2012 NFL Draft: St. Louis Rams Ask for the World...and Get It!

It is often said that you should never be afraid to ask for exactly what you want, because the worst someone can do is tell you no, and then you’re right back where you started. 

The St. Louis Rams asked for the world, and the Washington Redskins happily obliged. 

As first reported by FoxSports.com, the Redskins have acquired the No. 2 pick in this April’s NFL Draft for three first-round picks and a second-round pick. 

The deal won’t become official until the new league season begins on Tuesday, but once it does, the Rams will receive Washington’s No. 6 overall pick this year as well as Washington’s 2012 second-rounder, and first-round picks in 2013 and 2014.

As much as I’d like to insert a Daniel Snyder joke here, it appears that there was at least one other team (the Cleveland Browns) willing to pay a similar price for the pick, which will almost certainly be used on Robert Griffin III after, as expected, the Indianapolis Colts select Stanford’s Andrew Luck with the first overall pick.

Ever since the 2012 draft order was determined and the Heisman Trophy winning former Baylor quarterback officially declared himself eligible for the NFL draft, NFL analysts and draft experts have debated whether the Rams would be better off using the pick, or trading it for a haul that would help solidify the organization’s future, something they indicated weeks ago that they would do.

Had anyone known that the pick would attract such a bounty (pun very much intended in reference to new Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams), I’m certain there would have been no such debate.

This is easily the highest price paid for a draft pick since New Orleans Saints head coach Mike Ditka traded all of his 1999 draft picks to, who else, the Redskins, and 2000 first- and third-rounders, for the right to draft University of Texas running back Ricky Williams fifth overall. 

While the Redskins did manage to get Champ Bailey in the first-round of that year’s draft, they missed badly on the remainder of the picks, making the trade, in retrospect, not nearly as awful as it appeared at the time. 

Rams fans can only hope that their new leadership does not follow in Washington’s footsteps, because if they play this right, they could close the gap between themselves and the 49ers a lot sooner than many expected.

As for the Redskins, they have now placed an unfair burden on RGIII to be the immediate savior of a franchise that is far removed from its glory days. 

There’s no question that the ghost of the recently retired Williams, who was also coming off a Heisman Trophy-winning campaign for a Big 12 school in 1999, will follow him even before the pick becomes official.

Add to that the inevitable comparisons to Cam Newton and the success that he had during his rookie campaign, and you have a recipe for disaster. 

Even with RGIII at the helm, the Redskins are easily the worst team in the NFC East, which says more about the talent in that division than it does about the state of the Redskins. 

With a top 15 quarterback, this team could have easily been an 8-8 or 9-7 team last season, but that was largely due to the fact that they came into the season with low expectations. 

If for no other reason than the price they paid to acquire the No. 2 pick, Griffin III and the Redskins will likely be under a brighter spotlight than presumed No. 1 pick Andrew Luck, who will walk into an obvious rebuilding situation with few immediate expectations, even with the weight of replacing Peyton Manning on his shoulders.

As a diehard Cowboys fan and admitted Redskins hater, you’d think I’d find great joy in the idea of this going horribly wrong for Washington.

But by all accounts, RGIII is a bright young man and a wonderful person, and he deserves better than to be ruined by the soiled hands of Daniel Snyder.