I've been proven wrong every year so far, but allow me, ahead of this 2012 NFL Mock Draft analysis, to make a prediction: At some point, Steven Jackson will become too old or too injured to play football for the St. Louis Rams at a professional level. It's a terrifying thought—especially given how much he's been injured already—but it will happen. For all that, I still don't like Todd McShay's suggestion that the Rams could be interested in Trent Richardson.
As a commenter in the article notes, one way of looking at Steven Jackson's tenure with the Rams is that even a team with a Hall of Fame-caliber running back working at the height of his powers is, in the NFL of 2012, capable of finishing in last place. The NFL has moved toward the pass, and it isn't going to move back toward the run for a long time. Running backs are still important, but I'm hard-pressed to imagine a running back good enough to justify the second overall pick in the draft.
Of course, if they trade far-enough down, all bets are off.