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Rams notes: O-line options dwindle fast
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_4fed6665-8a91-5d34-8602-33412f127989.html
As the Rams prepare for Day 2 of the 2015 draft, they still have options on the offensive line. But plenty of those options also went bye-bye in Round 1.
A total of seven offensive linemen were taken in the first round: Iowa’s Brandon Scherff, Miami (Fla.)’s Erick Flowers, Stanford’s Andrus Peat, Florida State’s Cameron Erving, Texas A&M’s Cedric Ogbuehi, Florida’s D.J. Humphries and Duke’s Laken Tomlinson.
Flowers, Peat, Erving, Humphries and Tomlinson all made pre-draft visits to Rams Park, and the Rams really liked Tomlinson, a guard who went to Detroit at No. 28 overall. Scherff didn’t make a visit, but was the Rams’ top-rated offensive lineman.
There are, however, some options remaining when the Rams pick next at No. 41 overall with the ninth pick in the second round Friday. The best tackle prospects remaining are Pittsburgh’s T.J. Clemmings, Oregon’s Jake Fisher, Penn State’s Donovan Smith, Wisconsin’s Rob Havenstein and Arizona State’s Jamil Douglas.
(Some consider Smith and Douglas guard prospects in the pros.)
Clemmings and Douglas paid pre-draft visits to Rams Park, and the Rams reportedly had a private workout with Havenstein. Clemmings’ stock has dropped, apparently because of a foot issue.
Even with Tomlinson off the board, there are more options remaining at guard, including South Carolina’s A.J. Cann, Hobart’s Ali Marpet, Florida State’s Tre Jackson, Alabama’s Arie Kouandjio, and Louisville’s Jamon Brown.
Cann, Marpet, Jackson and Brown all paid pre-draft visits to Earth City.
And yes, LSU guard/tackle La’el Collins is still available. Collins was generally considered among the top four offensive line prospects in this year’s draft and a sure first-rounder.
But Baton Rouge, La., police want to question Collins after his ex-girlfriend was murdered, although Collins is not considered a suspect. According to reports, he hasn’t seen her since September. But Collins may be asked to take a paternity test because the ex-girlfriend, Brittany Mills, was pregnant at the time she was murdered and the baby survived.
With teams backing off Collins just hours before the draft, his agent petitioned the league to take Collins out of the draft, let him clear his name and then enter the supplemental draft this summer. But that petition was denied.
STACY WANTS OUT
After reports surfaced (via ESPN) that running back Zac Stacy wants out in the wake of the Todd Gurley selection, the Rams will meet with Stacy’s representatives on Friday.
• Twitter's reaction to Rams' draft pick
Stacy was one of the pleasant surprises of the 2013 season, rushing for 973 yards in just 13 games. But he fell behind both Tre Mason and Benny Cunningham on the depth chart last year, carrying only 76 times for 293 yards. Over the final 11 games, coinciding with the emergence of Mason, Stacy carried only 15 times.
The arrival of Gurley pushes Stacy back to fourth string, and the team likes Trey Watts, an undrafted rookie last season out of Tulsa. Stacy, a sixth-round pick out of Vanderbilt in 2013, wouldn’t fetch much in terms of trade value.
WHAT ABOUT QB?
At the Rams’ pre-draft press conference Tuesday, coach Jeff Fisher backed down some from comments made at the NFL owners meetings saying the team planned to draft a quarterback.
And by taking Georgia’s Gurley in a surprise move in the first round, the Rams are under more pressure to go offensive line in Round 2. That in turn could lessen their chances to get a quarterback, because Baylor’s Bryce Petty, UCLA’s Brett Hundley, Colorado State’s Garrett Grayson and Oregon State’s Sean Mannion could go in rounds two or three.
If a couple in that group go in Round 2 that will limit the Rams’ options in Round 3.
TRADE TALK
Hours before the first round, the Rams talked to Tennessee about potentially moving up to the No. 2 overall spot according to a couple of sources. But one of those sources said the conversation resulted in “nothing meaningful.”
So it may have been exploratory at best on the part of the Rams, who had Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota rated among their top handful of players. Mariota ended up going to the Titans on a day when there were no trades in the top 10.
The Rams also received a few calls about teams interested in trading up to the No. 10 spot, but again, nothing materialized.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_4fed6665-8a91-5d34-8602-33412f127989.html
As the Rams prepare for Day 2 of the 2015 draft, they still have options on the offensive line. But plenty of those options also went bye-bye in Round 1.
A total of seven offensive linemen were taken in the first round: Iowa’s Brandon Scherff, Miami (Fla.)’s Erick Flowers, Stanford’s Andrus Peat, Florida State’s Cameron Erving, Texas A&M’s Cedric Ogbuehi, Florida’s D.J. Humphries and Duke’s Laken Tomlinson.
Flowers, Peat, Erving, Humphries and Tomlinson all made pre-draft visits to Rams Park, and the Rams really liked Tomlinson, a guard who went to Detroit at No. 28 overall. Scherff didn’t make a visit, but was the Rams’ top-rated offensive lineman.
There are, however, some options remaining when the Rams pick next at No. 41 overall with the ninth pick in the second round Friday. The best tackle prospects remaining are Pittsburgh’s T.J. Clemmings, Oregon’s Jake Fisher, Penn State’s Donovan Smith, Wisconsin’s Rob Havenstein and Arizona State’s Jamil Douglas.
(Some consider Smith and Douglas guard prospects in the pros.)
Clemmings and Douglas paid pre-draft visits to Rams Park, and the Rams reportedly had a private workout with Havenstein. Clemmings’ stock has dropped, apparently because of a foot issue.
Even with Tomlinson off the board, there are more options remaining at guard, including South Carolina’s A.J. Cann, Hobart’s Ali Marpet, Florida State’s Tre Jackson, Alabama’s Arie Kouandjio, and Louisville’s Jamon Brown.
Cann, Marpet, Jackson and Brown all paid pre-draft visits to Earth City.
And yes, LSU guard/tackle La’el Collins is still available. Collins was generally considered among the top four offensive line prospects in this year’s draft and a sure first-rounder.
But Baton Rouge, La., police want to question Collins after his ex-girlfriend was murdered, although Collins is not considered a suspect. According to reports, he hasn’t seen her since September. But Collins may be asked to take a paternity test because the ex-girlfriend, Brittany Mills, was pregnant at the time she was murdered and the baby survived.
With teams backing off Collins just hours before the draft, his agent petitioned the league to take Collins out of the draft, let him clear his name and then enter the supplemental draft this summer. But that petition was denied.
STACY WANTS OUT
After reports surfaced (via ESPN) that running back Zac Stacy wants out in the wake of the Todd Gurley selection, the Rams will meet with Stacy’s representatives on Friday.
• Twitter's reaction to Rams' draft pick
Stacy was one of the pleasant surprises of the 2013 season, rushing for 973 yards in just 13 games. But he fell behind both Tre Mason and Benny Cunningham on the depth chart last year, carrying only 76 times for 293 yards. Over the final 11 games, coinciding with the emergence of Mason, Stacy carried only 15 times.
The arrival of Gurley pushes Stacy back to fourth string, and the team likes Trey Watts, an undrafted rookie last season out of Tulsa. Stacy, a sixth-round pick out of Vanderbilt in 2013, wouldn’t fetch much in terms of trade value.
WHAT ABOUT QB?
At the Rams’ pre-draft press conference Tuesday, coach Jeff Fisher backed down some from comments made at the NFL owners meetings saying the team planned to draft a quarterback.
And by taking Georgia’s Gurley in a surprise move in the first round, the Rams are under more pressure to go offensive line in Round 2. That in turn could lessen their chances to get a quarterback, because Baylor’s Bryce Petty, UCLA’s Brett Hundley, Colorado State’s Garrett Grayson and Oregon State’s Sean Mannion could go in rounds two or three.
If a couple in that group go in Round 2 that will limit the Rams’ options in Round 3.
TRADE TALK
Hours before the first round, the Rams talked to Tennessee about potentially moving up to the No. 2 overall spot according to a couple of sources. But one of those sources said the conversation resulted in “nothing meaningful.”
So it may have been exploratory at best on the part of the Rams, who had Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota rated among their top handful of players. Mariota ended up going to the Titans on a day when there were no trades in the top 10.
The Rams also received a few calls about teams interested in trading up to the No. 10 spot, but again, nothing materialized.
