The Rams reportedly love Richardson. It's hard to blame them. (Getty Images) |
But since we already know what's in our mock, we spend a lot of time checking out other ones. Like the one that Russ Lange did over at The Sporting News, where he has the Rams grabbing Justin Blackmon. Nothing crazy about that, but the blurb accompanying it is kind of surprising.
"Our sources tell us the Rams' first choice is [Alabama running back Trent] Richardson," Lange writes. "But he is already off the board, so they grab Blackmon to give Sam Bradford an elite receiving weapon."
As the folks over at Rotoworld point out, Lange is a former Rams scout. So he's probably got an idea or two what they're thinking on their draft board.
Of course, maybe this isn't a shock: the Rams are now employing a coach who's run-first in Jeff Fisher. They've got a talented running back in Steven Jackson who's got a lot of mileage on his proverbial tires; Jackson's only 28 and only LaDainian Tomlinson, Thomas Jones and Ricky Williams have more carries among active running backs. (Jackson's the only other running back with more than 2,000 carries too.)
However, regardless of how high the Rams are on Richardson, it's clear that they don't value him more than the person they can get at No. 6 if he's gone and the Redskins extra picks. And you can't blame them for that.
There's a pretty good chance that Richardson doesn't last until the sixth pick, as he'd be a great fit for either the Browns or Buccaneers. At that point, Fisher will still be able grab a blue-chip player.
Or maybe he could look at the depth at certain positions and decide to move even further down the draft.