NFL DRAFT Team Spotlight - Ram

The NFL Draft is a little over a month away and its time to start guessing who your team is going to pick.  Over the next month I will be going team by team talking about who they will pick first in the draft.  To get things kicked off I am starting with the Rams.  Almost every mock draft is projecting that the Rams will draft Ndamukong Suh from Nebraska with their 1st overall selection.  Even ESPN has said that they will either take Suh or Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford.  In my opinion it is clear that they will be drafting Bradford instead of Suh.

Allow me to shed a little light on why I believe this.  First lets look at recent history of teams that have drafted defensive tackles with their 1st pick (in the top 5).  In 2008 the Chiefs drafted Glenn Dorsey out of LSU with the 5th pick overall.  Now if you remember Mr. Dorsey was compared to none other than Warren Sapp.  The Chiefs record in 2007 was 4-12 and with the addition of Dorsey it was suppose to increase in 2008 but it didn't.  In 2008 the Chiefs went 2-14 for the season!  My whole point is that even though having productive defensive tackles are necessary to have a good defensive, they do not add wins to your teams record.  Keep in mind Dorsey is one of many examples... Ryan Simms, Dewayne Robertson, Gerard Warren, etc.

My second reason why the Rams will take Bradford is to deal with salary cap.  Over the last 3 years the Rams have selected Chris Long with the 2nd pick and Adam Carriker with the 13th pick.  Their contracts together total over $60 million over 6 years.  That is an average of $10 million a season and on top of that they just signed Fred Robbins for the Gaints for $12 million over 3 years.  I am no accountant but that is a lot of money to be paying your defensive line.  If they did draft Suh you would figure another contract in the $60 million over 6 years on top of what the Rams already have.  That is too much money to pay for a defensive line that is not performing.  My pick is Sam Bradford for sure!