I'm fairly happy. Not a perfect day, but I think they prioritized correctly.
It's clear now that they put signing Barron and Hayes over JJ and McLeod, and I'm fine with that. With EJ on the roster, losing JJ didn't leave a big hole, it mainly affected our depth.
Losing McLeod was a little tougher, but I do think we have potential replacements on the roster now. Given the job our staff did in developing McLeod (as well as other DB's), they more than get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to recognizing talent and developing a replacement. So yeah, he leaves a hole, but one we can probably fill.
Had we lost either Barron or Hayes, we would have much bigger holes to fill. The Rams are not very deep at LB at the moment to begin with, and losing Barron would have made that position group perilously thin. Instead, we are keeping a guy who has played exceptionally well for us in the last two seasons and seems to have found his niche, thanks to our coaching staff. Hayes in the last two years has been far more effective than Long was, and even on the new deal comes at a far better price tag. I don't think any of the other potential replacement on the roster is anywhere near ready, so losing him probably would have left another big hole. Instead, that position is filled and we have time to draft/develop another LDE.
No, they didn't make and big splash or any real sexy signings, but those never seem to work out for us (or for most teams, for that matter). I remember how excited people were when they signed Jared Cook and Jake Long prior to the 2013 season. Cook never panned out due to his own lack of effort, and Long was wrecked by injuries. And as X mentioned above, we signed a shinola-load of players before the 2011 season, and that one turned into an abject disaster. So no need to get down about not making a big splash, the Rams did good today by not letting any huge holes be created in their roster while keeping a couple of very valuable contributors. I'm satisfied with that.
