Rams add Iowa cornerback in third round of NFL draft

ST. LOUIS -- At first blush, the St. Louis Rams' third-round pick may not seem to fit the organization's oft-stated desire to populate the roster with character players.

The team is convinced Iowa cornerback Bradley Fletcher's DUI in 2007 is an isolated case, so they took him Sunday to begin Day 2 of the draft.

"We did our due diligence thoroughly with this guy and it kept coming back that he messed up, he made a mistake," Rams general manager Billy Devaney said. "We weren't going to take anybody off the draft board just because they made a mistake or did something silly that a lot of college kids do.

"We had everybody vouch for him at Iowa that he's a strong character guy."

The Rams picked 312-pound defensive tackle Darell Scott, a three-year starter at nose guard for Clemson, in the fourth round. They addressed a shortage at wide receiver in the fifth round by taking Brooks Foster of North Carolina, dipped into Division II for prolific West Texas A&M quarterback Keith Null in the sixth and took Texas running back Chris Ogbonnaya in the seventh.

On Day 1, the Rams took Baylor offensive tackle Jason Smith with the second overall pick and added Ohio State linebacker James Laurinaitis, in the second round.

"We're like 31 other teams; we're pleased with the way it went," Devaney said. "For the most part, it went according to plan."

Four Tigers selected

* Missouri tight end Chase Coffman was drafted in the third round by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Also drafted on Sunday were safety William Moore (Atlanta), offensive lineman Colin Brown (Kansas City) and defensive end Stryker Sulak (Oakland.)