One is a tackle and one is a middle linebacker. But, in reality, the Rams’ first two picks in this year’s draft are clones of each other.
Passion. Intensity. Football players. That’s what the Rams believe they got with the addition of first-round tackle Jason Smith and second-round middle linebacker James Laurinaitis.
Of Smith, coach Steve Spagnuolo said, “He’s a quality person, first of all and I do think he brings a lot of juice in his play. He’s passionate about what he does. If you got to watch the TV portion of it, he was actually crying. He’s passionate and he 
wanted to be here. That’s the other thing that (general manager) Billy (Devaney) and I were really impressed with. For whatever reason, you’d have to ask him, but he really wanted to be a St. Louis Ram. That means a lot to us.”
Asked about examples of that passion, Spagnuolo said, “It’s not too hard to figure out. Billy uses the word and I use it too: he’s a great finisher. He doesn’t take plays off. You can see him make his block or his assignment. When that guy is on the ground he goes on to the next guy. Great finisher is probably the best way to figure that out and he shows that on tape.”
As for Laurinaitis, the Rams explored trading into the end of the first round, but nothing materialized. Devaney said, “Some of the best trades are the ones that you don’t make.”
Added Devaney, “He has the size you’re looking for. He loves football. We talked about getting bigger as a team and I think he adds some size to our team and our linebacker corps. He’s another guy, and I know you probably get tired of hearing it, the smart, passionate, productive kind of deal, but we’re sticking to it. And the scouts are sticking to it.”
Said Spagnuolo, “He’s a leadership guy and he’s productive. Like Billy said, he’s smart and he’s played a lot of football at a good school, been in a lot of big games, made a lot of big plays. You have to like that in any defensive player. That gets me excited.”
Smith said deep down he wanted to be a Ram. Asked why, he said, “Obviously, they are at the bottom, they want to be at the top. I could feel that when I was there. I could feel that talking to the guys and then I had the opportunity to go watch the team work out and I’m feeling like I’m part of them.
“I’m saying, ‘Why not us? Why not us? Why are we not the ones?’ And I was like, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa,’ I’m not even there yet. But why not us you know? So obviously I have a job to do and I’m going to have that same mentality, ‘why not us?’ Why not me? Why not today? Why not this game? Why not this year? Why not this playoff? 
Why not this Super Bowl? Let’s make dreams and visions become reality.”
While some will wonder why the Rams selected Laurinaitis instead of Southern Cal’s Rey Maualuga, think back to 2006 when the Rams picked defensive tackle Claude Wroten in the third round. The team took a chance on a talented player with personal issues. They did the same thing that year in the same round, trading up later to take tight end Dominique Byrd.
Three years later, Wroten has been suspended twice, Byrd once, and both are currently out of football. Those are totally blown picks. It’s hard enough to find players that will continue to ascend when they reach the NFL. Taking risks on players that repeatedly show that football isn’t that important to them is only asking for trouble. Where this franchise is now, Devaney and Spagnuolo can’t afford to take chances on players. There’s a reason Maualuga lasted until the second round, and was selected by Cincinnati.
Laurinaitis might not be as physically gifted as Maualuga and Jason Smith isn’t as talented as Andre Smith. But, Laurinaitis and Jason Smith are quality people that love the game. Stated simply, those are the people you can win with. The others will usually just break your heart and make you kick yourself for taking a chance.
THE QUOTE
“I’m 6-5 and 310 pounds of steel. I’m a football player. I take that very seriously. And I understand every day that I have work to do. And I’m going to do everything in my power to get better every day.” – First-round pick Jason Smith.