The St. Louis Rams weren’t expected to get the chance to take Robert Quinn, long considered one of the top defensive ends in the 2011 NFL Draft, but the run on quarterbacks initiated by the Tennessee Titans’ surprise selection of Jake Locker caused players like Quinn and Nick Fairley to leak into the middle of the first round. The Rams don’t have a wide receiver for Sam Bradford, but they do have one of the most dangerous pass rushers in the draft to line up alongside Chris Long.
Turf Show Times calls the Robert Quinn pick a home run, suggesting that the Rams’ problems with getting to quarterbacks were one of their major defensive flaws in 2010. The rough quarterback situations in the NFC West just got considerably rougher for the Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, and Seattle Seahawks.
The Rams might have had a more pressing need at defensive tackle, where Corey Liuget had become a popular mock draft option, but when a guy like Robert Quinn—considered one of the top five players in the 2010 NFL Draft before being declared ineligible—falls to No. 14, you have to draft him while you can.