By Nick Wagoner
Staff Writer

It is hard to expect to get any stars when you make your selections on the second day of the draft. Armed with eight selections in rounds four through seven, the Rams were no exception.

St. Louis entered the second day looking for players that can fill out the roster either as competition for the starters or help for the special teams. The Rams emerged from the final day of the NFL Draft with a group of players expected to do just that.

After adding a pair of defensive backs and two offensive linemen on the first day, St. Louis continued to add depth at those positions with its first two picks of the second day.

The Rams selected safety Jerome Carter of Florida State with the 117th choice. Carter played strong safety for the Seminoles, compiling 257 tackles, three interceptions and a pair of forced fumbles in 45 games.

Carter earned his reputation as a hard hitter with the ability to be stout against the run. He is a bit undersized and not the fastest player, but Carter showed enough to Rams secondary coach Kurt Schottenheimer to earn his spot.

Carter joins O.J. Atogwe and Ronald Bartell as the third defensive back St. Louis has selected in the draft. Those additions were especially important for a secondary that had a number of question marks heading into the offseason.

Schottenheimer said filling that need was one of the team’s biggest priorities.

“Obviously this is an area of need for us and we have had the ability to acquire a couple of safeties now and, of course, a big corner,” Schottenheimer said. “We are looking for as much competition as we can find in that secondary.”

The Rams went back to bolstering the offensive line with their second choice of the fourth round, No. 134 overall. St. Louis chose New Mexico lineman Claude Terrell with that selection, adding even more depth to the line.

Terrell is a huge (6’2, 343 pounds), physical player with the ability to play guard or tackle. For the Lobos, Terrell played three years at guard before moving to tackle for his final season. He played 51 games in which he had 454 knockdown blocks. 

The Rams expect Terrell to play guard in the NFL, where he will compete with Scott Tercero, Blaine Saipaia, Larry Turner and Darnell Alford for a spot on the line. Terrell is the third offensive lineman the Rams have selected in this year’s draft, joining Richie Incognito (third round) and Alex Barron (first round). 

Offensive line coach John Matsko said St. Louis wants versatility in all of the team’s offensive linemen.

“That seems to be the trend in the National Football League,” Matsko said. “When I first started in the league, we were dressing eight guys which was a luxury. Now we are down to seven because they want to dress more DB’s (defensive backs) and more wide receivers for the offense. Your two back-up guys have got a tackle to be a guard and a guard has got to be a guard and a center and they have got to be able to play both sides.”

With its next selection in the fifth round (No. 144 overall), St. Louis opted to add its first non-secondary or offensive line player with tight end Jerome Collins. Collins arrived at Notre Dame as a wide receiver, but moved to defensive end and linebacker. After a lot of lobbying and a coaching change, Collins finally got a chance to go back to offense as a tight end.

“I had been wanting to play tight end for the last couple of years,” Collins said. “Growing up, I always played offense and I knew that offense was a better fit for me.”

Because of his size (6’4, 267) and experience at receiver, Collins’ transition to tight end might be easier than most. That is a good thing for the Rams, because Collins still has plenty of work to do. In fact, St. Louis thought enough of Collins to trade up with Tampa Bay to get him. The Rams gave the Buccaneers their fifth-round choice (No. 155 overall) and their first seventh-round selection (No. 231) to move up 11 spots. Tight ends coach Frank Falks estimates that Collins only played a quarter of his plays last season at tight end.

“I went through every game of the season, including special teams play to find enough to sell him,” Falks said. “He played most of his time at tight end against Stanford (and) he probably played two-thirds of the ball game. Other than that, you have to go find plays in any given ball game.”

Still, because of his size and athleticism, Collins projects to be a quality tight end in due time. At the least, he will be an excellent contributor to the Rams’ ailing special teams, according to Falks.

“On punt coverage, at 270 pounds he will be the first one down the field every time and make an open field tackle,” Falks said. “That is a real intriguing thing about him.”

Finally, after six picks that were meant to address needs, the Rams used a sixth-round choice, No. 192 overall, on a new toy for the offense. Ball State receiver Dante Ridgeway was the choice brought in in an effort to create competition and help push Dane Looker and Mike Furrey for a receiver spot. It looks, though, as if Furrey won’t be much competition as the coaching staff recently decided to move Furrey to free safety.

St. Louis views Ridgeway as a “value pick” with this spot and rightfully so. Ridgeway is one of those rare players that wasn’t selected based on how fast he runs on a track or how tall he is, but rather on how he produced on the field.
 Ridgeway was ultra-productive for the Cardinals, catching 238 passes for 3,030 yards and 22 touchdowns in 35 games. Ridgeway had his best season in 2004, finishing with 1,399 receiving yards and 105 receptions. He was a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best receiver for his performance.

That kind of production would usually warrant a spot high in the draft, but Ridgeway fell because of questions about his size and lack of top-end speed. Ridgeway was surprised that he slipped to the sixth round.

“I had high hopes of being drafted on the first day, but I guess it wasn’t in God’s plan (for me),” Ridgeway said. “I believe I’m in the best situation I could be in.”

Ridgeway will have plenty of competition at the receiver position, but he also gets the chance to learn from Pro Bowl receivers Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce. That should help him make the adjustment quickly. 

Like the Ridgeway selection, the Rams used their next pick on a player that will create competition. Coincidentally, the choice was also another Ball State player. This time it was punter Reggie Hodges. 

Hodges made an impression on the Rams in an outside workout when it was 25-degrees in Muncie, Ind. The workout left Hodges with numbness in his foot, but he punted through it and impressed special teams coach Bob Ligashesky. 

Hodges set school records for attempts (254) and was second in yards with 10,210 yards. Ligashesky expects Hodges to come in and compete with Kevin Stemke for the punting position during training camp.

“It is a significant commitment (to draft a punter) and it will provide competition to the position and hopefully bring out the best in both young men,” Ligashesky said.

The Rams didn’t choose again until a pair of compensatory picks at the end of the seventh round. With the 250th pick, St. Louis took another developmental quarterback. Harvard’s Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was a predraft favorite of coach Mike Martz, was the choice.

Fitzpatrick completed almost 60 percent of his passes for 5,234 yards and 39 touchdowns in his career and added another 16 scores on the ground. Playing for Harvard, Fitzpatrick’s biggest asset is his intelligence. 

He made his reputation as a quarterback with an accurate arm and excellent decision-making skills. Fitzpatrick posted a 37 on the Wonderlic, the test used to determine how fast a player can process information.
 Known for his ability to develop quarterbacks, Martz said Fitzpatrick has many of the tools that he looks for in a young signal-caller.

“I think he is just such a unique and interesting player we all felt like maybe he would have gone off a little bit earlier,” Martz said. “The way we grade or rate quarterbacks, all of us rated him fairly high. We will see what he is. He’s an interesting guy, who knows what we’ll have from him?”

Fitzpatrick will get an opportunity to compete for a roster spot and perhaps a spot on the scout team. Second-year quarterback Jeff Smoker and recently-re-signed Jamie Martin seem to have the two backup jobs sewn up behind Marc Bulger, but Fitzpatrick could step in if he does well grasping the offense.

One position that has been difficult to fill in recent years is fullback. Joey Goodspeed has been the starter for the better part of the past two seasons, but he has not had much competition for his spot.

The Rams added that competition in the form of North Carolina’s Madison Hedgecock. Hedgecock is a superb blocker who also spent time at defensive end for the Tar Heels. That experience as a hitter made him an easy selection for a team that uses its fullback mostly in a blocking capacity.

“He fits into what we do in terms of running the football,” Marts said. “You know how hard it is for us to find fullbacks that will lead in there. These guys are so hard to find that you want somebody with that size and physical presence to do those kinds of things. He fits a need for us.”