If there were any doubt in the wake of Peter King’s latest Monday Morning Quarterback column (and there shouldn’t have been), there’s definitely none now.
The Rams, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, will trade the No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 draft, which barring something completely unforeseen and unexpected will be used on Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III.
The only remaining question is the “who” and the “how much.” The fact that the draft picks are now subject to a genuine rookie wage scale, which drives down the financial cost of using the second overall pick, and could drive the picks-and-players cost even higher.
The prime candidates to trade up remain the Browns (No. 4 and 22 overall), the Redskins (No. 6), the Dolphins (No. 8), and the Seahawks (No. 12). As King pointed out both in MMQB and on PFT Live, there could be one or more mystery teams.
And that’s where things could get very interesting. If, as suggested earlier in the day, Griffin’s finds extra motivation in the fact that the Colts aren’t given the likely second pick a second glance, Griffin could be the perfect target for the team that holds the No. 7 selection: the AFC South’s Jaguars.
Yeah, they’re committed to Blaine Gabbert, who arrived via the 10th overall pick in 2011 after the Jaguars gave up a second-round pick in order to flip-flop first-round spots with the Redskins. But what better way to throw other teams off the scent than to create the impression that Gabbert remains the guy? New Jaguars coach Mike Mularkey and new Rams G.M. Les Snead worked together in Atlanta, which could help Mularkey achieve and maintain extreme discretion from Snead while the talks secretly occur. And new Jags owner Shahid Khan may be willing to mortgage a chunk of his future drafts in order to secure the franchise’s future as a contender for the next 10 years or more.
Throw in the fact that Griffin would get two cracks at the Colts every year, and the move seems far less ludicrous.