Drafts are not an exact science. Sometimes teams believe its worth taking a running back in the top five only to find out that they are either injury prone or the game has simply devalued the running back position because scouts didn’t see it coming yet.
Sometimes a quarterback can be regarded highly only to fail while someone taken 199th could end up as the greatest quarterback of all time. So, initial draft reactions often don’t hold up to hindsight and while other teams have had worse drafts than the Rams, ten years later some of these picks explain the hole they find themselves in now. It wasn’t all bad as some picks they’ve made have been incredible but most were probably bad at the time and look even worse now.
2007-Adam Carriker
The Rams had the 13th overall pick this year and the Niners had the 12th. The Niners took Patrick Willis who before retiring early was one of the best linebackers in the game. The Rams likely wanted Willis (who didn’t?) but decided to draft Nebraska defensive end Adam Carriker. Carriker would only play two years with the Rams and due to injury and poor play he was traded to Washington where he would play three years before he was out of the league.
At the time this pick was semi-defensible as he was pretty good in college (not as good as another guy on his team named Suh) but this was clearly a major bust. What’s worse is that one pick later the Jets would take Darell Revis and there were also guys like LaMarr Woodley, Eric Weddle, Reggie Nelson, and Joe Staley. Sure hindsight is everything but man oh man did this end up hurting.
2008-Chris Long
Going into the 2008 draft the top four players worth looking at were Jake Long, Matt Ryan, Darren McFadden, and Glenn Dorsey. Luckily the Rams had the 2nd overall pick and Miami already announced they were taking Jake Long. Chris Long was a great player and its unfortunate that he had to play for so many bad teams before being part of the Patriots last season where he would win a ring. Chris Long was a great pick but its sad that the team never matched his talent. In hindsight they’d probably take Matt Ryan which is understandable but Long wasn’t a bust.
In a weird twist of fate the Rams would eventually get Jake Long, unfortunately it was after his body decomposed in Miami. Chris Long was a home run but my god does it still hurt that instead of taking DeSean Jackson in the second round they went with Donnie Avery. Hindsight aside, nobody but nobody had Avery higher than Jackson on their draft boards.
2009-Jason Smith
Whew! The Rams had the second overall pick and the Lions took Matthew Stafford number one. Look, in hindsight there were a lot of talented players in this draft and if the Rams had a crystal ball they wouldn’t in a million years take Jason Smith. Smith was supposed to be the next great offensive lineman but he did suffer a massive concussion and allegedly had contemplated retiring.
A year later he would lose his job to Roger Saffold which is embarrassing and this wouldn’t be that bad except this was during a time where rookies made a ton of money so this cost them $61 million with $33 million guaranteed. If the Rams had another crack at this they probably would’ve taken Brian Orakpo, Clay Matthews, or possibly Mark Sanch…nevermind. 2009 wasn’t flush with talent but still Smith was a major bust. In the second round the Rams took James Laurenitus son of Road Warrior Hawk and at the time that seemed like a great deal but he never became the stud linebacker he was in college.
Which was a shame because not only would that have helped their defense, how fun would’ve it have been to play the Legion of Doom entrance music every time he recorded a sack.
2010-Sam Bradford
It was stupid then and its stupid now. The Rams had the number one overall pick and they took Sam Bradford as the guy who was going to be the next franchise quarterback. On one hand this pick on paper made sense. He was the highest rated quarterback in a draft that included other future hall of famers in Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen, and Colt McCoy. Wow, that’s a murderer’s row of talent right? Sam Bradford was the guy who broke the system and had teams install an NBA type rookie system because Sam was so expensive. He received $50 million guaranteed despite the questions about his shoulder and the fact that at best he was an accurate dink and dunk type passer.
He did have a decent rookie season which culminated in losing to the Seahawks in the NFC West title game because Charlie “clipboard Jesus” Whitehurst literally made ONE big throw to sent the 7-9 Seahawks to the playoffs where the first major chapter in the Beast Mode folk lore would occur. Bradford didn’t have much to work with at receiver but still he got outplayed by Charlie Whitehurst. The Rams should’ve just taken Ndamukong Suh and kicked the quarterback can until the following year because then they’d have had a shot at Cam Newton. Bradford’s biggest contributions to the Rams were beating RGIII in his rookie year so that trade would be somewhat justified and netting the Rams a second round pick and Nick Foles. By the way, that second round pick ended up being used in the Jared Goff trade so his ghost still managed to haunt the team.
He was always hurt and when he played he clearly wasn’t the guy that was going to win a Super Bowl. Although the Eagles managed to get a first rounder from Minnesota so he still has some aura about him. Lord knows why. Of all the picks in the last ten years, this one burnt them the hardest. This would’ve been a great year to trade the number one pick, oh well. One last thing, in the second round the Rams could’ve drafted Rob Gronkowski but opted for offensive lineman and LA Metro turnstile, Roger Saffold.
2011-Robert Quinn
Finally, a winner. The Rams had the 14th overall pick and took Quinn who when healthy has been a tremendous pass rusher. His move to linebacker should bear fruit next year so this was a great pick. No complaints here. It would’ve been nice if Austin Pettis had panned out but at the time that move was entirely defensible. All in all this was a good draft.
2012- Michael Brockers
This is the first year of the RGIII heist and Brandon Brockers was a solid pick but it is a bummer that they used their two second round picks on bust receiver Brian Quick, Isiah Pead, and Janoris Jenkins who was great for the Giants.
In case you’re wondering who the Rams could’ve had instead of Quick, Pead, and Jenkins, well the Rams had a shot at Bobby Wagner, Alshon Jeffrey, and Derek Wolfe. Oops. The draft isn’t an exact science but yikes that’s a lot of blown opportunity.
2013-Tavon Austin
The Rams moved up in the draft by trading with Buffalo and instead of trading for oh say DeAndre Hopkins, Tyler Eifert, or Le’Veon Bell they draft Tavon Austin who can’t catch a ball downfield. Yes, they did land Alec Ogletree who has been a solid linebacker but Tavon Austin is not only a bust but Rams paid him more money than Alshon Jeffrey got from the Eagles.
It’s not like they were being outbid by anybody. Tavon Austin was a poor man’s Percy Harvin and a working class man’s Cordarelle Patterson. His best skills are catching balls out of the backfield or making plays in the return game. Not exactly someone worth trading up for.
2014-Greg Robinson and Aaron Donald
Just to prove this piece isn’t designed to be entirely negative, using the 13th overall pick and the last of Washington’s picks on Aaron Donald was BRILLIANT! Donald is an absolute monster and hasn’t even hit his prime yet. He is easily the best player the Rams have had since Steven Jackson and the Rams would be wise to make sure he doesn’t leave town.
On the other hand, using the number two pick on Greg Robinson was atrocious. Clearly, they learned nothing from the Jason Smith debacle. Yes, they needed to protect Sam Bradford but Bradford was Mr. Glass anyway. They could’ve taken Sammy Watkins but he’s also injury prone so its understandable why they didn’t but they passed on Khalil Mack, Odell Beckham Jr, Mike Evans, and Antony Barr. One of the worst feelings in the world is having a top five pick in a loaded draft and being the team that whiffs.
Donald was a godsend but Greg Robinson is being moved to guard because he can’t play tackle and if he fails at that they won’t resign him next year so that’s another wasted pick. They get a pass for not taking Derek Carr in round two because they didn’t have a shot but taking Lamarcus Joyner over Jeremy Hill, Carlos Hyde, and Davonte Adams has to sting. Also, they had a shot at Jimmy Garoppolo which would’ve been nice considering Bradford’s fragility.
2015-Todd Gurley
At the time, this pick looked like a gamble because Gurley was coming off an ACL tear. Luckily, Gurley ended up being a dynamo and since he was a running back, Jeff Fisher decided to let him play. After all, when he was still with the Titans his job was saved by a running back when Chris Johnson came into the league, so Fisher knew where his bread is buttered.
Unfortunately for Gurley he hit a Sophmore slump in year two but that was the product of having a terrible offensive line. He will bounce back in year three so this was a great pick. Sure, they could’ve taken Melvin Gordon but that’s just being nit picky. Gurley is a star and considering this team had less star power than the last two Comedy Central Roasts.
2016-Jared Goff
It’s already been written why the Rams trading up for Goff was dumb in the moment and looks even worse as they days go by. Don’t worry that point won’t be belabored.
The last ten years of Rams drafts haven’t bore much fruit and when looking back its shocking how many players are no longer on the team. Instead of taking notice at what the good teams in the league do through the draft the Rams opted to rely on gambling and poor talent evaluation. At least they have the 5th overall pick this year to try and right the ship. Oh wait, that’s right they traded that to Tennessee for a quarterback who (and this is true) didn’t know which way the sun rises despite having attended Cal Berkley.
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