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- May 26, 2013
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- River
For 2016, I believe the 'X' Factor for the Rams has always revolved around improving our QB situation, and that is looking less likely as each day passes, we'll just have to wait and see. Once all the individual contract information leaks out and we know what our CAP hits will be for the first year of these re-signed players, we'll have a better idea of how much available CAP space remains. I'm guessing a little north of $20mil, but it will also depend on whether Tru signs long-term with a JJ like contract or sticks with his franchise number for one year. I believe it will be easier to sign Tru Johnson now that JJ and a few others have set the new standard, and that will shave a few $mil off his current CAP figure.
Outside of the problem QB position and the four starting defensive players vacating the premises, I believe our team is still stronger than we were in 2015, and we can thank the fact that we actually had some depth to fall back on this time around. We don't lose a thing moving from Chris Long to Hayes, and I see a net plus moving Ogletree to MLB and replacing Laurinaitis. Our Defensive front 7 remains whole and probably a bit improved. Gaines was looking so good in 2014 and into the 2015 pre-season, we were kinda wondering how we were going to get him on the field more anyway. That is no longer a problem, and i'm not sure we will see any real drop-off. JJ was very athletic, but also prone to mistakes. More worrisome for me is how we will replace McLeod, as I don't believe his quality of replacement exists on the team at this time, and it's not a great draft for FS's. So other than replacing some depth on 'D', only one starting position looks like a real need. I'm going to suggest that Fairley may be replaced in-house by Worthington or Trinca-Pasat, and Sims may be replaced by Longacre. I also won't be surprised if the Rams use their # 1 overall on a DE as this is a very good class for that position, and the new guy can get up to speed as a rotational player while Hayes mentors.
Offensively, while we all hope and wait for receiver help, both at WR and TE, the Rams OL should be much better starting 2016. GRob was actually showing signs of improvement later in the season, including cutting down on his penalties, 3 of our 5 rookies (Havenstein, Brown, Wichmann) received a good deal of on the job training, the vet Reynolds played better than anticipated in a swing role after Saffold and Brown went down, and even Barnes showed improvement during the second half of the season. Donnal & Saffold will return from injury and Battle will have had a season of development. That one year of across the board experience for this very young OL can only make these guys better, so that's a big plus imo. Although I believe a TE is high on the list in the draft to eventually replace Cook, we also saw what appeared to be our team looking to replace Harkey with another blocking TE, … this effort failed, so it's hard to say what Cory's fate might be at this time. Kendricks didn't do much last year after signing his big new contract, but he can hardly be worse than Cook, so this may become his make or break season. WR has been a trouble spot for several years now, we didn't address it in free agency as I thought we might, it will be up to the draft to find a suitable starter. Britt, Austin and possibly a miraculous recovery by Bailey makes 3, Quick has been given his final show-me season, and the Rams have 3 guys (Nick Toon, Isiah Ferguson, Bradley Marquez) itching for a shot from our regular roster and the practice squad, so i'll be surprised if we draft more than one. I suppose it's still possible that some unfortunate QB hungry team makes a play for Foles, although that may just be wishful thinking. Unless a miracle lands us a top QB in the draft, i'm afraid we'll be going with the same three as last year, only in a different order on the depth chart. As sad as that may sound, I believe the Rams will be an improved team next season, and once again it will be because of the draft. Gurley will be starting from day 1 this season, and he'll have a much further developed OL to run behind this time around. We are not that much different than how we finished last season with our personnel, but we are better experienced, we are healthy, we have 6 new draft picks coming and we should have close to $20mil in available CAP to add a couple mid-range guys and sign our draft class, so while we may not come out of this with a 'Franchise' type QB or a true # 1 WR, we should still be an improved team. Play-off team ? I don't know, … a 9 - 7 team, I believe so. jmo.
Outside of the problem QB position and the four starting defensive players vacating the premises, I believe our team is still stronger than we were in 2015, and we can thank the fact that we actually had some depth to fall back on this time around. We don't lose a thing moving from Chris Long to Hayes, and I see a net plus moving Ogletree to MLB and replacing Laurinaitis. Our Defensive front 7 remains whole and probably a bit improved. Gaines was looking so good in 2014 and into the 2015 pre-season, we were kinda wondering how we were going to get him on the field more anyway. That is no longer a problem, and i'm not sure we will see any real drop-off. JJ was very athletic, but also prone to mistakes. More worrisome for me is how we will replace McLeod, as I don't believe his quality of replacement exists on the team at this time, and it's not a great draft for FS's. So other than replacing some depth on 'D', only one starting position looks like a real need. I'm going to suggest that Fairley may be replaced in-house by Worthington or Trinca-Pasat, and Sims may be replaced by Longacre. I also won't be surprised if the Rams use their # 1 overall on a DE as this is a very good class for that position, and the new guy can get up to speed as a rotational player while Hayes mentors.
Offensively, while we all hope and wait for receiver help, both at WR and TE, the Rams OL should be much better starting 2016. GRob was actually showing signs of improvement later in the season, including cutting down on his penalties, 3 of our 5 rookies (Havenstein, Brown, Wichmann) received a good deal of on the job training, the vet Reynolds played better than anticipated in a swing role after Saffold and Brown went down, and even Barnes showed improvement during the second half of the season. Donnal & Saffold will return from injury and Battle will have had a season of development. That one year of across the board experience for this very young OL can only make these guys better, so that's a big plus imo. Although I believe a TE is high on the list in the draft to eventually replace Cook, we also saw what appeared to be our team looking to replace Harkey with another blocking TE, … this effort failed, so it's hard to say what Cory's fate might be at this time. Kendricks didn't do much last year after signing his big new contract, but he can hardly be worse than Cook, so this may become his make or break season. WR has been a trouble spot for several years now, we didn't address it in free agency as I thought we might, it will be up to the draft to find a suitable starter. Britt, Austin and possibly a miraculous recovery by Bailey makes 3, Quick has been given his final show-me season, and the Rams have 3 guys (Nick Toon, Isiah Ferguson, Bradley Marquez) itching for a shot from our regular roster and the practice squad, so i'll be surprised if we draft more than one. I suppose it's still possible that some unfortunate QB hungry team makes a play for Foles, although that may just be wishful thinking. Unless a miracle lands us a top QB in the draft, i'm afraid we'll be going with the same three as last year, only in a different order on the depth chart. As sad as that may sound, I believe the Rams will be an improved team next season, and once again it will be because of the draft. Gurley will be starting from day 1 this season, and he'll have a much further developed OL to run behind this time around. We are not that much different than how we finished last season with our personnel, but we are better experienced, we are healthy, we have 6 new draft picks coming and we should have close to $20mil in available CAP to add a couple mid-range guys and sign our draft class, so while we may not come out of this with a 'Franchise' type QB or a true # 1 WR, we should still be an improved team. Play-off team ? I don't know, … a 9 - 7 team, I believe so. jmo.
