FA Guards drying up

[NJRamsFan]

Unless something changes, I am now over my watkins man crush and we have to go O-line 2nd and 13th

 

[Thordaddy]

Lets see if I can get some positive things out of a very negative forum at the moment....

The 6-5 326 pound Barksdale started his third NFL season as the Rams swing OT...a non starter. A freak thing happen starting ORT Rodger Saffold was injured in the second game....a rare event for Saffold.....Barksdale was inserted into starting ORT next to Harvey Dahl....things were a little shaky but slowly JB began to work it out...JB got better neither very good @ run blocking nor pass blocking but he did OK...soon Saffold got healthy but when Boudreau rotated Rodger & Joe....another strange thing appeared .....JB was just a better ORT than Rodger...Boudreau could not believe his eyes and for several weeks this strange rotation continued....Finally Boudreau gave up and gave the starting post completely to Joe. Anyway Boudreau had ongoing issues a few feet left of ORT and so Rodger went inside.

Fast forward to this morning...Rodger departed from us went out & got rich with a 42 plus million $$$ contract in the Bay area of California of course most of that $$$ will end up in the coffers of Jerry Brown. Meanwhile Rams was left with a OL'er who just happened to beat the 42 million player out of his starting position. truth is Saffold was removed from his starting OLT post by Boudreau. Then Rodger followed that 2013 off season act by performing a follow up act where he was removed from his starting ORT post by the positive play of a former WWC.

Now I wonder if Rodger who lost two starting OL positions in less than two seasons can go out & get 42 million what would the OL who beat Rodger out get in UFA in 2015? It could be a good ideal to use some of the 2014 cap funds and sign the Ol'er who beat Rodger out?

Yeah the biggest favor we could do was give Roger the chance to start at guard,IMO but for that brief stint of good play he'd still be on the market and be coming back to accept our lower offer.
There are several guys still available for one year contracts that would play well for $2/3 million and give stability while a drafted guard develops,Travelle Wharton being one of them.

 

[fearsomefour]

You are comparing apples and oranges. Saffold has much more natural ability than Barksdale....or just developed it faster. His versatility is a key part of his value. Barksdale is not going to have that extra value but won't need it if he turns into a top 15 RT.
I was excited when the Rams signed Barksdale based on what I was told about him from the birdie with Raider connections who also told me about Saffold months ago....does this mean I can be an "NFL insider" on twitter?
Joking aside I am very positive about Barksdale. A lot of things can side track a career path but it stands to reason his best football is ahead of him. He is just 25. I wonder how much the prospect of resigning Joe factored into not over paying for Saffold? That and common sense.
I feel very good about Barksdale having a good year at RT. It is LT and G that concerns me.

 

[Alan]

BonifayRam digging deep for something positive:
Lets see if I can get some positive things out of a very negative forum at the moment....

The 6-5 326 pound Barksdale started his third NFL season as the Rams swing OT...a non starter. A freak thing happen starting ORT Rodger Saffold was injured in the second game....a rare event for Saffold.....Barksdale was inserted into starting ORT next to Harvey Dahl....things were a little shaky but slowly JB began to work it out...JB got better neither very good @ run blocking nor pass blocking but he did OK...soon Saffold got healthy but when Boudreau rotated Rodger & Joe....another strange thing appeared .....JB was just a better ORT than Rodger...Boudreau could not believe his eyes and for several weeks this strange rotation continued....Finally Boudreau gave up and gave the starting post completely to Joe. Anyway Boudreau had ongoing issues a few feet left of ORT and so Rodger went inside.

Fast forward to this morning...Rodger departed from us went out & got rich with a 42 plus million $$$ contract in the Bay area of California of course most of that $$$ will end up in the coffers of Jerry Brown. Meanwhile Rams was left with a OL'er who just happened to beat the 42 million player out of his starting position. truth is Saffold was removed from his starting OLT post by Boudreau. Then Rodger followed that 2013 off season act by performing a follow up act where he was removed from his starting ORT post by the positive play of a former WWC.

Now I wonder if Rodger who lost two starting OL positions in less than two seasons can go out & get 42 million what would the OL who beat Rodger out get in UFA in 2015? It could be a good ideal to use some of the 2014 cap funds and sign the Ol'er who beat Rodger out?

I don't know Bonifay and maybe I'm just misreading here (I also know you didn't want to resign Saffold) but are you saying the positive is that we didn't sign Saffold? Cause I can't find anything in here or even something implied that sounds positive. Unless it's the not signing Saffold thing and I do not consider that to be a positive. ALthough we didn't take a big expensive risk that might not have turned out well. Not much to hang my hat on there.

 

[BonifayRam]

I don't know Bonifay and maybe I'm just misreading here (I also know you didn't want to resign Saffold) but are you saying the positive is that we didn't sign Saffold? Cause I can't find anything in here or even something implied that sounds positive. Unless it's the not signing Saffold thing and I do not consider that to be a positive. ALthough we didn't take a big expensive risk that might not have turned out well. Not much to hang my hat on there.

Yes the non signing of Saffold IMO is very positive. Point I was trying to point out is the UFA market is just NUTS. The Raiders will play Saffold @ OT. Same position that he was removed from by Boudreau twice.

 

[Alan]

BonifayRam with a glass half full:
Yes the non signing of Saffold IMO is very positive. Point I was trying to point out is the UFA market is just NUTS. The Raiders will play Saffold @ OT. Same position that he was removed from by Boudreau twice.

I'd call that a negative (having Saffold play RT instead of G) for Oakland rather than a positive for us because we we weren't going to make that mistake again. He would have been our RG. I guess I'm just in a glass half empty mood today.

 

[BonifayRam]

You are comparing apples and oranges. Saffold has much more natural ability than Barksdale....or just developed it faster. His versatility is a key part of his value. Barksdale is not going to have that extra value but won't need it if he turns into a top 15 RT.
I was excited when the Rams signed Barksdale based on what I was told about him from the birdie with Raider connections who also told me about Saffold months ago....does this mean I can be an "NFL insider" on twitter?
Joking aside I am very positive about Barksdale. A lot of things can side track a career path but it stands to reason his best football is ahead of him. He is just 25. I wonder how much the prospect of resigning Joe factored into not over paying for Saffold? That and common sense.
I feel very good about Barksdale having a good year at RT. It is LT and G that concerns me.

Sure Saffold has more value but it sure did very little to help this team win consistently. Saffold was always injured period! I would be pure sick if the Rams had turned over 42 million $$$ of the cap to a super injury riddled OL'er and then was unable to secure a very healthy Joe Barksdale's services after this season. At least now we are in great shape with our cap in 2015 & we should be able to compete with the UFA market for JB if we are so inclined. you know I have not been all that fired up over JB but I was worn out completely on Saffold's in ability to remain on the field period.

I see where the Rams are in wonderful shape to get a healthy fully versatile OL'er in Jake Mathews a player who could play all five posts....There are many versatile Ol'ers in this draft ...many! any of them will cost dramatically less & will be @ a serious bargain when compared to Saffold's cost. its obvious I am very happy over this where the rest of the forum seems so down.

 

[Sum1]

Adam Schefter ‏@AdamSchefter 21s
G Chris Williams signing a four-year, $13.5 million deal that includes $5.5 million guaranteed with the Buffalo Bills.

 

[fearsomefour]

Sure Saffold has more value but it sure did very little to help this team win consistently. Saffold was always injured period! I would be pure sick if the Rams had turned over 42 million $$$ of the cap to a super injury riddled OL'er and then was unable to secure a very healthy Joe Barksdale's services after this season. At least now we are in great shape with our cap in 2015 & we should be able to compete with the UFA market for JB if we are so inclined. you know I have not been all that fired up over JB but I was worn out completely on Saffold's in ability to remain on the field period.

I see where the Rams are in wonderful shape to get a healthy fully versatile OL'er in Jake Mathews a player who could play all five posts....There are many versatile Ol'ers in this draft ...many! any of them will cost dramatically less & will be @ a serious bargain when compared to Saffold's cost. its obvious I am very happy over this where the rest of the forum seems so down.

I'm not down about it is just reality. Whoever they bring in is a downgrade. That does not mean I disagree with you about signing Saffold. Six million would have been my top number with him given the injury history.
I also agree with importance of not putting the ability to keep a balanced roster together for the sake of one player.
Williams is moving on for greener paychecks, good for him. There is going to be serious work to do.
Yes this draft is very deep for a lot of positions including O line. None of that does much to change the fact that LG will probably be a downgrade. If that is a 2% downgrade or a 50% downgrade is the question. Even that is not a huge deal as the line is often a sum of its parts.
If Saffold is injured and plays in 8 games next year the Rams look smart if he starts 28 of 32 games over the next couple of years at a Pro Bowl level they do not (maybe). It's up in the air.
Would I pay Byrd $9M a year? No. Would the Rams be better with him? Yes. Similar discussion.

 

[Boffo97]

Lets see if I can get some positive things out of a very negative forum at the moment....

The 6-5 326 pound Barksdale started his third NFL season as the Rams swing OT...a non starter. A freak thing happen starting ORT Rodger Saffold was injured in the second game....a rare event for Saffold.....Barksdale was inserted into starting ORT next to Harvey Dahl....things were a little shaky but slowly JB began to work it out...JB got better neither very good @ run blocking nor pass blocking but he did OK...soon Saffold got healthy but when Boudreau rotated Rodger & Joe....another strange thing appeared .....JB was just a better ORT than Rodger...Boudreau could not believe his eyes and for several weeks this strange rotation continued....Finally Boudreau gave up and gave the starting post completely to Joe. Anyway Boudreau had ongoing issues a few feet left of ORT and so Rodger went inside.

Fast forward to this morning...Rodger departed from us went out & got rich with a 42 plus million $$$ contract in the Bay area of California of course most of that $$$ will end up in the coffers of Jerry Brown. Meanwhile Rams was left with a OL'er who just happened to beat the 42 million player out of his starting position. truth is Saffold was removed from his starting OLT post by Boudreau. Then Rodger followed that 2013 off season act by performing a follow up act where he was removed from his starting ORT post by the positive play of a former WWC.

Now I wonder if Rodger who lost two starting OL positions in less than two seasons can go out & get 42 million what would the OL who beat Rodger out get in UFA in 2015? It could be a good ideal to use some of the 2014 cap funds and sign the Ol'er who beat Rodger out?

The irony of all that, at least to me, is that it's very similar to how Saffold became LT in the first place.

He was drafted to be a RT, then Jason Smith got hurt and Saffold excelled at the position. And in the NFL, if you have a hot hand at a position, you have to keep it there.

It's the circle of life... or something.

The biggest blessing in having Saffold here IMO is that we had him instead of Alex Barron at LT during Sam's rookie season. Barron typically didn't get hurt... but that's about the only positive you can say for him. Sam would have been the shortest tenured #1 overall pick ever.

 

[Yamahopper]

No big deal.
After the draft teams will be cutting guys if they get a replacement in the draft. They come cheap.