Bart: Who would be your pick for a "sure thing" for the Rams at #2 this year? It would be nice to draft someone other than "someone they couldn't believe was still there" this year.

Jim Thomas: OK, one more. I believe the safest pick at No. 2 overall still is Virginia DE Chris Long. He may not be a superstar, but I think all signs point to him having a successful, productive career.

Joe Shubert: Everyone always concentrates on round one for the big named players. Lets talk about the latter rounds. If the rams take an End, Offensive Tackle or another Defensive tackle in round one how do you think a the rest of the draft for the rams will play out?

Will the team take the best available player or reach for need? Do you think the folks in the front office can nail a draft for once and get full time starters or will we see some of the same questionable picks that have put us here in the first place?

Jim Thomas: As I've mentioned before WR and CB are major needs, after that, the Rams are drafting for depth assuming they get a center somewhere in free agency.

The Rams seems to be adamant about picking for best available over need. But a lot of teams talk the talk on that subject, but then react differently at crunch time. We'll see. I think the draft will be very telling when it comes to seeing what the restructured front office can do _ but we won't know for sure about this draft for a couple of years. (Unless they do some crazy stuff on draft day.)

Well, that's all for now. Talk to you all next week.

PolderBear: Hey Jim,

Thanks for the great work, as always. I'd like to re-ask a question that wasn't answered in your last session, and I'll try to abbreviate it a bit.

In short, how is the financial situation with the majority ownership of Rams? Although I'm sure Chip does very well in his film production projects, that doesn't seem to me to position him in that billionaire territory where many NFL owners reside.

I'm assuming there are a lot of lucrative aspects to his late mother's estate -- and I'm not in interested in the family's personal details -- but I am really just wondering about the longterm financial viability of the current ownership group, particularly from the non-football revenue side. Where do they sit in the NFL hierarchy (more toward the Ralph Wilson end or more toward the Jerry Jones/Danny Snider end)?

Thanks,

PolderBear

Jim Thomas: Over the long term, the Rams are worried about the profitability of the franchise in a medium-size market such as St. Louis. The onslaught of new stadiums in the NFL since 1995 have taken the Rams from one of the league's top three or four franchises in terms of revenue to the bottom third.
There's enough money from the CBA, however, to keep the Rams a viable franchise in terms of competing for free agents, etc. But where I think non-football income comes into play is cash-flow for signing bonuses, etc.
So I don't know if this will become an issue in the future or not. But it didn't seem to hurt the Rams under Georgia _ who I believe had little or no outside business interests.

rob: Jim, thanks for the updates and answers! Any interest from the Rams in WR Clayton cut by the Bucs, had a great rookie year and is big but had a 4.43 coming out of college?
Also any thoughts on the Rams trading down with the chiefs, who need o-line help and might want Jake Long? We have a trading history with them and if we got the Chief's #2 we could use that to get Lito Sheppard from the Eagles and still get a WR or OT at 2 and our DE at #5 Gholston should still be there? THANKS !

Jim Thomas: I haven't heard anything about Clayton and the Rams. Of course, they have insight into Clayton now that Valero is on the Rams' staff (from Tampa). But I sure wouldn't give up much for Clayton. He hasn't done much of anything since that rookie year.
As for the trade down with the chiefs, there are some folks who think Gholston won't get by the Raiders as No. 4.

Steve Crellin (Isle of Man): Hi Jim,

Thanks (from this side of the Atlantic) for opportunity to ask a question. Are there any reports coming out of the Rams as to how well Adam Carriker is doing after last season's injury? When do they expect him to be back?

All the best,

Steve

Jim Thomas: Isle of Man? Holy cow.
Carriker is on course, but still may be limited in training camp.