2013 NFL mock draft: Rams select Matt Elam

With the 16th pick in Pride Of Detroit's 2013 NFL mock draft, the St. Louis Rams select Florida safety Matt Elam. Wayne Fontes is serving as the Rams' general manager, and his reasoning for the pick is below.

I had a deal in place to send the Rams' two first-round picks to the Lions for the fifth overall pick; unfortunately, that deal was struck with the veto hammer by our league commissioner.

The Rams have multiple needs: WR, S, LB, OG, DT and RB, and honestly any position other than QB or CB is not totally out of the realm of possibility. I eliminated OG since the two I had an eye on are off the board, and in Jeff Fisher's 17 seasons as head coach of Houston/Tennessee, he never used a first-round draft pick to select an offensive lineman.

Other than Tavon Austin, I am not greatly impressed enough with any of the wide receiver options to spend the 16th pick on one.

The safety I was licking my chops and crossing my fingers for was selected with the previous pick. I felt Kenny Vaccaro was the perfect fit for a team that will field one of the better cornerback tandems in the NFL but could use two safeties to play beside them.

After careful deliberation, I've decided to select Matt Elam, the safety from Florida. In my evaluations, Vaccaro and Elam are the only first-round caliber safeties in this year's draft, and although some may consider this pick a bit of a reach, I just could not let him fall into the hands of the Steelers or Cowboys and miss out on him with the 22nd pick. I will not get into all his attributes; enough information is available on the web to gain insight. But I will say, although he is a bit undersized, he is not afraid to bring the hurt upon any of the read-option QBs in his division who choose to invade his territory.

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Check out the 2013 Pride Of Detroit Community Mock Draft tracker for a look at all of the picks.