Rams’ Youth Movement Continues : Ekern, Guman Might Be Next Casualties as Team Gets Ready for Draft
With hearts of new car salesmen at year-end inventory, the Rams stand poised and ready for another shelf-stocking talent raid at Sunday’s National Football League draft. It’s the reason the past two months have sizzled down at John Robinson’s fire sale, where “We Must Have Been Insane to Let Johnnie Johnson Go for Nothing!”
Such is the luxury when you’re forced to squeeze 10 top-flight draft choices onto a roster in two frenetic seasons, madcap as they might have been.
Like the ground beneath them, the Rams are moving and shaking, and it figures to take more than a nice old resume to catch a ride on Robinson’s runaway train. A lot of teams might have flinched over losing 12 out of 19 players to free agency, including a 16-game starter and leading interceptor such as free safety Johnson, who was left unprotected and landed in Seattle. Or Gary Jeter and his 11 1/2 sacks. Or all-purpose cornerback Mickey Sutton.
But the Rams barely broke a sweat. If all goes well, yes well , they will have cleared 15 roster players from last year’s 10-6 team by training camp. Robinson said Tuesday he most certainly will coax linebacker Carl Ekern, 34, and fullback Mike Guman, 31, into retirement. Ekern, by the way, was the team’s leading tackler last season with 93.
You get the idea. If you’re a Ram and over 30, you’re probably over the hill and taking up valuable showroom space.
Of course, any scouting department would kill for chance to pick five times in the first two rounds in consecutive seasons, as the Rams will do Sunday. They get first-round picks at positions 21 and 26, then check in with three second-round choices. The first pick is theirs, the second compensation from Buffalo for Eric Dickerson, who pays off again (for the last time) with a second-round choice from Indianapolis. The Rams get five of the first 53 picks and 17 overall.
Hardly seems fair.
“Next year we get back to the horrible existence of picking only once each round,” Robinson said.
So where do the Rams go with their picks? Think defense, and beef, and names you probably won’t recognize. They’d be thrilled if Florida defensive end Trace Armstrong were still around, but he probably won’t be. Other possibilities include defensive tackle Mitchell Benson of Texas Christian, defensive end Bill Hawkins of Miami, Auburn tackle Tracy Rocker and a cast of dozens.
How much is Robinson counting on this year’s draft? A lot.
He said he’d like to play as many as 16 to 17 players on defense this season.
“I think it would be really difficult to crack our offensive unit if we picked an offensive player,” he said. “I think a defensive player could come in and play some. If we picked a lineman, we’d put him in there somewhere, play him 30% of the time. A linebacker probably would have to wait for an injury or play nickel. I think a secondary man would play in our nickel. The others will all be special teams players.”
Robinson has been wary of dropping names after being criticized for passing twice on Craig (Ironhead) Heyward in last year’s first round after talking him up big. Of course, no one really expects NFL coaches to tip their hand before the draft.
“A lot of people thought we deceived them,” Robinson said. “But I tried to be as honest as I could be.”
There seems to be less suspense this time around.
“We’re down far enough that no one really knows,” Robinson said.
He also said the chances of packaging his first two picks to move up in the draft are slim, unless, miracle of miracles, a superstar the caliber of cornerback Deion Sanders should last into the middle of round one. Don’t bet on it.
The Rams would be satisfied with five solid picks.
“I see us keeping eight to 10 (drafted) players on this team,” Robinson said. “I see them as the future of our team.”
Aside from obvious needs on the defensive line, Robinson also is in search of a linebacker, tight end, power runner and an offensive lineman for the future. Three of his team’s starters on the line--Jackie Slater, Irv Pankey and Doug Smith--are over 30. Robinson is ready to plug tackle Robert Cox into the equation, but still needs a body to make up for the mistake of Mike Schad, the failed first-round pick of 1986 who recently fled to Philadelphia.
“If this draft is successful, our team will be a contender for a long time,” Robinson said. “For us, stability is something we can count on.”
Other annual pre-draft queries always seem to include the disgruntled ones--wide receiver Ron Brown and cornerback LeRoy Irvin. Brown, who retired and unretired from football last season, is a free agent again and his contract will surely be difficult to negotiate. Irvin is signed but aging at 31, and apparently will be pushed hard for his starting spot by last year’s second-round pick, Anthony Newman.
But while Brown and Irvin might seem tempting draft-day trade bait, Robinson says he wants to keep them both. He considers Brown invaluable as a kick returner and Irvin is one of the few remaining veterans on defense.
“LeRoy’s at a point in his career where he has to see himself in a different light,” Robinson said. “Like most really talented athletes, he has the sense of being indestructible. But there’s a point in their careers where they lose a step, and they have to find ways to slow down that descending process that happens to all athletes. That’s the key for LeRoy’s future.”
