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St. Louis Rams: Five Offensive Linemen Who Make Real Sense in the 2015 NFL Draft

By Patrick Karraker

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With the NFL Draft finally here, there’s more question than ever about who would be the best player for the St. Louis Rams to select with the 10th overall pick. With the team lacking a proven center, right guard, or right tackle, much of the recent discussion has involved the Rams taking an offensive lineman with their first-rounder, but is there a lineman who really fits well at pick 10 overall?

There’s been talk about the Rams trying to go after Iowa’s Brandon Scherff if he falls to the 10th pick, but Scherff might not make the most sense for the Rams. Though some evaluators consider him the most talented lineman in the draft, there’s a pretty general consensus that Scherff will need to move inside at the next level, since his pass-blocking skills are average at best, and he’s rather stiff. To this evaluator, those sound like skills that make Scherff a questionable talent rather than a future Pro Bowl guard, but to each their own.

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Regardless, it would be rather risky for the Rams to spend two straight first-rounders on tackles that they plan to move to guard, as the Rams spent the second overall pick in 2014 on Greg Robinson with the plan of initially playing him at left guard. After a poor preseason showing in which his performance was woefully inconsistent, Robinson was benched to start the season and ended up playing just over two games at guard before ending up at left tackle following Jake Long‘s season-ending injury. Obviously each situation is unique, but are the Rams willing to bet that offensive line coach Paul Boudreau can develop Scherff into a star guard after failing to do so with Robinson a year ago?

The Rams could also invest in a more pure tackle like Andrus Peat, but that could be an equally risky move. Peat is a freakish athlete who is very polished as a pass blocker, but he still needs work in the run game and could have potential motivational issues. With Boudreau having failed to get through to first-rounders Alex Barron and, to an extent, Robinson in St. Louis, along with first-rounder Sam Baker in Atlanta, are the Rams ready to put the pressure of developing Peat on him? Boudreau has previously talked about the immense difficulty of transitioning a tackle from the left to the right side, and he’d have a tough case with Peat, who played exclusively on the left side at Stanford.

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    • Though an increasing emphasis has been put on the right tackle position in today’s pass-first NFL, it’s still debatable whether it’s even worth it to spend the 10th overall pick on a guy who the Rams know will spend the majority of his career at right tackle (unless Robinson ends up being a bust on the left side). Teams historically have not spent top 10 picks on guys who they planned on being right tackles, and it would still be a bit surprising to see the Rams do so.

    In the end, it may be better for the Rams to take the best player available at another position in Round 1 and stack up on offensive line depth through the remainder of the draft. Here are five guys who could be great scheme fits for the Rams if they have the opportunity to select them this weekend.

    Next: Jake Fisher, Oregon

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