Rams News Recap: May 20

[RamBill]

2011 NFL Draft Revisited –Brugler
Let’s look back at the 2011 NFL Draft to see how each team did, ranking them from 32-to-1, worst to first.

Rams Claim OL Travis Bond –Wagoner
In their ongoing efforts to bolster their depth on the offensive line, the St. Louis Rams added guard Travis Bond on Tuesday.

Rams Any Closer to Catching Seahawks? –Stalter
Now that the 2014 NFL draft is in the books, are the St. Louis Rams any closer to catching the Seahawks?

Rams Rookie Profile: Aaron Donald –Video

An Early Look at Rams’ Predicted Win Total –Wagoner
Now that the NFL draft is done and most of the offseason roster reconfiguring is done, the Las Vegas Hilton has released its projected 2014 win totals for every team in the league.

Morning Ram-blings: On Expanded Playoffs –Wagoner
Way back when the idea of expanded playoffs was first floated last season, we spent a little time discussing what that could mean for the St. Louis Rams, especially in the short term

Rams Expect Lamarcus Joyner to Be their Starting Nickelback –TST
After a draft class heavy on defensive backs, I’ve been wondering what exactly the St. Louis Rams secondary will look like this season. Jeff Fisher offered some clarification, at least as far as his expectations go, about the nickel role.

Rams’ Rhaney is More Than Just the Guy Drafted After Sam –FSMW
When he introduced six of the seven players the Rams selected on the third day of the draft, general manager Les Snead made sure to point out one player in particular. No, not Michael Sam.

Skipping ‘Hard Knocks’ Best Move for Rams –Wagoner
It’s not exactly breaking news that St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher would prefer his team isn’t the NFL’s choice to star on the HBO series “Hard Knocks” this season.

Jim Thomas Talks Rams Mini-Camp –Radio Interview

St. Louis Rams Rookie Profile: Greg Robinson –Video

 

[RamBill]

Morning Ram-blings: St. Louis Super?
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/8656/morning-ram-blings-st-louis-super-bowl

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- It was a bit of a surprise Tuesday when Minneapolis won out over New Orleans as the host for the 2018 Super Bowl.

The Big Easy had history on its side, winning nine straight bids without a miss before the new home of the Vikings emerged Tuesday afternoon. General reaction from around the league included a fair amount of surprise. Maybe it shouldn't have.

In case the message wasn't already clear, the league added emphasis with this vote: If you build it, the Super Bowl will come. The new Minnesota Vikings stadium isn't even built yet but the promise of a shiny new building moves you to the head of the line for the sport's biggest game. Indianapolis and Arizona proved it, Dallas followed and now Minnesota won out even when many expected it to lose.

So what does this have to do with the St. Louis Rams? Well, if it isn't obvious already, it should be perfectly clear now that building a new stadium is the ticket to pumping millions of dollar into the city via a Super Bowl.

Of course, here in St. Louis, there's much more at stake than just the opportunity to get the big game. The Rams' lease at the Edward Jones Dome expires at the end of this season. From there, they can go year-to-year in the Dome but will eventually have to figure out a new home. There's plenty of speculation about where that home will be and that's a different discussion for a different day.

It's worth noting that not only did Minneapolis build a new stadium but public funds contributed. It seems unlikely at this point that the Rams would get similar help from the taxpayers but there might be ways for it to work.

Either way, the takeaway here should be that a new stadium -- especially one with some public funding -- can lead to big things for the local economy. If it worked in Minneapolis, it would probably work in St. Louis too.

I.C.Y.M.I.

A roundup of Tuesday's Rams stories appearing on ESPN.com. ... In the Ram-blings, we began the day with a look at how the change in playoff participants could affect the Rams. ... Next, we discussed why it is a good idea for the Rams to avoid any reality shows this year. ... Over the lunch hour, I joined Paul Gutierrez and Coley Harvey in this week's NFL Nation TV. ... After that, we delved into Las Vegas' early look at projected over/under win totals for the Rams and others. ... Finally, the Rams made a minor roster move, claiming guard Travis Bond off waivers from Carolina.

Elsewhere:

Here's the news story on the Rams being "unlikely" to land on Hard Knocks.

Following up on the expanded playoff proposal, Vaughn McClure has the story on the proposal being tabled for a year.

At stltoday.com, Bryan Burwell writes that silence will be good for Michael Sam.

In the same space, a nice story on cornerback Pierre Desir.

At FoxSportsMidwest.com, Nate Latsch takes a closer look at the man drafted after Sam.