ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Rams made a flurry of trades that left them with a bundle of high choices next year but without the man they most wanted in Tuesday's NFL draft.
In a trade with the Redskins, the Rams vaulted from the 20th pick to No. 9, where they took linebacker Mel Owens of Michigan as their first choice. A deal with the New York Jets that would have given the Rams the third overall pick fell through, leaving them with no chance to grab quarterback Rich Campbell of California. Campbell went to Green Bay.
Rams spokesman Jerry Wilcox said that if Campbell had been available they would have chosen him, but that Owens was 'the highest player on our board when it came our turn to pick.
'If we could have gotten the chance to take Campbell we would have,' Wilcox said, 'but I don't think we'll try to trade for him. We're satisfied with (Pat) Haden.'
Owner Georgia Frontiere echoed the feeling, saying she will miss Vince Ferragamo, who was signed Monday by Montreal of the Canadian league, but she too is happy with the three Rams quarterbacks -- Haden, Bob Lee and Jeff Rutledge.
'I'm going to miss him as a person and I hope we don't miss him as a quarterback,' she said of Ferragamo. 'Everybody knows I like Bobby Lee. I like Pat Haden and Jeff Rutledge. I like anybody who can throw the ball and score.'
The Rams' next choice was another linebacker, Jim Collins of Syracuse, who was taken on the second-round pick obtained from Miami. The deal in effect was a trade for linebacker Bob Brudzinski, who went to the Dolphins in exchange for the draft pick.
The next two picks were also defensive players, as Los Angeles chose Greg Meisner, a tackle from Pitt, and Robert Cobb, an end from Arizona. Not until the fifth pick, which came in the fourth round, did the Rams take an offensive player, George Lilja, the center from Michigan.
The sixth round pick and the final choice of the first day was William Daniels, a defensive tackle from Alabama State.
In the 1982 draft, the Rams will have two first-round choices, two seconds, two thirds, one fourth and two fifths.
Only three rookies have been immediate starters for the Rams since 1966 -- Tom Mack, Dave Elmendorf and last year's first-round pick, Johnny Johnson -- and Wilcox said it was unlikely any of this year's crop would be instant starters.
'We're trying to get people who have some stability and some character and are going to be good citizens,' Wilcox said. 'We think we've got pretty good football players and some pretty good people too.'
The Rams said that Owens was not as highly publicized as the other linebackers who went higher in the draft -- Lawrence Taylor of North Carolina and E.J. Junior of Alabama -- but he is a quick player who will probably be put in the middle linebacker slot.
Collins, who played in the Shrine and Senior bowls, was described as tough, aggressive and a natural middle linebacker.
