If the draft is the lifeline to success in the NFL, then the St. Louis Rams' lifeline is lagging.

A survey conducted by the Charlotte Observer showed that only six NFL teams had fewer of their own drafted players on their initial 53-man roster as the Rams. When the initial cut to 53 players was complete on Saturday, the Rams had 24 of their own draft picks on their roster. And nine of those 24 were players selected in this year's draft.

The teams with the most original draft picks on their roster were Green Bay (36), Carolina (35), Pittsburgh (35), Indianapolis (34) and Tennessee (34). None of those five teams had a losing record last season, and Indy was in the Super Bowl.

However, just because you don't have a lot of original draft picks on your roster doesn't necessarily mean your team will struggle. To wit, defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans was one of the six teams with fewer draft picks on its roster than the Rams (with 23).

Here's the complete list:

36 _ Green Bay

35 _ Carolina, Pittsburgh

34 _ Indianapolis, Tennessee

32 _ New England, Oakland, San Francisco

31 _ Atlanta, Dallas, New York Giants

29 _ Baltimore Houston, Tampa Bay

28 _ Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Philadelphia, San Diego

27 _ Buffalo, Minnesota

26 _ Arizona, Chicago

24 _ Detroit, Kansas City, Rams, Seattle

23 _ New Orleans

22 _ Denver

21 _ Miami, New York Jets

17 _ Cleveland, Washington