found this on rams board & i think it is attributed to local STL journalist bernie miklasz... first of all, i don't think you need to compare them to SD & CHI, two of the better teams in the league, to find that they probably suffer in comparison with quite a few other teams... this article is a pretty withering critique and scathing indictment of rams front office (from 00-02 drafts, only three players even on team still, & none of them difference makers)... past few drafts have been better... jackson obviously a keeper, and so is tye hill, i think... i wonder about barron since he was reportedly one of two players called out by bulger (along with incognito)... also, i realize some of the hindsight stuff is absurd... virtually every team has made mistakes, graded players wrongly causing them to miss them or take the wrong guy early... but it isn't too controversial to suggest that some of their picks gone terribly wrong were of self-inflicted variety, like taking crouch in the third, or jacoby shepard in second (out of the league)... WAY too many projects that crashed and burned... i'm hopeful with addition of tony softli, who played key role in assembling CAR roster as it is presently constituted... certain teams just seem to be better at draft process... NE too obvious to elaborate on, but emphasis on football smarts, character & coachability has been huge... polian of IND likes to get players that are not only talented and grade high, but also that come from major conferences that have performed well under pressure (any rule of thumb can be taken too far... rashean mathis is a stud from small school, but playing the percentages, polian has done well)...
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"The drafting was not very good overall, but probably on par with other teams in the league. The biggest problem was not getting the star players out of the draft"
I've posted on this before. It is not good enough to be on a par with other teams. Successful teams have succesful drafts. And to be sure, we have done poorly in the "star" category.
From 2000 - 20002 the Rams drafted 24 players. Three, count em, three are still with the team (Butler, 2001 and Fisher and Massey, 2002). Five number one draft picks (Canidate, Lewis, Arch, Picket, Thomas) and not one is with the team. And Butler and Fisher may well be gone next year, leaving us with Massey.
Four from 2003 are still with the team (Kennedy, Pisa, Curtis, McDonald), with two of them starters. Kennedy has not lived up to expectations, though.
Two from 2004 (Jackson and Chillar). If not for Jackson, that is a total bust of a draft.
Eight from 2005 (Barron, Bartell, Atogwe, Incognito, Carter, Terrell, Fitz and Hedgecock). If Terrel pans out, this is a fantastic draft. Bartell - I don't know. Carter is a whiffing machine.
Seven from 2006 (Hill, Klop, Wroten, Alston, Byrd, Adeyanju, Setterstrom). This may turn out to be an outstanding draft. Too early to tell. Hill will be fine. Klop should develop. Sett looked good and may well be a starter if last week wasn't an aberration. Wroten and Adeyanju are keys.
The 2000-2002 drafts are particularly troublesome. Think what might have been:
Marcus Stroud was taken one pick after Lewis. Nate Clements one pick after Arch. Reggie Wayne one pick after Pickett. Kris Jenkins two picks after Polley. Reggie Hayward four picks after Allen.
Instead of Thomas, How about LeCharles Bentley or Clinton Portis. (Or me or you for that matter).
Instead of Kennedy, how about Ty Warren at the next pick or Polamalu four picks later.
Now look at San Diego. Three of their five O-linemen (McNeill, Hardwick and Olivea) were drafted during the same period and a fourth (Dielman) was signed as an OFA.
During that time they have also drafted LT, Rivers, Merriman, Castillo, Phillips and Olshansky.
Or Chicago. (Urlacher, Brown, Harris, Johnson, Scott, Briggs, harris, Tillman, Vasher, Grossman, berrian, Benson).
Nine - count em, nine - of their starters on D were drafted in the same period.
Now, to be sure, hindsight is 20/20. But those drafts from 2000-2002 were terrible and terribly costly.
And, you can point to quite a few teams that have been - at least - equally adept at screwing up drafts. But - and this is the bell ringer - they will be bad teams.
And how about the FA signings. Claiborne, Terry, Stone, Hawthorne, Tucker last year. And we let Ivy - a pretty darned good little football player - go.
How about Duncan and Herring.
Glover and Raonall Smith.
There is not one free agent starter - othr than Bulger - signed from 2000 to 2005.
San Diego? McCardell, Parker, LoNeal, Edwards, Godfrey, and McCree.
Chicago? Clark, Muhammad, McKie, Ogunleye, Hillenmayer.
How about original FA signings playing as starters. Rams? None.
San Diego. Guy named Gates. Kris Dielman.
Chicago has none as as starters.
Any way you slice it, prior to 2005, the Rams have done a poor job of building their roster. And that accounts for the differnce between us (5-6), and, say the Chargers (9-2) or the Bears (9-2), owners of the leagues best records for any team not based in Indy.
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"The drafting was not very good overall, but probably on par with other teams in the league. The biggest problem was not getting the star players out of the draft"
I've posted on this before. It is not good enough to be on a par with other teams. Successful teams have succesful drafts. And to be sure, we have done poorly in the "star" category.
From 2000 - 20002 the Rams drafted 24 players. Three, count em, three are still with the team (Butler, 2001 and Fisher and Massey, 2002). Five number one draft picks (Canidate, Lewis, Arch, Picket, Thomas) and not one is with the team. And Butler and Fisher may well be gone next year, leaving us with Massey.
Four from 2003 are still with the team (Kennedy, Pisa, Curtis, McDonald), with two of them starters. Kennedy has not lived up to expectations, though.
Two from 2004 (Jackson and Chillar). If not for Jackson, that is a total bust of a draft.
Eight from 2005 (Barron, Bartell, Atogwe, Incognito, Carter, Terrell, Fitz and Hedgecock). If Terrel pans out, this is a fantastic draft. Bartell - I don't know. Carter is a whiffing machine.
Seven from 2006 (Hill, Klop, Wroten, Alston, Byrd, Adeyanju, Setterstrom). This may turn out to be an outstanding draft. Too early to tell. Hill will be fine. Klop should develop. Sett looked good and may well be a starter if last week wasn't an aberration. Wroten and Adeyanju are keys.
The 2000-2002 drafts are particularly troublesome. Think what might have been:
Marcus Stroud was taken one pick after Lewis. Nate Clements one pick after Arch. Reggie Wayne one pick after Pickett. Kris Jenkins two picks after Polley. Reggie Hayward four picks after Allen.
Instead of Thomas, How about LeCharles Bentley or Clinton Portis. (Or me or you for that matter).
Instead of Kennedy, how about Ty Warren at the next pick or Polamalu four picks later.
Now look at San Diego. Three of their five O-linemen (McNeill, Hardwick and Olivea) were drafted during the same period and a fourth (Dielman) was signed as an OFA.
During that time they have also drafted LT, Rivers, Merriman, Castillo, Phillips and Olshansky.
Or Chicago. (Urlacher, Brown, Harris, Johnson, Scott, Briggs, harris, Tillman, Vasher, Grossman, berrian, Benson).
Nine - count em, nine - of their starters on D were drafted in the same period.
Now, to be sure, hindsight is 20/20. But those drafts from 2000-2002 were terrible and terribly costly.
And, you can point to quite a few teams that have been - at least - equally adept at screwing up drafts. But - and this is the bell ringer - they will be bad teams.
And how about the FA signings. Claiborne, Terry, Stone, Hawthorne, Tucker last year. And we let Ivy - a pretty darned good little football player - go.
How about Duncan and Herring.
Glover and Raonall Smith.
There is not one free agent starter - othr than Bulger - signed from 2000 to 2005.
San Diego? McCardell, Parker, LoNeal, Edwards, Godfrey, and McCree.
Chicago? Clark, Muhammad, McKie, Ogunleye, Hillenmayer.
How about original FA signings playing as starters. Rams? None.
San Diego. Guy named Gates. Kris Dielman.
Chicago has none as as starters.
Any way you slice it, prior to 2005, the Rams have done a poor job of building their roster. And that accounts for the differnce between us (5-6), and, say the Chargers (9-2) or the Bears (9-2), owners of the leagues best records for any team not based in Indy.
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