Sports Illustrated sort of confirms

[jason]

Regarding the Rams pick at 22...

 

"The Rams sat at 22. They wanted Ogletree and were reasonably confident he'd be there. But they'd been talking with Houston at 27 and Atlanta at 30 about moving down to recoup some of what they'd give up to acquire Austin. Their fallback guy was UCLA defensive end Datone Jones, but if he and Ogletree were gone, they'd take Kentucky guard Larry Warford."

 

If there is discussion about Warford at 22, even though it's later stated in the article that they'd be slightly disappointed about all their other guys being taken earlier, then Long at 20 doesn't seem too out of this world.

[AZ54]

Hard to believe anyone even considered taking Warford at 22. This was definitely not a typical draft for OG.

[adam]

Hard to believe anyone even considered taking Warford at 22. This was definitely not a typical draft for OG.

I thought they were talking about #30 where they drafted Ogletree? That would've been one slot ahead of Dallas who took a C.

[jason]

I thought they were talking about #30 where they drafted Ogletree? That would've been one slot ahead of Dallas who took a C.

 

I didn't read it that way. That's a quote straight from the article. They mention the trades, but those three players were their choices should they stick at their original 22.

[adam]

I didn't read it that way. That's a quote straight from the article. They mention the trades, but those three players were their choices should they stick at their original 22.

The way I read it was they were confident Ogletree would be there at 22, but after trading back to 27 or 30, their fallback was Jones, then Warford. Otherwise, pointing out that they were going to trade back would be irrelevant. They could just have said the Rams were targeting Ogletree at 22, with Jones and Warford as their next picks in that slot.

 

Either way it shows there was interest in OL in the 20's and Long would not have made it out of the 1st.