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- Jun 25, 2014
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Yes the offseason is incomplete, but it's still fun to discuss what's gone down even if it might change when the big picture is finalized. In the meantime here's some "completely scientific" grades mostly just made up to amuse myself, but hopefully will prompt some more thoughts.
Foles: A
My grade relies heavily on that Bradford (or more correctly his nefarious agent) refused to give in to any pay cut or salary cap relief, and therefore Fisher had a "you no help me now Jobu?" moment. I still stubbornly believe Bradford's ceiling is better than Foles, but given the injury risk they obtained a higher floor. That's pretty much the bottom line because, say it with me -- the Rams QB in 2015 will be better than Shaun @#$! Hill!
S.Hill: A-
Phew, thank you Minnesota. Can't imagine a more insane proposition than watching the exact same old geezer play the fail again. Give me a nice young backup that at least has a prayer to get better, here's where I love the tradeoff of higher potential ceiling versus conservative floor. I gave the minus for the Rams to even have flirted with the idea of bringing Hill back.
Keenum: D
Like getting him but hate that the Rams swallowed their own vomit by having to pay a draft pick to get their former property. It's easy to discount a 7th round pick as worthless, but that could be the value of our starting center (Rhaney) and the Rams are not in position to be wasting anything. Do the little things, dammit!
A.Davis: C-
I like bringing him back since he's so cheap, but I downgrade the Rams for not starting him when the Rams were eliminated last season if they were entertaining thoughts on bringing him back. That was two games of precious experience lost.
K.Langford: F
No he's not worth his cap number but perhaps Fisher could have taken 1 second out of the oral fixation on "we love Bradford, he's our guy" comments to at least say he wanted Langford back at a reduced rate. Or maybe attempted to trade him instead of cutting him a week early? The Rams now must get another run-stuffing girthy DT to backup/complement Brockers. For a team with too many holes to fix and not enough draft picks, seems we could have overspent a little in a restructure and avoided creating a hole here. If Langford simply wanted out to have a chance to start somewhere else, fine, just say so. Maybe the Rams are eyeing pipe dreams Dan Williams or Pot Roast as a possible fix here -- or even Wilfork would be a fun possibility -- but seems those would be more expensive than keeping a restructured Langord (and his dead money).
Hayes/Sims: C
This is more an optional little thing, but hopefully they are working on the situation behind the scenes. These two combine for almost $10m of cap space for one to be a backup and another the backup to the backup. I like both players and want both back but there seems some logical salary adjustment should be made, even if it means Sims departs. Plus E.Westbrooks is better than being stuck as the backup to the backup to the backup.
McLeod: C-
I love McLeod as a special teams captain, but not a starter. I'd like to see him get a multi-year deal with a lower cap number instead of the tender number so when the Rams finally find a true ball-hawking turnover machine at free safety, McCleod can stick around for depth and special teams.
J.Long: A
Rams did the right thing on both the business and personal fronts here, obviously he had to go given his cap number and injury, but Fisher at least softened the blow by publicly (faking?) considering possibilities of bringing him back in some capacity.
Wells: A-
Yes I'm an easy grader for giving an A for such a no-brainer as cutting Wells, but they get the minus for it taking so long (more than a millisecond was too long).
Barksdale: D
There was probably no way to avoid Barksdale testing the market, but I'm somewhat nervous about the plan to replace him and all the holes now on the OL. Given the lack of free agent OT quality, seems like the only option might be to sign an interior OL (even that option is vanishing quickly) and be in a must-draft tackle mode now. I hate when options get limited.
Britt: C-
Also plays into the OL situation, if the Rams are handcuffed into drafting OL then they won't get WR help there. They better have the WR situation handled in free agency, whether it's Britt or signing someone else to go along with getting Quick back.
Harkey: A
The Rams best all-purpose TE is back and hopefully they will lock him up for a few years.
L.Kendricks: F
Perhaps the biggest head-scratcher so far. What is it with the Rams paying double the market price for TEs? Fun fact, did you know the Rams already pay the 2nd most money (behind San Diego) for tight ends in the NFL? And this was before the Kendricks contract. No other team would value Kendricks at $4+million. I get that he's the ultimate role player, but that's another way of saying he can't block as well as Harkey or be the receiving threat of Cook. He's basically the Eugene Sims of our TE roster. Seems to me Bayer or a walk-on FB could have easily filled his role for pennies on the dollar in comparison.
J.Dunbar: D
I know he's another fan favorite like McLeod/Kendricks but really the Rams must do better with their LB depth. Dunbar doesn't have to go at his cheap price, but they need add something -- I guess Akeem Ayers is currently being floated as the idea?
Cignetti: C
Can't really go either way on this yet so I'll cop out and say it was just an average move so far, low risk/boring to promote from within. It would have been fun to get a new creative mind like Chud but at least we avoided potential pitfalls in other candidates.
Weinke: A-
Grade not based on anything about Weinke, just love that they didn't foolishly get Jeff Garcia as seeing Carrot Top's evil twin with his 49er stank on the sideline would have constantly made me dry heave.
Foles: A
My grade relies heavily on that Bradford (or more correctly his nefarious agent) refused to give in to any pay cut or salary cap relief, and therefore Fisher had a "you no help me now Jobu?" moment. I still stubbornly believe Bradford's ceiling is better than Foles, but given the injury risk they obtained a higher floor. That's pretty much the bottom line because, say it with me -- the Rams QB in 2015 will be better than Shaun @#$! Hill!
S.Hill: A-
Phew, thank you Minnesota. Can't imagine a more insane proposition than watching the exact same old geezer play the fail again. Give me a nice young backup that at least has a prayer to get better, here's where I love the tradeoff of higher potential ceiling versus conservative floor. I gave the minus for the Rams to even have flirted with the idea of bringing Hill back.
Keenum: D
Like getting him but hate that the Rams swallowed their own vomit by having to pay a draft pick to get their former property. It's easy to discount a 7th round pick as worthless, but that could be the value of our starting center (Rhaney) and the Rams are not in position to be wasting anything. Do the little things, dammit!
A.Davis: C-
I like bringing him back since he's so cheap, but I downgrade the Rams for not starting him when the Rams were eliminated last season if they were entertaining thoughts on bringing him back. That was two games of precious experience lost.
K.Langford: F
No he's not worth his cap number but perhaps Fisher could have taken 1 second out of the oral fixation on "we love Bradford, he's our guy" comments to at least say he wanted Langford back at a reduced rate. Or maybe attempted to trade him instead of cutting him a week early? The Rams now must get another run-stuffing girthy DT to backup/complement Brockers. For a team with too many holes to fix and not enough draft picks, seems we could have overspent a little in a restructure and avoided creating a hole here. If Langford simply wanted out to have a chance to start somewhere else, fine, just say so. Maybe the Rams are eyeing pipe dreams Dan Williams or Pot Roast as a possible fix here -- or even Wilfork would be a fun possibility -- but seems those would be more expensive than keeping a restructured Langord (and his dead money).
Hayes/Sims: C
This is more an optional little thing, but hopefully they are working on the situation behind the scenes. These two combine for almost $10m of cap space for one to be a backup and another the backup to the backup. I like both players and want both back but there seems some logical salary adjustment should be made, even if it means Sims departs. Plus E.Westbrooks is better than being stuck as the backup to the backup to the backup.
McLeod: C-
I love McLeod as a special teams captain, but not a starter. I'd like to see him get a multi-year deal with a lower cap number instead of the tender number so when the Rams finally find a true ball-hawking turnover machine at free safety, McCleod can stick around for depth and special teams.
J.Long: A
Rams did the right thing on both the business and personal fronts here, obviously he had to go given his cap number and injury, but Fisher at least softened the blow by publicly (faking?) considering possibilities of bringing him back in some capacity.
Wells: A-
Yes I'm an easy grader for giving an A for such a no-brainer as cutting Wells, but they get the minus for it taking so long (more than a millisecond was too long).
Barksdale: D
There was probably no way to avoid Barksdale testing the market, but I'm somewhat nervous about the plan to replace him and all the holes now on the OL. Given the lack of free agent OT quality, seems like the only option might be to sign an interior OL (even that option is vanishing quickly) and be in a must-draft tackle mode now. I hate when options get limited.
Britt: C-
Also plays into the OL situation, if the Rams are handcuffed into drafting OL then they won't get WR help there. They better have the WR situation handled in free agency, whether it's Britt or signing someone else to go along with getting Quick back.
Harkey: A
The Rams best all-purpose TE is back and hopefully they will lock him up for a few years.
L.Kendricks: F
Perhaps the biggest head-scratcher so far. What is it with the Rams paying double the market price for TEs? Fun fact, did you know the Rams already pay the 2nd most money (behind San Diego) for tight ends in the NFL? And this was before the Kendricks contract. No other team would value Kendricks at $4+million. I get that he's the ultimate role player, but that's another way of saying he can't block as well as Harkey or be the receiving threat of Cook. He's basically the Eugene Sims of our TE roster. Seems to me Bayer or a walk-on FB could have easily filled his role for pennies on the dollar in comparison.
J.Dunbar: D
I know he's another fan favorite like McLeod/Kendricks but really the Rams must do better with their LB depth. Dunbar doesn't have to go at his cheap price, but they need add something -- I guess Akeem Ayers is currently being floated as the idea?
Cignetti: C
Can't really go either way on this yet so I'll cop out and say it was just an average move so far, low risk/boring to promote from within. It would have been fun to get a new creative mind like Chud but at least we avoided potential pitfalls in other candidates.
Weinke: A-
Grade not based on anything about Weinke, just love that they didn't foolishly get Jeff Garcia as seeing Carrot Top's evil twin with his 49er stank on the sideline would have constantly made me dry heave.
