St Louis Rams All-Decade Draft Duds Team: Offense

Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The St Louis Rams’ draft history over the past ten years is one of many misses and very few hits. This is hardly surprising for a franchise that has not gained a winning record for over a decade, and poor drafting has been a main factor in this being the case. It would be easy to say that many of the players whose names have been called by the blue-and-gold over this time are forgettable but, unfortunately, the pain and misery associated with these duds have made them easy to remember – for the wrong reasons.

So, what if we gathered all these losers from the past decade and placed them together in one same team? What would kind of starting unit would this litany of busts form? I have looked at the past ten drafts for the Rams and come up with a suitably miserable line-up, deliberately ignoring the seventh round and looking at the relationship between draft value and contribution to the team (if any). A pretty list it does not make.

We start this week with the offense (going for a 2RB, 1TE, 2WR formation).

Tackles:         Jason Smith, Ken Shackleford

Jason Smith was always going to be on this team. The second overall pick in 2009 is towards the top of what is a long list of Rams draft busts. The Baylor product played 45 games for the Rams, starting 26 – a poor return for such a high pick. Smith’s short career was plagued with injuries and underwhelming performances, resulting in the kind of shoddy investment that sets franchises back. This was a waste of a pick, the only saving grace being that not many other first-rounders from that year went on to achieve much in the NFL. Smith was traded to the Jets in 2012 and is now out of the League.

Ken Shackleford gets the second tackle spot almost by default. Drafted in the sixth round (190 overall) of the 2007 draft, Shackleford is only one of five tackles selected by the Rams in this time (excluding last month’s Draft). Of the others, Greg Robinson is a promising player, and the oft-injured Roger Saffold has made a significant contribution to the O-line over the past few years (Mitchell Van Dyk was a seventh-rounder who is yet to see the field). Shackleford was drafted at a time when the Rams were still hoping to develop Alex Barron into a franchise cornerstone, before moving on to Smith, then Jake Long, and now Robinson. He never made it into the team, which is not entirely unexpected for a sixth round pick.

Backups: Roger Saffold, Greg Robinson

Guards:          Rokevious Watkins, Roy Schuening

Some might argue that perennially injured disappointment Barrett Jones should be on this team, but the Rams still seem hopeful that he will, at least, develop into a serviceable backup if his career gets on track. This is more than could be said for either Watkins or Schuening. Both fifth round picks (Watkins number 150 in 2012, Schuening number 157 in 2008), the fact that they could not break into a tumultuous offensive line during these years speaks volumes of their failed NFL careers. The overweight Watkins played one game and was last seen in 2013 playing for Kansas City, while Schuening also played one game for St Louis before ending his ignoble career in Oakland in 2009. Their careers mirror each other nicely and help to explain why guard still remains such a position of need.

Backups: Barrett Jones, John Greco

Center:          Dustin Fry

Yes, Jones could have made the cut at this position as well, and would have had it not been for the drafting in 2007 of Dustin Fry from Clemson (fifth round, number 139). “Who?” you might ask…which kind of proves my point. The center position was in flux in 2007, with the tail end of Andy McCollum’s career seeing Brett Romberg and Nick Leckey taking the field. Fry, however, failed to make a contribution, playing only in four games (starting none), his career ending before it had really started. Even penalty-prone bully Richie Incognito was a better option…

Backup: Barrett Jones

Quarterback:            Keith Null

There is, of course, a case for Sam Bradford to man this position. The first overall pick in 2010 never lived up to those lofty expectations as the Rams’ starting quarterback but, when healthy (and was there ever such a time?), there is no ignoring that Bradford was a serviceable quarterback. He may be considered a bust at Number One, but, on the whole, this was an unfortunate misfire rather than a tragic calamity.

Drafted in the sixth round (196^th overall) in 2009, Keith Null was never expected to be the Rams’ quarterback of the future and the heir to Marc Bulger. This was clearly a good thing as, when called to service as starter in relief of an injured Bulger (again!), Null was simply disastrous. His four starts – his only experience in the NFL – saw him throw three touchdown passes to nine interceptions, with a rating of 49.9. Even Bradford at his absolute worst performed better. And while Garrett Gilbert may never have played a down for the Rams, it would have been preferable if Null had done the same.

Backup: Garrett Gilbert

Running backs:         Isaiah Pead, Brian Leonard

Pead was the Rams’ third second-round pick of the 2012 Draft and was evidently seen as a successor to a declining Steven Jackson. Since then, he has been pushed down the depth chart by an undrafted free agent (Benny Cunningham) and by players drafted in the seventh (Daryl Richardson), fifth (Zac Stacy) and third rounds (Tre Mason). Bizarrely, Pead has remained in the team, even while Richardson and Stacy have been moved elsewhere. The drafting last month of Todd Gurley might represent the end for Pead, whose Rams career can currently be summed up with 75 yards on 17 attempts, and zero touchdowns. Not at all what one would expect from a second round pick.

Back in 2007, Jackson was at his peak, but this did not stop the Rams from investing yet another second-round pick (50th overall) on a running back. Destined to be Jackson’s backup, Leonard did see some action due to     the starter’s regular injuries, but in eighteen games (including 7 starts), he only gained 310 yards on 88 attempts (an average of 3.5 yards per carry!) and…also zero touchdowns! Leonard is probably best remembered for leaping over defenders, but this did not prevent his career petering out via Cincinnati, Tampa Bay and New Orleans.

Backups: Daryl Richardson, Zac Stacy

Tight End       Joe Klopfenstein

In the lengthy annals of the Rams’ history of incompetent drafting, there is an entire chapter dedicated to the woeful class of 2006. Having surprised many with their first-round pick (see the Defense edition of this list), the Rams decided to draft Klopfenstein with the forty-sixth pick (second round), leaving the likes of wide receiver Greg Jennings and stellar returner Devin Hester on the board. Klopfenstein rewarded the team’s bizarre interest in him with a career that spanned 48 games (including 37 starts) with 33 receptions for 386 yards and only two touchdowns, with the Rams seemingly giving up on him after acquiring Randy McMichael in free agency the following year. Yet another poor return for a second round pick, the Colorado product was last seen in 2009 playing for Buffalo. Apparently not happy with wasting a pick on a dud tight end, the Rams went on to draft Dominique Byrd in the third round, contributing to the tune of only six catches. Having been drafted earlier, though, Klopfenstein just about makes the team.

Backups: Dominique Byrd, Fendi Onobun

Wide Receivers:        Mardy Gilyard, Brooks Foster

Few positions can read as a Rams’ Who’s Who of underachieving ineptitude than wide receiver over the past decade. St Louis has invested significant draft capital on replacing Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce, often with high-profile picks who have simply not delivered. While players like Brian Quick, Chris Givens, Austin Pettis and Donnie Avery made some contributions, they did little to help Rams Nation forget about the Greatest Show on Turf. The jury is still also out on their most recent high-profile pick at receiver, Tavon Austin. But, buried deep down the back of the sofa of sheer cack-handedness, one can find Mardy Gilyard and Brooks Foster. The former was a fourth-round pick (99^th overall) in 2010, and Foster was drafted in the fifth round (160^th overall) of the 2009 Draft. Gilyard was thought of as an impact player who could contribute in special teams, but his 63 yards in 6 receptions over eleven games (2 starts), and his 16 returns, indicated otherwise. As for Foster, his career is probably best summed up by his stats on NFL.com: “This player does not have any statistics”. Yes, as low-round picks maybe these players were never supposed to contribute much, but it is precisely this poor drafting in the later rounds that has led to the Rams being in the position they have been in for the last ten years.

Backups: Keenan Burton, Greg Salas