Who The LA Rams skipped over with their Day 3 draft picks

In the fourth round of the draft, the LA Rams exited without taking a center. They just leap-frogged over that position of need altogether. Nothing there that compelled them enough to pull the trigger. Who did they skip over? The better question is, what position did they skip over?

Perhaps they see a bigger picture, a larger plan. We know they do.

Maybe it’s like putting together a jig-saw puzzle. Sometimes you don’t see how everything quite fits together at first. And then you solve Where’s Waldo? Find that piece. Then, and only then, you see where that one puzzle piece fits.

So the Rams’ selection of Texas A&M defensive tackle Bobby Brown III in the third round with pick No. 117 is like drafting a dual-threat defensive tackle as your new puzzle piece.

That’s because Brown combines humongous size at 6-foot-4, 325 pounds with athletic ability, and what the professional eyeballs of NFL scouts say could quite possibly be the quickest time-the-snap, get-off-the-line, and get-to-the quarterback ability in this year’s draft.

And his mere presence, his sheer footprint on the middle of the Rams defensive front could clog the interior, eat up space. Opposing running backs will have smaller lanes, tighter seams to run through. He’s the big fellow in the middle that every football team needs. A bona fide run stopper.

And he has very long arms – 33 3/4-inch pythons. That creates leverage. Leverage allows him to blast off from a hand-in-the-dirt stance to separate, shed offensive linemens’ blocks and attack the quarterback.

His defensive tackle coach at Texas A&M called him a “disrupter.”

He once had 5.5 tackles in six games last season! That pairs with 57 tackles, 10.5 of which for losses. That’s disruption squared. That’s playing the game on the opponent’s side of the line of the skirmish, err, scrimmage. Brown brings the skirmish, imposes his will, kicks butt, boss level;

The way he plays, what his tape says to my untrained eyeballs is that he kinda reminds me of the Philadelphia Eagles’ All-Pro defensive tackle Fletcher Cox.

So I guess that’s a very long-winded way for me to say, I approve of over-looking centers to get your run disrupter in Brown.

And the same sentiment for picking  CB Robert Rochell out of Central Arkansas. Obviously, the Rams needed to bolster their secondary after the loss of Troy Hill. Position of need just happened to meet the best player available at pick No. 121.

Rochell’s cornerback play really stood out at this year’s Senior Bowl, and that’s been a good fishing hole to draft from for the Rams over the years.

You have to like a cornerback who plays a physical style, tackles squarely and efficiently, a corner that supports defending the run as much as the pass.

He’s uber-athletic, having been named to Bruce Feldman’s “Freak List”

So I’m equally OK with overlooking any available third-round centers to get your Freak puzzle piece.