The draft–prospects, scouting, mocks

zn wrote:

Problem is, when you get down to THIS
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And it snows A LOT, you can’t get the ice and snow off the tarp covering the wood, not without a lot of work. The ice and snow were more than 3 feet deep on top of the wood.

Amateur mistake.
Won’t happen again.

Good post. Excellent work.

Fire tip number 2 — Dont build a fire under a tree full of snow.

w
v
“As usual, Junko thought about Jack London’s ‘To Build a Fire.’ It was the story of a man traveling alone through the snowy Alaskan interior and his attempts to light a fire. He would freeze to death unless he could make it catch. The sun was going down. Junko hadn’t read much fiction, but that one short story she had read again and again, ever since her teacher had assigned it as an essay topic during summer vacation of her first year in high school. The scene of the story would always come vividly to mind as she read. She could feel the man’s fear and hope and despair as if they were her own; she could sense the very pounding of his heart as he hovered on the brink of death. Most important of all, though, was the fact that the man was fundamentally longing for death. She knew that for sure. She couldn’t explain how she knew, but she knew it from the start. Death was really what he wanted. He knew that it was the right ending for him. And yet he had to go on fighting with all his might. He had to fight against an overwhelming adversary in order to survive. What most shook Junko was this deep-rooted contradiction.
The teacher ridiculed her view. ‘Death is really what he wanted? That’s a new one for me! And strange! Quite ‘original,’ I’d have to say.’ He read her conclusion aloud before the class, and everybody laughed.
But Junko knew. All of them were wrong. Otherwise how could the ending of the story be so quiet and beautiful?”

― Haruki Murakami, After The Quake

Mock Draft Roundup: 9th Edition

By Myles Simmons

http://www.stlouisrams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Mock-Draft-Roundup-9th-Edition/b3711480-b309-4ec8-b3df-e006bb1877cd

We’re officially one month away form the first round of the NFL draft on April 30, and the mocks are continuing to come on in. This week, we were able to find a potpourri of players from an array of respected analysts from around the league. One analyst even went as far as to project all seven rounds of the draft.

Charles Davis has been one of the more unique voices in his mocks when it comes to his Rams selections. In his first version released back on February 10, he had the team picking Jameis Winston. Then on February 25, he had St. Louis choosing Michigan State cornerback Trae Waynes. Now in his latest mock, he has the Rams taking Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota.

“Despite the trade of Sam Bradford that brings Nick Foles to town, landing a potential franchise QB at this spot is irresistible for Rams,” Davis writes.

Rams head coach Jeff Fisher stated last week at the owners’ meetings in Phoenix that the Nick Foles trade does not necessarily change the team’s draft plans, so picking Mariota is not inconceivable. But with all the hype surrounding the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner, it seems doubtful that he’d ever slip that far.

Mariota threw for 4,454 yards, 42 touchdowns, and only four interceptions last season. He also rushed for 770 yards and 15 touchdowns. He completed 66.8 percent of his passes in three years as a starter for the Ducks.

It’s been a while since wideout DeVante Parker has shown up in the roundups — he was last mocked to the Rams all the way back in the second edition by Bleacher Report’s Michael Schottey. And even here in the ninth, Parker seems to only be a placeholder.

ESPN’s Todd McShay writes that the Rams will select the Louisville wide receiver, but spends most of his section on the pick discussing reasons why St. Louis could trade up to take quarterback Marcus Mariota. (Insider subscription required — $$)

“They have the young talent currently on their roster to help them sustain the loss of draft picks that would come with a big move up the board,” McShay writes, adding that Mariota would bring a rushing element from the quarterback position that could be attractive to the coaching staff.

Basically, McShay has the Rams taking Parker to address what he sees as a need on the roster because his mock drafts don’t project trades. So, there you have it.

While Parker missed the first seven games of the 2014 season with a foot injury, he finished the year by catching 43 passes for 855 yards and five touchdowns — good enough to garner second-team All-ACC honors. The 6-foot-3, 209-pound receiver finished his Louisville career with 156 receptions for 2,775 yards and 33 touchdowns.

In what’s become a fairly popular pick in recent weeks, NFL media’s Lance Zierlein projects the Rams will select wide receiver Amari Cooper at No. 10.

“The Rams could easily look at RT here,” Zierlein writes, “but passing on a touchdown-maker like Cooper in a division featuring Seattle could be tough.”

Interestingly enough, Zierlein also projects that quarterback Marcus Mariota will fall until No. 12, when the Browns pick him up — a scenario that seems fairly unlikely at this point.

Nevertheless, Cooper turned in a stellar 2014 season with Alabama, winning the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver. Cooper caught 124 passes for 1,727 yards and 16 touchdowns. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist for his accomplishments as well, finishing third behind Mariota and Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon.

Bucky Brooks, also of NFL Media, has the Rams addressing their offensive line by picking Iowa’s Brandon Scherff.

“The Rams could use a WR1, but adding a rugged interior blocker with grit and toughness would help Jeff Fisher build an offensive line that could dominate opponents at the point of attack,” Brooks writes.

One of the featured offensive tackles in our #FutureInvestments series, Scherff has long been thought of as one of the top offensive linemen in this year’s class. He raked in plenty of awards following the 2014 season, as he won the Outland Trophy (awarded to the best interior lineman in the nation), the Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year (a conference award from from the Big Ten), was named a unanimous All-American, and first-team All-Big Ten.

In the week’s most ambitious undertaking, Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller projected every pick in the 2015 draft. I’ll be honest and say that I’m not sure how much stock you can put into anyone projecting that many picks, but it’s kind of fun to talk about.

As for his first-round pick, Miller goes fairly unconventional for the Rams and has them taking Washington cornerback Marcus Peters.

“There is a lot of talk about drafting the highest graded player on your board, and that’s exactly what the St. Louis Rams should do,” Miller writes, adding that lightning could maybe strike twice for St. Louis with another Defensive Rookie of the Year. “Peters isn’t an immediate need in St. Louis, but he could make the trio at cornerback (with Janoris Jenkins and E.J. Gaines) remarkably talented for a young group. With an elite defensive line, Akeem Ayers filling the hole at linebacker and offensive weapons in place, this is the right pick for the Rams.”

Peters was dismissed from Washington’s football program after multiple run-ins with the coaching staff. He is quite talented, though, allowing just 38.1 percent of passes against him to be completed in the 2013 and 2014 seasons, according to his nfl.com draft profile. He was also a second-team All-Pac 12 honoree in 2013.

As for the rest of Miller’s massive mock draft, you can check out all of his Rams picks below.

Round 2: Cameron Erving, C, FSU (More: #FutureInvestments)
Round 3: A.J. Cann, G, South Carolina (More: #FutureInvestments)
Round 4: Daryl Williams, OT, Oklahoma (More: NFL.com draft profile)
Round 6: Rannell Hall, WR, Central Florida (More: NFL.com draft profile)
Round 7: Jeff Luc, ILB, Cincinnati

i worry about those alabama backs although ingram had a good 2014.

they do need to pick a running back somewhere though.

get him and collins. robinson saffold collins barksdale. that’d be a nice line to run behind. barnes or jones at center?

cameron erving

marcus mariota

nevermind. ag has been posting these. ha!

that’s cool. i like it.

I tried to post images of combine measurables by position that were posted by @ukdraftfan, but apparently such a task is beyond my limited skill set. At any rate, I found the information interesting. Check out his images if you have time and the interest.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 8 months ago by canadaram.

you could post the link and maybe someone could help.