RAMS : Robinson to Call Shots for Rams on Draft Day

It has been a mystery all these years, a deep secret kept hidden in the private rooms of the Rams’ draft-day hierarchy.

When the gauntlet is down, the deadline is looming, and the tough choice must be made, whose word is law?

Coach John Robinson? Executive Vice President John Shaw? Player personnel director John Math? Nobody ever knew for sure but those three, and they weren’t saying. Everybody else had to guess.

This year, facing one of their most critical drafts in recent history, the Rams, finally, are not playing coy about who gets final say. This year, in the days creeping up to Sunday’s draft and their No. 5 selection, they are being clear.

Who do the Rams say has final say? Robinson.

“The head coach will be given the ultimate responsibility of the selection,” Shaw said. “And, as in the past, he will look to the scouting department to evaluate the draft picks and will make every attempt to reach a consensus with our head scout, John Math.”

While Shaw wouldn’t say whether this is a change from years past, he disagreed with the widespread notion that Robinson has been overruled a few times by Math or Shaw himself.

“I would say that perception is wrong,” Shaw said. “I would say that John Math and John Robinson have always attempted to reach a consensus on who the selection will be.”

It’s unclear whether this public declaration of Robinson’s draft-day power is a result of owner Georgia Frontiere’s passing reference to giving Robinson additional clout at the end of last year.

Robinson, while not directly saying what has changed and emphasizing that the most important thing is working smoothly with everybody else, does acknowledge he has more authority in the organization.

In the five-paragraph statement that announced her intention for Robinson to stay on as coach for many more years, Frontiere ended speculation that Robinson might be fired as a result of the Rams’ 5-11 record. Before that, Robinson had hinted that he might not want to stay unless he was granted more input in personnel matters.

As the draft whispers heat up, it now seems likely that the Rams are going to have to decide in the first round between two players they really like.

Both Miami defensive lineman Russell Maryland and Tennessee offensive tackle Antone Davis apparently will be around when the Rams’ turn comes up.

A few days ago it appeared that at least one and maybe both would be gone before the Rams’ draft. Now, the sudden rise of Tennessee lineman Charles McRae into the elite (and probably into the arms of the Denver Broncos, who have the fourth pick), and the talk that Atlanta could surprise everybody by taking Nebraska cornerback Bruce Pickens, instead of Cornhusker linebacker Mike Croel, should knock Maryland and Davis down.

And if it comes to that, Maryland or Davis, who is it going to be?

The gaping need is on the defensive line, but with Irv Pankey and Jackie Slater’s combined age being 70, can Robinson ignore Davis’ obvious allure?

Maryland is a hard-working, big-hearted player who could step right into the Rams’ new four-man line system at right tackle and start taking aim at quarterbacks.

He isn’t the physical specimen (6-1, 275 pounds) that former Hurricane linemen Jerome Brown and Cortez Kennedy were, but some scouts compare him to Cleveland All-Pro defensive tackle Michael Dean Perry, who is also less than 6-2 but outworks blockers on every down.

Davis is a mammoth (6-4, 325 pounds) pure drive-blocking right tackle, and don’t you know Robinson can vividly project him into 37-year-old Jackie Slater’s spot by 1992 and into the next millennium.

But Davis has his critics. They point to the several games he seemed to sleepwalk through and wonder if he’s another high-pick headache such as Bubba Paris (the overweight and underwhelming 49er tackle) or John Clay (who fizzled out of the league after just two seasons).

So do the Rams go with Maryland or Davis? One real possibility is that they avoid the choice by getting a sweet offer from a team wanting to move up to grab one of the two, in exchange for a middle-round pick and an extra second-round selection. The Rams might do it if they think they can get Louisville defensive lineman Ted Washington with the lower pick and then load up in Round 2.

But if they keep the pick, at least one member of the Rams’ brain trust insists that Maryland will be the man simply because they cannot ignore their dearth of defensive linemen and Maryland is a perfect fit.

They love Davis, the source says, “but he can’t play defense. Too bad.”

Just to be safe in case something strange happens, the Rams are considering the possibility that Notre Dame receiver-kick returner Raghib “Rocket” Ismail won’t be the No. 1 pick and could drop all the way to their spot.

If he’s there, do they take him?

“No comment,” Robinson said with a smile this week.

Ismail is the likely top choice, whose flirtation with a $6-million CFL deal has New England bartering the right to draft Ismail all around the league. The latest bite comes from Dallas, which has a load of extra picks this year and would love to combine the Rocket with quarterback Troy Aikman.

But if the Dallas deal falls through, and New England bypasses Ismail, it is possible if not probable that Ismail could be skipped by a series of scared teams. Including the Rams.

There are serious concerns about his ability to play every down, what his NFL position would be and what it would cost to sign him.

Quarterback Jim Everett showed up at the Rams’ minicamp a few days ago, and made it clear that he is still smarting from the departure of tight end Pete Holohan, one of his favorite pass-catchers and perhaps his best friend on the team. Holohan left the Rams at the end of the Plan B period to sign with the Kansas City Chiefs.

“Losing a guy like Pete Holohan is tough, the confidence he gave the position, the confidence he gives the whole receiving corps is a big loss,” Everett said. “But I’m happy for Pete to the point that he’s making the money that he has to make near the end of his career.

“He made the decision to go and we’ve got to adjust. But it’s a tremendous loss and somebody has to pick up the burden, not only physically on the field but the emotional part, also.”