WHY I WILL NOT BE DRAFTING ANY RAMS THIS SEASON

This is the third installment of my series on teams that I will not be considering a single player on in upcoming fantasy football drafts. Again I will state that it is not that these players could not be drafted, but their current situations, rankings or average draft positions make them undraftable in my opinion. Anything could change in the next two months, but for the most part I believe none of these players will be ending up on my fantasy teams this year. I have already eliminated the 49ers and the Jets and you can read back through earlier posts on the Gator Blog to get the details on each. Next on my list is another team from the NFC West, the St. Louis Rams.

The St. Louis Rams were a mess last season on offense and a lot of that was due to their inept offensive line. Bradford was being touted as a sleeper candidate and finished unable to play the last 6 games of the season after getting pummeled. Steven Jackson was probably the lone bright spot showing that his talent and drive to produce can win out even in the worst situations.  Bradon Llyod dashed for greener pastures in New England and the Rams drafted two more WRs in the draft led by Brian Quick with the 33rd overall pick to try and help the production from this unit. Adam Lazarus from Bleacher Report here believes the Rams might now have the deepest WR unit in the NFL, but depth does not necessarily make quality. Unless the Rams plan on taking a page from Jonathan Moxon from West Canaan High and running the "oopty-oop" with 5 wides, all those receivers are not going to help them on the field at the same time.

Starting with the QB position, Sam Bradford is likely already not even on your radar to draft this season. QB is a deep position this season with guys like Carson Palmer and Andy Dalton falling to the 17th QB taken overall.  Mainly, like Sanchez or Alex Smith, if you wind up with Bradford on your team you better be in a 2QB, 14 team league or you have just gone plain wrong. The offensive line will be one of the weakest units in the league again and I can not find one reliable guy Bradford can lean on to pick up needed yards on any given play. Between lack on continuity and scrambling for his life, I do not see Bradford leading many scoring drives this season.

From Bradford, I will go into the group of receivers that instill no amount of confidence in me. The names you most likely will recognize are Amendola and Danario Alexander. Amendola missed most of the 2011 season with an elbow injury and Alexander showed flashes on some plays last year but neither appears to be a sure-fire starter for week 1. Actually, early comments from those around the Rams organization, have both the rookie receivers starting this season! Brian Quick might develop into a solid NFL receiver some day, but I am doubting it will be coming week 1. Mainly the vast amount of uncertainty and overall lack of talent makes it unlikely you will be able to pick the high scoring fantasy receiver each week that happens to pull down the lone TD pass from Bradford. I will quickly wrap Lance Kendricks into the group of receivers as well because not more than a line should be used on him. Mainly Kendricks has never shown the ability to be a starter in fantasy, has all the other problems facing him as the rest of the receivers and currently you will have to get into the 30s of your TE rankings to find his name. Again, you would have to be playing in an amazingly deep TE-heavy league to warrant drafting him this season.

Lastly, and maybe the most difficult on the team to write off, is Steven Jackson. I love Jackson's style, power and all around game, but unfortunately he plays for the Rams. Scoring opportunities are scarce at best for him seeing that he only crossed the imaginary plane 6 times in total last season. In 2010 Jackson also scored only 6 times and the season prior only 4 total TDs. There is a definite ceiling when it comes to Jackson's fantasy points and you are usually lucky to get double digits out of him. While Jackson is one of the last every-down running backs in the league, he also has accumulated over 2,500 total touches in his 8 year career. He has played all 16 games in a season only twice and the injury risk is relatively high when you consider his lack up of upside. Currently being taken around the 25th pick in mock drafts and being ranked as a top 15 RB just seems too early to take Jackson this season. I would rather draft top tier WRs that have potential for top 5 status such as Brandon Marshall, A.J. Green or Julio Jones (all coming off the board after Jackson) or even a guy like Darren Sproles (nearly a round later) before selecting Steven Jackson.

Continue to check back as I will be eliminating more teams from my draft sheets in the days to come. As always, your feedback is welcomed and any additional insights helpful.

Luke Wetta
Fantasy Football Aggregator
www.ffgator.com
luke@ffgator.com