St. Louis Rams Left Out Of AP All-Pro Party

Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The announcement of the All-Pro teams for the 2014 season made grim reading for Rams fans. Reflecting the mediocrity of a team that went 6-10 in head coach’s Jeff Fisher’s third season, the Rams saw no players make the first team, with punter Johnny Hekker the closest to flirt with the NFL’s best after gaining a spot on the second team. Defensive end Robert Quinn and rookie defensive tackle – and prospective Defensive Rookie of the Year – Aaron Donald were the only other Rams to garner All-Pro votes (one and four respectively), but even these were insufficient to warrant a place on the depth chart. In total, Rams players gained a total of seventeen votes; Green Bay fullback John Kuhn earned more on his own. As with the playoffs, the Rams were, once again, excluded from a party to which only the NFL’s finest players were invited.

Hekker represented the only realistic hope the Rams had of one of their players earning a first-team All-Pro slot. Despite strong arguments in his favor – most notably from my Ramblin’ Fan colleague Nathan Kearns – his inclusion was never going to be a surefire deal (especially after the Pro Bowl snub), and the Indianapolis Colts’ status as a playoff team undoubtedly helped their punter Bob McAfee’s cause. Quinn’s team-leading 10.5 sacks placed him fourteenth in the League (at a position where sack numbers tend to eclipse overall impact), and he was rightly beaten to the honor, one of which was always going to go to Houston’s J. J. Watt after the stellar year he has had. For his part, even after a spectacular rookie season where he established himself as one of the NFL’s leading tackles, Donald is looking up at bigger names such as Ndamukong Suh, Marcell Dareus and Gerald McCoy…but one cannot help but feel that it is only a matter of time before he usurps this exalted company. For the rest, some of the other leading Rams – James Laurinaitis, Alec Ogletree, Janoris Jenkins, Greg Zeuerlein – were not even in the conversation.

The All-Pro voting process might – no, does – have its flaws, but the final result is an accurate reflection of where the Rams stand in comparison with the rest of the League. We have plenty of good players, but these fall short of competing with the NFL’s elite. This is shocking for a team with eleven first-rounders on the roster, but it is the sad truth. It is no coincidence that the All-Pro first team is dominated by playoff teams: the Cowboys (four players), the Seahawks and the Steelers (three), and the Patriots, Packers, Ravens and Colts (two). And the argument that they only made the team because they made the playoffs is academic; the fact remains that they did make the playoffs, while the Rams are already at home. And home is exactly where the Rams will stay until – be it through coaching or drafting – the Rams start finding the All-Pro talent that makes other teams great.