The second, third and fourth rounds of the Rams' 2011 draft provided plenty of clues about what to expect in the coming season.

The three picks offered a glimpse inside the team's playbook under new offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

The choices represented an obvious acknowledgement of the organization's mandate to secure help for young quarterback Sam Bradford.

In selecting tight end Lance Hendricks and wide receivers Austin Pettis and Greg Salas, the Rams made a statement about the need make a dramatic improvement in the red zone.

And the choices revealed a willingness to import receivers to give shape to the McDaniels' passing offense.

The Rams' approach caught a lot of fans off guard and I'm not sure why. Let me see if I understand this correctly: the Rams have invested $50 million in Bradford, the franchise future. It is believed that the Rams are paying McDaniels a handsome salary to orchestrate the offense.

Bradford was the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2010, and he helped the Rams win improve by six wins in his first season with a so-so receiving cast. The team's hiring of McDaniels was greeted with glowing, enthusiastic, reviews. The many rippers of former Rams offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur were ecstatic.

OK, then. Doesn't it make sense to draft three targets for Bradford and three moveable pieces for McDaniels? Did you folks really want to stand pat? And did the critics actually watch the 2010 Rams play football?

Here's a refresher course: the Rams finished 30th among 32 NFL teams in touchdowns from scrimmage. Their average of 18.1 points per game ranked 26th.

In the red zone (inside opponents' 20-yard line) the Rams ranked 30th in the NFL in converting those opportunities to touchdowns. Only five NFL teams had more red-zone possessions than the Rams, but 23 teams scored more red-zone touchdowns.

The Rams ranked 29th in the NFL in red-zone passer rating, and 28th in red-zone completion percentage. Over his final seven games, Bradford completed only 41 percent of his red-zone passing attempts, and had a RZ passer rating of 43. The Rams moved the football but couldn't find the end zone enough. And that had to change, or 2011 will look a lot like 2010 when the Rams have the football.

The response was to draft three athletic, physical receivers that can use size, muscle and body position to win tough battles for contested footballs in the end zone. The Rams lacked that element in 2010.

Pettis (6-3) and Salas (nearly 6-2) play tall, are tenacious and have a history of high-volume production in college ball. All they did was make plays. And Kendricks has the speed and range to beat the linebackers one-on-one; he's athletic. And all three have a good-hands reputation. Rams wideouts and tight ends dropped 30 passes last season.

The Rams added a new and necessary dimension to their passing game. More size and punch at wide receiver; more mobility at tight end.

"I think there's a fit," head coach Steve Spagnuolo said of his three new receivers. "I think we're flexible enough and versatile enough to take these players and use them wisely. I think it can go a lot of different ways, and I kind of like that. Because people that we're going to play have to look at it the same way: how are they going to do this? When you're unpredictable, that's the best way to be."

Spagnuolo and GM Billy Devaney took some gambles, sure. The bust rate for wideouts drafted in the third and fourth round is high, so the Rams are taking a chance. Then again, over the previous five drafts, teams found Mike Wallace, Mario Manningham, Jacoby Jones, Emmanuel Sanders, Austin Collie, Brandon Tate, Mike Williams, Earl Bennett, Brandon Marshall, Brian Hartline and Jacoby Ford in rounds three or four.

And tight ends recently chosen in the second round include Rob Gronkowski, John Carlson, Zach Miller, Fred Davis and Tony Scheffler. With a few busts, too.

That's the NFL draft; there are no guarantees. But at least Devaney and Spagnuolo had the common sense to realize that flowers wither and die unless you water them. The bosses could have settled for a guard, a backup running back, etc. In a couple of years we'll know if Devaney and Spags were brilliant -- or sadly off base -- in their assessments. 

The McDaniels influence is obvious here. We can assume that the new OC isn't thrilled by the Rams' collection of wide receivers. Several veterans will have to duke it out for jobs, and that's how it should be. This is a mediocre group and the Rams should be trying to upgrade. Especially in the red zone.

And tight ends can be elite, game-changing receivers, too. I can't understand why that point seems to be lost on those who have spent the last 24 hours caterwauling over the Kendricks selection.

A list of some of the most difficult NFL receivers to shut down would include tight ends Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, Dallas Clark, Jason Witten, Todd Heap, Chris Cooley and Kellen Winslow Jr. (That's just a partial roll call.) The New England Patriots got 87 receptions, 16 for touchdowns, from young tight ends Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez last season.

And by drafting Kendricks, the Rams hope to join this brave new world of using the tight end as something more than a battering ram. A smooth tight end running free and wild in open space — this would be a positive, no? And in Kendricks and Big Mike, the Rams have that potential. 

There are also pragmatic concerns. When I spoke with Devaney on Saturday, he mentioned that McDaniels wants to make use of two tight-end sets and is excited by the thought of putting Kendricks and Hoomanawanui on the field at the same time to exploit mismatches and create space for the outside receivers.

Devaney was bugged by the suggestion that the Rams were negligent in not drafting a pure "speed" wide receiver to stretch the defense.

"There's all different ways that you spread a defense out," he said. "You can spread them out vertically and horizontally. Wide receivers don't have to be the ones stretching a defense all of the time. I think Josh used a great term in one of our meetings, about 'stressing' a defense. Not just stretching it, but putting stress on a defense. And that's what we're trying to do, just by adding players who are multi-dimensional."

Devaney has a point. In Denver, the McDaniels scheme turned Brandon Lloyd into a formidable deep threat in 2010. Lloyd caught 77 passes and led the NFL with 1,448 receiving yards. His average per catch of 18.8 yards was fifth in the NFL. Lloyd had the most receptions (18) of 25 yards or more. He averaged 15.9 yards at the point of the catch; that was No. 2 in the NFL.

It was easily one of the most surprising successful individual seasons in the league last season. Lloyd was considered a journeyman before McDaniels relaunched him.

And Lloyd is hardly Usain Bolt. Lloyd clocked a 4.62 in his 40-yard dash at the scouting combine and was called "painfully slow" in one predraft report. I checked the 40 times and the Rams' current wideouts are faster than Lloyd. So is Pettis. And Salas is just as fast as Lloyd.

So how did Lloyd repeatedly burn defenses downfield last season. Much of the credit goes to McDaniels, who found ways to isolate Lloyd, who was able to break away from single coverage.

Speed kills.

Ah, but so does scheme.

"Hell, you can put a daggum track guy out there and stretch the field and he can't catch the damn thing," Devaney said. "He doesn't make a difference, but you've got a 'flyer' out there. Big deal. There's all different ways you can go about it."

McDaniels may have been a poor head coach, but the dude knows how to design an offense. And you don't need to be "Bullet" Bob Hayes to catch deep passes in his offense.

Sure, the Rams had needs that went unfilled in the 2011 draft. I wish they would have gone for a backup RB at some point. But they couldn't have everything. And you don't go to the trouble and expense of drafting Bradford and hiring McDaniels without following up with a serious investment in the passing game.

Yeah, the Rams still need that No. 2 running back, an outside linebacker and a guard.

And that's what owner Stan Kroenke's checkbook is for when the free-agent market opens.