St. Louis forced to put faith in rookie tandem for tight end position

~ The team traded Manumaleuna and drafted tight ends in the second and third rounds.

ST. LOUIS -- Right now, mistakes by the St. Louis Rams' rookie tight end tandem can be coached and corrected and nobody really suffers.

On Aug. 10, when the Rams open the preseason that situation will change. Quarterback Marc Bulger won't be wearing one of those yellow, do-not-touch jerseys, and the missed blocking assignment that he took note of on Day 1 could have meant a serious injury.

The Rams hedged their bets in a youth move at the position by taking Joe Klopfenstein and Dominique Byrd in the second and third round of the draft after trading off disappointing starter Brandon Manumaleuna.

But each knows the sense of urgency.

"We're getting thrown right into the fire," Byrd said. "You kind of want to have that sense of urgency, because you know the vets are looking for it."

Bulger is looking for it, too. He missed half of last season with a shoulder injury.

"I think they have to realize that this isn't college; we're not going to baby them along," Bulger said. "Two weeks from now we're playing Indianapolis and one mistake like they made today, you could get your quarterback out for the year."

Bulger didn't identify the player in question.

"It might have been me," Byrd said. "That's a mistake you don't want to have, but you know it's a mistake you can correct now.

"No one's going to hit him now."

New coach Scott Linehan regards tight end as the biggest question mark on the offense.

Klopfenstein was an all-Big 12 player at Colorado with better skills at catching passes than blocking. Byrd, out of USC, had 81 career receptions and is ambidextrous.

Linehan wants to throw the ball to the tight end more. His predecessor, Mike Martz, used that position mainly for blocking. Manumaleuna caught only 13 passes in 14 starts last year and totaled 66 receptions in five seasons.

Randy McMichael had 60 catches last year for the Dolphins, for whom Linehan served as offensive coordinator. In 2004, when Linehan was offensive coordinator of the Vikings, Jermaine Wiggins had 71 catches at tight end.

"It's something he loves to do," Klopfenstein said. "They really didn't do it too much last year, and with the caliber of the receivers here, that's really going to help."

Still, they'll have to block to stay on the field.

"We're young there; we're scary young," Linehan said. "You've basically just got to say you're going to do it.

"If you're going to draft two guys you want to play them, put them on the field and go through the growing pains with them."

While they perfect the system, Linehan knows he can expect one constant from them.

"What's great about the youth is they'll give you everything," he said.

The rookies insist they don't see it as a competition. They're roommates at the team hotel near Rams Park and have become friends.

"We just kind of go at it with a good spirit," Byrd said. "If we were battling with each other, it might come to something in the room, but we're fine."