NFL Power Rankings: St. Louis Rams and Teams with Big Holes To Fill in the Draft

Taking a look at the cellar dwellers on the NFL Power Rankings, many of them have a glaring need for a playmaker or elite talent in at least two positions. When these teams make their selections or trades on April 26th at the NFL Draft, they will be attempting to fill those holes.

Here are four of those teams, and the player they may tab to help turn their fortunes around in 2012 and beyond.

St. Louis Rams

The Rams are in need of a better offensive line, but they won't be able to resist plucking the best wide receiver prospect in the country, in Oklahoma State's Justin Blackmon.

Blackmon is physically similar to Terrell Owens or Andre Johnson, but he does have some character concerns. If all goes well, Sam Bradford will have a true No. 1 receiver. That is something he has yet to benefit from in his short pro career.

St. Louis' struggles to find weapons beyond Steven Jackson is one of the biggest reasons they are 2-10. Blackmon would give the team a definite weapon in the passing game.

Indianapolis Colts

The Colts are going to draft Andrew Luck. With Peyton Manning's career in doubt because of a neck injury, the Colts are fortunate a prospect like Luck is available.

The Colts could roll the dice by trading down, and taking Heisman trophy winner Robert Griffin III out of Baylor, but Luck and the possibility of having him learn from Manning is too much to pass up.

Washington Redskins

The Skins also need a QB, Rex Grossman has played well, but he is not a long-term solution. They would be wise to take RG3, but Matt Barkley also makes sense for them here.

The direction the league is going with the success of Cam Newton and Tim Tebow would give RG3 an edge. He is a mixture of both styles, a pocket passer with great athleticism.

Griffin makes great decisions, and only uses the speed and agility when necessary. Something tells me, there will be several teams kicking themselves two years from now, if they pass on the Heisman winner.

Carolina Panthers

The Panthers certainly don't need a QB, but they desperately need help on defense, specifically the pass coverage. Morris Claiborne is the best cornerback in college football. The current LSU Tiger has good size at 6'0" and he has elite ball skills.

He would be a great start in what needs to be a rebuilding of the Panthers defense. The Panthers expect the return of a healthy Jon Beason in the middle; they would hope Claiborne has a similar impact as his former teammate Patrick Peterson is having in Arizona.

It is possible with those additions, and a few others through free agency, the Panthers could contend for a playoff spot in 2012.

Here are the entire NFL Power Rankings heading into Week 15:

1. Green Bay 13-0

2. Baltimore 10-3

3. Pittsburgh 10-3

4. San Francisco 10-3

5. New Orleans 10-3

6. Houston Texans 10-3

7. New England Patriots 10-3

8. Atlanta 9-5

9. Denver 8-5

10. NY Jets 8-5

11. NY Giants 7-6

12. Detroit 8-5

13 .Dallas 7-6

14. Tennessee 7-6

15. Cincinnati 7-6

16. Oakland 7-6

17. Arizona 6-7

18. Chicago 7-6

19. Seattle 6-7

20. Philadelphia 5-8

21. San Diego 6-7

22. Buffalo 5-8

23. Miami 4-9

24. Kansas City 5-8

25. Carolina 4-9

26. Washington 4-9

27. Cleveland 4-9

28. Tampa Bay 4-9

29. Jacksonville 4-10

30. Minnesota 2-11

31. St. Louis 2-11

32. Indianapolis 0-13