Rams fans, the few that remain at least, have a lot of questions for their favorite football franchise. Some of the more pressing ones include:
Who will own the team when the 2010 season kicks off?
Will the team remain in St. Louis?
What will the team do with the first overall pick in the draft?
What does it feel like to win more than three games?
All jokes aside, the team can do little to answer these first two questions for now, as it appears that current minority and potential full owner Stan Kroenke seems headed toward an extended power struggle with both NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and potential buyer Shahid Khan. The answer to that third question will come tonight. Whether or not the Rams are ready to give the correct answer is yet to be determined.
The answer to the final question will depend a lot on how the Rams tackle that oh-so important third one. The Rams abysmal 2009 campaign, which witnessed the team go an NFL-worst 1-15, has granted them the top pick in this year’s draft. This is the third straight season that the Rams will have one of the first three picks (the Rams are a NFL-worst 6-42 since 2006). A team should only be in the rebuilding phase for so long, so the team needs to make the most out of this opportunity.
The Rams decision is an especially intriguing one because this is the first time in the last four years that the team with the No. 1 pick has not reached a deal with its selection prior to the draft. There is some real mystery here – albeit, only a little.
It is common knowledge that the No. 1 pick will either be Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford or Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh. The Sooner QB and the Husker DT are the obvious top talents. Draft experts across the gamut have these two at the top of their boards in some order. The Rams reportedly love Bradford, but there are several reasons to doubt that scenario will play out.
For starters, there is the aforementioned fact that the Rams chose not to attempt to sign Bradford before the draft. If they knew he was their guy, why not at least try to sign him? But there is also a more recent development: Ben Roethlisberger.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are reportedly shopping the troubled, two-time Super Bowl Champion for a top-10 pick. Certainly, Roethlisberger raises some alarms. The 28-year-old QB was suspended six games of the 2010 season on April 21 for violating the league’s personal conduct policy after he was involved in an alleged sexual assault case. However, “Big Ben” is a proven winner. His two Super Bowl rings speak for themselves. In a league dominated by passers, the addition of someone like Roethlisberger could be a franchise changer.
And of course there is Suh. Anyone that watched the Big-12 Championship game can attest to the fact that he is a game changer. Suh is one of the most freakishly gifted prospects to come around in a long time.
However, my hope is that the Rams go with their alleged instincts on this one and take Bradford. While Suh may not necessarily be the wrong answer, he isn’t the most correct one. The Rams are in a rut and have been for years. They need a spark, a new identity, something to breathe life into the franchise, and no other position in sports can offer that spark the same way a quarterback can. This is where Roethlisberger loses out. He now carries such a negative stigma around him that he has lost that glimmer of hope that usually accompanies a new franchise quarterback.
This leaves Bradford, which is fine by me. The Sooner passer leaves little to be desired. He has an excellent resume and all of the physical tools you’d expect from a perennial Pro-Bowler. He may not be the answer to all of the Rams questions, but he is certainly the answer tonight.
