6 Mistakes the St. Louis Rams Can't Afford to Make This Offseason

[BonifayRam]

What's the consensus on barksdale?

Thats there is NO consensus on him here in ROD' land. It ranges from where from the left field where many think he is the best ORT the Rams have had since Jackie Slater days to where I am at on the right that he has a gaping large size hole in his pass protection game & the major surgery to fix it will cost more than he will be worth.

The only consensus I think we can agree on here is .....Currently he is no longer under a Ram contract & able to go play where-ever he desires that will offer him a contract.

.........I also agree with keeping Joe Barksdale. He played poorly in 2014 but he's been solid up until then. ......... Add into that the argument that Barksdale struggles historically against talented 3-4 edge-rushers (hey, who wouldn't) in a season when the quirk of the schedule meant we played against more of those teams than usual (Kansas City for example) and its easy to see why an average right tackle in this league looked a little overmatched at times. What I'd say is that at the moment we need numbers on that o-line. It looks possible, if not probable that Jake Long is done, Scott Wells maybe too. So Greg Robinson is our LT. Saffold LG (I'd personally like to see him at RG where he's a beast of a run blocker) coming off surgery, an untried C in Tim Barnes and a hole at RG. We don't need a hole at RT as well!

Most of all you said RaminExile has good merit to it. Your right that we sure do not need another hole if we let Barksdale sign elsewhere....but I sure would not candy over JB pass blocking issues as you have it was & will continue to result in stalled offensive drives. Signing a deficient pass protector OT to a good size contract just because Fisher has allowed the OL to be in such a bad state is not the way I would go.

I'm going after his replacement with the first selection in this draft if it were me. I going to get a ORT that can be a whole entire package of a NFL right OT. A ORT that does not demand Boudreau having to start our best OL next to him to support & enable Barksdale to line up as a starter.You said that Barksdale had been solid up till this season....I would like to say that up till this season JB had never entered the season as a NFL starter. Going into the 2013 season Barksdale was just a back up. The only body of work JB work in the NFL was nothing more than a 3rd or 4th OT reserve. In 2013 Saffold started the first two games until he was injured that caused him to miss 4 games when Saffold returned they alternated the ORT post between Saffold & JB. That went on until Harvey Dahl was injured the last week of November then Boudreau was forced to turn the ORT post over to JB. So it was not like JB won the starting ORT post over competition but by default being the last man standing.

Once I secure our future ORT, Barksdale & his his expensive contract becomes a heavy weight on this Ram team the next four yrs...thus seriously affecting our ability to sign the 7 or 8 Ram UFA's who enter FA in 2016. fact is there are long term costs to signing Barksdale to this 4 yr contact that he will demand.

 

[fearsomefour]

Hard to argue with any of the points they made.
If Long goes Barksdale has to stay. I can't think of a real reason to keep Long when his replacement is already here.
Britt was good last year but has never been a dominant guy. The WR FA is top heavy this year so I am hoping that keeps Britts' price down.
They say, don't give up on Bradford....they only say that because there are so few options out there. I love Grayson, but, he is not a guy who is going to come in and start day one. So, the Rams are limited to looking to improve the QB depth....this does nothing (in a best case scenario) to help the team get to the playoffs.

 

[Robocop]

well it was better than another article i read that said the Rams top needs were QB, CB and RB. I'm dead serious. this is how much the media pays attention to the Rams.

 

[tahoe]

Hell-to-the-no on drafting Hundley at 10 but I do agree on not trading up. I think the rams should keep Long if he will take less money and move him to left guard. Id rather keep Barksdale than have another hole to fill. Overall this is just fluff... is the draft here yet?

 

[BonifayRam]

Hard to argue with any of the points they made.
If Long goes Barksdale has to stay. I can't think of a real reason to keep Long when his replacement is already here.
Britt was good last year but has never been a dominant guy. The WR FA is top heavy this year so I am hoping that keeps Britts' price down.
They say, don't give up on Bradford....they only say that because there are so few options out there. I love Grayson, but, he is not a guy who is going to come in and start day one. So, the Rams are limited to looking to improve the QB depth....this does nothing (in a best case scenario) to help the team get to the playoffs.

Your right on the Britt FA'cy bid...that king size load of 2015 UFA WR's is sure to make your point very sound. The cap $$$ involving Jake Long's remaining with this team impossible at best. My thoughts on Barks is well posted on.

Your right Fisher's options are VERY Limited this 2015 season @ QB. Sam remaining unmolested in the pocket, healthy & upright all season is the key to more wins than 6 in 2015. Fisher has to improve the depth behind Sam like you said much better 2nd & 3rd reserves behind Sam with several other young QB's in the wings too. Fisher finally will need to be less stubborn about only keeping 2 QB's on his 53 player roster. It may even be a good ideal to keep several on his Practice Squad too. We will see if he has the ability to change in that area..its doubtful. My main mission for the 2015 off season is to field an healthy powerful effective blocking OL in order to keep Sam health risks to a bare minimum could result in our first trip into the playoffs in a dozen years.

 

[DaveFan'51]

If Barks commands big $$$$ I say let him walk.. Not worth it.

I don't think the Rams will over pay when it comes to Barksdale, they know they have a lot of work to do on the O-Line!

 

[Amitar]

Whatever. Britt is a must sign, Barksdale is a last resort to start at RT. He is not good st pass protection. The Rams need to get someone to replace him and let another team pay the big bucks for him.

 

[fearsomefour]

Your right on the Britt FA'cy bid...that king size load of 2015 UFA WR's is sure to make your point very sound. The cap $$$ involving Jake Long's remaining with this team impossible at best. My thoughts on Barks is well posted on.

Your right Fisher's options are VERY Limited this 2015 season @ QB. Sam remaining unmolested in the pocket, healthy & upright all season is the key to more wins than 6 in 2015. Fisher has to improve the depth behind Sam like you said much better 2nd & 3rd reserves behind Sam with several other young QB's in the wings too. Fisher finally will need to be less stubborn about only keeping 2 QB's on his 53 player roster. It may even be a good ideal to keep several on his Practice Squad too. We will see if he has the ability to change in that area..its doubtful. My main mission for the 2015 off season is to field an healthy powerful effective blocking OL in order to keep Sam health risks to a bare minimum could result in our first trip into the playoffs in a dozen years.

I agree with what you are saying.
Keeping Barks at a reasonable price fits the power blocking model.
However the lack of depth could really hamper the efforts going forward. Losing Long, Wells, Joseph and maybe Barksdale may make sense but leaves the cupboard very bare. A first round Oline pick is almost a mandatory to me. As I have said it will be interesting to see the approach.
It is important to retain some of the backups, namely Person and Barnes, who have at least shown an ability to play snaps at the NFL level.