Our Draft Day Predictions

Well it is almost time to head over to Russell Athletic Training Center (formerly Rams Park) and watch the 2009 NFL Draft. It should be an exciting day. As much as I would love the Rams to dump Marc Bulger and draft Mark Sanchez I just do not think the Rams will do it. The Rams tend to play it safe, will Steve Spagnuolo bring a new attitude? It will be a long day but barring a trade the Rams will only have two new players at the end of the day. Below are the selections I would like to see. Again this assumes they do not make a play for Sanchez or make any trades.

Round 1 - #2 Overall - Jason Smith OT Baylor

Round 2 - #35 Overall - James Laurinaitis, ILB, Ohio State

I feel the Rams will play it safe today. Both players fill huge needs. Jason Smith should be a very good tackle and could be down right nasty at RT, if Barron is switching to LT. Laurinaitis would be a great value, remember he has been projected in the top 10 before. The longer he played, and in a down year in the Big 10 he has went unnoticed. We could put him right between Spoon, and Psia and start to shore up the defense.

Player we would love to draft. Other than Mark Sanchez I really like Connor Barwin, DE/OLB, Cincinnati. I think he will be a fabulous player. He is a tweener, he could be a HUGE backer or a small pass rusher. Both things the Rams could use. I don't think the Rams will go after him but he is someone to watch.

ESPN Franchise Rankings St. Louis Rams #111

The 2008 ESPN franchise rankings have been released and the St Louis Rams are coming in at #111. We would also like to point out that Ramblinfan.com has been mentioned in the on-line version of the article. I don't know what is more surprising the fact that we were able to get into the article or the fact that there are 2 coaches ranked worse than Scott Linehan! Sorry that was a cheap shot but we had to take it. We also had more issues with the Rams over the weekend. The Rams Draft Day Party was from 1PM-5PM CST. Why was it scheduled like that? The 2008 NFL Draft started at 2PM, so we were allowed to stay in the dome for 3 hours of the draft. That is nice but at 5PM the Rams still had not made their 2nd pick. So basically after the Rams took Chris Long with the #2 overall pick around 2:10PM people were leaving since you would not even see the complete 1st round coverage while at the Edward Jones Dome.

Last Year's Rank: 81
Title Track: 32
Ownership: 109
Coaching: 120
Players: 109
Fan Relations: 109
Affordability: 111
Stadium Experience: 114
Bang for the Buck: 111

Seems like just yesterday this was the "Greatest Show on Turf." Now fans sound as if they just want this circus to leave town. At the very least, another big top is in order: The Edward Jones Dome has awful acoustics and dim lighting and remains behind the high-tech times. "The once-state-of-the-art JumboTron is now like a 20" TV in a hall of plasmas," grumbles Vincent Vitale of http://ramblinfan.com. And the stadium's proximity to both the Big Muddy and the Lumière Casino results in a dearth of tailgate real estate too. "There are little pods of tailgaters instead of one massive party," Vitale complains. And even if the team hadn't stumbled through a 3-13 season, those $8 stadium brews (yes, the NFL's priciest brewski is poured in Anheuser-Busch country) would make a comfortable spot for a pregame sixer a necessity. -Andy Kamenetzky

Stlvinnie
Owner http://www.stlouisramfan.com
Lead Blogger http://ramblinfan.com