The St. Louis Rams clearly picked for positional need through the middle of the 2011 NFL Draft, overdrafting a tight end in the second and grabbing two wide receivers in the third and fourth, so it says something about the strength of first-rounder Robert Quinn that Fox Sports’s NFL Draft Grades managed to give the Rams a B because of their “drafting for value”. Unless Adam Caplan really does think Kendricks was the best player available.
It’s hard to give the Rams credit for just taking a player who happened to be available, but that hasn’t stopped the Detroit Lions from accepting all the praise in the NFL Draft world for selecting Nick Fairley at No. 13. Quinn fell to the Rams for a number of different reasons, but whatever those reasons are they managed to make the right choice. And their defense is a lot more intimidating as a result.
Fox Sports’s final draft grade, a B, seems appropriate. This isn’t a knockout draft, but they got a great value pick in the first round and showed Josh McDaniels’s hand in the second and third, and that’s enough for me.