Drafting Fletcher brings first hint of controversy to Spagnuolo-Devaney regime with St. Louis Rams
Ever since the hiring of new coach Steve Spagnuolo, the Rams have talked a lot about bringing in players with character and productivity. Which made the selection of Iowa cornerback Bradley Fletcher a bit of a head scratcher at the top of the third round Sunday for St. Louis.
To begin with, Fletcher was a starter for only one full season at Iowa, sharing time the previous year with a pretty good corner in Charles Godfrey.
But there’s also the matter of a driving under the influence of alcohol arrest for Fletcher in 2007. He was suspended for one game by the Hawkeyes at the start of the ‘07 season as a result of the incident.
Such offenses among Rams football players remain a sensitive subject in St. Louis due to the drunken-driving fatality that defensive end Leonard Little was responsible for in 1998.
Rams general manager Billy Devaney said such indiscretions will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. The Rams said they checked out Fletcher and were satisfied that his DUI was an isolated incident that was out of character for him.
On the field, this is more a height-weight-speed pick. Spagnuolo likes big corners who can jam wideouts, and at 6-1, 196 pounds, Fletcher fills the bill. He has good speed for his size, being clocked at 4.47 seconds in the 40 at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Rams scouts believe Fletcher is ahead of where Justin King was at this point last year. A fourth-round draft pick a year ago, King showed potential in training camp before suffering a season-ending injury to his left big toe in the preseason. Fletcher could compete for playing time as a rookie.
This kid can play some ball!!!
Glad to see that the Rams organization acknowledge that human beings play this game called football not robots. There are no perfect people in this society. Real human beings will make mistakes in life that they can corrected and be forgiven for, I just hate that the organization waited so long to exercise the power to do so in the draft. There were a number of individuals in this draft that we passed on because of label character issues.
Really? This represents a “controversy?” Jim, I think you need to raise your standards for what is considered controversial. The kid did something stupid two years ago. Got it, but that’s hardly controversial. Signing Michael Vick, now that would be controversial. See the difference?
The controversy not only is from the kids choice, but I think more importantly , the Rams could of gotten him later and not wasted a very good pick on someone we could of gotten in the later rounds, bah.
I don’t think this is much of a controversy, but I agree that we could have gotten Fletcher later in the draft. Actually, I think we could have gotten all our 2nd day pick later in the draft.
at first i was upset we didnt get dj moore at this pick since we were drafting a corner but i looked back at his numbers saw same game replays this kid can play a ton of upside maybe not a star but one day a solid starter should be expected also to note one of his best games was his last game at iowa in the outback bowl he shined in the biggest game of his college career i liked that and the craziest part hes only 19!!!!!
It seems like a theme; we could have gotten them later. I imagine Billy and Spag took this into consideration and felt they couldn’t take that chance. How do you know other teams were not watching these guys also. In the day 2 selections it’s not the media picks that mean anything, it’s the scouting, give our new guys a chance.
this pick is not as bad as not picking Ray M. from USC - anybody that watched game between USC and Ohio State saw the big difference between Ray and Laurenitis - Ray is a big hitter that changes games with his tackles and instincts and although Laurenitis is a tackling machine we should have gotten a run stopper with ability to change game with a big hit.
A DUI isnt a sign of bad character, just bad judgement that happen two years ago. He isnt the first nor the last with a DUI. Especially if he did his time, and hopefully learned a lesson. If your that picky you wouldnt have NFL football and you wouldnt have nothing to write about! I thought the SACBEE was bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vrPy7NjgU4
This kid was rising fast right before the draft. This shows how good he can be, lets give him a chance to prove himself before we treat him like lawrence phillips.