The 2011 NFL Draft opened for the St. Louis Rams with a major acquisition to bookend the defensive line when Robert Quinn slipped to the No. 14 overall pick, and continued through day two with picks—Lance Kendricks and Austin Pettis—designed to improve Sam Bradford's receiving corps, quantitatively if not qualitatively. Day three was, as is customary in our culture, a case of depth diving, and NFL Draft grades are harder to give out when you can't peg the player or the strategy. Nevertheless we press on.
In the fourth round the Rams selected Greg Salas, their third pass-catcher of the draft and another case of polish over tools. He's got great hands in the middle of the field but unimpressive size or speed. TST thought it strange that the Rams went with another wide receiver given the grab bag already in place and the gap at running back, and I have to agree—between Salas, Austin Pettis, and Mardy Gilyard the Rams now have three wide receivers with almost no experience to sift through, not to mention the returning Donnie Avery.
In the fifth round the Rams picked up a safety, Jermale Hines, who will be part of their quantity-over-quality effort to replace O.J. Atogwe. Finally, with their three seventh-round picks the Rams drafted players who will do some work on the special teams, which makes sense.
The Salas pick is kind of strange, but it's the third day—it's hard to know, from this position, exactly what the Rams' plans are. Pending further assignments, I'm handing out a C+ here.