Mel Kiper St. Louis Rams 2006 Re-Draft

by Ryan Van Bibber on Jan 26, 2012 9:08 AM CST

The 2006 NFL Draft holds a special place in St. Louis Rams history. A complete failure, the effects of the team whiffing on almost every pick is still being felt today on a roster bereft of depth and talent. ESPN's NFL draft cash cow, Mel Kiper, rolled out a redraft for the first round in 2006 on Wednesday.

How did he manage to replace the Rams' excellent decision to take Clemson cornerback Tye Hill? Let's find out after the jump.

St. Louis swung a deal with the Denver Broncos that year. It was the last time the Rams made a swap in the first round of the draft. Denver traded up for the Rams' 11th pick to draft Jay Cutler. The Rams got Denver's 15th pick and 68th pick in, the fourth pick in the third round, which they used for DT Claude Wroten. Smart drafting all around!

In Kiper's re-imagined draft, the Rams select Hoftra wide receiver Marques Colston, who was actually picked in the seventh round at #252, just four picks away from being Mr. Irrelevant.

What's the most impressive number -- the 449 catches, 48 TD catches, or 6,240 receiving yards? Actually, it's none of those. It's No. 252, where Colston was drafted just moments before Mr. Irrelevant. (Hofstra doesn't even field a football team anymore.) The one Super Bowl ring isn't shabby, either.

In six seasons, Colston has topped the 1,000-yard mark five times.

Colston would have been a good pick, a nice addition to Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce and an eventual replacement.

Some of the other picks I would consider:

Johnathan Joseph, CB - Looking back at this draft, Joseph looks like the best corner of the bunch. Ask Houston what he did for their defense this season. Paired with Ron Bartell, drafted the year before, the two could have formed a very formidable duo.
Nick Mangold, C - Picked late in the first round that year, he's become the league's best center.
Davin Joseph, G - Another top tier interior lineman would have been a huge plus for the Rams over the last four seasons where they've struggled at that position, settling for expensive and mediocre Jacob Bell and the expensive and woeful Jason Brown. They drafted Mark Setterstrom in the seventh round. He was a good lineman, but injuries torpedoed his career.
Marcedes Lewis, TE - The Rams picked Joe Klopfenstein in the second round, leaving the lacking at the tight end spot until last year when they picked Lance Kendricks ... and they still might be lacking at the position.
Owen Daniels, TE - He was picked in the fourth round. You see what's happening here.

Over the years - the 2006 season was the first year we started TST - I've heard several say that the Rams should have selected Cutler. In hindsight, that's pretty obvious, but at the time Marc Bulger looked like he could have been a decent quarterback.

The Rams' 2007 draft needs a re-do too.

0 recs | 25 comments

Comments

It's amazing how bad some of these drafts are

Almost zero contribution from most of these guys – Joe Joe Klopfenstein? Will Kendricks or Illinois Mike be any better?

riotmute - January 26, 2012 reply

Terrible draft, or terrible coaching?

Tye Hill and Joe K were both highly rated. Joe being the second most touted TE in that daft. Both came to a woeful team and promptly stunk.

You can make the case that Saffold, Kendricks and Bradford were all better players when they got here, and have since seen a drop off in ability. That points to piss poor coaching and player development as much as drafting

STLRambler - January 27, 2012 reply

I was on the Cutler bandwagon....

….shows what I know. I did want Marcedes Lewis in that draft.

L.J. Lawshee - January 26, 2012 reply

2006 is the worst one imo

Cromartie was taken just 4 picks behind Hill.

Marmie is the best - January 26, 2012 reply

Unfortunately...

Tye Hill was widely regarded as the top CB available. I will admit it, I remember buying into this pick at the time it was made. In hindsight, I would probably go with Mangold. That guy would have transformed our line while allowing us to spend money else (instead of J. Brown).

A's fan in Philly - January 26, 2012 reply

Cromartie!

I remember being a much bigger Cromartie fan and that my opinion wasn’t uncommon

Marmie is the best - January 26, 2012 reply

I thought he was going to be our pick.

They said that we wanted to get bigger on defence and we took the runt.

Ramfan4life - January 26, 2012 reply

Yeah, I too wanted Antonio Cromartie

Over Tye Hill. So I get bonus points for being right on that one. Unfortunately, I also wanted (and got) Claude Wroten so I lost every ounce of draft credibity I had earned…

davebro747 - January 26, 2012 via mobile reply

Was behind $500,000 in child support.

I would rather Tye Hill than deal with that Drama major.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Cromartie

Da Rookie - January 26, 2012 reply

Hill majored in HR management

Doesn’t seem much better to me

Marmie is the best - January 26, 2012 reply

I remember leading up to this draft, there were 2 players that I REALLY wanted the Rams to draft

Tye Hill <—- lol…

And Jay Cutler. Now if you were to ask me who I’d like us to draft…I’d honestly still take Jay Cutler.

I still think that he’s a really great QB and is definitely overhated by most. I’d take him over just about every QB in the league right now. If not him, than I would’ve loved Davin Joseph, it’ll give Steven Jackson some damn help finally.

ramswo85 - January 26, 2012 reply

I didn't want us to draft a cornerback that year...

..I was hoping that either A.J Hawk, Vernon Davis or Haloti Ngata would fall to us. Once those three were gone I figured Broderick Bunkley would be the pick and the Eagles tabbed him one pick before us. Chad Greenway and Bobby Carpenter were the best OLB’s left at that point. When we took Tye Hill, I was like, “C’mon man!!”

In the secound round I was hoping for Marcus McNeil, and he was there, but we took Joe Klopfenstein. What a joke!

I read a review in an old magazine when Fisher was in his last season coaching for the Titans and the article raved about the Titans depth because of “fruitful drafts”. Hopefully Fisher can continue with his excellent drafting now that he is wearing Rams colors.

NachoD - January 26, 2012 reply

Davis

A lot of the early mock drafts had Davis falling to us, but his stock kept rising.

Marmie is the best - January 26, 2012 reply

At that time all i wanted were

defensive ends and wide receivers. I always wanted playmakers. I remember wanting Leinart, too.

dbcouver - January 26, 2012 reply

Why is everyone down on Bulger?

He was a good QB and he has the stats to prove it. The problem was martz! He ruined Warner too and everyone was bagging on him too and look what he did in Arizona

randyvannram - January 26, 2012 reply

I agree

frankthatsrambo - January 26, 2012 reply

But yes our draft sucked that year

randyvannram - January 26, 2012 reply

Colston picked at 252

shows what a crap shoot the draft is.
Even the Saints can’t be congratulated for picking him.
They got him out of pure luck. Had they known he was any good, they wouldn’t have waited so long to take him…
And don’t tell me it’s an exception. It’s the rule. Most of the players are not drafted where they should be. They go either too early or too late…

Le Ram - January 26, 2012 reply