NFL Draft Notes: Rams, Steelers, 49ers, Browns, Cowboys,

Rams

Mike Silver of Yahoo Sports reports that the St Louis Rams were actually prepared to take LSU DT Michael Brockers with the No. 6 all along.

The fact that they were able to move down to No. 14 and still grab him while adding an addition second-round pick from the Cowboys, seems like a perfect scenario for them, considering where they had Brockers rated on their draft board.

St Louis will be very active at the start of the second round as they have picks #33, #39 and #45 to work with. Some speculative options include: OT Cordy Glenn, OLB Lavonte David, WR Reuben Randle and WR Stephen Hill.

Steelers

Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that a team source has informed him that the Steelers were “close” to taking Alabama ILB Dont’a Hightower at No. 24 pick, but ultimately chose to pass on him for Stanford OG David DeCastro because they believe he “has no holes” in his game.

Hightower was a very popular pick in a lot of expert mock drafts, but they certainly came away with a quality prospect in DeCastro. Some even think that DeCastro could actually play offensive tackle at the next level, so the Steelers should certainly be pleased with this addition, considering the issues that they had to endure last year.

49ers

According to SI’s Peter King, one NFL team with a need at the receiver position actually had Illinois WR A.J. Jenkins rated ahead of Michael Floyd.

Jenkins was a shocking pick by the 49ers, but he was quickly rising up draft boards in the last few weeks while meeting with a staggering number of NFL teams. I believe that number was close 30. Whether or not he’s going to be a better player than Floyd remains to be seen, but he should definitely be someone to watch in the 49er offense next season.

Browns

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Browns were prepared to take WR Kendall Wright at No. 22 overall, but the Titans grabbed him before they even had the chance. Schefter adds that the Browns were “bummed not to get Wright.”

Browns GM Tom Heckert expects to see newly draft QB Brandon Weeden “eventually” take over as the team’s starting quarterback, via Cleveland Plain Dealer.

While this shouldn’t be that surprising considering that they used one of their first-round picks on him, there were reports from earlier in the day that they still saw Colt McCoy as their guy. There’s no question that Weeden will have an opportunity to compete for the teams’ starting job, but it should be interesting to see how long it takes for them to consider making a change. After all, they just drafted a 28-year-old quarterback, so it’s not like he has the normal career span of a typical quarterback coming out of college.

Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys are expecting their new cornerback Morris Claiborne to be fully healed by the time training camp roles around, following a recent surgery that he underwent on his wrist.

“We don’t anticipate him practicing much football in the offseason, but we fully anticipate him being ready for Day 1 of training camp,” said head coach Jason Garrett on Thursday, via ESPN Dallas.

Claiborne actually suffered the injury in November, but underwent surgery back in March. There hasn’t been a lot of concern from NFL evaluators regarding the injury, so it seems reasonable to expect to see him fully healthy in the coming months.