The St. Louis Rams began the 2012 NFL Power Rankings preseason already down in the basement, and it looks like even a solid 2012 draft wasn't enough to lift them very far out of it. ESPN's first set of May power rankings sees them stuck at No. 29, between Justin Blackmon and the Jacksonville Jaguars and Brandon Weeden, Trent Richardson, and the Cleveland Browns.
Considering the Rams had the league's worst record last year, that is a prediction of minor improvement. But it can't be what Jeff Fisher, Sam Bradford, and the Rams' newest rookies were hoping to see coming into a season already fraught with stadium concerns.
It's possible to imagine a much-improved Rams team as soon as this year; the problem for power rankings writers looking to predict that is that it's going to entail a complete reformatting and reinstallation of the Rams' offensive and defensive gameplans. It's a big bet to put on Jeff Fisher and company, and it seems like national writers won't be willing to do it until they see him execute it in the regular season. If they do, expect the Rams to move up quickly.