THE NFL DRAFT : RAMS : At No. 23, They May Try to Trade Up
Sorry, no more April draft showers for the Rams, who saddle up for today’s NFL player raffle as commoners after hand-selecting 10 of the top 112 prospects the last two years.
Which reminds us, did the Rams ever formally thank Eric Dickerson for unhitching his mouthpiece in 1987? Let’s see, that was three first-round picks, three seconds and a toss-in tailback, Greg Bell, who rushed for 2,349 yards and scored 33 touchdowns in two seasons, all for less than $1 million in salary.
Quite a clearance sale for the trading of a probable former tailback and soon-to-be cable television football analyst.
What’s more, the Rams aren’t through working Dickerson’s exponential trade power. After sapping Bell for two productive, cost-effective seasons, the team is ready to pass him on to the highest bidder in exchange for quality defensive help after acquiring former Seattle tailback Curt Warner, AstroTurf-cheap, at a recent Plan B fire sale.
The chances of using Bell’s value to trade up from their 23rd spot in today’s first round aren’t as great as peddling him in a trade for a competent defender, Ram Coach John Robinson said, conceding that Bell’s running papers lack only rubber-stamp and delivery.
“The die has been kind of cast there,” Robinson said.
Compared to the two past years, though, today’s draft won’t pass without a few yawns. The Rams have three choices in the first four rounds, having relinquished their fourth choice to Detroit last summer in exchange for tight end Pat Carter. After picking 23rd, the Rams don’t select again until No. 49 in the second round.
“We can go out for lunch and come back after each draft pick,” Robinson said. “It’ll be much more of a businesslike draft, and the names will be much more businesslike.”
Meaning you probably won’t recognize any of today’s choices, unless you’re blood-related to either Brigham Young University guard Mohammed Elewonibi or Washington center Bern Brostek.
The Rams picked the wrong year to go shopping for offensive linemen and defensive backs, but those are their areas of greatest need in a draft replete with quarterbacks and running backs, Ram positions of least concern.
“In the defensive secondary and offensive line, there will probably be fewer players taken in the first round than in most years,” Robinson said.
The Rams need an offensive lineman of the future for three good reasons and ages--tackle Jackie Slater, 36 in May; tackle Irv Pankey, 32, and center Doug Smith, 33. The Rams wouldn’t be sweating this one out had Mike Schad, the Canadian, worked out in 1986, or had either Warren Wheat or Kevin Robbins not been lost to waiver-wire roster juggling in September.
“We need to find a guy,” Robinson said.
Unfortunately, the best guy in this year’s draft, Texas A&M; tackle Richmond Webb, is almost a lock to be taken early, leaving the Rams to scour a field of Elewonibis, Brosteks, or perhaps an Iowa State center named Keith Sims.
The danger here is taking a player just to fill a need while passing over a superior athlete.
Robinson said: “You can’t identify a weakness and say, ‘We need a wide receiver,’ and then take a wide receiver who isn’t any good.”
The Rams are preparing for several scenarios, ready to take advantage of any draft-day strangeness, such as last year’s first-round plunge of safety Louis Oliver, a projected top-10 choice who dropped to 25th before Miami scooped him up. Oliver turned out to be a terrific pick.
Still, the odds of the Rams trading up and landing a potential standout--Alabama linebacker Keith McCants, USC’s Junior Seau or Miami defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy--appear remote. Robinson said the first round consists of eight or nine great players and then levels out considerably.
Even with Bell and running back Gaston Green at his disposal to use as trade-up bait, Robinson said it will be difficult to pull a draft-day trigger.
“The only advantage is to move up past (No.) 10 into picks eight, seven, six or five,” he explained. “But you pay a hellacious price to do that. Moving up from 23 to 15 doesn’t seem an advantage.”
If, inexplicably, a premier player should fall down to, say, position 13 or 14, then the Rams might make a move.
“You’d move up for Cortez Kennedy,” Robinson said. “You’d move up for Seau, you’d move up for McCants. And if Richmond Webb was your fancy, you’d move up for him. Then I think you’re on the phone.”
Cornerback is another concern for the Rams, who are moving forward with plans to shift Pro Bowl cornerback Jerry Gray back to his natural position, free safety. That leaves as 1990 starters the second-year tandem of Darryl Henley and Alfred Jackson, both of whom lack measurable experience. Jackson has soared up the depth chart since arriving as a fifth-round pick from San Diego State in 1989 after finishing his college career as a wide receiver.
“Cornerback is a big need on this football team,” Robinson explained. “But the first place you’d look to solve it is Darryl Henley and A.J. Jackson.”
Robinson is quick to remind that the San Francisco 49ers not only survived the 1986 season with two rookies at the corners, Don Griffin and Tim McKyer, they won the division.
If Fresno State’s J.D. Williams, the top cornerback prospect, should last until pick No. 23, the Rams would take him. Robinson would also consider safety/athlete-types such as USC’s Mark Carrier and Notre Dame’s Pat Terrell, but thinks that most of this year’s cornerbacks are second-round material.
If the Rams don’t draft a cornerback, look for the team to use Bell to obtain a veteran in a trade.
“It’s almost impossible to trade for the elite corner,” Robinson said. “The competent corner, I think you can trade for. I think that will be ongoing for us through training camp.”
Ram Notes
Coach John Robinson doesn’t think the Rams will draft a No. 3 quarterback this year, despite losing a developmental left-hander, Jeff Carlson, to Plan B free agency. The plan is to use a top pick next year or in 1992 for a quarterback; Jim Everett will be pushing 30 by then. “That gives you seven years’ difference there,” Robinson said. . . . Robinson said he is not upset that second-year running back Cleveland Gary recently signed a minor league baseball contract with the Montreal Expos. “I think it’s great,” Robinson said. “We’re going to get him enough. We’ll get him for a full training camp. I don’t think there’s any problem there.”
The Rams will probably draft two offensive linemen to battle for one open line position. . . . Robinson is experimenting with a new defense that involves more down pass rushers on first down. “Passing on first down against us is a problem,” Robinson said. “There will be some changes made, not that I want to discuss that much.”
