Marcus Mariota?

[moklerman]

Given that this is the second injury on the same knee there is no way I pay him over 16M next year. If the Rams choose to do it and he gets hurt again they should all be fired. Think of the free agent linebacker we can sign with some of that cap room.

I understand but that doesn't mean that's how the Rams are going to approach things and if they do decide to honor Bradford's contract I don't think it's cause for a regime change. I agree that a re-structure is in order but I don't think that'll happen without an extension.

So, if you had to choose between extending Bradford or just paying the last year of his contract, which do you choose? While $16M is a lot of money, it's not exorbitant in terms of an NFL QB. Sure, cutting him is an option too but I don't get the feeling that they'll do that so I'm left with one more year of the contract or extension as the likely choices and since I also think he needs to prove he can stay healthy at least for a season, I'll take the one last payment as the best available option overall.

With Davis and Bradford battling for the starter's job and both being on the roster, I think the Rams would be in good shape at QB next year. But as well as Davis has played, I'm not sure he's going to want to take a back seat so I don't know if having both of them next year and beyond is a realistic possibility. They may have to choose between Davis and Bradford and considering Bradford's deal and uncertainty, that may be what happens. Davis and Gilbert may be the 1/2 that they move forward with.

All of which still leads me to believe that a first round QB is very unlikely in 2015.

 

[dieterbrock]

If Davis plays like this the rest of the year, I cant see how you keep both he and Bradford as #1-#1a
QB controversy is never good. I think Parcells said it best, IF you've got 2 QB, it means you dont have 1. Something like that.
Also think that the only way Bradford is back is after he's cut and signs a new cost effective deal. No way you can pay him 16 mill

 

[Robocop]

I understand but that doesn't mean that's how the Rams are going to approach things and if they do decide to honor Bradford's contract I don't think it's cause for a regime change. I agree that a re-structure is in order but I don't think that'll happen without an extension.

So, if you had to choose between extending Bradford or just paying the last year of his contract, which do you choose? While $16M is a lot of money, it's not exorbitant in terms of an NFL QB. Sure, cutting him is an option too but I don't get the feeling that they'll do that so I'm left with one more year of the contract or extension as the likely choices and since I also think he needs to prove he can stay healthy at least for a season, I'll take the one last payment as the best available option overall.

With Davis and Bradford battling for the starter's job and both being on the roster, I think the Rams would be in good shape at QB next year. But as well as Davis has played, I'm not sure he's going to want to take a back seat so I don't know if having both of them next year and beyond is a realistic possibility. They may have to choose between Davis and Bradford and considering Bradford's deal and uncertainty, that may be what happens. Davis and Gilbert may be the 1/2 that they move forward with.

All of which still leads me to believe that a first round QB is very unlikely in 2015.

I agree. I don't like gambling first round on any of those QBs. Davis is playing out of his mind but he still has some limitations that keep him from being a full time starter in the NFL. maybe he has crazy progression and proves otherwise. but right now I say play out Bradford's contract and have Davis there to back him up. offensive line and linebacker upgrades are top of the To Do list before next season.

 

[AZRamsFan93]

All of which still leads me to believe that a first round QB is very unlikely in 2015.

I think your reasoning is solid, and it could happen that way. I would select a QB early in next year's draft. We need more talent at the position and I don't think Sam will be around. It's one thing to pay him $16M to play, it's quite another to pay him $16M to sit - when cutting him costs zero cash and only 3.5M in cap room.

 

[blue4]

I'm perfectly fine staying with Bradford, Davis, Hill , and Gilbert for another year. Get another LT or LG to pair with Robinson so we can dominate on the oline. Get another LB with size and downhill tackling ability. Free safety with ballhawking skill.
Large CB with speed.

Do not draft:
Head case potential sex offender who makes additional bad choices aside from that
A guy who considers having a second read as "added complexity."
Anyone with the description "Coming off back injury."

 

[blue4]

I'm perfectly fine staying with Bradford, Davis, Hill , and Gilbert for another year. Get another LT or LG to pair with Robinson so we can dominate on the oline. Get another LB with size and downhill tackling ability. Free safety with ballhawking skill.
Large CB with speed.

Do not draft:
Head case potential sex offender who makes additional bad choices aside from that
A guy who considers having a second read as "added complexity."
Anyone with the description "Coming off back injury."

 

[moklerman]

If Davis plays like this the rest of the year, I cant see how you keep both he and Bradford as #1-#1a
QB controversy is never good. I think Parcells said it best, IF you've got 2 QB, it means you dont have 1. Something like that.
Also think that the only way Bradford is back is after he's cut and signs a new cost effective deal. No way you can pay him 16 mill

I agree that if you have two QB's, you have no QB but Parcells is hardly the coach to take that advice from

If Bradford is cut, I don't see him coming back to the Rams. I hope he remains but I don't think he will in that scenario. Paying $3.5M to cut him doesn't sound too appealing but maybe they'll decide it's worth it just to move on. But that isn't the impression I get. They've already budgeted that money, the cap will go up again and I think they still want to give Bradford a chance to prove himself.

I'm torn right now because there's really no reason to bench Davis. While he can't make all the throws that Bradford can, I think he makes a lot of plays that Bradford wouldn't. Bradford hasn't shown to be real aggressive and I think that's hard to teach. On the other hand, Davis has shown that in just one week, he can adjust and take checkdowns instead of forcing things downfield.

I think Davis has been much better in the pocket as well. The only think I don't really have a way to compare is the pre-snap reads, protection calls and reads during the play. I'd certainly take Bradford's physical attributes over Davis' but Davis has been able to get it done on the field. Would Bradford be able to replicate or exceed what Davis has been doing? I don't know but I'd like to find out.

Davis, at least right now, deserves to be the incumbent going into next year but Bradford deserves a chance to win the job back. Let 'em battle it out in preseason and the loser is the backup in 2015 until/if the starter gets hurt. Then one of them can move on in 2016.

 

[cvramsfan]

For what it's worth I meet is Uncle while in Kauai. We bought some pineapples from him. He talked very highly of him, said he was very respectful and hard working kid. Went back to school to get his degree cause that is what he told his mom he would do. He said that a NFL team visited him this last summer trying to get him to enter the draft, wouldn't say which team. He told them no he had to get his degree.

 

[Alan]

moklerman with further clarification:
It wasn't a caveat though, it was just in addition to. I wasn't saying that Davis was playing good for a first time starter, I was saying that he was playing good and that fact has to be magnified BECAUSE he's a first time starter.

Not sure what you're looking for in terms of performance and/or consistency but Davis has put up good numbers since he's been the starter and they stand on their own, not conditionally because of his inexperience.

I understand what you're saying now. Don't agree with your take on him though. Inconsistency, occasional (more than normal) poor decisions, slight case of happy feet and way too many really poorly thrown passes. He reminds of of Wilson but without ability to gain 100+ yards rushing in a game.

The good news is that despite how badly he played in TC and the preseason, he's really stepped his game up once it got real. Plus, all those deficiencies can be remedied with coaching and experience.

 

[AZRamsFan93]

If Bradford is cut, I don't see him coming back to the Rams. I hope he remains but I don't think he will in that scenario. Paying $3.5M to cut him doesn't sound too appealing but maybe they'll decide it's worth it just to move on.

To be clear, if the Rams cut Bradford they pay him zero. Nada. The $3.5M is the dead money associated with his pro-rated signing bonus which was paid out as a lump sum, and only counts against the cap.

 

[dieterbrock]

To be clear, if the Rams cut Bradford they pay him zero. Nada. The $3.5M is the dead money associated with his pro-rated signing bonus which was paid out as a lump sum, and only counts against the cap.

Yup. They save roughly 13 mill of cap room by cutting him.
I just can't see it going any other way if Davis keeps playing at this level.
You can't pay a guy 16 mill to sit on the bench

 

[dieterbrock]

dup.
Site been getting hung up for me a lot lately.

 

[Alan]

dieterbrock thinking sword of Damocles:
If Davis plays like this the rest of the year, I cant see how you keep both he and Bradford as #1-#1a
QB controversy is never good. I think Parcells said it best, IF you've got 2 QB, it means you dont have 1. Something like that.
Also think that the only way Bradford is back is after he's cut and signs a new cost effective deal. No way you can pay him 16 mill

I wouldn't count SB out. He's a much better QB than Davis is. He just has to stay on the field and there is no way Davis beats him out in TC IMO.

 

[moklerman]

I wouldn't count SB out. He's a much better QB than Davis is. He just has to stay on the field and there is no way Davis beats him out in TC IMO.

I don't disagree but when you bottom-line it, even if he was playing just what kind of numbers would Bradford be putting up? Even when he had that short spurt of really good ball, it wasn't far exceeding what Davis has been doing, if at all.

I don't think there's any argument that Bradford has more physical ability but Davis finds a way to produce.

 

[Alan]

moklerman loving our man Davis:
Davis finds a way to produce.

I'm glad you're happy about his play.

 

[moklerman]

I'm glad you're happy about his play.

I imagine most Rams fans are. Not all, but complaining about the QB is a religion for some.

 

[Alan]

moklerman thinking QBs:
I imagine most Rams fans are. Not all, but complaining about the QB is a religion for some.

Well, I prefer to burn the coaches in effigy myself. QBs are too easy. The refs come in at #2 and the QBs are a distant third.
Having Davis progressing (fingers crossed) is really making the rest of the season much more interesting for me.