Rams News Recap For April 13

[RamBill]

Rams News Items From April 13

Best and Worst Case Scenario For Rams’ Top 3 Picks –Bleacher Report
The Rams could draft Jadeveon Clowney, Greg Robinson or Sammy Watkins at No. 2 overall, but the more ideal option would be to trade down to No. 4 overall with the Cleveland Browns.

CB Darqueze Dennard Brings Physical Approach –St.LouisRams.com
Dennard has jockeyed for position with Oklahoma State’s Justin Gilbert as the draft’s top cornerback prospect in the weeks following the regular season, and has more recently been joined in that conversation by Virginia Tech’s Kyle Fuller.

Zac Stacy 2014 Fantasy Football Outlook –RamblinFan.com
When the St. Louis Rams bid long time veteran running back Steven Jackson farewell last off-season, fantasy football owners assumed Jackson would be taking any fantasy relevance along with him.

Rams Draft Rewind: 2012 –Wagoner
The NFL draft is still about a month away, leaving us with plenty of time to look ahead to what might happen. But it also gives us plenty of time to take a look back.

Rams Hold All the Cards at No. 2 –Softli
More than two years later, the Robert Griffin III trade is still paying dividends for the St. Louis Rams. And on May 8, the entire country will find out why.

Casserly/Conway’s Top 10 Mock Draft –Video

 

[RamBill]

Morning Ram-blings: Mining small schools
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/7450/morning-ram-blings-mining-small-schools

Welcome back to the Ram-blings after a one-week hiatus (read: vacation), we're back firing on all cylinders between now and May's NFL draft.

While I was away, columnist Jeffri Chadiha offered up an excellent story on the emergence of small school superstars developing into top picks in the NFL draft. The piece discusses at length how teams go about locating and evaluating talented players no matter where they play their college ball.

A local St. Louis product, Lindenwood cornerback Pierre Desir, is featured prominently in the piece but Chadiha also discusses top-ranked players like Buffalo linebacker Khalil Mack, who the Rams have visited with and also figures to go in the top five or so of this year's draft. This, a year after the Kansas City Chiefs used the first pick of the draft on Central Michigan offensive tackle Eric Fisher.

From the Rams' perspective, it's interesting to apply the ideas discussed in Chadiha's piece to the team's draft strategy in the two years since Jeff Fisher and Les Snead took over. While there seems to be a certain affinity for players from the SEC and other major conferences -- and why wouldn't there be? -- the Rams have also not hesitated to take a shot on players from schools of lesser repute.

In 2012, St. Louis used a second-round choice on receiver Brian Quick out of Appalachian State and followed in the third round by grabbing cornerback Trumaine Johnson from Montana. The results have been mixed at best on those picks so far though Johnson projects as a starter and the team believes he's still ascending.

But it wouldn't be a surprise if the Rams, with talents like Mack and Desir available, again show no fear in looking to add help from smaller schools in this year's draft.

I.C.Y.M.I.

A roundup of some of last week's Rams stories appearing on ESPN.com. ... We spent much of last week revisiting Rams' draft classes of recent vintage, with a break down of the best picks, the worst picks and some missed opportunities. We began with the 2008 class and hit on all of the groups thereafter, including the 2012 class, which we discussed Sunday afternoon. ... In the NFC West edition of Four Downs, I joined my division colleagues to discuss important topics facing the four teams in the league's best division as we head into 2014. ... ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay released his fourth mock draft and we analyzed his choices for the Rams in this Insider piece. ... Arizona reporter Josh Weinfuss, filling in for yours truly, provided a look at the Rams' preseason schedule.

Elsewhere:

Not so Rams specific but always worth reading NFL senior write John Clayton's weekly column/mailbag.

At stltoday.com, Jim Thomas caught up with new Rams backup quarterback Shaun Hill.

Thomas also participated in his weekly chat last week.

Jeff Gordon makes the case for Clemson receiver Sammy Watkins.

Pro Football Talk connects the Rams to Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, a player we've long discussed here as a mid-round option for St. Louis.

Stlouisrams.com takes a peek at the player who has probably been mocked to the Rams most this offseason: Alabama safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.