Per Tony Pauline the Rams number one draft target was Byron Murphy

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All sorts of stories out there ... no one knows what is and isn't accurate. Maurice Jones-Drew says the same thing or was perhaps who told them. Maybe.



Maurice Jones-Drew, who calls Rams games on the radio, told Seattle-based podcast Bump and Stacy that Los Angeles was going to take Murphy at No. 19 if the Seahawks hadn’t selected him three picks prior.

“I know the Rams were going to take Byron Murphy if you guys didn’t,” Jones-Drew said. “He has the body type (and) the potential to be what Aaron Donald was for the Rams, a guy that can be disruptive, take over games from the inside. The guard position in the National Football League isn’t the best right now. So you get a piece that can really penetrate the pocket and put pressure on the quarterback. … To me, he was (one of) the top three pass rushers up there.”

The Rams did end up bolstering their defensive front three picks later by taking Florida State edge rusher Jared Verse, who was also considered among the top defensive prospects in the draft. Murphy indeed would have made a lot of sense for the Rams. After a decade terrorizing NFL offenses, star defensive tackle Aaron Donald announced his retirement this offseason, leaving a massive hole in middle of Los Angeles’ defensive front. Jones-Drew even sees a bit of Donald in Murphy.

“He has the body type (and) the potential to be what Aaron Donald was for the Rams, a guy that can be disruptive, take over games from the inside,” Jones-Drew said. “The guard position in the National Football League isn’t the best right now. So you get a piece that can really penetrate the pocket and put pressure on the quarterback. … To me, he was (one of) the top three pass rushers up there.”
 
All sorts of stories out there ... no one knows what is and isn't accurate.
Exactly. It's pretty safe to throw something out there when you're pretty damn sure no one in the organization is going to address it, therefore no one to prove the report wrong.

I don't really put much stock into these anonymous source articles. I suspect that many times they may even be their own anonymous source.
 
I will say though that Jones-Drew should be more reliable than most as a potential Rams "insider". He's around the organization a lot. I wonder if he gave any speculation on the pick before the draft or if he simply felt that it was over so he wasn't giving away anything by talking now.

Who knows.
 
This would have been disappointing to some here because it’s been reported that the Rams were looking at pass rush tandems. That would mean they would have tried to trade up to acquire Tevondre Sweat. :explode1:
 
That's the 6th player I've heard some expert say we wanted. Next thing you know @Loyal is going to tell us it was actually @Merlin who was our target to trade up for.
If they wanted someone to change the watercooler I'd do the best damn job they ever saw.
 
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What I would like to know is what Jones-Drew thinks about the Blake Corum pick. I mean he's a former RB (and a very good one...) so I'd be interested on his take on Blake.

~ArkyRamsFan~
 
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According to the athletic article the Rams were zeroed in on three players in round one. Verse was one of them. It seems the other two were Bowers and Murphy.

All players that I would expect them to like from the 10-19 range.