shame indeed and we seem to have a corner on the market. No wonder we have so many holes to fill. The talent vacuum is obvious. Good post!

 

[RamCub]

Speaking of the horrible draft nightmares that we've endured, it does become magnified when Rams fans can pick better players than the organization does.

Back in 2007 I predicted that Darelle Revis was going to rise the draft boards and be an impact player. Nobody else at the time was singing his praises. So our pick comes up and instead of drafting Revis, we take Adam Carriker!

Salt then is put in the wound when the Jets make a trade to move up for the next pick and take Revis! That move made me look pretty good regarding Revis.

Right then and there, I told my friends watching the draft with me that the Jets were brilliant and we just made a big mistake.

A more recent example is SJ76 touting Alshon Jeffrey before the draft two years ago.

The point is when your fans can see straight and the organization can't - we have a problem!

 

[ANGELAKERAMS]

So true.

Some posters on this board have more insight into college football players than the Rams do.

It's no wonder they keep striking out.

I was wanting the Rams to trade out of the #2 pick that ended up being Jason Smith and heard that the Jets had talked about a trade to get Sanchez and the Rams turned them down, I was mad.

Then, the Rams turned down the Panthers trade offer for their 2nd round pick the year they took Saffold. Carolina had offered their 1st the next year to move up and take Clausen. That pick ended up being #1 overall that became Cam Newton.

The Rams could have used the pick for AJ Green or Julio Jones. Oops!

 

[ANGELAKERAMS]

That is a pretty darn good list AngelLakerRams. The hall of shame indeed and we seem to have a corner on the market. No wonder we have so many holes to fill. The talent vacuum is obvious. Good post!

Btw, I didn't write that post Retro.

It was a StL Today article after the Jason Smith trade.

 

[zeke2829]

So true.

Some posters on this board have more insight into college football players than the Rams do.

It's no wonder they keep striking out.

I was wanting the Rams to trade out of the #2 pick that ended up being Jason Smith and heard that the Jets had talked about a trade to get Sanchez and the Rams turned them down, I was mad.

Then, the Rams turned down the Panthers trade offer for their 2nd round pick the year they took Saffold. Carolina had offered their 1st the next year to move up and take Clausen. That pick ended up being #1 overall that became Cam Newton.

The Rams could have used the pick for AJ Green or Julio Jones. Oops!

I remember that Angel
You were the first to complain about the No Trade from the Panthers. Everyone after that draft was ecstatic that we took Saffold saying he was the best day 2 pick and how we should NOT trade for future picks because we need help now. There were a lot of major fu^*$ ups that this org. has made.
You should be our GM Angel.

 

[Retroram52]

Thanks for the reference AngelLakerRams. Either way, it was a very good chronicle of the glaring ineptitude this franchise has routinely demonstrated over the last 15 years when it comes to the draft and should I mention FA??? How about Jason Sehorn Harmon. Wussy personified, PW beyond belief by his hollowood wife Angie Harmon. I might get tarred and feathered if I speak that dude's name too loud.

AngelLakerRams, you, SJ76, RamCub, and KSUDodgers ought be hired by the Rams to do scouting and player development. All of you are better at it than the Rams organization.

 

[Smed55]

I agree with everyone here, it does suck, but it could be worse, yes we just recently had the worst 5 year stretch in the history of the NFL. But it's still not as bad as some fans have had to endure pretty much their entire life. Yes we don't care that the Lions have pretty much been the worst organization in the NFL over the past 50years, so would I rather go through a 10 year stretch of suckage or 50years of suckage, let me see? Ya, I'm glad I'm a Ram fan and not a Lion fan.

We look at our horrible drafts, but do you remember when the Lions took a WR with their first pick, like 20 years in a row(sarcasm), yes they hit on Johnson, but they have missed way more then we have. I'm not a Lion fan, but I do follow all teams, not just the Rams and as I've said almost every fan on the other boards are screaming at their teams ineptitude just like we are, every fan is pretty much in the same boat as we are. Look at the Cowboys, they are a mess under Jerry Jones, yes they consistently have decent winning teams, but dam that would also be frustrating to constantly lose in the playoffs when you know you have the talent to win it all, but you don't!

 

[SJ76]

Don't forget about signing Drew Bennett.

And don't hate me, but I was preaching taking Suh and signing Josh McCown a few years back.

Not to mention us passing on Keenan Allen last year too. When's it going to stop?!!

Let's go a Rams and Falcons today!

 

[Retroram52]

No hate here SJ76. I had to laugh at Drew Bennett. What a complete waste of a football player. If I remember correctly, I was in that Suh camp as well.

Smed, I agree. The Rams fans have had a short stretch of krappy compared to say the Browns and the Lions and until recently, the Saints. Yep, you are right on all counts. I just get into a bitching mode sometimes and perhaps can't turn it off.

 

[Smed55]

SJ, no one in here is any better at drafting or predicting someone is going to be a star than the people that are doing the actually drafting. Ya, sometimes the picks they make are head scratchers, but as you said you want Suh and McCown, well if I remember correctly there were a ton of people in here that wanted Looker, Dorsey, Curry, Ingram, I mean the list goes on and on. Yes sometimes as fans we are correct and than everyone in here says "I told you so". But what about the "tons" of misses that we fans have made, we don't really see that or remember, it's just the "right" predictions that stand out.

Thanks for admitting your McCown pick, and as far as Suh, I wouldn't have minded picking him, he's a very good player, actually he would have fit onto our team perfectly, he's a knucklehead and commits some knucklehead personal fouls, ya that fits us perfectly! O, seriously, he is a knucklehead but he is a very good player, at least the Lions are getting some production out of him, I don't so that out of the pick we made instead of him!

 

[Smed55]

No hate here SJ76. I had to laugh at Drew Bennett. What a complete waste of a football player. If I remember correctly, I was in that Suh camp as well.

Smed, I agree. The Rams fans have had a short stretch of krappy compared to say the Browns and the Lions and until recently, the Saints. Yep, you are right on all counts. I just get into a bitching mode sometimes and perhaps can't turn it off.

Retro, bitching mode comes easily when your team sucks and continues to suck, but I do think we are getting better!

 

[Retroram52]

Yea Smed, sitting in a stadium and listening to the comments about the Rams can set one off for a couple of weeks thereafter. I wanted to kick the krap out everyone of them and then I realized that would be pretty stupid for a lot of reasons.

 

[SJ76]

no one in here is any better at drafting or predicting someone is going to be a star than the people that are doing the actually drafting. Ya, sometimes the picks they make are head scratchers, but as you said you want Suh and McCown, well if I remember correctly there were a ton of people in here that wanted Looker, Dorsey, Curry, Ingram, I mean the list goes on and on.

I strongly disagree. Half of the pre-school down the road from my house could have drafted better than the Rams organization. It's been pathetic.

Locker actually was having a decent year this year. But I wanted Locker and more power RBs and a killer D. With a balanced attack, Locker would thrive. Ingram is still pretty good he's just not getting touches, hut I didn't want him in the 1st.

I can guarantee you the team I would have on the field the past 5 years would have improved, been fun to watch, and won enough games to make a push for the playoffs.