Despite 3 seventh-round picks LA Rams still ignore center

The draft has finished, and it looks as if the LA Rams are going to get a center, it will have to be a guy who comes from the ranks of the undrafted free agents. Because they didn’t draft one. Took a pass on each and every center available. None quite met whatever sniff test or litmus test they were using to gauge the snappers available in the 2021 draft.

Instead they went running back, wide receiver and edge rusher with their final three picks of the draft in round seven.

At first blush, I couldn’t quite fathom what the LA Rams saw in taking a 5-foot-10, 205-pound running back out of the University of Maryland with the 233rd pick in the seventh round. He’s kinda on the smaller side of NFL tailbacks. Not particularly fast, either, but running a 4.38 40-yard dash and jumping 38 inches in the vertical will put a few scouts’ eyes on you.

Then there’s an injury history:  ACL tears in the same knee in consecutive seasons – ouch! Those injuries limited his total carries to just 135 totes in college. What intrigued the Rams here?

Maybe it was this little gem of a stat: Rebounding from those two torn ACLs he overcame all the doubters and naysayers to rank second in the nation in yards per carry last season.  Obviously, he’s a football player with gritty determination because the rehab for an ACL tear is no walk in the park.

Tough little Terrapin tailback, this one.

Ahhh, but he also delivers versatility, something the Rams value.  Running back Jake Funk can run, block, and play special teams.

And perhaps it was those intangibles we often hear so much about that caught the Rams’ draft evaluators’ eyes, too. As ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper said earlier about Funk, “One of those guys I want on my team. . . He gives you everything he has.”

He’s a good pass-catcher out of the backfield and can contribute in the vertical and intermediate passing game. The Rams’ offense adds another potential weapon.

The Rams followed up drafting Funk by taking Notre Dame WR Ben Skowronek with the 249th pick, also in the seventh round. And the Rams’ fascination with wide receivers marches on, unabated. If there is a wide receivers’ room, they’d best knock out a wall now to handle them all.

At 6-foot-two and 220 pounds, Skowronek is a sure-handed possession type receiver who’s good at grabbing contested 50-50- balls. He’s not a speedster, like some of the other Ram’s earlier receiver choices in this draft but he’s dependable. He can also contribute in multiple ways to special teams.

Finally, with their final selection with the 252nd pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, the Rams returned to fortifying their pass rush by nabbing 6-foot-4, 245-pound defensive lineman Chris Garrett from Concordia St. Paul University, a Division II program. Garrett holds the NCAA Division II football record for most career forced fumbles with 15, so the Rams were looking to add a second defensive disrupter on the last day of the draft.

So the bottom line, the final word on the center position for the Rams that  is either they find one as as an UDFA or Brian Allen truly has to step up this upcoming season and stake his claim to the position.