Of yesterday's group of mock drafts released by the NFL.com pundits, none was more ominous than Albert Breer's, which called for zero quarterbacks to be drafted in the first round. Now, it appears that Mel Kiper is jumping on the bandwagon, as he releases his first mock draft of the season. (ESPN Insider link) 

The last time that happened was back in 1996, which means that one year after one of the greatest rookie QB classes of all time, this could go down as one of the worst. However, it was far from a draft devoid of talent. A number of franchise players emerged from that '96 draft, including Jonathan Ogden, Eddie George, Marvin Harrison and the seemingly immortal Ray Lewis. 

Moreover, the Rams don't need a quarterback, and there appear to be a number of talents at our team's positions of need. So why find this ominous? Because the 1996 draft was an unmitigated disaster for the Rams. 

The team opened its tenure in St Louis with three picks in the top fifty of that draft, but a series of unbelievably awful decisions ensured that those opening years would be filled with frustration and misery.

First, the Rams decided that their aging running back (Jerome Bettis) was losing steam, and decided to trade him away for a late second round pick. As his replacement, GM Steve Ortmeyer chose a one-dimensional back (Lawrence Phillips) who benefited from running behind the best offensive line in the game. 

2013 comparisons: Steven Jackson and Eddie Lacy

We're being kind (and fair to Lacy) by ignoring Phillips' well-documented problems with violence and discipline. And by not mentioning that the Oilers drafted Eddie George eight picks later. 

Second, the Rams sifted through one of the most well-regarded wide receiver classes in history, and chose the eminently forgettable Eddie Kennison, one pick before the Colts secured the long-term future of their passing game with Marvin Harrison. Perhaps the Rams felt that they already had a player like Harrison in Isaac Bruce? Rather than take the best player available, they filtered their draft lens for a "complementary player" with track star speed.  

2013 comparison: DeAndre Hopkins

Third, the Rams finally broke the seal on this quarterback class, by drafting Tony Banks in the second round. It was a reasonable decision, given that the Rams needed a young quarterback. But as we know, it did not work out. And of course, we saw another perennial Pro-Bowler selected just two picks later in Muhsin Muhammad. 

2013 comparison: Take your pick.

Fourth, the Rams finally made a good pick with an all-around player at tight end in Ernie Conwell. Sure, he lacked high-end star power, but he did provide reliable service to the Rams. But there's Brian Dawkins at the very end of the second round, who terrorized NFL backfields for more than a decade.  

2013 comparison: Ryan Otten

Still, though, the Rams batted a woeful one-for-four with these high impact picks, a pattern that was too-often repeated over the next decade and a half. (When you look back at our draft record, the Greatest Show era doesn't look artificially brief... it looks like a damn miracle that it ever happened to begin with.) 

This year, the lack of a great quarterback prospect means that many players that the Rams might covet, such as offensive linemen Luke Joekel, Chance Warmack and Jonathan Cooper, could be flying off the draft board well out of reach. Additionally, it means we won't have anywhere near the same trade value with picks 16 and 22, if neither is deemed worthy of a quarterback.

Les Snead and Jeff Fisher will have a tricky game to play this April, but therein lies the silver lining in this story. The Rams have legitimate front office personnel for the first time in memory, and the 2012 Rams draft was one of the most productive in the team's history. Hopefully we can repeat that trend, rather than the one of '96. 

There is no other position on the Rams roster where one player can have a significant impact on overall performance as wide receiver. Yes, Craig Dahl is terrible, but I do not expect a rookie safety to improve our overall defense in 2013.

On the other hand, a receiver who can reliably catch the ball and routinely get open could cause the metamorphosis on offense that the Rams need. First, Gibson finally takes his rightful space on the bench. Second, Amendola is a second option, not the only guy who can get open. If he isn’t the primary target, he might actually make it through 16 games in 2013. (Of course, I am assuming we resign Amendola). Third, Quick can be given a limited role that he can learn to master. Finally, what happens if Sam Bradford can review the entire field because he knows that one guy will be open or at least catch the ball in traffic? 

With that introduction, the question now turns to whether there is a reliable wide receiver in the 2013 draft that can routinely get open in his rookie year, thus being worthy of a first round pick from the Rams. 

Before suffering a serious knee injury this season, South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore was poised to give us a rare repeat from last year’s NFL Draft: an early first round running back selection. However, the severity of that injury and Lattimore’s inability to participate in the Combine cast serious doubt on his draft stock. Could he fall far enough to become a low-risk, high-reward steal for the Rams?

Teams willing to gamble a pick on the talented but unlucky SEC product will have to decide whether they think he is closer to Adrian Peterson or Ki-Jana Carter, but perhaps some more recent history will give better insight. Both Willis McGahee and Frank Gore suffered significant knee injuries while in college. They were 1st and 3rd round picks respectively, however most experts are not currently projecting Lattimore as an early round pick. Carter was one of the biggest busts in draft history. McGahee has made a nice career as a solid but unspectacular player, and Gore remains a franchise back after his 6th career 1000 yard season in 2012.

Statistically, it is hard to compare college players because of different offensive systems, quality of offensive lines, and caliber of opposing defenses. With that caveat in mind I looked at how Lattimore compares to the most recent top-10 running back, Trent Richardson. While clearly running behind a superior offensive line, Richardson averaged a full yard-per-carry more than Lattimore, 5.8 to 4.8, but they were very similar in one area: carries per touchdown (14.6 for Lattimore to 15.4 for Richardson).

However, since Lattimore lacks the breakaway speed of a Richardson or Adrian Peterson, I looked a little further to find perhaps a better comparable, and ended up finding one closer to home.

Last week we weighed the St Louis Rams' top needs that we'd like to see addressed in the 2013 NFL Draft. But of course, every draft class is different, and none come with a perfect set of players jigsaw-cut to fill any one team's roster holes precisely.

With that in mind, we reached out to Eric Galko of Optimum Scouting, a fantastic draft resource here on the Bloguin network. He and his team work year-round on draft content, and they will be providing us with their perspective on this year's draft class over the coming months. 

Here is our first Q&A. 

RamsHerd: The Rams’ primary needs look like right tackle, left guard, free safety and wide receiver (not necessarily in that order). How deep is the draft class at each position?

Optimum Scouting: With Taylor Lewan and Jake Matthews both returning to school, this class lacks as much as expected offensive tackle talent. Now, it seems after Luke Joeckel (Top 5) and Eric Fisher (likely Top 10), the class moves more towards right tackle only. But there’s quite a bit of depth there, especially in the mid-late first round. Guys like Justin Pugh, DJ Fluker, and Lane Johnson could all go into that mix.

At guard, Jonathan Cooper of UNC may be in reach of the Rams, and he could be an impact interior presence. But after the top 40 picks, the guard class goes downhill fast, and the value then develops again in the late 4^th round.

There’s loads of free safety talent in the 2^nd-3^rd round area. Eric Reid (LSU), Shamarko Thomas (Syracuse), Bacarri Rambo (Georgia), and Zeke Motta (Notre Dame) can all have value in that area.

And at receiver, even after investing heavily at receiver in the past two drafts, the Rams would be wise to capitalize on the receiver depth. We have close to 20 receivers with top three round grades. While they may change, it’s clear that, despite lacking an AJ Green/Julio Jones/Calvin Johnson type player, this class has loads of upside and depth. 

Related: Optimum Scouting's 2013 NFL Draft Big Board

Whether the Rams draft for need or follow a strict best-player-available strategy, at the end of the day Rams fans won't be happy unless the safety position has been markedly upgraded. 

In keeping with Brennan's review of the top safety prospects for the Rams in the draft, an internal poll (taken before Brennan's article published) firmly places "please, please, please, anyone but Craig" at the top of our needs list. I would have ranked "fixing the defense" slightly below "fixing the offensive line" earlier this season, but it appears that the pair of problems at left guard and right tackle split the vote.

Votes and comments from five of our writers after the break. This also marks the debut of two new writers on the site, Andy Selvy and Michael Lasquero. Both will be contributing draft content over the next few months. As you can see, while we have a ranking, we don't have a consensus. What are your top five? 

Around St. Louis, the name “Craig Dahl” evokes images of terror, missed tackles and blown assignments. 

“Dahl” has practically become interchangeable with a number of four letter expletives in and around the Edward Jones Dome and television sets showing Rams games on Sundays.

In fact, Pro Football Focus had Dahl rated as the 78th out of 88 safeties and fourth worst starting safety in the NFL last season among players who took at least 1,000 snaps.

Needless to say, it’s time for an upgrade across from Quintin Mikell, who was rated as the fifth best overall safety by PFF and lauded for his skills in the run game.

Luckily, the upcoming 2013 draft is chock full of talented safeties that Les Snead could snap up with one of the first round picks or in the second round, giving the Rams the first capable center fielder since O.J. Atogwe’s best season in 2007.

Mikell played primarily as a free safety under Steve Spagnuolo, but moved up into the box this year as the multifaceted pass-rush / pass coverage role that Roman Harper played in Gregg Williams' New Orleans defense.

This change in roles pushed Dahl to the free safety position. If this was youth softball, he would be the fat kid being pushed out to right field, where he could do no harm. But in the NFL, there is nowhere to hide. 

With that in mind, here’s a look at the top safety prospects in the 2013 draft the Rams could select:

Holding the #2 pick in the 2012 draft and a mandate to rebuild the St Louis Rams in his image, Jeff Fisher had a big decision to make. Should he stick with Sam Bradford, to whom the franchise had committed vast resources -- both financially and philosophically -- or move on and draft one of the two can't-miss phenom quarterbacks at the top of the draft? 

Writing for SI, Peter King wrote about this decision as the biggest and boldest move of the Rams rebuild. As the Redskins and Browns engaged in a high-stakes bidding war, Fisher had almost no choice but to do the deal. In draft value, the Rams made out like bandits, but many fans have been vocal about wondering if we should have taken the quarterback.

King lists two key factors: the coach's confidence in Bradford the player and Bradford the man, and the trade market for the 2nd pick, which was almost assuredly going to be used on Robert Griffin III. 

However, a third factor existed in the calculation. It has been almost taboo to mention Griffin's high-risk playing style as a determining factor. No one wants to sound like they are wishing injury on the man. But his collapse on a torn up field in a wildcard playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks makes the topic unavoidable. 

We can say it now. The Rams unquestionedly got the better end of this deal, and they are the franchise better positioned for a long run of playoff contention at this point in time.