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Is it Robinson or Matthews for Rams at offensive tackle?
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_0a00d1f2-ec81-523d-8ce0-8edab256f912.html
Picture this: The Houston Texans take defensive end Jadeveon Clowney at No. 1 overall.
After taking four wide receivers in the past two drafts, the Rams don’t want to go there again. They pass on wide receiver Sammy Watkins.
Despite their efforts to get teams interested in trading up for quarterback Johnny Manziel, the Rams find no takers. They’re “stuck” at No. 2 overall.
The logical pick there then becomes offensive tackle. But which one? Greg Robinson of Auburn or Jake Matthews of Texas A&M? It’s one of the many questions that will define this draft for the Rams.
Of course, some might preface this by wondering if Rams coach Jeff Fisher is capable of taking an offensive lineman in Round 1. In all his years as head coach in Houston, Tennessee and St. Louis, his teams have never done so.
But as Fisher has pointed out on a couple of occasions, just because it hasn’t happened doesn’t mean it won’t.
“The year before I got there (to Houston), they had taken Brad Hopkins in the first round, so Brad was the left tackle,” Fisher said.
(Hopkins started for 13 seasons for the Oilers-Titans.)
“Bruce Matthews was already there, so he was a first-round pick,” Fisher continued. “I think we needed a center so we used free agency to get Mark Stepnoski, and then we filled in the other side.
“Then, during our time there in Tennessee we used a second- and a fourth-round pick and we got two tackles that are going on their — what — eighth or ninth year now?”
That would be left tackle Michael Roos and right tackle David Stewart, both drafted in 2005. So over the years, the Titans simply haven’t had to make many moves at offensive tackle. Their tackles have been fixtures.
When it comes to taking a tackle in the first round in 2014, Fisher says: “I have no reservation whatsoever. The only position I would not draft would be a punter or a kicker in the first round.”
And after a short pause, Fisher jokingly added: “We have a long snapper.”
But does any team really want to use the No. 2 overall pick on a tackle?
“Hey, we took Orlando (Pace),” Jim Hanifan said. “It was a great move on Dick Vermeil’s part, that draft (1999) we went up and got Orlando with the first pick of the draft. It was a worthwhile pick. I mean, we wound up having the best left tackle in the game.”
No one’s saying there’s another Pace in this draft, but some analysts and scouts believe Robinson, Matthews and Taylor Lewan are better than ANY tackle who came out in 2013. And that was a draft that produced tackles at No. 1 (Eric Fisher), No. 2 (Luke Joeckel) and No. 4 (Lane Johnson).
Additionally, there are many who think Robinson, Matthews, and Lewan are among the six or seven best prospects in the entire draft, which makes Lewan a not-so-distant third to Robinson and Matthews.
So who’s it gonna be for the Rams if they pick a tackle? That question was posed to Hanifan, now retired, but for decades an elite coach of offensive linemen in the NFL.
He didn’t hesitate with his answer.
“The bottom line to me with the Robinson kid and the Matthews kid — to me you go with bloodlines,” Hanifan said. “What better bloodlines can you have than what Matthews has? I mean, mother of God, his grandfather played for the 49ers.
That would be Clay Matthews Sr., who played in the NFL in the 1950s. His sons Bruce (offensive line) and Clay Jr. (linebacker) played mainly in the ’80s and ’90s. Both played 19 seasons. Bruce is in the Hall of Fame; Clay made four Pro Bowls.
And now there’s Clay Matthews III, a Pro Bowl linebacker with Green Bay, with Bruce’s son Jake next up.
“So you look at that, and you go, ‘This is a can’t-miss guy (Jake),’” Hanifan said. “There is no doubt in your mind, the kid’s gonna play and he’s gonna play well.”
Matthews can play tackle or guard. He’s just about as technique-sound as one can be entering the NFL because he grew up learning the finer points of blocking from his Hall of Fame dad.
Matthews is a “now” solution. To a large degree, he won’t need grooming, he won’t need polishing, no assembly required.
But he’s not as strong and powerful as Robinson, who’s probably a little better athlete than Matthews and 25 pounds heavier.
Far from a finished product, Robinson has more room to develop. And that’s an important distinction, because one characteristic of the Fisher-Les Snead regime so far is that it seems to lean more heavily on potential in the draft, while also tilting toward height, weight, speed and athletic ability.
Matthews may be the better football player now, but Robinson has the potential — underline potential — to be better. Robinson excelled at run-blocking on the college level, sometimes overwhelming defenders.
And as ESPN’s Todd McShay put it: “It’s a cab ride to get around him.”
But even Fisher concedes on Robinson: “Probably gonna take him a little more time.”
That’s because no one knows definitely how well Robinson will pass-block in the pros after playing just two seasons at run-happy Auburn. Auburn passed only 285 times last season compared to 729 rushing attempts.
And in the NFL, you have to pass-block. Even the Rams, who switched to a run-first approach a quarter of the way into 2013, threw 506 times last season, compared to 426 rushing attempts.
