St. Louis Rams 2012 draft
1.14 Michael Brockers DE LSU
B-/C+
2.1 Brian Quick WR Appalachian St.
D until '14, could be salvaged into a B
2.7 Janoris Jenkins CB North Alabama/Florida
B-/C+, strong rookie trajectory unsustained, may walk in '16
2.18 Isaiah Pead RB Cincinatti
F-
3.2 Trumaine Johnson CB/FS Montana
B-/C+, if he regains starting gig, factoring in his pedigree
4.1 Chris Givens WR Wake Forest
C-, regressed after rookie campaign, currently WR5, maybe gone in '16
5.15 Rokevious Watkins OT/G South Carolina
F-, fat guys stay fat, linked with the Pead fiasco/debacle
6.1 Greg Zuerlein K Missouri Western
B, not the best K in the league, but good value given pedigree
7.2 Aaron Brown LB Hawaii
? Hard to grade, a pick here is typically ticketed for practice squad or cut
7.45 Daryl Richardson, RB Abilene Christian
B-, limited and later cut, but started briefy, good for a 7th rounder
7.25 Greg Scruggs DE Louisville?
See 7.2
Note - RG3 trade archaeology, excavation and post-mortem
2012 was the first year of the Jeff Fisher, Les Snead regime. They kicked things off with a double trade down in the first round (after adding up the extra picks, I think their 11 picks that year may have been the most of any team in that draft class). First from 1.2 to 1.6 (WAS took RG3), which yielded additional first round picks in 2013 and 2014, and the 2012 2.7 pick. The intent was probably to draft WR Justin Blackmon, but JAX traded up from 1.7 to 1.5 (Peter King or Michael Silver were in the war room and reported that Fisher slammed his reading glasses down in frustration), sparing the Rams from a wasted pick. They than traded from 1.6 to 1.14 (DAL took CB Morris Claiborne, largely another wasted pick), bringing an extra 2.13 pick. At this point, they took starting DT Brockers (who they reportedly would have selected at 1.6 anyway, if unable to trade down). With the WAS 2.7 pick, they took starting CB Jenkins. With the DAL 2.13 pick, they had their eye on LBs Mychal Kendricks or Bobby Wagner, but fatefully wanted to generate an absent fifth round pick, and thought they could make a surgical move five picks down and still land one of them, trading with CHI. Wrong (they went in rapid succession with the next two picks to PHI and SEA). They disastrously settled for bust Pead, and the fifth round guard that prompted the move in the first place had weight problems and was cut before the season, never playing a down for the team. Adding insult to injury, CHI took Pro Bowl WR Alshon Jeffery with the vacated pick, and the Rams left Pro Bowl LB Lavonte David on the board, possibly because he was viewed as being "too small"? In 2013, they traded the WAS 1.22 to 1.30 (ATL took CB Marcus Trufant), taking starting LB Alec Ogletree, and yielding an extra 3.30 (WR3/4 Stedman Bailey) and 6.30 (packaged with another sixth round pick to trade up into the fifth round for 2013 and partial 2014 starting RB Zac Stacy). WAS imploded in 2013 due to an RG3 torn ACL injury and dysfunctional Mike Shanahan regime, so in a case of symmetry, the last legacy 2014 first round pick ended up being the 1.2, the same spot which kicked off the blockbuster trade in the first place. They took starting LT Greg Robinson.
The final tally from the trade*:
Brockers - starter
Jenkins - starter
Pead - ? ST player likely to be cut after a torn ACL ended his 2014 campaign early, massive dissapointment
Watkins - cut in 2012
Ogletree - starter
B+, but technically can't grade for another year (as with Bailey and Stacy)
Bailey - WR3/4
B-/C+, possible future starter if Quick leaves in '16 and they don't draft somebody better
Stacy (actually one of the two sixths directly traced to the original trade) - former starter, now reserve
C, had nearly 1,000 rushing yards as a rookie in just 12 games, albeit on volume and with limited explosiveness, already supplanted by 2014 third rounder Tre Mason, as well as UFA Benny Cunningham
Robinson - starter
B+, see Ogletree, raw in pass pro, flashes dominant run blocking potential, freakish, generational athlete for a big man, more of a projection grade, revisit in 2017
So starters at all three levels of the defense, plus LT, and two reserves in Bailey and Stacy.
On a last sidebar, the Rams were oft criticized for continuing to back incumbent starting QB Bradford, instead of just taking RG3 themselves. With his injuries, struggles and being benched twice by two different HCs, this is not looking like as tenable a critique as it did three or even two years ago. They were also criticized for not using some of that multiple day one and day two draft picks windfall (counting, in some cases, trade downs of trade downs, they ended up with three firsts, two seconds and a third) on a developmental QB prospect to groom for the future. But PHI and Chip Kelly helped mitigate this last potential critique, as they leveraged Bradford (coming off of two straight torn ACLs) into starting QB Nick Foles, a 2016 second and bump from the fifth to fourth in 2015, not to mention a completely unexpected eight figures of salary cap relief. If Bradford is injured and misses the season, the Rams pay a conditional 2016 third, if he plays but less than 50% of the snaps, a conditional 2016 fourth, if he plays more than 50% of the snaps (or is traded) they owe nothing.
(Totals including RG3 trade in parentheses)
Players still with team: 6 (add four to this category [[so 10]] in Ogletree, Bailey, Stacy and Robinson)
Starters: 3-5, depending on if CB Johnson retains his job, and if you count K (5-7, add two to this in Ogletree and Robinson)
Potential future starters: 4-6 (6-8, see above Starters comments, plus add Bailey, could be as many as 8 starters - if a typical draft yields 2 starters on average, the 2012 draft, augmented by and amplified with the RG3 windfall, may end up effectively manufacturing 4 X that number)
Pro-bowls: 0
Positives: Brockers has emerged as a solid starter, probably not Pro Bowl material. He plays more of a classic NT role, as an early down run stuffer and block eater, a position that doesn't usually rack up stats and gain a lot of notoriety, but enables his teammates to make plays and is very important and valuable to the scheme as a whole. ESPN beat reporter Nick Wagoner has already stated they are expected to pick up his fifth year option. Quick was looking like an epic, colossal bust before last year (an athletic, talented small school prospect with attendant level of competition and delayed development concerns which proved on the mark - think Jerome Simpson, who didn't "break out" until season three). Possibly due to vet, free agent big WR Kenny Britt taking him under his wing, he broke out in a big way, flashed impressive skills and was their most productive WR until a season-ending shoulder injury shelved him. He is in an important contract year, and the injury was complicated, so may keep him out of OTAs until training camp. Like any Rams WR, evaluation is complicated by the fact that they have been forced to play with backup QBs for the past season and a half. I was surprised when ex-TB HC Schiano (on ESPN or NFL Network) stated he would have taken Jenkins in the top 10 overall in a recent 2012 draft do-over segment. A stat noted his 6 defensive TDs since 2012 are the most in the NFL (two other players had 4). That is a little deceiving, in that I think 4-5 were from an admittedly very good rookie season, when he looked like a future elite playmaker. Since then, his play has been inconsistent, at times erratic in coverage, previously more prone to guessing, getting burnt and giving up big plays, too much cushion and open field tackling allergies, with sub-optimal size at 5'10", 200 lbs. Also in a contract year, I don't see them breaking the bank for him in 2016 (definitely not tagging him), perhaps re-signing him at the right price, wouldn't be a surprise to see another team valuing him more. He represented a lot of character, off-field risk at the time, too, but has generally stayed out of trouble (some scouts thought he was as good a man cover CB as there was in the draft, including Claiborne, otherwise he might have been a top 10-15 pick). Pead has been a catastrophic pick and unmitigated disaster by any measure, especially when viewed through the lens of their possibly instead having LBs Kendricks or Wagner. Ouch. CB Trumaine Johnson gradually emerged as a starter (like Quick, a small school prospect, in his case from Montana, where Jeff Fisher's son also played DB), but after a knee injury last year in pre-season, stellar rookie sixth rounder E.J. Gaines started most of the year, and he may have to earn his job back. Also in a contract year, not sure they would let BOTH Jenkins and Johnson walk, the latter offers better size at 6'2", 210 lbs., and the collegiate cross-trained safety is a more physical and surer tackler. So even if beat out by Gaines this year, he could reemerge as a starter in 2016. Givens, like Jenkins, may have peaked in 2012 (he had a 50+ yard reception in five straight games, breaking a rookie record held by former CHI great and Olympic caliber hurdler Willie Gault, which stood for about three decades). Not an adept route runner, doesn't have great hands, a well rounded skill set or complete game, has been too much of a one trick pony deep threat. Again like Jenkins, Trumaine Johnson and also 2013 first Ogletree, he represented some character red flags and off field concerns, but they have generally avoided incident (except for a hiccup a few years ago). Watkins was cut almost immediately due to a weight problem, as noted above. Greg "The Leg"/"Legatron" Zuerlein got off to an outstanding start, especially distance-wise, has since been somewhat inconsistent, but remains the starter, and the team thought enough of him to give him an extension. Brown bounced around on the roster as a reserve for a while. Richardson actually started in some games during 2012 and 2013, but washed out, par for the course with a seventh rounder. I think Scruggs never made the roster.
If you factor in the RG3 trade into the 2012 draft (how can you not
), and the Rams skirting potential disaster TWICE by not taking the injury-prone and underachieving QB, and again when JAX "sniped" troubled, unemployed alcoholic WR Blackmon, the trade worked out extremely well in helping fill out a roster largely devoid of talent on both sides of the ball. I think Fisher and Snead inherited a team that was 15-65 (.1875%) in the previous five seasons, which may have been not only the worst half decade stretch in NFL history, but one of the worst stretches ever in professional sports, period - after long time Harlem Globetrotter patsies, the Washington Generals? While no Pro Bowlers have been generated from the trade (yet), to fully and properly evauate the trade under the terms set forth here (after three years), we will have to wait until 2016 for Ogletree and Bailey, and 2017 for Robinson, in order to tally the final reckoning on the trade. Kind of like the gift that keeps on giving.
Negatives: Pead. Quick took a long time to develop. Unclear if second and third round CBs Jenkins or Johnson have played well enough to be be retained long term. More quantity than quality. Fisher and Snead have not drafted as many immediate difference makers as division rivals SEA and ARI during their tenure (though Robinson and Ogletree have high ceilings and upside, especially the former, 2014 second overall pick). But the numbers and roster turnover may finally be starting to reveal a cumulative, incremental impact, notably on defense, where the Rams were top 5 in the second half of last season, by metrics such as scoring defense (16.8 - 5th), rushing yards allowed per game (84.4 - 4th), sacks (26 - tied 4th) and takeaways (15 - tied 6th).
Grade: A- (when factoring in all the starters on both sides of the ball from the RG3 bounty)
* 2014 WAS pre-game coin flip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1c2xiVvPY4
this one draft is the biggest reason the Colts are perrenial playoff contenders while the Titans draft #2 this year.
