Rams Prepared to Leave Cleveland Behind, Again

This Ram draft was about Cleveland Gary--Earth to Cleveland: Don’t let the door hit you on the way out--but it was also about Jim Everett, or, rather, the Jim Everett question, which underscored every move the team made Sunday.

Can the Rams find the Super Bowl with Everett behind the wheel?

Next to “What is the meaning of life?” and “Will Georgia ever give another interview?” that has been the great conundrum around Rams Park ever since Everett took a seat in the pocket in the middle of the 1989 NFC final, a 30-3 kick to the stomach that sent the Rams reeling through the next three years.

This weekend, the Rams were forced to address the question again, and they twisted it and tugged at it as if it were a Rubik’s cube.

Their options:

--The radical approach: Pull the plug on Everett, trade up to draft Drew Bledsoe or Rick Mirer and, in one dramatic swoop, decide to start over.

--The conservative approach: Convince yourself that Everett can get you there, provided the surrounding conditions are pristine. Then, do whatever possible to improve those conditions.

This team is coached and operated by Chuck Knox, so you know which route the Rams took.

With their first selection, the 10th overall, they got Everett a fullback, Jerome Bettis, who, in the words of Knox, “has a tendency to keep defenses honest. When he’s going to be hitting up in there, defenses can’t tee off on the quarterback all the time.”

With their second selection, the 39th overall, they got Everett a safety value, a tight end/H-back named Troy Drayton whom the Rams say will be everything Pete Holohan was, only bigger, faster and stronger.

And with their third selection, No. 73 overall, they got Everett a tailback who doesn’t fumble, who has rushed for 1,000 yards in each of the last three seasons and who is a blood relative of an old Everett favorite. Jim, meet Russell White, fast-moving nephew of Charles White.

Sunday, the Rams committed themselves. Still short a linebacker and a sack-thirsty defensive end, Knox decided to appease his quarterback by throwing him the keys to the draft.

Bettis and White? Instant offensive backfield, just add water.

Drayton? Just what every quarterback needs--a tight end with flanker’s speed who can go deep and, to quote Rams director of player personnel John Becker, “has exceptional to outstanding receiving ability.”

Not surprisingly, Everett was ecstatic when he heard the news.

“Offense, offense, offense,” he said, savoring every syllable. “I think it’s really great. For so long, we’ve drafted for defense.

“I just wish Coach Knox and those guys were here doing the picking when we had all those picks for Eric.”

Oh, that again. The botched Eric Dickerson windfall--so many prime draft choices sent the Rams’ way, so little to show for it.

The Rams are still digging themselves out from under that mess, and the excavation began last April. Sean Gilbert, Marc Boutte, Steve Israel, Chris Crooms--defensively, it wasn’t a bad start.

But after personally inspecting the offense for 16 games, 10 of them producing 18 Ram points or fewer, Knox was left shaking his head.

Gary gained 1,125 yards, but lost the ball six times on fumbles. Knox hates fumbles.

Jim Price, advertised as the good-hands tight end, caught 34 passes, but averaged only 9.5 yards per reception and had two dropped balls that cost a game against the 49ers. Knox hates dropped balls that cost games to the 49ers.

Henry Ellard and Flipper Anderson, once the Messrs. Inside and Outside of the Rams’ quick-strike attack, too often transformed into invisible men. Ellard showed signs of advanced age, Anderson showed signs of too many forearms across the middle and few post patterns are won when the wideouts are either jogging or flinching.

Knox wanted an overhaul, but he was armed with just three picks in the first four rounds, and the speed receivers in this draft were few and far between. Once Chicago snapped up Curtis Conway at No. 7, Knox’s mind was set:

Fix what you can with whatever’s available.

So Bettis became the ball-control solution. He will be to this Knox team what John L. Williams was to the last one.

But Williams always functioned best in a two-back set with a downfield threat by his side--Curt Warner first, followed by Derrick Fenner--so Knox decided to bookend Bettis with White, the Encino Crespi High legend who went to Cal to become that school’s all-time leading rusher. Can you say Cleveland Gary, former Ram ?

Knox couldn’t, not for the record. “All this means is that there is going to be a lot of competition at that position,” he said, impressively maintaining a straight face.

Gary could read the writing crawling across the bottom of ESPN’s draft telecast, though. Before the draft, the Rams had already given him their blessing: Go out and find us a trade that will bring back a second-round pick. Gary is still looking. But his short-term future is coming in, loudly and clearly, now.

“I can grab my kit bag,” Gary said Sunday, “and start walking.”

Meanwhile, Everett stays, with Knox and his staff piling on the creature comforts. Plump some more pillows, can we? A cool, refreshing beverage, perhaps?

“We think we have the guy we want at quarterback,” Knox says, “but he functions best when we play defense and when we run the ball better . . . We will function better as a team by strengthening the entire team.”

So, Sunday, Knox and staff made their choice and loaded up on offensive frills and extra options. The next move is Everett’s.