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NFL Draft Countdown: A Look Back At The Mock Draft Rams

2011-04-28T23:38:47Z

With the 2011 NFL Draft just moments away it's hard to even consider just how long we've been covering the 2011 NFL Mock Draft season, which is almost as long as the actual NFL season. This is the 113th update since we began covering the internet's various mock drafts for the St. Louis Rams, and players as disparate as Michael Floyd and Justin Blackmon, who are no longer in the draft, and Julio Jones, who is no longer out of the Top 10, have been on the tips of our tongues ever since. Here are some of the names connected to the Rams between Michael Floyd in January and Corey Liuget today—

Cameron Jordan, defensive lineman from Cal, was a pre-Combine favorite from SB Nation, which seemed to relish choosing players other than Julio Jones for the Rams until it became apparent that Jones was going to go ahead of the Rams' 14th overall pick. Ryan Kerrigan was another early defensive favorite who gave way to Aldon Smith and then finally Corey Liuget, while Leonard Hankerson showed up in their second round plans following his Senior Bowl performance. Jonathan Baldwin streaked into view and then out of it with a Combine performance as disappointing as Jones's was startling, while Nick Fairley briefly seemed so far gone from his No. 1 past that he might have ended up a Ram.

In the end it's all come down to Corey Liuget, favorite of Mel Kiper, Todd McShay, and everyone else, but there's still time for that to be proven severely wrong.

2011 NFL Mock Draft: Todd McShay's Final Mock Is Corey Liuget-Infused

2011-04-28T18:45:17Z

Todd McShay's final 2011 NFL Mock Draft will not come as a shock to any St. Louis Rams fan who's seen his (or Mel Kiper's) previous work—once again the Rams have been connected to Illinois DT Corey Liuget, he of the "relentless motor" and "disruptive force." Kiper and McShay both seemed to settle on Liuget at the same moment the rest of the mock draft field did, with Aldon Smith moving up and Julio Jones well out of sight. McShay is as high on Jones as any analyst in mock-football; he goes all the way up to the Cleveland Browns in this final mock draft, with Aldon Smith moving even further, to outside linebacker and the Arizona Cardinals.

With the top defensive ends gone and Julio Jones a top-10 pick, Corey Liuget simply makes the most sense for mock draft forecasters of the Rams at this point. Of course, all it takes is one pick out of the Todd McShay-Mel Kiper expected equilibrium for all of that to become much messier and more interesting.

2011 NFL Mock Draft: Julio Jones Reemerges For St. Louis Rams In Final Hours

2011-04-28T18:26:50Z

Prodigal 2011 NFL Mock Draft son Julio Jones has returned to the St. Louis Rams’ flock in the final hours of fake-draft season, falling to No. 14 in SB Nation’s final mock. After playing the contrarian before his NFL Combine breakout and often suggesting he’d go elsewhere, our NFL hub’s mock has lately been the last vestige of Jones hope in a world where the Rams are busy writing Corey Liuget’s name into their notebook, to see how it looks.

Jones would be the Rams’ most dynamic first-round pick since—well, since Sam Bradford, however implausible his selection is at this hour; it would engender a kind of offensive optimism not seen in St. Louis since Chris Berman was still giving the Rams goofy nicknames.

One thing is certain for mock drafters of all stripes: In the NFL Draft Thursday, Julio Jones won’t fall further than No. 14. He might not reach the Rams, but he’ll definitely not reach the Dolphins, who will have to console themselves by picking Mark Ingram or Mike Pouncey for the 500th mock draft in a row.

2011 NFL Mock Draft: Bill Parcells's Idiosyncratic Big Board

2011-04-28T14:45:19Z

Bill Parcells, not noted for his cheery manner or analytical way of explaining himself, spent much of Wednesday offering up his big board, presenting a distinctly Big Tuna 2011 NFL Mock Draft. For St. Louis Rams fans the big news wasn't that Julio Jones is, shockingly, one of the two best wide receivers in the draft; it was that Parcells thinks Illinois DT Corey Liuget, Rams mock draft hero, is a second round talent.

Parcells's ESPN special was ostensibly about his draft philosophy and methods, but pre-draft coverage tends to atomize and decompress until it becomes list after list of players, and Parcells, as a public figure and list-maker, proved to be no exception.

Turf Show Times's explanation for Liuget—that Parcells is a 3-4 guy, and also a huge fan of controversial DE J.J. Watt—takes the edge off a little, but Bill Parcells is more fun when you can react to him with vitriol and indignation. So how dare he underrate the mock drafters' favorite future St. Louis Ram? How dare he?

2011 NFL Mock Draft: Mel Kiper Sticks With Corey Liuget On Draft Day

2011-04-28T13:45:22Z

Mel Kiper's final 2011 NFL Mock Draft will be old news to St. Louis Rams fan—the draft guru once again selected Illinois DT Corey Liuget as the Rams' 14th overall pick, harbinger of a draft day that, if the mockers are any indication, will prove to be solid but unspectacular, just like the Rams' first-round mock pick.

By my count, this is the millionth mock draft to send Liuget to the Rams in the last two weeks, but I can't exactly complain. I can't cheer, but I can't complain.

Liuget is a hard pick to sell, even with the Mel Kiper seal of approval, because the Rams' defensive line was often very sturdy indeed last season; he would be drafted not because the Rams' line is so terrible, but because, given its age and arguably fluky performance, it's unlikely to play that well again. It's hard to convince fans to tread water on a pick like this, but Liuget's unlikely to disappoint in any way except his failure to be a dynamic, touchdown-happy wide receiver.

For up-to-the-minute 2011 NFL Draft news, follow our draft-day storystream.

2011 NFL Mock Draft: Corey Liuget, St. Louis Rams Meet In Yet Another Mock

2011-04-28T12:45:19Z

This will be my lasting impression of 2011 NFL Draft season: Corey Liuget, St. Louis Rams, over and over, forever. Since Julio Jones startled Rams fans out of complacency with a perfect NFL Combine performance Corey Liuget has been the mock drafter's second-choice of choice, combining filling a real need for the Rams with considerably higher draftability than Jones; when Liuget isn't a Ram, lately, he's gone as far as the mid-20s, to teams like the New Orleans Saints.

SpreeGoogs has the latest Liuget mock draft, and comes to that conclusion for the reasons we've been seeing—for one thing, Julio Jones is gone (to the Washington Redskins, of course, at No. 10), and for another, the Rams need a solid, physical, ready-to-start young defender, and Corey Liuget happens to be one of those.

I wouldn't order your authentic Liuget jersey from the team store just yet, but a homemade shersey seems in order, if this is any indication; I don't know what the St. Louis Mock Rams play, but Corey Liuget has officially been named their team captain.

2011 NFL Mock Draft: J.J. Watt To The Rams In NFC West Mock

2011-04-27T14:30:33Z

Wisconsin defensive lineman J.J. Watt became the surprise St. Louis Rams selection in ESPN NFC West guru Mike Sando's 2011 NFL Mock Draft, but to hear Sando tell it he's less likely to be a Ram than the field, at this point. Watt provides depth on the line, which Steve Spagnuolo has never disliked, but he thinks, justly, that the Rams might be more concerned than enthused by the comparisons he's received to Adam Carriker.

Aldon Smith and especially Corey Liuget, official consolation pick of the 2011 NFL Draft season, seem like too solid a set of targets for the post-Julio-Jones Rams for me to feel like J.J. Watt is a likely get—especially since Sando himself seems uncertain about the pick actually playing out on Thursday—but it does seem more and more likely this week that the Rams will end up shoring up their defense somehow with the 14th overall pick the NFL Draft.

The recent rumors about the Rams going with tight end Kyle Rudolph only solidify that impression, for me; they're proof of just how thin the offensive difference-makers are in the Rams' awkward mid-round position.

2011 NFL Mock Draft: Steven Jackson's Sharing Problem Could Shape Rams' Draft

2011-04-27T14:01:04Z

Steven Jackson is a member of a breed that, if not dying, finds itself consigned increasingly to wildlife preserves and zoos: He's a full-time, always-on-the-field starting running back. And he doesn't want to share. It's hard to blame him; he's stuck with the St. Louis Rams through some of the ugliest seasons in recent NFL history, and he's the franchise's all-time rushing leader as of last season. But as 2011 NFL Mock Draft watchers continue to slip a Mark Ingram or Mikel Leshoure into every third or fourth Rams mock it's hard not to wonder whether Jackson realizes just how much the NFL is changing.

Teams are increasingly aware of the premium being placed on passing under the current NFL rules, but they're just as aware of the absurdly short shelf-lives that every-down backs like Larry Johnson have demonstrated in the last 10 years. That combination means running backs, both individually and as a group, are likely to see less carries in the future.

As Turf Show Times says, Jackson's been anything but disruptive about his preference, and he deserves credit for the way in which he's made it clear. But it's a preference that's becoming more difficult than ever to fulfill.