Lande On The Senior Bowl

[max]

Lande said the best player at the Sr Bowl has been RaShede Hageman. Said he has been dominant and will go in the top 20.

Another guy he liked this week is LB Chris Borland. He is short but makes a lot of plays.

He said there are about 12 elite guys in this draft compared to 3 last year. Didn't say who they were or are.

He did say the QBs are strong this year. Mettenberger looks great on tape.

The OL is very strong and Watkins and Lee are the top WRs.

There isn't a Safety worth drafting in the first round according to Lande.

 

[Alan]

There isn't a Safety worth drafting in the first round according to Lande.

I've come to that conclusion myself.

 

[Ramifications]

I've come to that conclusion myself.

Though at least one and possibly two could get drafted there, if the grade is close and a team or teams need one. That would be great if Pryor made it to our second round pick.

 

[Alan]

Ramifications with his thoughts:
Though at least one and possibly two could get drafted there, if the grade is close and a team or teams need one. That would be great if Pryor made it to our second round pick.

I haven't done a lot of research on Safeties yet so I don't know who I like but like you, I'm hoping some good ones will be available in the 2nd round. I'd prefer to concentrate on CB and OT in the 1st round. Maybe even WR if something falls in our laps.

 

[max]

I've come to that conclusion myself.

He said there isn't a Safety that is worthy of a top 2nd round grade.

 

[mr.stlouis]

He said there isn't a Safety that is worthy of a top 2nd round grade.

DANG! Enough of this FS talk. Let's get one in free agency if it's the only splash we have.

 

[Ramifications]

Max,

Do you think this is an outlier view and not the consensus. Though I do think last year was one of the best drafts for safeties in a few years. 2012 was the opposite, I think the DEN safety (Rahim Moore from UCLA) was the first taken in the second round. My sense is this year could be better than 2012, but not as good as 2013, and possibly closer to the former?

 

[Ramifications]

* 2014 Safety fun fact: Lamarcus Joyner was the fifth Florida State recruit to win USA Today national Defensive Player of the Year (with Derrick Brooks and Antonio Cromartie). Wish he was a few inches taller than 5'8"... but than he would probably be a first rounder?

 

[Alan]

max with further distressing news:
He said there isn't a Safety that is worthy of a top 2nd round grade.

The good news is that we won't be picking at the top of the 2nd. If we manage to trade down and get another 2nd round pick we might be positioned to get some real value for it. Of course that doesn't mean the other teams think the same.

Ramifications with a fun fact:
* 2014 Safety fun fact: Lamarcus Joyner was the fifth Florida State recruit to win USA Today national Defensive Player of the Year (with Derrick Brooks and Antonio Cromartie). Wish he was a few inches taller than 5'8"... but than he would probably be a first rounder?

Despite the early success of the Honey Badger I'll pass on a 5'8" FS thank you. I've only started to look at safeties but I do know I don't want him. Visions of sugar plums and Tye Hill keep dancing in my brain.

Of course I get visions all the tome so...

mr.stlouis with this:
DANG! Enough of this FS talk. Let's get one in free agency if it's the only splash we have.

Byrd.

 

[max]

Max,

Do you think this is an outlier view and not the consensus. Though I do think last year was one of the best drafts for safeties in a few years. 2012 was the opposite, I think the DEN safety (Rahim Moore from UCLA) was the first taken in the second round. My sense is this year could be better than 2012, but not as good as 2013, and possibly closer to the former?

Lande is usually different than the consensus. One thing is for sure, there is no Earl Thomas in this draft.

 

[Ramifications]

A concern with Byrd is I thought he had issues with plantar fascitis straddling 2012-2013, but the medical team would have the chance to vet him. Aso, what they would spend on him, they could use on Saffold, who I'd rather have (maybe they can have both?), and than draft a cheaper safety in the second. Of course, we could always get the proven FS, and draft an interior OL in the second (I like Byrd, but if it comes down to OR not AND, Saffold was flashing signs of becoming an outstanding guard, and was an integral part of the best running game our team has seen in years, and that could help Bradford a lot). Byrd if right physically has been a Pro Bowler and big play machine (INTs and FFs - sort of Atogwe-like body of work, come to think of it) in his first few years in the league. And he is a perfect free agent age (26-27?).

 

[ReddingRam]

* 2014 Safety fun fact: Lamarcus Joyner was the fifth Florida State recruit to win USA Today national Defensive Player of the Year (with Derrick Brooks and Antonio Cromartie). Wish he was a few inches taller than 5'8"... but than he would probably be a first rounder?

I like Joyner as a slot/Nickel Corner. Don;t like him as a full time safety in the NFL

 

[Alan]

I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get Saffold or Byrd. I still don't know where we get the CAP room.

 

[Ramifications]

I like Joyner as a slot/Nickel Corner. Don;t like him as a full time safety in the NFL

I agree. The only short safety I liked a lot, and he broke down, was former Defensive Player of the Year Bob Sanders. I think it was the year Manning got his only Super Bowl win with the Colts, and Sanders missed something like te first month or so due to injury (as usual), and the transformation was ridiculous, where they went from something like a bottom 10 to a top 5 defense. He could have been really good if he could have held up physically and stayed healthy. And even he was taller than 5'8" I think, and WRs if anything are getting taller, and trending in the wrong direction for Joyner. Not sure how big Mathieu is, already mentioned upthread, but he played well at nickel CB and FS (maybe got more snaps as the season progressed?), and I thought was one of the top rookies on defense, with Richardson, Alonso, Ogletree, Vaccaro and Reid.

 

[Ramifications]

I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get Saffold or Byrd. I still don't know where we get the CAP room.

Cut (or restructure) Finnegan. Dahl and Wells are vulnerable. Would that give us more than $10 million ($12-$15?). We don't have to extend Quinn in 2014 (2015 option). Though there are the rookies to account for, currently slotted at 1.2 and 1.13 (reason #111 why it is a good thing to trade down if not too far, to be able to have more cap friendly contracts, leaving more money to be players in free agency - Belichick gets a second, third and fourth to move down a few spots from the 1.31, and MIN did get a keeper in Patterson, than NE gets a ridiculous athlete in the second with former safety/OLB/MLB/DE in Jamie Collins, who broke the Combine broad jump record previously held by Calvin Johnson I think - about 11'7"?).

 

[kurtfaulk]

I wouldn't be surprised if we don't get Saffold or Byrd. I still don't know where we get the CAP room.

I think it's called a signing bonus.

.

 

[jrry32]

Lande is usually different than the consensus. One thing is for sure, there is no Earl Thomas in this draft.

Lande is pretty out there.

 

[Alan]

kurtfaulk with this:
I think it's called a signing bonus.

Most of the big contracts ( like Chris Long's) have already been reworked. They probably don't want to rework Sam's contract this year because they're unsure of his long term status with us. Even the contracts that can be reworked run up against the fact that you're taking from Peter to pay Paul down the road.

It will be interesting to see what magic Demoff can work.

 

[Alan]

Ramifications looking at part of the story:
Cut (or restructure) Finnegan. Dahl and Wells are vulnerable. Would that give us more than $10 million ($12-$15?). We don't have to extend Quinn in 2014 (2015 option). Though there are the rookies to account for, currently slotted at 1.2 and 1.13 (reason #111 why it is a good thing to trade down if not too far, to be able to have more cap friendly contracts, leaving more money to be players in free agency - Belichick gets a second, third and fourth to move down a few spots from the 1.31, and MIN did get a keeper in Patterson, than NE gets a ridiculous athlete in the second with former safety/OLB/MLB/DE in Jamie Collins, who broke the Combine broad jump record previously held by Calvin Johnson I think - about 11'7"?).

Here are some excerpts I posted from a different thread.
Player Cap Figure 2014 - 2013
Sam Bradford 17,610,000 - 12,595,000 = +5,015,000
Chris Long 14,700,000 - 8,750,000 = + 5,950,000
James Laurinaitis 10,400,000 - 12,400,000 = -2,000,000
Cortland Finnegan 10,000,000 - 10,400,000 = -400,000
Jake Long 9,250,000 - 4,250,000 = +5,000,000
Jared Cook 7,000,000 - 4,000,000 = +3,000,000
Scott Wells 6,500,000 - 6,500,000 = 0
Kendall Langford 6,000,000 - 6,000,000 = 0
Harvey Dahl 4,000,000 - 2,750,000 = +1,250,000
William Hayes 3,845,000 - 2,050,000 = +1,840,000
Robert Quinn 3,002,390 - 3,002,390 = 0
Tavon Austin 2,897,955 - 2,318,364 = +579,591
Michael Brockers 2,596,908 - 2,164,090 = +432,818
Alec Ogletree 1,597,735 - 1,278,188 = +319,547

So all those pink ones are increases (23,386,956). Plus we need money for signing our draftees and a cushion. From this you can get a good idea who we'd need to cut.

$31.4 million (includes the draftee salaries of $8 Million and the inseason cushion of about about $2 million minus JL's CAP decrease of $2 million) in the hole before we cut anyone.

Cut Dahl, Finn, Wells and we save $20.5 million. Only $10.9 million left to find by my calculations.

The CAP is supposed to go up a little this year ($3 million?) but we're still more than $7.9 million ($5.9 million if we forget about the cushion) in the hole if we forget about the injury cushion. Of course that's not all of the 51 top salaries but they comprise the largest ones.

Can't sign anyone before we get into positive territory.

 

[jrry32]

We're not $7.9 million in the hole. You aren't counting the money that's coming off the books, my friend. Here's a great site:
http://overthecap.com/calculator/?Team=Rams