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.