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. 

The end of a long year already feels like the beginning of something new for St Louis football. That's a great feeling, and an unusual one, for Rams fans inured to losing seasons.

A fan's normal practice come the first week of January is to stow all their Rams gear and their pride in the upper shelves along with the Christmas decorations and the summer shorts, things that won't be wanted or needed for a long time to come. I don't see that happening this season. While it wasn't a miracle season akin to Dick Vermeil's 1999, I think fans will wear their Rams gear a little longer and with a lot more pride in the coming months. 

Jeff Fisher said it best, reflecting on the team's outlook after a tough loss: "I think those guys in that room can stand up and look people in the eye and say, ‘Hey, the Rams are back.’ And that’s what we wanted to accomplish this year."

That's great. But now, what about 2013? 

Here are a few resolutions that the Rams should be making, and hopefully keeping: