I had made a comment on another thread about the WR picks and referred to the 2008 draft of Avery and Burton and when I looked at the complete draft for 2008 the 2012 draft became eerily similar to that somewhat ill fated draft of 4 years ago.

In 2008, we kept the 2 pick of the draft and selected for the D-Line when we picked Chris Long. In 2012 we parlayed the 2nd pick into another D-Line prospect (Michael Brockers), 2 2nd rounders and a 5th rounder this year and two 1st round picks in 2013 and 2014. The similarity is the selection of the D-Line prospects.

In 2008, the 33rd pick was for WR Donnie Avery. In 2012, we picked up Brian Quick. The similarity does not stop there though because when we picked Avery, he wasn't the highest ranked receiver on the board at the time (D. Jackson, Jordy Nelson and Eddie Royal to name a few). This year when we got Brian; Randle, Hill and Jeffery might have been higher rated receivers than Brian.

In 2008, we had two picks in the 4th round where we picked a CB-Justin King and a WR-Keenan Burton. In 2012 in round three we picked a CB-Tru Johnson and our next pick a WR-Chris Givens.

In 2008 in the 5th round we select for the O-Line and got Roy Scheuning. In 2012 we draft O-line and select Rok Watkins.

In 2008 on the 1st pick in the 7th round we got linebacker Chris Chamberlain. In 2012, we get linebacker Aaron Brown.

Now obviously all picks do not match up as that would be too coincidental but there are enough similarities to consider this draft a little too close to the draft of 2008 as far as position goes and where drafted. I definitely hope the skill set is much better than in 2008.

Now, I am not claiming this draft class will turn out to be like 2008 (we only have Chris Long still on the roster) and we did get some quality with the additional 2nd round picks with Pead and Jenkins. We also have future capital with the two 1st rounders for 2013 and 2014.

Anyway, I just thought I would point out what I thought was a very similar draft.

Thanks for reading.

Not to sound like Chicken Little and announce the sky is falling but where are our OLB’s going to come from this year. Currently under contract we have James L. pegged for starting MLB with Josh Hull for depth. The "only" other linebacker under contract is Justin Cole who we picked up last year from KC’s practice squad.

Now, unless we plan on starting two unproven players on the outside (Cole, some draftee or undrafted free agent) we still need to find at least one (if not two) OLB’s from the free agent pool (or make a trade soon). We have already lost out on Chris Chamberlain (not great but apparently current staff was talking to him prior to free agency), Erin Henderson & Manny Lawson as they have already been signed.

So what is left in the FA pool? Listed below in alphabetical order appear to be the remaining OLB free agents according to NFL.com (this list is compiled from those listed as OLB which could include 3-4 OLB’s though I have tried to weed out some of those. I have also included a couple of ILB and/or MLB that may work outside and omitted some of the older FA’s):

Bobby Carpenter-Spags had him in here for training camp in 2010 via the Alex Barron trade and cut him. Wonder if Fisher likes this guy better?

Jo-Lunn Dunbar-in for a visit without a contract. Could also suffer a suspension via "Bountygate" participation.

Omar Gaither-fairly decent for Eagles but not too effective last year in Carolina (knee issue?)

Quinton Groves-minimal productivity over last 4 years with Oakland and Jacksonville

Clark Haggans-probably too long in the tooth for a youth movement

David Hawthorne-very production as MLB, can he move outside?

Geno Hayes-erratic production but does have potential

Leroy Hill-likes his weed, potential off-field issue to cause suspensions

Brandon Johnson-very little production at for Bengals. Appears to be for depth.

Brian Kehl-we know him, does the Fish?

Rocky McIntosh-did not do well in Redskin’s 3-4, was production as OLB in 4-3.

Marvin Mitchell-even less experience than Chris Chamberlain. Mostly used as Special teams and fill in OLB

Mike Peterson-as per Clark Haggans, too long in the tooth

Brady Poppinga-see Brian Kehl

Joey Porter-also too long in the tooth

Jordan Senn-pretty short at 5-11 for OLB but appears to have just began to up his production based on 2011 stats at Carolina

Ernie Sims-good 1st three years with Detroit but production has tailed off drastically since then.

Phillip Wheeler-probably the best of the bunch to fill SLB position. Visiting Raiders as I write this.

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As you can see from the list above, the pickings are slim and we do have a while before we need to add any bodies in this position but if we want any potential quality here, we should be getting someone soon.

For the right price, I would like to see us get 1 or 2 of the following:

Phillip Wheeler, Geno Hayes, David Hawthorne, Jordan Senn or Rocky McIntosh.

I believe any one of these would end up starting for us. I do understand we might get a 2nd/3rd round OLB in the draft but will they need seasoning to play in the NFL in 2012?

Thanks for reading.

I have been a member of TST for a couple months now and have been religiously reading the blogs, fanposts, fanshots and associated comments since then. I have even interjected a few comments.  I really appreciate VanRam for this site and appreciate all the blogs by VanRam, 3k and ram_rod. For the most part, all of the fanposts are great and really thought out giving plenty of room for discussions. I also find it really interesting we actually have a Ram (thanks Kevin) on this site. So thanks to all the fans and moderators here at TST.

Now I just decided to step in a little deeper into my thoughts so here is my first fanpost. Excuse the grammar and spelling problems as I am more of a technician than a writer. After the jump are my thoughts.

To introduce myself, I have been a Ram fan for ?? years  (let us just say I remember when the AFL first came into existence). I grew up in LA and currently live in "true" Northern California up by Redding  so I am stuck in 9er territory like a couple of our other fans on this site.  I have gone through "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat". It is really tough to lose to the 9ers especially since my wife is from this area and she and her whole family are 9er fans. The NFC championship game after the 1989 season really frustrated me more than the past three seasons have.

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