See, here's the thing.
Some Rams fans feel strongly about Winston.
If I was to wager, I'd wager that Fisher still believes in Sam Bradford. Strongly. Very strongly.
Now, that doesn't obviate a high pick for a QB seeing as the lower pick didn't work out for Gilbert. That said, I'm pretty sure that they like the development of Davis.
I very much expect that the Rams will bolster the OL, LB and Secondary while looking for another QB in there.
Will they burn a first rounder on a QB? I am dubious based on how Fisher has behaved so far and the fact that he's been adamant that he came here in large part because of Sam Bradford.
So, if Hundley is there at 10 or wherever we draft, is there a chance we go after him? Sure there is. But I don't think there will be any doubt that Winston will be magnetic... attractive to some teams, repulsive to others. How that affects the top of the draft, I'm not exactly sure, but I still think enough teams will want him that he'll go at or around the top. And this Rams teams is likely toward the end of the season to win a few games and be drafting around that 10-13 slot... where moving up to Oakland's spot (where a team would have to go to get above Tampa who has a find in Derek Carr, though Oakland will consider him as well, I'm sure) will be prohibitive. Not expensive....prohibitive.
Mariotta will be right up there as well. Now, Hundley should also be up there, but depends how many teams can use QBs up there and what our final record is...
So, we may...may have a chance at Hundley, but again... I have no idea if the Snisher will be remotely interested in a 1st round QB when they can trade down, get a C/OG later in the round, and have multiple picks in the 2nd or 3rd rounds to bolster the LB corp and Secondary.
So, all of our personal takes on ANY player are just that. If we want to really look ahead, we can peak through the murky glass of past behaviors and what we see is that Fisher still believes in Sam Bradford. I won't pretend to know how they get there with the contract situation and all that, but come draft day, I think the Rams will NOT be looking to draft a QB in the 1st.
And it won't matter if that makes every Winston, Mariotta, Hundley, Cook or <insert QB here> fan upset.
Fisher has beaten Seattle and SF with Austin Davis and would have gone 5-2 with him if the D hadn't had really bad breakdowns...which I think we all underestimated the "install time" for a Williams D (and let's be honest, we all know a Perkins-Earhardt Offense is a 3 year install... West Coast? 2 years... so for a multiple look, exotic blitz, complicated assignment D like Williams runs... one off-season was never gonna cut it. The good news is that we've seen some spectacular moments that we've never seen from this D, so if this crew really gets this D, they have the potential to really BE that D we've been hoping for).
Bottom line for me is that I just want to see the season play out. Davis is really impressing me each week. He's improving. I'm watching him as a rookie and what I like is that he's tough. The shots he takes routinely take out bigger QBs and without that, we'd be starting a guy who was taking tickets in the parking lot by now... If we end up with a stud OG in the 1st, a QB and a LB in the 2nd and a DB in the 3rd... I'd be tickled with that. That would give us Bradford, Davis and a rookie QB to go forward with unless they get news that Bradford's knee isn't good to go. That, of course, would change things... But, short of that, that's how I expect it to go...
Well, either that or we take another stud DT... ya know... because, you can't have enough of those...