Todd Gurley brings positive early returns on Rams' 2015 draft class

The Los Angeles Rams have four NFL drafts under their belt with coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead in charge. After releasing defensive end Chris Long and linebacker James Laurinaitis, the Rams only have four homegrown players remaining on the roster who were drafted before Snead and Fisher arrived.

Those four players -- end Robert Quinn, tight end Lance Kendricks, offensive lineman Rodger Saffold and defensive end Eugene Sims -- were taken in the 2011 (Quinn and Kendricks) and 2010 (Saffold and Sims) drafts.

As we head toward the draft at the end of the month, now is a good time to take stock of the four classes Fisher and Snead have brought in that form the foundation of the team.

We wrap things up today with the 2015 NFL draft:

The picks: RB Todd Gurley (No. 10 overall), OT Rob Havenstein (No. 57), OG Jamon Brown (No. 72), QB Sean Mannion (No. 89), OL Andrew Donnal (No. 119), WR Bud Sasser (No. 201), OG Cody Wichmann (No. 215), LB Bryce Hager (No. 224), DE Martin Ifedi (No. 227), OT Isaiah Battle (supplemental -- fifth round).

What's left: The Rams' most recent class naturally comes with the most players returning to the roster. Gurley has already established himself as a foundational piece moving forward. Havenstein was solid when healthy and looks like a keeper as the starter at right tackle. Brown and Donnal battled injury problems but Brown should be back in the mix to reclaim a starting guard position. Mannion, Wichmann, Battle and Hager are still around for depth. Sasser never played for the Rams after the team discovered a heart issue in his physicals. Ifedi was released before the start of the season. That leaves a total of eight of the 10 drafts players from this class still on the team.

Best pick: This one is just as easy as picking defensive tackle Aaron Donald as the best choice for the Rams in the 2014 draft. The resounding answer is Gurley, who didn't even become a starter until week 4 after recovering from a knee injury but still did enough to win the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Gurley is now another year removed from the knee injury and should be healthier and better in 2016. That's a scary thought for opposing defenses and an appealing one for a Rams team that plans to build its offense around him.

Worst pick: It's not his fault that he had medical issues but the Rams' inability to identify them before drafting him left Sasser on the outside before he even participated in an OTA. If a player is drafted and never even plays a snap, it's hard to choose someone else as the worst pick. All the way around, it was an unfortunate situation though to their credit, the Rams made the best of it by giving Sasser a job in their alumni relations and youth football department. Sasser is now trying to revive his career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.

Breakdown: It's definitely too early to make sweeping judgments on a draft class that was just brought in a year ago but the early returns are promising if for no other reason than Gurley. The Rams went heavy on offensive linemen in this draft and of the group, Havenstein was the only one to consistently play well but the Rams saw some good things from Brown and Wichmann while Donnal also got some much-needed experience. If they end up with two or three starting offensive linemen out of this draft to go with Gurley and a strong special teamer in Hager, this class will be a success. There's still some proving to do before we can say that but they seem to be on the right track.