St. Louis Rams First Round Draft Grade

Dec 8, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; A detailed view of a St. Louis Rams helmet during warm ups before the first quarter against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the rams 30-10. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Last night in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft the St. Louis Rams selected offensive lineman Greg Robinson and defensive tackle Aaron Donald. The Rams would like to say they had a pretty good first round, Les Snead even game themselves an “A”.

“We’re jacked. We’d probably give ourselves an A.”

But where did the Rams first round really grade out.

Greg Robinson

The St. Louis Rams needed offensive lineman, and badly. They lost Shelly Smith and Chris Williams in the offseason, and barely managed to re-sign Roger Saffold. Jake Long is coming off of an injury and really the Rams offensive line just had a lot of question marks.

To put those question marks to an end, the Rams drafted arguably the best tackle in the draft. Even though the Rams didn’t necessarily need a tackle, Robinson would still be the best guard. The Rams got an offensive lineman with a high ceiling and fits exactly what they want to do on offense.

However, the Rams have made it a point that they’d like to protect Sam Bradford. Greg Robinson is raw when it comes to pass protection and I can already almost hear the holding calls.

GRADE: B+

Aaron Donald

Anybody want to tell me how in the world Aaron Donald fell all the way to 13? How Donald got past Tampa Bay, Detroit, Minnesota, and New York is beyond me, but are the Rams sure glad he did.

Donald was graded as a top ten prospect on many experts’  draft boards and was one of the Rams’ top eight players which was confirmed in their post-draft press conference. The Rams got great value with Donald and now have arguably the best defensive line in football.

The only downside to Donald is his size, but he makes up for his size with his speed and power. This was just a great pick by the Rams in general.

GRADE: A

FINAL GRADE: A-

The Rams had a pretty good first round and got better in an area where they struggled last season. The Rams still have positions to fill, but the Rams sit in a good position after day one.