D King: This is my third and final comment on this subject since we disagree. I am in favor of trading the 1st round pick with Dallas for their 2 1st round picks for a player or another pick. I want to clear one thing I am not a Buckeye fan or a Carpenter fan. I feel he is a no. 1 talent and we need more talent on this team and we really need 1 or 2 round talent being that in years past we have wasted on waisted draft choice that has caused us to have little or no depth and it has really costed us on defense more that anything. I feel we can get a D end and D back and turn around in the second get a O tackle or WR or take an O tackle first then get WR and then in the second D tackle. With Carpenter it gives us depth at LB. Do you feel safe with Culberson and Draft at S side or will Pisa make it thru a whole season unhurt. What if Spoon get hurt we depth. Look at D tackle what if Wroten pops another drug test he is gone for the year as well as the corner. Two 1st round picks gives us options. I know you feel we need to get a marque player but options are the most important thing right now we need depth and lots of it. Plus it gives us salary cap relief for a few years we cannot undue the past in this one draft. Its just my opinion. Thats for reading my post Jim.

Jim Thomas: I appreciate your persistent. But there's no way the Rams trade that far down for the two picks and Carpenter.

Dwayne: Hey Jim

Would you be surprised to see the rams draft
Dorsey over a (HEALTHY) C.Long and are you leaning
towards WR or CB in round 2.

Jim Thomas: I would not be surprised to see the Rams take Dorsey. I think in the end, Dorsey will have a higher grade than Chris Long on the Rams' board. But the X-factor is Dorsey's health. The Rams keep saying or intimating that they're not concerned with Dorsey's stress fracture. But who knows for sure?
I would lean towards WR, only because of what will be available there. Conceivably, the Rams could get the third_ or fourth-best WR at No. 33.

Brad: There was some talk toward the end of last season that the Rams may shift to a 3-4 defense. Have the Rams stated whether they will stick with a 4-3, or is this kept quiet for strategic reasons heading into the draft? Thank you.

Jim Thomas: They don't have the personnel, particularly the numbers at LB, to run the 3-4 full time. But it will still be part of their package. They ran it a lot in passing situations last season.

Markus: 1)Any talk about the other DE/pass rush OLBs other than Gholston and Long? Harvey, Merling, Campbell, Groves, Avril or anyone else?

2)With all the talk about possibly trading down, have you heard anything about Virginia OL Branden Albert? He now seems to be a legit top 10 pick.

3)Will the staff decide if they will run a base 4-3 or 3-4 after the draft? Haslett was a great coordinater when he ran the 3-4 in Pittsburgh, but has has been less than spectacular running the 4-3 in New Orleans and St. Louis.

Personally I have always loved the 3-4 because you can hide the QBs pre-snap reads. Also, I have always thought it is easier to draft for the 3-4 than 4-3 (see Steelers). Most good 3-4 DL are primarily big run stopping two gap lineman and can be found later in the draft and/or developed (Cliff Ryan). Most of the great pass rush OLBs are undersized DEs (ala Kevin Greene) who likewise are easier to find than the prototype 6'4"/ 290 Pro Bowl 4-3 ends. And assuming you do find a great 4-3 DL, you're likely to lose them or pay them obscene money once his contract expires and then the search for the next great one begins again.

The bust rate for early DTs is so exceedingly high, and I do not see that Dorsey is anymore of a lock that all the other highly regarded DTs recently drafted.

With the rules favoring the WRs, teams today MUST be able to generate a pass rush w/o having to sell out all the time. You just cannot afford to expose your DBs by HAVING to bring 5 or 6 every play.

Jim Thomas: 1.) Judging by the pre-draft visits to Rams Park, I'm surprised that no other DEs or rush LBs were brought in. The only DE/OLB Liberty's Vincent Redd, is a mid_ to late-round project. Now, maybe the Rams are holding out on us, and have some other DEs in mind.

2.) Albert's stock does seem to be rising, but he's primarily a guard. The Rams really have greater needs in other areas than guard at this point.

3.) The Rams actually ran the 3-4 a lot last season in passing situations, particularly over the second half of the season. I'm sure it'll be part of their package. But they don't really have the personnel to run it full time.

george_allen: jim

can you share with us the complete list of draft prospects visiting the rams between sunday and today?

also, if the dolphins agree to terms with someone before the draft, can and would the rams begin negotiating with their top choices remaining before the draft?

Jim Thomas: The complete list of players visiting Tuesday and Wednesday was in the paper today (Tuesday) and is also on-line.

I believe the Rams could believe negotiating with the No. 2 pick once they were on the clock.