The St. Louis Rams franchise is coming off a dismal season in 2008-2009. The Rams went 2-14, and the only big adjustment made was switching head coaches from Scott Linehan to Steve Spangulo. Aside from that, the Rams gave up on their season early on, and hardly did anything to try and salvage some pride in the team.

One might speculate that this will be easily turned around, with the Rams getting a high first round draft choice, and the opportunity to bring in new prospects. However, a look through the past anguishes me to review our past NFL entry draft picks.

Let's start with the 2001-2003 first round picks. In 2001, the Rams had three first round draft picks: No. 12, No. 20, and No. 29. Damione Lewis was the first pick by the Rams (12th overall). An injury plagued beginning years, Lewis never produced much until his last year with the Rams, which was still short, before going to Carolina. With the No. 20 pick, the Rams selected Adam Archuleta, the hard-hitting safety/linebacker out of Arizona State.

While the hard-hitting held true, Archuleta's repeated performance of poor pass coverage proved a costly flaw in his game, and four years later, he held a minimal role in the Rams' defense, and signed with the Redskins in 2005. His play here followed suit with his play in St. Louis, after just eight games, his struggling deep pass protection was too much for the Skins, who replaced him, keeping him on special teams only.

After his expressed desire to play somewhere besides special teams, he signed with the Bears in 2007—he was released within a few months. After that, he signed with Oakland, and was cut from them as well. Another poor draft choice from the Rams. The number 29 pick was used on Ryan Pickett, who underperformed with the Rams until going to Green Bay, where he has since performed well.

In 2002, St. Louis' first round pick (No. 31 overall) Robert Thomas from UCLA. Heard of him since, or maybe even ever heard of him until now? Neither have I.

Nice pick...

In 2003, the Rams used their first round pick on Jimmy Kennedy, who after mediocre numbers was traded to the Broncos for nothing but a 6th round draft pick. Like Archuleta, Kennedy has since bounced from team to team getting waived and traded, with subpar numbers to show for his minimal playing time.

Notably, the Rams made good drafts in round 2-3, drafting Pisa Tinoisamoa, and Kevin Curtis. The Rams being the Rams however, traded Curtis to Philadelphia just a few years later, where he has since become the No. 1 wideout for the Eagles.

Now, 2004-2006. Amazingly, the Rams made a good pick in 2004 with their first-round pick. I know you didn't think it was possible, but it's true. The Rams selected Steven Jackson, who has since evolved into one of the better running backs in the whole NFL. Unfortunately though, the trend did not continue past the first round of the 2004 draft however.

In 2005  the Rams took Alex Barron 19th overall. This pick has been mourned by Rams fans since. Barron is among the leaders in false starts, seemingly never really knowing the count. His laziness and subpar play have been a constant through his career thus far. The Rams made 2 decent picks in 2005 in the 2-3 rounds, selecting Ron Bartell and O.J. Atogwe, and Richard Incognito who have all played relatively well, with the exception of Incognito being injured for some time.

In 2006, the Rams used their 1st and 2nd round picks on Tye Hill and Joe Klopfenstein respectively. Tye Hill, a short cornerback from Clemson has neither been great nor terrible. His pass protection is not as good as many would hope, but he plays with a fire that is otherwise unknown to the Rams players. Joe Klopfenstein has been an unfortunate bust, who boasted a strong build with surprising speed, before failing to perform at a high level.

In 2007, St. Louis used it's 1st and 2nd round picks on Adam Carriker and Brian Leonard respectively. I won't get on their cases too much here, although, as usual, neither has performed particularly well. However, the big names in this draft were in areas unneeded by the Rams, and this just wasn't a huge name draft year.

In 2008, the Rams used their 1st and 2nd round picks on Chris Long, and Donnie Avery. First off, I will never enjoy watching teams draft linemen in the first round. A 1st round pick should be an real impact player, someone who will really affect the franchise. While linemen are the most under-appreciated part of the game, one linemen can not make that big of a difference, and you can't determine that one lineman is really THAT much better than another, you just can't.

Long was the 2nd overall pick in the draft, so the Rams chose him ahead of : Matt Ryan, Darren McFadden, Glen Dorsey, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Chris Johnson, and Rashard Mendenhall.

Granted, these might not have been what the Rams needed, but I think Rodgers-Cromartie would have been a much better pick in improving St. Louis' atrocious pass defense, and with only one real good RB (Steven Jackson, who also has a nag for injury), another good running back couldn't have hurt.

Then they drafted Donnie Avery, who has played surprisingly well, so I can't complain about him exactly, however he was picked ahead of DeSean Jackson, Eddie Royal, and Matt Forte, who have all proven to be outstanding players at the NFL level.

Who are some other players that the Rams missed out on?

2001 - Damione Lewis selected over Santana Moss. Adam Archuleta selected over Deuce McAllister, and Ryan Pickett selected over Reggie Wayne, Todd Heap, Drew Brees, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Alge Crumpler, and Chad Johnson. Ouch.

2002 -  Robert Thomas selected ahead of Jabar Gaffney, DeShaun Foster, Clinton Portis, Antwaan Randle El, and Deion Branch. Robert who? Clinton WHO!?

2003 - Jimmy Kennedy selected over Troy Polamalu, Willie McGahee, Dallas Clark, and Larry Johnson. And then Piso Tinoisamoa (although still a good player) selected over Anquan Boldin.

A reoccuring issue here, while, granted many of these big name players are not what the Rams needed, the Rams have not had a consitent, well playing tight-end in a good while now, and thus far in the list, we've already seen Todd Heap, and Dallas Clark go by. The Rams had two great chances to address the tight-end situation, and failed to capitalize on both—and more still to come.

2004 - Alleluia! The Rams made the right pick with Steven Jackson!

2005 - Alex Barron, the false start King, selected in front of Mark Clayton, Aaron Rodgers, Roddy White, and Heath Miller (Another proven tight-end).

2006 - Tye Hill picked ahead of Antonia Cromartie, Laurence Maroney, Santonio Holmes, DeAngelo Williams, Joseph Addai and LenDale White. Then Joe Klopfenstein selected over Greg Jenning, Anthony Fasano, Devin Hester, Tony Scheffler, and Maurice Jones-Drew.

2007 - No huge names chosen after the thus-far-bust Adam Carriker. Dwayne Bowe as a mentionable.

(As already listed) 2008 - Chris Long drafted over Matt Ryan, Darren McFadden, Glen Dorsey, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Rashard Mendenhall,  and Chris Johnson. Then Donnie Avery picked over Eddie Royal,  Matt Forte, and DeSean Jackson.

Now, I know it's hard to make the right choice in the draft. Some players who are drafted very late end up being the best, and many players, not just on the Rams, who are drafted early, fail to accomplish much at all at the professional level.

I still maintain that it is ill-advised of any team to draft linemen, on either side of the ball, in the first round(s). The Rams have been doing it too often the past few years, and you can see the result (or in most cases, lack thereof) of these poor picks; not to mention the talent skipped out on.

I'm no professional on analyzing players and deciding on good draft picks, but the people paid to do this should be, and clearly their current system for evaluating players is inefficient, and needs to be reconsidered before they make another bad pick in 2009.