Greg Gaines

[RAMBUSH]

View: https://youtu.be/yREzKZ05fa8


Don't know if anyone seen this... I say 3rd and 1 from the goal line givr it to GG...

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

He was a beast in high school. Size/speed combination was impressive.

 

[Ram Ts]

Good find. It’s not crazy. He has great speed and feet for a man his size. The issue for these guys is their hands and being used to holding onto the ball. But he has (albeit old) history of such.

 

[Merlin]

There's an old saying in football re: the ideal NT being a short/stout FB beefed up to play on the line. Gaines is the epitome of that I think.

I'm sure he could run it well too btw, as would AD, but don't want him taking hits. He gets enough contact in there as it is.

 

[Kupped]

I thought the short arms would be more of a problem than they have been. Low-man leverage and a shit-ton of power seems to negate that issue.

 

[JonRam99]

imagine him as FB blocking for Michel...

 

[Kupped]

imagine him as FB blocking for Michel...

I'd pay money to see that.

 

[CoachAllred]

Love me some Gaines.
So very impressed with the speed of this Rock.
Had no Idea he could move as well as he can.
He has more than picked up the slack since we lost Day.

 

[Kupped]

Love me some Gaines.
So very impressed with the speed of this Rock.
Had no Idea he could move as well as he can.
He has more than picked up the slack since we lost Day.

One of the things a lot of us were wringing our hands about for next season was the salary cap issues and losing SJD.
Not anymore.
Hopefully, Bobby Brown has the same kind of development track as those two and can be a respectable contributor in year 2.

 

[Memento]

One of the things a lot of us were wringing our hands about for next season was the salary cap issues and losing SJD.
Not anymore.
Hopefully, Bobby Brown has the same kind of development track as those two and can be a respectable contributor in year 2.

Bobby Brown III and Earnest Brown IV, who is still on the practice squad, but was drafted in the fifth. Copeland, Hoecht, Jonah Williams are there as well. That's why I think we can afford to lose SJD for a high compensatory pick (as much as it hurts; he's become one of my favorite players) and trade A'Shawn Robinson; we have depth on our defensive line.

 

[Merlin]

View: https://youtu.be/yREzKZ05fa8


Don't know if anyone seen this... I say 3rd and 1 from the goal line givr it to GG...

I feel sorry for those other guys in that film. Gaines looked like the crazy uncle playing tackle football with the kids there.

 

[Kupped]

Bobby Brown III and Earnest Brown IV, who is still on the practice squad, but was drafted in the fifth. Copeland, Hoecht, Jonah Williams are there as well. That's why I think we can afford to lose SJD for a high compensatory pick (as much as it hurts; he's become one of my favorite players) and trade A'Shawn Robinson; we have depth on our defensive line.

Some people have suggested cutting A'Shawn post June 1st.. I forget how much that would reduce his dead cap. It's 5.5 if you trade him... not worth it, at all, to me.
Robinson's been extremely solid for the Rams this year and there's no reason to tempt fate that way next year. All the other guys are on rookie deals or dirt cheap. Keep it an area of strength.

Yes.. we have depth.. that's why they survived losing SJD. If Robinson was out? Yikes.

 

[Kupped]

I feel sorry for those other guys in that film. Gaines looked like the crazy uncle playing tackle football with the kids there.

I just laugh at the fact that he's lined up wide as a DE.

 

[Memento]

Some people have suggested cutting A'Shawn post June 1st.. I forget how much that would reduce his dead cap. It's 5.5 if you trade him... not worth it, at all, to me.
Robinson's been extremely solid for the Rams this year and there's no reason to tempt fate that way next year. All the other guys are on rookie deals or dirt cheap. Keep it an area of strength.

Yes.. we have depth.. that's why they survived losing SJD. If Robinson was out? Yikes.

He has been solid, but given that our defensive line will have tons of depth...well, it simply makes sense to trade/cut him for money that could be used for OBJ, Gay, Corbett, maybe Noteboom.

But onto the topic: Greg Gaines makes this scenario possible. Absolutely dominant right now.

 

[Kupped]

He has been solid, but given that our defensive line will have tons of depth...well, it simply makes sense to trade/cut him for money that could be used for OBJ, Gay, Corbett, maybe Noteboom.

But onto the topic: Greg Gaines makes this scenario possible. Absolutely dominant right now.

He is front line quality, not "depth."
He's a starter, not "depth."

The difference between him and Brown or Copeland right now is significant. Much like they came into this season with three certainties.. SJD, Robinson and Donald.. on the front line.. I seriously doubt they'll do that. Being sound in the middle has been one of the big reasons they've been successful on D.

Not signing SJD opens up money... and I think they have places to open up money, where needed.

After yesterday, I do wonder if they think they need to bring Corbett back, or if they feel confident in who they're developing.

Post June 1st cut of Robinson would be a 2.5 million hit with $7 in savings, according to over the cap.
They can open up quite a bit of money with restructures and extensions, from what I've read. And the cap should take a big jump in 23.. so, play all the cap games you need to next year, imo.

 

[Memento]

He is front line quality, not "depth."
He's a starter, not "depth."

The difference between him and Brown or Copeland right now is significant. Much like they came into this season with three certainties.. SJD, Robinson and Donald.. on the front line.. I seriously doubt they'll do that. Being sound in the middle has been one of the big reasons they've been successful on D.

Not signing SJD opens up money... and I think they have places to open up money, where needed.

After yesterday, I do wonder if they think they need to bring Corbett back, or if they feel confident in who they're developing.

Post June 1st cut of Robinson would be a 2.5 million hit with $7 in savings, according to over the cap.
They can open up quite a bit of money with restructures and extensions, from what I've read. And the cap should take a big jump in 23.. so, play all the cap games you need to next year, imo.

SJD, Grizzly Gaines, and Morgan Fox were "depth" once upon a time. A sixth, a fourth, and an undrafted free agent. Bobby Brown III and Earnest Brown IV were a fourth and fifth round pick, respectively. And then you consider Williams, Copeland, and Hoecht - all of whom made the active roster at one point, and - in Williams' case - will hopefully be back. That also doesn't preclude us signing another defensive lineman from a team's practice squad.

You're underselling what they can do for this team given another year to bulk up, another year to eat right, another year to learn technique from the best. You're also underselling that we can draft yet another defensive lineman to replace Robinson, if not move one of our linemen into the vacant spot - where they'll likely be good. The defensive line class this year is a hell of a lot stronger than last year's, and I bet we'll take advantage of it with one of our many sixths, if not more or higher. You can quote me on that, right or wrong.

Trading Robinson would add another pick, probably a mid-round pick for how young he is and how he's producing. If we're re-signing OBJ, it makes sense to deal Woods as well; you can't have three receivers eating at the cap, and OBJ is younger than Bobby Trees. Woods would likely net us a second round pick.

Ultimately, I'd sign Gay, OBJ, one (or both, depending on what Whit does) of Corbett or Noteboom, and Michel with the dead money coming off of the cap. That's the most important thing; re-signing the offensive line, an elite receiver, your best special teams player, maybe even a power back.

My apologies for being rambling, haha.

 

[Kupped]

SJD, Grizzly Gaines, and Morgan Fox were "depth" once upon a time. A sixth, a fourth, and an undrafted free agent. Bobby Brown III and Earnest Brown IV were a fourth and fifth round pick, respectively. And then you consider Williams, Copeland, and Hoecht - all of whom made the active roster at one point, and - in Williams' case - will hopefully be back. That also doesn't preclude us signing another defensive lineman from a team's practice squad.

You're underselling what they can do for this team given another year to bulk up, another year to eat right, another year to learn technique from the best. You're also underselling that we can draft yet another defensive lineman to replace Robinson, if not move one of our linemen into the vacant spot - where they'll likely be good. The defensive line class this year is a hell of a lot stronger than last year's, and I bet we'll take advantage of it with one of our many sixths, if not more or higher. You can quote me on that, right or wrong.

Trading Robinson would add another pick, probably a mid-round pick for how young he is and how he's producing. If we're re-signing OBJ, it makes sense to deal Woods as well; you can't have three receivers eating at the cap, and OBJ is younger than Bobby Trees. Woods would likely net us a second round pick.

Ultimately, I'd sign Gay, OBJ, one (or both, depending on what Whit does) of Corbett or Noteboom, and Michel with the dead money coming off of the cap. That's the most important thing; re-signing the offensive line, an elite receiver, your best special teams player, maybe even a power back.

My apologies for being rambling, haha.

No, I'm not underselling it at all.
You'll note, from a model perspective.. they've been fine paying two interior lineman and worked in a third, rookie contract guy.
Remember.. when they let Brock sign they were bringing Robinson in... even though they had both SJD and Gaines on the roster.. in addition to Morgan Fox.
Brown IV is on the practice squad, and an edge guy, really. I'm not sure what he ends up doing, but I'm certainly not writing him off.
SJD went from basically zero snaps as a rookie to 420 as a 2nd year guy. I'd expect about the same with Brown, hopefully. If you lose SJD and Robinson.. you're opening up about 800 snaps from this season.. and that's with an injured SJD.
I fully expect them to draft a lineman next year.. but.. based on the Rams established developmental model.. I expect that player to contribute zero next season.
Brockers got the Rams a 7th, I believe...
On top of all that.. Donald is playing more snaps than ever, this season.. I'd rather keep Robinson.. integrate Brown.. and be able to give Donald more rest at his age.


The OBJ thing is a much different question and I'm not sure how that plays out. Way more dead money in trading him.. unless you somehow can do it post- June first. I just don't know what the numbers will look like when it comes to an OBJ contract.. and I also think it would be a rough look trading Bobby Trees at that point. But we'll see. Different situations.

The oline question is verrrrrry interesting. Why would Whit retire? He made reference recently to a conversation with Gretzky that basically said make them tear the jersey off you. Is Alaric Jackson a legit prospect? Can we count on him to develop and let Boom walk? If so, the Rams have three Olinemen coming back already and they should be able to keep Allen/Shelton for dirt cheap. Maybe they work in a new starting right guard from Brewer/Anchrum/Jackson/Evans.
We'll see.

And.. again.. I'm pretty sure they can open up a shit-ton of money.

 

[Memento]

No, I'm not underselling it at all.
You'll note, from a model perspective.. they've been fine paying two interior lineman and worked in a third, rookie contract guy.
Remember.. when they let Brock sign they were bringing Robinson in... even though they had both SJD and Gaines on the roster.. in addition to Morgan Fox.
Brown IV is on the practice squad, and an edge guy, really. I'm not sure what he ends up doing, but I'm certainly not writing him off.
SJD went from basically zero snaps as a rookie to 420 as a 2nd year guy. I'd expect about the same with Brown, hopefully. If you lose SJD and Robinson.. you're opening up about 800 snaps from this season.. and that's with an injured SJD.
I fully expect them to draft a lineman next year.. but.. based on the Rams established developmental model.. I expect that player to contribute zero next season.
Brockers got the Rams a 7th, I believe...
On top of all that.. Donald is playing more snaps than ever, this season.. I'd rather keep Robinson.. integrate Brown.. and be able to give Donald more rest at his age.


The OBJ thing is a much different question and I'm not sure how that plays out. Way more dead money in trading him.. unless you somehow can do it post- June first. I just don't know what the numbers will look like when it comes to an OBJ contract.. and I also think it would be a rough look trading Bobby Trees at that point. But we'll see. Different situations.

The oline question is verrrrrry interesting. Why would Whit retire? He made reference recently to a conversation with Gretzky that basically said make them tear the jersey off you. Is Alaric Jackson a legit prospect? Can we count on him to develop and let Boom walk? If so, the Rams have three Olinemen coming back already and they should be able to keep Allen/Shelton for dirt cheap. Maybe they work in a new starting right guard from Brewer/Anchrum/Jackson/Evans.
We'll see.

And.. again.. I'm pretty sure they can open up a shit-ton of money.

From a model perspective, we have Donald, Gaines, Robinson, Jonah Williams, Hoecht, Copeland and the Browns - and that's not even counting at least one likely defensive lineman drafted or - less likely, but still possible - signing as a free agent. That's without SJD. Even if you dealt Robinson, that's still a lot of depth who have been with us for at least a year. And who knows with SJD? Maybe he even re-signs with us on a one year deal to increase his value. Stranger thing have happened.

AD has played a ton of snaps, true. Brockers got us a seventh because he was thirty and had a contract we had to dump. Robinson will turn 27 in March, and has a reasonable contract. Different scenarios.

OBJ is an interesting scenario. He's a lot better than Woods, talent-wise, and while - despite my trade scenarios I'd absolutely hate to lose Bobby Trees...Woods is simply our best trade chip in a room stacked with wide receiver talent. Kupp is Kupp, Jefferson is someone I'd love to keep as a #3, Skowronek may or may not move to tight end, Harris is listed as a receiver, I doubt they'll bail on Atwell so early, and you absolutely have to sign Powell to the active roster. That's seven/eight wideouts, not even counting actual depth that may or may not pan out, as well as the usual wide receiver we'll either draft late or sign in UDFA (although I am admittedly quite intrigued by Warren Jackson with his size and ability).

I don't know if Whit retires after this year (assuming he will if we win it all). But either way, he has a huge contract, and at forty, he's a risky bet. I know that he takes excellent care of himself, but Father Time will always be undefeated. Alaric Jackson is definitely intriguing. I think he's only a tackle; he wouldn't be as good at guard, but we're talking about the guy who moved Tristan Wirfs - a top fifteen pick - to right tackle. A-Jax is a solid lineman. I still don't know if I let Noteboom or Corbett walk, especially not Corbett, who can play all three interior spots well; that's a rarity in this league. Allen, being a Pro Bowl alternate, is going to break the bank, and I don't want to pay him what he'll likely get. I honestly have no faith in Evans, but the coaching staff seems to like him. I believe that Shelton is an ERFA, so we'd be fools not to bring him back. There's also Anchrum and - my surprise pick - Max Pircher to consider; Pircher is from Italy, came through the International portal, and he just...he's raw, true, but he's got so much natural talent that I'd be remiss not to consider him.

I'm sure they can open up a ton of money as well, but I'm just spitballing scenarios in which they can.

 

[Allen2McVay]

And.. again.. I'm pretty sure they can open up a shit-ton of money.

We may disagree on what constitutes a 'shit-ton-of-$'; and while I do agree that the Rams can create some cap space ... and the cap is taking a healthy jump ... I don't think the Rams can open up a tremendous amount of cap space.

The Rams had flexibility with the Donald, Ramsey, Woods and Kupp contracts but they took advantage of that prior to this season. There's less flexibility for 2022. Can see them opening-up between $20-30M of cap space; and having somewhere in the mid-30s total.

That would be decent but there are lots of plyers scheduled for unrestricted free agency. Most prominent are Miller, Williams, Beckham, Michel, Joseph-Day, Corbett, Allen, Noteboom and Deayon.

 

[Kupped]

From a model perspective, we have Donald, Gaines, Robinson, Jonah Williams, Hoecht, Copeland and the Browns - and that's not even counting at least one likely defensive lineman drafted or - less likely, but still possible - signing as a free agent. That's without SJD. Even if you dealt Robinson, that's still a lot of depth who have been with us for at least a year. And who knows with SJD? Maybe he even re-signs with us on a one year deal to increase his value. Stranger thing have happened.

AD has played a ton of snaps, true. Brockers got us a seventh because he was thirty and had a contract we had to dump. Robinson will turn 27 in March, and has a reasonable contract. Different scenarios.

OBJ is an interesting scenario. He's a lot better than Woods, talent-wise, and while - despite my trade scenarios I'd absolutely hate to lose Bobby Trees...Woods is simply our best trade chip in a room stacked with wide receiver talent. Kupp is Kupp, Jefferson is someone I'd love to keep as a #3, Skowronek may or may not move to tight end, Harris is listed as a receiver, I doubt they'll bail on Atwell so early, and you absolutely have to sign Powell to the active roster. That's seven/eight wideouts, not even counting actual depth that may or may not pan out, as well as the usual wide receiver we'll either draft late or sign in UDFA (although I am admittedly quite intrigued by Warren Jackson with his size and ability).

I don't know if Whit retires after this year (assuming he will if we win it all). But either way, he has a huge contract, and at forty, he's a risky bet. I know that he takes excellent care of himself, but Father Time will always be undefeated. Alaric Jackson is definitely intriguing. I think he's only a tackle; he wouldn't be as good at guard, but we're talking about the guy who moved Tristan Wirfs - a top fifteen pick - to right tackle. A-Jax is a solid lineman. I still don't know if I let Noteboom or Corbett walk, especially not Corbett, who can play all three interior spots well; that's a rarity in this league. Allen, being a Pro Bowl alternate, is going to break the bank, and I don't want to pay him what he'll likely get. I honestly have no faith in Evans, but the coaching staff seems to like him. I believe that Shelton is an ERFA, so we'd be fools not to bring him back. There's also Anchrum and - my surprise pick - Max Pircher to consider; Pircher is from Italy, came through the International portal, and he just...he's raw, true, but he's got so much natural talent that I'd be remiss not to consider him.

I'm sure they can open up a ton of money as well, but I'm just spitballing scenarios in which they can.

No.. counting on one of the lesser prospects.. Williams, Hoecht, and Copeland... is not what they've done.
They have counted on the mid-to-late round draft picks.
Those guys are depth and you hope one emerges, like Fox, to be a solid part-time contributor. Copeland is something like that this year. It looked like Hoecht or Williams would be, early in the year, but they haven't at this point.
They are *depth* that you hope develop.. not front-line guys that you expect to take major snaps next year. Morgan Fox actually didn't have many more snaps last year than the year before, he just got more out of them. Hoecht looked early like it could be him, but he's almost exclusively taking ST snaps at this point.
If they brought back SJD, I would have no problem trading Robinson.. but you're in the same basic salary cap spot, if not worse, by doing that. Remember.. they could always add a year to Robinson and make his hit lower next year.. in fact, that's probably the easiest salary cap fix.

I'm facepalming at the Skow at TE "possibility"... there is nowhere, except forums like this, where it's even a discussion. He's a WR.
I don't know what the roster looks like at the WR spot.. and am open to a lot of different scenarios. They have options.

If Whit does come back, they can play with his contract as well, to open up money for next year. I think he's much more interested in playing for the Rams than he is in getting every penny he deserves.

Allen isn't going to break the bank, imo, especially with injuries. If so, good luck to him. The Rams keep solving the center problem just fine.

Pircher is an interesting concept.. but I would think the earliest we could see him on the field in a real game is 22.. but, who knows? Nice having developmental possibilities.
It's fun to spitball, for sure.
And we never know what surprises there may be.. Allen as starting center? UDFA A Jackson on roster all season??