St. Louis Rams Select Bradley Fletcher

With the 66th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. The St. Louis Rams have selected Bradley Fletcher CB, out of Iowa. At 6' and 200 pounds Bradley Fletcher is a pretty good size corner back with pretty good speed. Bradley was a red shirt in 2004, and played 4 season at Iowa playing in 47 games. I hope this is not the start of the rams reaching. Bradley was suspended for the 2007 season opener after being arrested for drunk driving, which goes against the Rams safe choices of late. I hope the Rams wanted Shonn Greene and had to hurry and took Fletcher, that is the only reason I see for this pick. I thought Spagnuolo would build the lines up and maybe get a heavy hitting Safety if Possible. With Jarron Gilbert DE San Jose State, Michael Johnson DE Georgia Tech, Rashad Johnson S Alabama, & Louis Vasquez Guard Texas Tech, among others still on the board this pick seems a little off to me. With Tye Hill and Justin King hopefully at full strength this is just an extra body.

View Bradley Fletcher Video

From Draftcountdown:

Outstanding athlete...Prototypical height and bulk...Long arms...Good speed...Excellent leaper...Great strength...Physical and aggressive...A reliable tackler...Agile with good change of direction...Decent hands and ball skills..Good special teamer...Versatile...Still has lots of upside.

From NFL.com

Always the good soldier since arriving on campus in 2004, he toiled on special teams as a redshirt freshman. He started four games while sharing left cornerback duties with Adam Shada as a sophomore and then shifted to the right side in 2007. He spent his junior campaign alternating with Charles Godfrey, picking up four more starting assignments.

From CBSSports:

Key and Diagnostic Skills: Fletcher plays more like a safety than a cornerback. He has good physicality behind his hits and does much better vs. plays in front of him than when turned on the backfield. He shows good awareness and can see the route develop quickly. He anticipates the path of the ball in flight well, doing a nice job of extending and reaching around to break up the pass. He is a bit late seeing the receiver on the out routes when he uses the shuffle technique, but does a good job of reacting to the runs along the perimeter. GRADE: 6.5