As soon as this year's entirely-too-early 2013 NFL Mock Draft season began—hours after draft day—the possibilities for the St. Louis Rams' first consensus pick resolved quickly into two possibilities that will be familiar to last year's draft watchers: Offensive line or wide receiver—particularly, D.J. Fluker or Robert Woods. I'm fond of the offensive line pick at the moment, because the way the Rams have acted in this year's offseason makes it clear to me that, whatever your feelings on next year's NFL Mock Draft likelihoods, they're going to give Jason Smith and Rodger Saffold just one more chance to keep Sam Bradford out of harm's way.
Smith is the bigger bust—he went No. 2 overall back in 2009—but Rodger Saffold was the more surprising disappointment in 2011; the 2010 second-rounder was coming off a very strong rookie season when injuries and ineffectiveness held him to nine starts.
Jason Smith's massive pay cut in the offseason probably earned him some slack with the fans, but it also established just how critical his situation is—he'll need to fulfill all that promise he showed at Baylor now, or he'll be doing it with some other team in 2013.