Earlier this week, Jon Stewart suggested that Rams coach Jeff Fisher has a little Nick Nolte vibe. On Wednesday, Fisher opted to play the role of Captain Obvious.
Does he have any regrets giving up the second overall pick in the 2012 draft for the sixth overall pick, two more first-round picks, and a second-round pick?
“No regrets,” Fisher told reporters, via comments circulated by the team. “At the time it was a good deal for us and it was a good deal for Washington.”
But it’s become a bad deal for Washington. And that’s the team whose sodium-pentothaled answer to the question of potential regrets would be far more intriguing than whether the Rams regret passing on a quarterback who burned bright as a rookie but has since burned out, potentially.
“We drafted eight players, seven of which are on our roster,” Fisher said. “But I think you have to look past that. We’ve got defensive starters. We got [defensive tackle Michael Brockers]. . . . We got [offensive lineman] Greg Robinson as a result of that. More importantly than that because of those that we drafted through the trade with Washington, we were able to do some other things.”
Fisher should have no regrets about what he got for the second overall pick in 2012. However, there’s one specific reason to have regrets about that draft from nearly three years ago. Of the 74 picks used before the Seahawks took quarterback Russell Wilson, the Rams had five of them.
From Michael Brockers to Brian Quick to Janoris Jenkins to Isaiah Pead to Trumaine Johnson, the Rams consistently passed on the man they now play twice per year. The man who won a Super Bowl in his second season. The man who would be the clear-cut starter in St. Louis right now, and the Rams would be much better off for it.
Of those five players, the most glaring misfire was Pead. After a pair of disappointing seasons, Pead suffered a torn ACL in the preseason, was waived with the “injured” designation, was unclaimed by any of the other 31 teams despite being the 50th overall pick in the draft two years earlier, and likely will be a former Ram, sooner than later.
The goal here isn’t to pick on the Rams. But it’s impossible to talk about regrets relating to quarterbacks and the 2012 draft without mentioning Wilson, especially when talking about the team that passed on him more times than any other team did.
