Pick # 14: St. Louis Rams

The Rams hit the rare draft home run last year with the #1 overall pick. They picked the right year to be terrible in 2009, with Sam Bradford falling into their laps after a dreadful 1-15 season. The change was apparent from the start - the Rams were competitive in almost every game they played and finished at 7-9, just outside of the playoffs. Reports have been circulating like wild fire that the Panthers are taking a long, hard look at Cam Newton with the first overall selection, which sucks for the Panthers because Newton isn’t Sam Bradford. He might be great and he might not, it was pretty apparent that Bradford was going to be a stud. The beauty of hitting a QB home run like the Rams did is that it’s something you just don’t have to worry about for the next 10-15 years, and you can just start to plug in the holes around him. There are some holes to fill to be sure. The Rams barely missed the playoffs this year and appear poised to make the leap in the horrendous NFC West division, first though they really need to start generating some pass russ and they need to get Bradford some help. They desperately need a #1 wide receiver for their wonder boy QB, and thus they would love it if Julio Jones were sitting there for them at #14, but there’s no way he’s going to be still be around. Unless they trade up for Jones or A.J Green, which is unlikely because they have lots of needs and have to protect their picks, I think they address their wide receiver hole later and take one of the best pass rushing defensive linemen in the draft to plug in opposite Chris Long, who actually had a surprisingly great year last year.

(INSERT OFFENSIVE NAME) #14 OVERALL MOCK DRAFT PICK:
ALDON SMITH - DE, MISSOURI

Aldon Smith is considered to be the most athletic defensive end in this draft, even over the uber-athletic Robert Quinn from UNC. He burst onto the scene at Missouri in 2009 with 11.5 sacks and a crazy 19 tackles for loss playing the defensive end position. In the NFL, he will make the switch to outside linebacker in the 3-4 defensive alignment, which the Rams are rumored to be switching to next year. This switch is always a tricky one to predict in the NFL, some guys make it look easy (Clay Matthews, Lamar Woodley) others fall on their face (Vernon Gholston) but Aldon Smith has the physical tools to make it seamless and continue doing what he does best - getting to the quarterback. If the Rams stay put in their current 4-3 alignment, he can beef up a bit and play the D end position - that’s what makes him potentially so valuable - his versatility. The guy that Aldon Smith most closely resembles in last year’s draft is Jason Pierre-Paul out of South Florida, who the Giants snatched up with the 15th pick. Aldon Smith is an identical player who will go in a virtually identical spot in the first round.

Entire Mock Draft:

1. Carolina Panthers - Marcell Dareus
2. Denver Broncos - Patrick Peterson
3. Buffalo Bills - Cam Newton
4. Cincinnati Bengals - A.J. Green
5. Arizona Cardinals - Blaine Gabbert
6. Cleveland Browns - Julio Jones
7. San Francisco 49ers - Von Miller
8. Tennessee Titans - Nick Fairley
9. Dallas Cowboys - Prince Amukamara
10. Washington Redskins - Jake Locker
11. Houston Texans - Robert Quinn
12. Minnesota Vikings - J.J Watt
13. Detroit Lions - Tyron Smith
14. St. Louis Rams - Aldon Smith