|
Let’s take a look at what the Rams are doing with their defense.
A defense, by the way, that you can’t tell the players without a program.
Is anyone left from last season. There are some such as DE Grant Wistrom and LB London
Fletcher but not many.
LB Mark Fields, S Kim Herring and CB Aeneas Williams have been nice non-draft pickups.
Although Fields may not have great instincts, he is coming off a Pro Bowl season. What
he does exceptionally well is run and hit.
Herring is coming off a quality season and is an upgrade for the Rams.
Williams is not what he once was, but he is still a very capable player who gets it
done with smarts and leadership.
And then there’s the draft. It’s already provided plenty of quantity and
potential. Time will tell if it produces productivity.
You have to like the way the Rams took veteran players who didn’t really fit into
their future and turned them into draft picks that allowed them to get young talent. Trent
Green was a backup quarterback and Kevin Carter was a talented defensive end whose sulking
this past year meant that he’ll probably play better elsewhere than he would have in
St. Louis had he been kept around. Both now are with different organizations, and the Rams
were loaded with picks in the first round as a result.
Defensive tackle was the biggest area of need for the Rams, and they grabbed two of
them in the first round in Damione Lewis and Ryan Pickett. Lewis seems like an excellent
fit for the Rams’ defense. Pickett went earlier than I anticipated, but he fits the
Rams’ system nicely. I thought the Rams would take CB Nate Clements instead of S Adam
Archuleta with their second first-round pick, but Archuleta still made sense for them.
Right now what the Rams have are a lot of pieces to the puzzle. Whether they will fit
together into a cohesive, quality unit, only time will tell. What impresses me, though, is
that the Rams recognized that last season’s defense did not get the job done and have
moved decisively to make changes. Their offense is too awesome to stand pat with an
unacceptable defense.
Back to Draft Day index page |
