Steven Jackson

[jjakq27]

When I saw the crawler at the bottom of the screen yesterday, I was amazed to see that Steven Jackson had surpassed Eric Dickerson as the Rams franchise all-time leading rusher with over 7,300 yards. In light of the teams recent struggles it still amazes me to this day that we selected Chris Perry over Jackson in 2004. I think "getting cute" on draft day is one of the fundamental draft flaws for this team. I know we were all clamoring for Rudi Johnson back then, myself included. But selecting Chris Perry as this change of pace, 3rd down back was really arrogance on the part of the team. Was the 2003 team in such great shape that they could afford to take this "icing on the cake" pick? In fairness, Perry was a significant reason the team was successful in 2005 and no one could have foreseen his physical issues but the pick still baffles me.

Marvin could have gotten his grinder, a la Jerome Bettis, many years before Benson showed up. I'd like to know the thought process on how that decision was made.

[kenyon1977]

Wasn;t that the draft were Marvin Lewis said afterward that they purposely drafted every player one round ahead of were they were supposed to go to take the guess work out of the draft and know who they would be getting? If I remember this was the case and should have raised a thousand red flags with the ownership and scouting department, Oh wait... never mind. Two guys that are oblivious.

[jjakq27]

I think I've heard that before but I really don't remember if it was 2004 or not. I guess I kinda get that logic...get the guys that fit your system or you are concerned might not be available where they are supposed to be slotted. The Bengals get ripped for reaching for guys but everybody does it.

Looking back it was a pretty good draft for them but the only guy left is Geathers. I think there were extra picks because of the Corey Dillon trade and I think we ended up with Madieu Williams. We also picked up Deltha O'Neal from Denver when we traded down to 24th. Keep in mind we also acquired FA's Tory James, Kevin Hardy and Reggie Kelly prior to the 2003 season.

I recall some of the experts giving it an average grade but also stated that they did a good job of rebuilding or restocking the shelves with that draft. A good number of them were major contributors in the 2005 playoff year. I felt like other than the Perry pick they really had one of their more creative drafts in a long time. And in honesty Perry showed flashes of greatness but was so fragile that he never fulfilled the expectations. To me the future appeared bright for Marvin and the team after the turnaround in 2003 and the wheeling and dealing during this draft.

Round Player College Games/Starts 2010 Status

1 RB Chris Perry Michigan 35/9 Released

2 CB Keiwan Ratliff Florida 48/7 Backup

2 S Madieu Williams Maryland 49/45 Free Agency

3 LB Caleb Miller Arkansas 39/11 Free Agency

3 LB Landon Johnson Purdue 64/53 Free Agency

4 DT Matthias Askew Michigan State 6/0 Released

4 DE Robert Geathers Georgia 88/59 Starter

4 T Stacy Andrews Mississippi 62/32 Free Agency

5 WR Maurice Mann Nevada 0/0 Released

6 CB Greg Brooks Southern Mississippi 16/0 Released

7 QB Casey Bramlet Wyoming 0/0 Released