Defensive Tackles-Oh My...

[Loyal]

Well, I decided to make a thread about the DT position woes we have had this Millenium.
I will list draft choices (3Tech and NT) since 2001. I am only including declared DT's that don't also include those that played DE and DT like James Hall and William Hayes. I also can't name a 5th round and after draftee, a bust.....Let the barfing begin....uke:


The Draft:

2001 NFL draft
DT Damione Lewis- rookie (1st round BUST)

DT Ryan “Grease” Pickett-rookie (1st round Mediocre, therefore BUST!)

2003 NFL draft
DT Jimmy Kennedy-rookie (1st round BUST)

2006 NFL draft
DT Claude Wroten-rookie (3rd round BUST)

2007 NFL draft
DT Adam Carriker-rookie(1st round, ok…BUST because of that)

DT Clifton Ryan-3rd year (5th round, poor)

2009 NFL draft
DT Darrell Scott-rookie (4th round BUST)

2012 NFL draft
DT Michael Brockers-rookie (1st round STUD, thanks Fish!)

2014 NFL draft
DT Aaron Donald-rookie(1st round STUD. HOFer GOAT? THANKS FISH!)

 

[CGI_Ram]

Clifton Ryan had a nice rookie year. Shame he fell off after that.

Pickett was solid. But, he bloomed kind of late.

 

[Loyal]

Clifton Ryan had a nice rookie year. Shame he fell off after that.

Pickett was solid. But, he bloomed kind of late.

I don't know, Pickett was a 1st rounder and should have been better, imo. Ryan? Not a 1st rounder so gets more slcack i guess. Still, our DT's have been a major weakness until Brockers was drafted, imo.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Still, our DT's have been a major weakness until Brockers was drafted, imo.

I am with you there. We used a LOT of premium draft capital before finding Brockers and Donald.

To the point I hated the thought of drafting DT's early. We just never figured it out before then.

 

[Loyal]

I am with you there. We used a LOT of premium draft capital before finding Brockers and Donald.

To the point I hated the thought of drafting DT's early. We just never figured it out before then.

I drew forth this thread, because i think we are getting spoiled about the DT position..especially when I read that people think Brockers will be paid too much to be a 3-4 NT!

 

[DaveFan'51]

Well, I decided to make a thread about the DT position woes we have had this Millenium.
I will list draft choices (3Tech and NT) since 2001. I am only including declared DT's that don't also include those that played DE and DT like James Hall and William Hayes. I also can't name a 5th round and after draftee, a bust.....Let the barfing begin....uke:


The Draft:

2001 NFL draft
DT Damione Lewis- rookie (1st round BUST)

DT Ryan “Grease” Pickett-rookie (1st round Mediocre, therefore BUST!)

2003 NFL draft
DT Jimmy Kennedy-rookie (1st round BUST)

2006 NFL draft
DT Claude Wroten-rookie (3rd round BUST)

2007 NFL draft
DT Adam Carriker-rookie(1st round, ok…BUST because of that)

DT Clifton Ryan-3rd year (5th round, poor)

2009 NFL draft
DT Darrell Scott-rookie (4th round BUST)

2012 NFL draft
DT Michael Brockers-rookie (1st round STUD, thanks Fish!)

2014 NFL draft
DT Aaron Donald-rookie(1st round STUD. HOFer GOAT? THANKS FISH!)

What about La'Roi Glover or Kendall Langford! They where not too shabby at DT!

 

[jap]

What about La'Roi Glover or Kendall Langford! They where not too shabby at DT!

They were not drafted by us.

 

[DaveFan'51]

They were not drafted by us.

I guess I should have read the post a little more carefully!

 

[RamDino]

Ryan Pickett had a very good career and the Rams should have kept him.

 

[Dodgersrf]

I don't know, Pickett was a 1st rounder and should have been better, imo. Ryan? Not a 1st rounder so gets more slcack i guess. Still, our DT's have been a major weakness until Brockers was drafted, imo.

Pickett isn't a hall of famer, but he's a good player.
II was pretty pissed when we let him walk. He was better than anyone that played in the middle until we drafted Brockers. Which was a long drought.

 

[Loyal]

What about La'Roi Glover or Kendall Langford! They where not too shabby at DT!

Those were FA additions, and yes, they were good! If you noticed, I only listed draft choices..Even with those guys, the number of FA's, UDFA's, and Draft picks have been mostly failures. It's been so bad, Dave. I just want to emphasize how good Brockers and Donald are, and that they are not easily replaceable.

 

[Loyal]

Pickett isn't a hall of famer, but he's a good player.
II was pretty ticked when we let him walk. He was better than anyone that played in the middle until we drafted Brockers. Which was a long drought.

Surely...but I expect a lot more from a 1st rounder..I expect someone closer to Aaron Donald than Jimmy Kennedy....

 

[Loyal]

Now I am listing Free Agent additions from 2001 to 2016 for the DT position. Again, I am not including DT/DE hybrids that the HC's seemed to like a lot....

1997, 1999-2002 Free Agent
DT Jeff Zgonina-(Mediocre)

2002-2003
DT Bryce Fisher-(Mediocre)

2006-2006
DT Jason Fisk-(Old worn-out FA, last year in the NFL)

2006-2008
DT La’Roi Glover-(Good FA)

2008-2008
DT Antwon Burton-(FA, bad)

2009-2009
DT LaJuan Ramsey-(Bad FA, last year in the NFL)

2009-2009
DT Hollis Thomas-(FA, played 3 games and was traded to Panthers)

2009-2011
DT Gary Gibson-(Bad FA)

2010-2010
DT Chris Hovan-( Bad FA, last year in NFL)

2010-2011
DT Fred Robbins-(FA player-Meh)

2011-2011
DT Justin Bannan-(Bad FA, gone after this year)

2012-2012
DT Kellen Heard-(Bad FA, traded same year)

DT Trevor Laws-(Bad FA, last year in the NFL)

2015-2015
DT Nick Fairley-(Very Good FA, gone after a year)
DT Doug Worthington-(FA, last year in NFL)

2016-
DT Dominique Easley-(FA, pretty good)


Of the 16 free agents listed above, 5 never played in the NFL again after their only year with the Rams. There were 3 players that I would list as good players for us (La'Roi Glover, Nick Fairley, and Dominique Easley). The rest are "meh" to bad......uke:

 

[Loyal]

It's the end of Spring Break, so I am drinking Rye Whiskey at the moment.....In one week, I will be debating other history major graduates, over the 1995 Controversy in regard to the proposed Enola Gay exibit at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum....Next Saturday, I get to argue that Truman really didn't commit genocide against the japanese in ending WW2 (which is also disputed). Next to me, I have my Grandfathers Purple heart that he earned the hard way at Iwo Jima...and that the Philadelphia Mint did not have the medals on hand for the 20,000 US Marines that were injured and died at Iwo Jima...Yet, had 495,000 surplus Purple Hearts available after the war, since the USA did not invade Japan, due to the A-bomb. This fact wasn't really discovered until about 2000, five years after the Enola Gay controversy and academics condemned veterans as neandertheals for believing Truman's company line.

 

[tempests]

Damoine Lewis salvaged his career somewhat in Carolina. Couldn't handle double teams but was disruptive one on one. I read a few scouting reports citing "Warren Sapp" traits and the Rams overdrafted him.

Pickett was good but the Rams run defense sucked whether he was in the lineup or out. Eventually became a very good run defender, one of the league's strongest defensive lineman, but in Green Bay.

Red flags were there on Kennedy from the beginning. Weight ballooned to over 400 pounds in college. Woefully miscast as a nose tackle.

Mike Silver wrote a hit piece on the Rams for Sports Illustrated in 2005, the last days of the Martz regime. He quoted one anonymous Ram player....

"The chilly Seattle rain drenched the St. Louis Rams as the final seconds ticked away on Sunday, and after exchanging some quick postgame pleasantries with their victorious opponents, most of the Rams jogged briskly across the slippery Qwest Field turf seeking shelter from the storm. One disgusted veteran, however, took his time heading to the tunnel, stopping in the end zone to lay some blame for the maddening decline of a once-lofty franchise. Though the vaunted St. Louis offense had failed to score a touchdown until seven minutes remained in the 31-16 defeat by the Seahawks, the peeved player pointed a finger at defensive tackles Jimmy Kennedy, Ryan Pickett and Damione Lewis, saying, 'We have three [former] Number 1 picks at tackle, and those guys are killing us. They're not playing hard, and they can't stop anybody. It's horrible.' "

http://www.si.com/vault/2005/11/21/8362114/fallen-idols

Wroten was busted selling marijuana before the draft and tested positive for marijuana at the combine and we still drafted him. Got what we deserved on that one.

**************************

An article from ESPN about ten years back on drafting DTs....

http://www.espn.co.uk/nfl/draft07/columns/story?id=2844964&columnist=pasquarelli_len

"It's probably the position where teams make the most mistakes," Kansas City coach Herm Edwards acknowledged at the annual owners meetings last month. "A tackle can be the most dominating player on the field and, because there are usually so few of them, people will go out and 'reach' to try to get one. You always seem to be projecting with tackles, you know, maybe more than any position. It's like, 'OK, I know he can't do this, this or this, but he has some upside and he'll grow into the position.' But there are sure a lot of misses at the position, especially in the first round."

"It can definitely be a 'boom or bust' position," said Detroit coach Rod Marinelli, who earned his stripes as one of the league's best and most innovative defensive line coaches during his time as an assistant at Tampa Bay. "[It's] really hit-and-miss, you know?"

"You just don't get many guys at the position who walk right onto the field at our level and make a huge difference," said Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome. "It's a really hard position to play. And it's a really hard position to scout. It's just the nature of the beast that teams seem to make a lot of mistakes on defensive tackles."

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

@tempests and didn't Lewis have a foot injury in college. The Rams drafted him high anyway and that injured lingered throughout his career.

I watched the draft back in the eighties and nineties, but I didn't have much access to draft info. I really didn't know much besides what the Sporting News had in their draft feature. However, being a Penn State fan/alumni as soon as I heard Jimmy Kennedy's name called, I had a deflated feeling, because I knew he wasn't a good pro prospect. What a way to ruin a fun day. Unfortunately there were a lot of draft days that were ruined for me the second the pick was in.

 

[Ramrasta]

We got a lot more out of our DTs in recent years. Did it have to do with coach Waufle or were we just extremely lucky?

 

[Corbin]

It's the end of Spring Break, so I am drinking Rye Whiskey at the moment.....In one week, I will be debating other history major graduates, over the 1995 Controversy in regard to the proposed Enola Gay exibit at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum....Next Saturday, I get to argue that Truman really didn't commit genocide against the japanese in ending WW2 (which is also disputed). Next to me, I have my Grandfathers Purple heart that he earned the hard way at Iwo Jima...and that the Philadelphia Mint did not have the medals on hand for the 20,000 US Marines that were injured and died at Iwo Jima...Yet, had 495,000 surplus Purple Hearts available after the war, since the USA did not invade Japan, due to the A-bomb. This fact wasn't really discovered until about 2000, five years after the Enola Gay controversy and academics condemned veterans as neandertheals for believing Truman's company line.

I agree with you 100% and there should be no debate about this.

This is kinda a random post though! Haha

 

[LACHAMP46]

I am with you there. We used a LOT of premium draft capital before finding Brockers and Donald.

We got a lot more out of our DTs in recent years. Did it have to do with coach Waufle or were we just extremely lucky?

If we draft any more DT's....make sure Fish consults with Snead first!

Very interesting post....wonder where Larry Brooks would go in here???