Brandon Scherff Must Be St. Louis Rams' Top Priority in 2015 NFL Draft

The St. Louis Rams find themselves in a familiar position.

Just 12 months ago, the Rams were in need of offensive line help. They had a couple of established pieces in place, but Jake Long was coming off of an ACL tear, while Scott Wells was struggling to live up to the contract the franchise had signed him to. Rodger Saffold and Joe Barksdale were the only solid starting options.

Approaching the 2015 draft, the Rams have essentially the same situation with different faces and names playing different roles.

Long has been released after another ACL tear. His spot at left tackle has been filled by the impressive Greg Robinson, the Rams' first pick of the 2014 draft. Wells has also departed, while Barksdale remains a free agent on the open market.

Robinson and Saffold are now the established starters with relative unknowns Barrett Jones, Tim Barnes and Brandon Washington slated to fill out the starting five.

With Robinson last season, the Rams were unsure if they were going to need a starting tackle or guard during the offseason. They ultimately took a player who could and would play both positions. This is the same situation they are in right now, and fortunately for them, they could land a similarly versatile player in the first round of this year's draft.

Brandon Scherff is expected to go in the top half of the first round of the draft.

The Iowa left tackle is widely expected to play guard in the NFL, but he has the physical traits to be a right tackle also. He measured in at 6'5" and 319 pounds at the combine, and he uses that large frame to be a powerful run-blocker.

For the Rams and their uncertainty at the quarterback position after acquiring Nick Foles, this is a crucial detail.

If you're going to take a guard with the 10th overall pick in the draft, he needs to be a potentially dominant player who can alter the identity of your offense. When the Dallas Cowboys added Zack Martin to Travis Frederick and Tyron Smith last season, they built on an established strength to push their offense towards its potential.

Adding Scherff to Robinson and Saffold may not be the same as what the Cowboys did with Martin, Frederick and Smith, but it could have a similar impact on the Rams' offense.

Tre Mason showed flashes of his potential when he finally got on the field during his rookie season. Mason carried the ball 179 times for 765 yards—a 4.3-yard average per carry—and four touchdowns. He is an abrasive, violent and explosive runner who matches the attitudes of players such as Scherff, Saffold and Robinson.

Having two former offensive tackles as your starting guards and a physical phenom as your starting left tackle offers you both versatility and strength.

Scherff may not have the footwork or technique to be a high quality starting left tackle in the NFL, but his footwork should be above average for a starting guard. He can use his quickness and control in pass protection to highlight his strength in tighter areas.

That alone will make him a valuable player, but his pass protection should be the lesser side of his appeal.

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When he plays with correct pad level and body positioning, Scherff can be a dominant run-blocker in tight. On this play, he is the first player off the line of scrimmage, and he immediately engages the inside shoulder of the defender directly in front of him.

From there, he wrenches that defender away from the direction of the running play. Scherff is able to concentrate his lower-body power and use his upper-body strength to completely negate his assignment.

Mason's willingness to work between the tackles with both intelligence and aggressiveness alleviates the pressure on the interior of the Rams' line to dominate in tight. However, with Scherff making these kinds of plays on the second level, the Rams would be able to create big plays on runs that are typically easier to contain.

Adding this element to the Rams' running game would be huge for the offense as a whole. The added versatility can only aid head coach Jeff Fisher's team.

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On this play, Scherff releases to the second level from the very beginning of the play. He is initially knocked off balance as he contacts the defender in front of him. Despite this initial stumble, he is able to smoothly retrieve his balance and engage a defender on the second level.

Scherff reverses his upper body, establishes a base and pushes the linebacker away from the direction the running play is going in.

As the San Francisco 49ers have shown in recent seasons, having multiple players who can pull and advance to the second level is very valuable. It allows the offensive line to trap defenders from different areas and attack the defense at different angles.

The offense becomes completely unpredictable when it has three or more players who can pull or advance to the second level with ease.

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Because the Rams have moved on from their offensive coordinator from last season (Brian Schottenheimer), it's unclear what kind of offense they are going to run. However, if they are going to incorporate more zone blocking, Scherff would be a perfect fit because he moves laterally with ease and understands how to execute his blocking in those situations.

This ability to move laterally and control his momentum in space will make Scherff a valuable screen-blocker also.

Picking at 10th overall means that the Rams don't completely control who they can take in the draft. They were fairly certain that Robinson would be available to them last season because they were picking second overall and the Houston Texans didn't need a left tackle.

Unless general manager Les Snead decides to trade up for Marcus Mariota or make an aggressive move to add to the secondary, offensive line seems like the most likely move.

Scherff is the best fit with the team because of the identity his run-blocking ability would help to create. If Scherff isn't available, La'el Collins, Cameron Erving or Andrus Peat could be brought in and immediately start at different positions.

Peat would be a right tackle for the Rams. Like Scherff, he is a positive run-blocker. Erving is one of the best prospects in the draft, but his positional value hurts his stock, as he is best suited to play center. Collins could play either guard or tackle, but he doesn't appear to have as much impact potential as the other options.

This is set to be a crucially important year for the Rams' head coach and general manager.

Sam Bradford's injuries bought them time as they rebuilt the roster with so many draft picks. Now that Bradford has been traded away and the roster has been replenished, it appears that Fisher and Snead are finally under immediate pressure to make the playoffs.

With that in mind, they should be looking to find impact players at positions of need. Scherff fits that description as well as anyone.