When the Jacksonville Jaguars selected wide receiver Justin Blackmon, St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher couldn't help but let his frustration show.
Fisher slammed his eyeglasses on the table in front of him and said the first one-syllable expletive that came to mind. Fisher and the Rams came into the NFL draft hoping to take running back Trent Richardson as their home-run pick, with Blackmon as the guy they wanted next.
When the Jaguars traded up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' No. 5 pick to steal Blackmon from the Rams, St. Louis had to roll with option three.
In a terrific first-person account from inside the Rams' war room, Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports recounted the entire night. It's well worth a full read to see how trade talks and preparation really goes.
Just Thursday morning, the Rams had taken out film one more time on the three men they were considering if Richardson and Blackmon were both off the board: defensive tackle Michael Brockers, cornerback Morris Claiborne and defensive tackle Fletcher Cox.
The team apparently wasn't as high on Claiborne as some media. They decided to go with a defensive tackle, and Brockers made a last-day leap over Cox on St. Louis' draft board. When the Dallas Cowboys came calling all the way from No. 14, the Rams rolled the dice after some amusing back-and-forth.
If the Rams stayed on the clock, they were going to take Brockers at No. 6. They wound up snagging another second-round pick, moving to No. 14, and getting their man anyway.
The night didn't start how the Rams wanted, but they recovered under new general manager Les Snead. And now they have three of the next 13 picks Friday night: No. 33, No. 39, and No. 45.
