In the days following a normal NFL Draft weekend, coaches and personnel staff around the league can begin focusing on the upcoming season because rosters are essentially set.
Sure, there can be a little tweaking here and there but the draft more often than not represents the last chance to alter the roster in any significant way.
Of course, this year isn’t most years. And the fact is the 2011 NFL Draft was actually the first chance to modify the roster in a meaningful sense.
So it was that the Rams, like many teams around the league, brought in a new crop of rookies in hopes of adding talent and filling needs.
Because of the current labor impasse, the Rams, like the rest of the league, have more needs to fill on the roster now than they normally would at this time of year.
“Hopefully we get to the point – I think we are – we’re not that far off that we go into a draft and we can be more position specific,” Rams general manager Billy Devaney said. “We still have areas that we have to fill, and we’re not going to do it all in seven rounds of a draft. That’s just the reality of it. Fortunately, we’re not kicking off next Sunday. We have whatever needs that aren’t filled these next couple rounds and whatever we don’t get in this draft, there’s other ways to go about filling those needs, and we still realize what they are and what we have to do.”
What the Rams did do over the weekend was bring in a new crop of talented football players they hope will ultimately make them a better team and allow them to take the next step toward winning the NFC West Division and make the playoffs.
Headlining the group of eight new Rams is first-round pick 
Quinn gives coach Steve Spagnuolo another dangerous pass rusher with the size and frame to add the weight to become a dominant every down end in the NFL. Most likely, Quinn’s immediate task will be to get after the quarterback while he develops but sooner than later he’ll likely become the bookend to
In the next three rounds, the Rams spent picks looking to add to the arsenal for quarterback
Wisconsin tight end
Those additions might seem a bit superfluous on the surface considering the Rams already have large numbers at both tight end and receiver but the Rams believe it should bolster those corps and create the type of competition that will make everyone better.
“Yeah, which is a good thing,” Spagnuolo said. “You hit the nail on the head. We’ve said this before that one of the goals was to create competition at as many spots as we could. I just think that makes everybody elevate their play. You’re right about those two spots. That’s good."
The Rams went defense heavy the rest of the way, adding Ohio State safety
While those players, like most taken in the late rounds, are considered developmental prospects, all have skills that could be developed to make them contributors right away and possibly even long term starters.
“When we get down to this point, you’re usually looking at developmental kind of guys,” Devaney said. “You’re not looking at these guys to come in and make an immediate impact as starters, so their qualities better include special teams play. That’s how they’re going to earn their stripes as they’re developing as players, so all of these guys are viewed as major contributors on special teams.”
Of course, not many teams ever have enough picks, especially early in the draft, to fill all of their needs. The Rams were no different as they didn’t draft any offensive linemen, defensive tackles or running backs and didn’t grab a safety or outside linebacker until rounds five and seven.
In addition to simply not having enough picks to fill those needs, there’s also the more important point that Devaney and Spagnuolo have repeatedly stuck to about staying true to the board and letting all those hard hours of scouting determine which players to draft.
Using backup running back as an example, it has long been said the Rams need to find a change of pace or even heir apparent for starter
“No, we never really said we have to,” Devaney said. “If it happened, it happened. It was probably close a couple of times and we didn’t force it, like, ‘Gosh, we better reach for this guy because we have to have a running back.’ There were running backs that we were thinking about taking and they went before our next pick came up. But we didn’t react by saying, ‘Okay, we lost the back. Now we’ve got to drop down in value in this round and take a back no matter what if he doesn’t warrant going there.’ It didn’t work out.”
In other words, the Rams drafted their players based on how talented they are, not some perceived notion of drafting a player just because he plays a certain position.
Despite those needs, Devaney says it isn’t hard to stick to the board.
“Not really,” Devaney said. “Especially early in the draft, certainly not. When you get down in the later rounds, you can’t manufacture these guys, but by the same token, we’re not kicking off on Sunday. We’ve got a while to go, and what we didn’t fill these past couple of days, we know the areas that we still have to fill. And there’s ways to go about that.”
The key words there are that the Rams indeed are not kicking off on Sunday. Because of the current labor situation, it remains to be seen when kickoff will occur. But before it does, the Rams will have more opportunities to add to the team via a free agency that has yet to occur as well as the opening of a trade market.
In normal years, that work has already been done but because of the lockout, things are being done in revserse this year, making it wise to take a wait and see approach of the big picture before judging how well the Rams drafted.
Because of the lockout, teams also have been unable to sign undrafted rookies, another way to supplement the roster that will eventually be available to teams.
So it is that the Rams, like everyone else, will wait with their lists of projected free agents under the old system (four years of service), last year’s set up (six years of service) and a list of priority undrafted rookies.
“You can’t get them, whatever the ‘needs’ are, if somebody has a number on them, it’s hard to get them all filled in a draft,” Spagnuolo said. “That’s why you have free agency and you have trades, etc. etc. I know Billy and the staff and everybody is doing their best job to get good football players.”
