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- Jul 31, 2010
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Bernie: Huh? What free agents?
• Bernie Miklasz
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_c1221d87-c9e7-5788-8506-97118871c20f.html
According to Peter King of Sports Illustrated, NFL teams spent more than $1 billion dishing contracts in the first 24 hours of unfettered free agency. General managers and owners frantically made deals, burned piles of cash and presumably headed for the fainting couch for a quick timeout before rising to hurl themselves into the uncontrollable madness.
This was the NFL’s version of Black Friday, when roaming gangs of berserk shoppers invade department stores to dive on laptops, have MMA brawls over the trendiest toys, blitz the video-game aisle, and go medieval over the dwindling supply of flat-screen TVs.
Meanwhile, out at Rams Park:
Crickets ...
The sounds of silence ...
Let’s check in — at least the best we can:
I’m guessing chief operating officer and team capologist Kevin Demoff privately is relieved that he doesn’t have to attempt to make contact with team owner Stan Kroenke (planet unknown) to inform him that his franchise just spent $50 million on cornerback Cortland Finnegan, or $35 million on tight end Jared Cook.
I don’t know what GM Les Snead is doing. But we do know that he isn’t setting his celebrated hair on fire, which I suppose is a good thing. But why would Les worry, anyway? After all, the Rams don’t have any
glaring roster weaknesses — at least that’s what Snead told Post-Dispatch football writer Jim Thomas.
Coach Jeff Fisher is remaining calm and confident as he toils away in his mission of “closing the gap” on superior division adversaries in Seattle, San Francisco and Arizona. Some snarky but free advice: Coach, it helps to have an offensive line.
Supposedly the NFL draft will narrow the great divide between the Rams and the NFC West ruling class. The Rams will tell us — again and again — that they’re building through the draft. Their public-relations play is so predictable it could have been drawn up by offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.
I actually agree that it’s smart to construct a roster through the draft, and I wish the Rams well in their next crack at it. But the project is delayed when you do things like draft wide receiver Brian Quick at No. 33 overall, and running back Isaiah Pead at No. 50 overall.
As a general principle, I have no problem with a team that largely avoids getting caught up in the frenzy of the early free-agent rush. It’s OK to assess, exhale, maintain equilibrium and decline to fry one’s mind by overpaying a fragile offensive lineman, as Oakland tried to do with Rodger Saffold. Patient teams can often find better value on the lower shelves.
There is, however, a middle ground between lunacy and inactivity. There is a difference between impulse buying ... and having no pulse at all. It’s OK to refuse to throw good money at marginal players; it’s not OK for a marginal team to refuse to pursue good players.
No reasonable person is saying the Rams should suspend all common sense to enrich mediocre, aging or broken-down talent. They already did that with Finnegan. But it is also advisable to make an attempt to, well, improve a team that hasn’t filed a winning record since George W. Bush’s first term in the White House.
We wonder why a seven-win Rams team quarterbacked by Sam Bradford is so cavalier about upgrading via free agency when the defending AFC champion Denver Broncos — quarterbacked by Peyton Manning — already have invested $110 million in free-agent money to sign cornerback Aqib Talib, safety T.J. Ward and pass rusher DeMarcus Ware.
We wonder why the seven-win Rams have a relatively low amount of salary-cap space to work with when better teams have the room to sign impact veterans. The obvious answer: The Rams are committed to paying Bradford, defensive end Chris Long and linebacker James Laurinaitis a combined $43 million in 2014, and none has ever been voted to a Pro Bowl.
The top-heavy wage scale limits the Rams’ flexibility. But they do have money to spend. And we aren’t talking about luxury items here. No, this is more about stocking the basic necessities.
It’s one thing to welcome Saffold back after he didn’t pass the Raiders’ physical. But given Saffold’s history of injuries, does it make sense to count on him? Where is the Plan B? (I know, I know. Cue the apologists: The draft! The draft!) In this division — with six games annually against the intimidating defenses of Seattle, San Francisco and Arizona — a tough offensive line is mandatory.
Better order a flak jacket and heavy-duty knee brace, Bradford.
The Rams are weak at cornerback and thin at safety. That’s why they allowed a league-worst 8.1 yards per passing attempt in 2013. I’m baffled by their apparent indifference over free-agent cornerback Alterraun Verner. Still fresh at only 25, Verner ranked among the NFL’s top-rated cornerbacks in 2013, and Tampa Bay signed him at reasonable price of $26.5 million for four years. Go figure.
Snead and Fisher have made progress in their Rams’ redevelopment. My fussing aside, I don’t really care how they add good players. Just get it done; winning is all that matters. But if the Rams take a step back in 2014, it’s inexcusable.
• Bernie Miklasz
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...cle_c1221d87-c9e7-5788-8506-97118871c20f.html
According to Peter King of Sports Illustrated, NFL teams spent more than $1 billion dishing contracts in the first 24 hours of unfettered free agency. General managers and owners frantically made deals, burned piles of cash and presumably headed for the fainting couch for a quick timeout before rising to hurl themselves into the uncontrollable madness.
This was the NFL’s version of Black Friday, when roaming gangs of berserk shoppers invade department stores to dive on laptops, have MMA brawls over the trendiest toys, blitz the video-game aisle, and go medieval over the dwindling supply of flat-screen TVs.
Meanwhile, out at Rams Park:
Crickets ...
The sounds of silence ...
Let’s check in — at least the best we can:
I’m guessing chief operating officer and team capologist Kevin Demoff privately is relieved that he doesn’t have to attempt to make contact with team owner Stan Kroenke (planet unknown) to inform him that his franchise just spent $50 million on cornerback Cortland Finnegan, or $35 million on tight end Jared Cook.
I don’t know what GM Les Snead is doing. But we do know that he isn’t setting his celebrated hair on fire, which I suppose is a good thing. But why would Les worry, anyway? After all, the Rams don’t have any
glaring roster weaknesses — at least that’s what Snead told Post-Dispatch football writer Jim Thomas.
Coach Jeff Fisher is remaining calm and confident as he toils away in his mission of “closing the gap” on superior division adversaries in Seattle, San Francisco and Arizona. Some snarky but free advice: Coach, it helps to have an offensive line.
Supposedly the NFL draft will narrow the great divide between the Rams and the NFC West ruling class. The Rams will tell us — again and again — that they’re building through the draft. Their public-relations play is so predictable it could have been drawn up by offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer.
I actually agree that it’s smart to construct a roster through the draft, and I wish the Rams well in their next crack at it. But the project is delayed when you do things like draft wide receiver Brian Quick at No. 33 overall, and running back Isaiah Pead at No. 50 overall.
As a general principle, I have no problem with a team that largely avoids getting caught up in the frenzy of the early free-agent rush. It’s OK to assess, exhale, maintain equilibrium and decline to fry one’s mind by overpaying a fragile offensive lineman, as Oakland tried to do with Rodger Saffold. Patient teams can often find better value on the lower shelves.
There is, however, a middle ground between lunacy and inactivity. There is a difference between impulse buying ... and having no pulse at all. It’s OK to refuse to throw good money at marginal players; it’s not OK for a marginal team to refuse to pursue good players.
No reasonable person is saying the Rams should suspend all common sense to enrich mediocre, aging or broken-down talent. They already did that with Finnegan. But it is also advisable to make an attempt to, well, improve a team that hasn’t filed a winning record since George W. Bush’s first term in the White House.
We wonder why a seven-win Rams team quarterbacked by Sam Bradford is so cavalier about upgrading via free agency when the defending AFC champion Denver Broncos — quarterbacked by Peyton Manning — already have invested $110 million in free-agent money to sign cornerback Aqib Talib, safety T.J. Ward and pass rusher DeMarcus Ware.
We wonder why the seven-win Rams have a relatively low amount of salary-cap space to work with when better teams have the room to sign impact veterans. The obvious answer: The Rams are committed to paying Bradford, defensive end Chris Long and linebacker James Laurinaitis a combined $43 million in 2014, and none has ever been voted to a Pro Bowl.
The top-heavy wage scale limits the Rams’ flexibility. But they do have money to spend. And we aren’t talking about luxury items here. No, this is more about stocking the basic necessities.
It’s one thing to welcome Saffold back after he didn’t pass the Raiders’ physical. But given Saffold’s history of injuries, does it make sense to count on him? Where is the Plan B? (I know, I know. Cue the apologists: The draft! The draft!) In this division — with six games annually against the intimidating defenses of Seattle, San Francisco and Arizona — a tough offensive line is mandatory.
Better order a flak jacket and heavy-duty knee brace, Bradford.
The Rams are weak at cornerback and thin at safety. That’s why they allowed a league-worst 8.1 yards per passing attempt in 2013. I’m baffled by their apparent indifference over free-agent cornerback Alterraun Verner. Still fresh at only 25, Verner ranked among the NFL’s top-rated cornerbacks in 2013, and Tampa Bay signed him at reasonable price of $26.5 million for four years. Go figure.
Snead and Fisher have made progress in their Rams’ redevelopment. My fussing aside, I don’t really care how they add good players. Just get it done; winning is all that matters. But if the Rams take a step back in 2014, it’s inexcusable.
