Rams News

Rams' 7th-round draft pick
is glad call finally came
04/26 08:09 PM

By Jim Thomas
Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

As the NFL draft wound its way through Day 2, even the most ardent draftniks forgot about Jason Chorak.
Unfortunately for Chorak, so did the entire National Football League.
Everything he had read and heard projected him as a second- to fourth-round draft pick. He was, after all, defensive player of the year in the mighty Pacific-10 Conference in 1996, when he set a school record with 14 sacks for the Washington Huskies.
Yes, his play leveled off in '97. But he still rang up seven sacks and 20 tackles for loss despite a bursa sac problem. For much of the season, his knee had to be drained two or three times a week.
``I was still productive,'' Chorak said. ``But the NFL is a big business, and people aren't going to invest that type of money in you if you're not the 280-pound defensive end.''
Alas, Chorak weighs 256 pounds, making him the classic NFL 'tweener -- not big enough to play defensive end, and perhaps not mobile enough to play linebacker.
Chorak played golf on the first day of the draft -- April 18 -- but brought his cellphone along, waiting for The Call. The only call he got was from his agent, Joel Segul, telling him the draft was over for the day.
Day 2: Chorak hung out at his Seattle apartment but didn't sit in front of the TV watching the draft. ``We don't get ESPN2 where I live,'' Chorak said.
Segul phoned several times to tell him what was happening, round-by-round. In Chorak's case, the answer was nothing. The entire experience was torture.
``You're kind of waiting and waiting and waiting,'' Chorak said. ``Here comes the seventh round. And you're still waiting. So it was rough.''
Finally, with only six picks remaining until the end of the draft, the Rams took Chorak in the seventh round -- No. 236 overall.
``It's just amazing when a player slips like that,'' said Charley Armey, the Rams' vice president of player personnel.
Oddly enough, Chorak's agent was upset that the Rams broke his free fall. The Rams already had drafted two speed rushers in Grant Wistrom and Leonard Little. They play a 4-3 defensive alignment, not the 3-4 that would seem to better fit Chorak's skills. In addition, several teams were interested in signing him as an undrafted free agent, perhaps for even more signing bonus money than he might get from St. Louis.
``I was real surprised that I came to a 4-3 team,'' Chorak said. ``I had a bunch of teams that were ready to sign me up on a free-agent deal.''
Chorak would have gotten that chance were it not for Rams offensive line coaches Jim Hanifan and Ed White. Head coach Dick Vermeil was thinking offensive lineman with the team's final pick. But Hanifan mentioned that Chorak had once been Pac-10 defensive player of the year.
White, who coached at San Diego State last season, chimed in. ``I said, `Hey, we had him in the first game, and he was a holy terror,' '' White said.
So Chorak, who grew up on Vashon Island in Puget Sound near Seattle, became a Ram. His agent's concerns aside, Chorak was glad to get drafted by anyone, anywhere.
``There's only so many people that are drafted,'' said Chorak, whose parents were born in Croatia. ``I can say, maybe when I'm 40 years old, that I got drafted by the Rams and signed with the Rams. It's always been my goal in life ever since I was a little kid to go out and be a part of an NFL team. Now it's finally coming true.''
The Rams plan to use Chorak, who runs a 4.57 in the 40, as a speed rusher and outside linebacker. Although he occasionally dropped into coverage on zone blitzes in college, the outside linebacker part will be new. ``I think with coaching and a little time, I'll be all right,'' Chorak said. ``I'm a fast learner.''
At Rams Park, Chorak need look no farther than former Husky teammate D'Marco Farr for inspiration. Farr was Pacific-10 defensive player of the year in 1993, when Chorak was a freshman, but went undrafted the following spring. He's been a three-year starter in St. Louis.

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