The NFL Scouting Combine ends today, and with it the last excuse for the Rams to be in the news until the draft elbows its way into the start of baseball season on April 28. These pre-draft workouts have told Rams fans nothing they don't already know (had you heard that they could use another wide receiver?), but it has at least offered a few new insights into that inescapable fact.
For instance: That Julio Jones likes to "hit defenders" and "take them out of their comfort zone", which is one way for a wide receiver to ingratiate himself with that sect of football fans who prefers more concussions than touchdowns in an average game and resents the day SLU invented the forward pass. Jones, targeted by the Rams in nearly every mock draft on the internet, has said all the right things at the Combine, which would be good news if the Rams weren't already in danger of picking too late to grab him.
He's hung around the Rams' 14th-overall pick in draft projections ever since the end of the college football season, and with every good thing he says or does, he threatens to move up to one of the other receiver-poor teams in the draft's top 10. With two of the Rams' other popular choices at receiver opting to go back to school, Jones' early selection would leave them in a kind of wide receiver dead zone in the middle of the first round.
Things didn't get any clearer regarding their backup plans after a potential first-round sleeper, Pitt's Jonathan Baldwin, had an underwhelming work-out at the Combine. Baldwin is one of the most physically gifted receivers in the draft (he's built like Danario Alexander, only stronger, faster, and less likely to require a double-amputation at 30), but he's been dogged by concerns about his work ethic following a public spat with his college coach. Expected to run a 4.3-second 40-yard dash, which could have pushed him into the Rams' territory in the first round, he ran a 4.52 instead. At that speed he could still be around when the Rams' second pick comes up.
Maybe the Combine's told us something new after all. The Rams still need a wide receiver, lest Sam Bradford gets so bored in the pocket that he retires at midseason to pursue a career in baseball. But between Julio Jones's perfect week of workouts and interviews and Jonathan Baldwin's indifferent dash, there might not be any receivers left for them to draft when their name is called.
