The Dolphins accomplished the feat two years ago with offensive tackle Jake Long. The Lions were able to do the same thing last year with quarterback Matthew Stafford.

But the Rams decided to wait and now, well who knows. Uncertainty is about to become their best friend over the next couple of weeks.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, when a deal eventually gets done, the guaranteed money in Sam Bradford’s contract will be between $45 million and $50 million. That’s a ton of dough for any franchise to fork over for one player, not to mention one whose owners are in the midst of trying to sell the team.

Of course, this could have been avoided had the Rams struck a deal with Bradford before the draft. They had more leverage then and certainly more options. While they wanted and needed a franchise quarterback most of all, if they knew that signing Bradford would be an issue (or they weren’t prepared to hand him $50 million in guaranteed money), they could have selected Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh or Oklahoma’s Gerald McCoy.

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ESPN.com’s John Clayton thinks one should:

Let’s start with the St. Louis Rams. They have the No. 1 pick, and many people believe St. Louis likes Suh more than McCoy. Here’s the problem: Drafting Suh No. 1 when the franchise is without a true starting quarterback doesn’t make much sense, particularly if the Rams don’t bring back Marc Bulger.

The problem facing the Rams is that they aren’t one defensive tackle away from being competitive. They went 1-15 this past season. Adding Suh without a top quarterback might keep the Rams in double-digit loss territory.

Dominating defensive tackles can make an impact on good teams, but they don’t always change the fate of bad teams. Former Steelers coach Chuck Noll built his Steel Curtain defense around Mean Joe Greene, but that team was loaded with Hall of Famers. Defensive tackles who go to bad teams can do only so much.

The Seahawks got a Hall of Fame career from defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, the third pick in the 1990 draft, but Seattle had only one playoff appearance during his great career. Glenn Dorsey, the fifth pick in the 2008 draft, didn’t stop the downturn of the Kansas City Chiefs. Steve Emtman (Colts) and Dan Wilkinson (Bengals) were top picks, but they didn’t turn around bad teams. The Cleveland Browns drafted Gerard Warren No. 3 in 2001, but the team struggled throughout the 2000s.

That’s why I predict the Rams will draft Bradford instead of Suh.

Click the link above to check out Clayton’s entire piece – it’s a good read.

Clayton’s colleague, Adam Schefter makes the same prediction for the Rams: that they will/should take Bradford. Given the money that will be invested with the No. 1 pick, it makes sense that the Rams would take a quarterback over a defensive tackle.

However, that doesn’t mean that they should. The key for teams in the draft is to select the right player that fits their scheme, regardless of position. If they draft Bradford just because it makes fiscal sense and he winds up being a bust, they could set themselves back years in the process. If they take Suh and he turns out to be a Pro Bowler, then they made the right decision, regardless of how much money they invest in his position.

The idea makes sense on the surface, but this is the same line of reasoning as a team drafting a quarterback or running back just to sell tickets. While Clayton is right in saying that Suh (or McCoy, or Eric Berry, or whoever) won’t turn a 1-15 team into a 15-1 team, at least they would be heading in the right direction by making a sound football decision.

We’ll see. If Bradford (or Jimmy Clausen) is high on the Rams’ draft board and he develops into a great quarterback, then St. Louis wins on all fronts. Again, the key is drafting the right player.

When the Atlanta Falcons selected receiver Laurent Robinson out of Illinois State in the third round of the 2007 draft, they envisioned the 6’2, 194-pound receiver becoming either a solid No. 2, or possibly even a No. 1 if Roddy White (who struggled in his first two years) failed to develop.

But after caching 37 passes for 437 yards and a touchdown his rookie year, knee and hamstring injuries limited Robinson to just five receptions in six games last season. With the emergence of second-year receiver Harry Douglas, Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff traded Robinson to the Rams this past April. In exchange, the Falcons and Rams swapped fifth and sixth round picks in the ’09 draft.

It’s hard to criticize anything Dimitroff has done in his first two offseasons in Atlanta. After all, he hired a solid head coach in Mike Smith, signed free agent Michael Turner, drafted franchise quarterback Matt Ryan, and traded for future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez. It’s no wonder why Dimitroff was named the 2008 NFL Executive of the Year.

But a couple of years down the road (or possibly much, much sooner), I have a feeling that Dimitroff will look back on the Robinson deal as one of his bigger goof ups. And I don’t say that only because Douglas suffered a season-ending injury in camp this year and Atlanta is in a bit of a bind at slot receiver; I say it because Robinson could emerge as a quality playmaker very soon.

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According to a report by Michael Lombardi of the National Football Post, the Rams are interested in suspended quarterback Michael Vick, who was recently released from federal prison.

Michael Vick update: According to people I’ve talked to who are close to him, Vick is in great spirits and looking forward to the future. I’m told he’s in great “non-professional football shape” and is determined to prove he can regain his superstar status in the NFL. He’s also very determined to do all the little things he didn’t do previously. He intends to spend more time studying the game, more time preparing to play, more time working on his game. Two years alone with nothing but your thoughts can be a powerful motivational tool.

Several people in the NFL told me not to rule out St. Louis as a possible destination for Vick. The Rams might have some ownership issues to deal with before actually signing him, but they have genuine interest. They’ve been doing their due diligence on Vick, and if the Commissioner does reinstate him, look for them to actively pursue him. It makes sense — a new coach with an older quarterback who hasn’t played well. Playing in a dome on carpet would highlight Vick’s speed and athleticism.

As with all rumors, this should be taken with a grain of salt, but as Lombardi notes in his article – don’t rule the Rams out. Then again, the Rams organization is in complete flux because of a possible sale, so they have bigger things to concentrate on right now.

People are generally going to have two thoughts on whether or not a team should pursue Vick. One group will think it’s a disaster waiting to happen, while the other will look at a team signing him as a low risk, high reward type of situation. I guess it all depends on whether or not he’ll be suspended, when the Falcons will officially release him (don’t forget he’s still under contract in Atlanta), and what kind of shape he’s in.

But personally, no matter how high the reward might be, I wouldn’t invite that circus to town if I owned a team. I wouldn’t want to deal with PETA or the media storm that would come with his signing, nor would I want my team to endure that.