Predicting the Rams first round of cuts

[JKBOGEN]

He's been a nice surprise.

After getting like no reps the last two games he came in and outplayed the guys who wrongfully had his reps

 

[BonifayRam]

Sure, other than Saffold, who would be my only choice to play backup OLT, the rest of those guys look like ORT's to me. Why would we keep so many ORT's, you know? Do you think anyone else can be competent at that position, or even as a band-aid? And don't get me wrong, we used to be talking about starters, and now we are talking about backup players, so that is a huge plus, along with good depth at Guard, and ORT, but not so much at Center behind Barnes, who looks damn good this year, IMO.

Sorry for being so long in verbiage in my response.

I agree with you full on the center reserve situation. So onto to your question #1-......on why keep so many ORT's? The ORT that I believe Boudreau prefers to have starting is Havenstein. The problem for Boudreau his preference ORT has been unhealthy before OTA's that's a long time to be out & rust as your brought out does happen. Now, going into the last week before the final cuts Havenstein is still not practicing yet. Fact is also Havenstein played injured for most all of his rookie season with two different nagging lower leg issues. That currently means we do not have him ready to play, so right there minus one ORT.

The current starting ORT just happens to be the most injured OL in the NFL the last five seasons. Saffold has a very poor staying healthy work history to seriously count him as being a sure thing each & every Sunday as being your starting ORT. So with those two as your top 2 you would have a natural need to have 2 or 3 in the line up would you not?

After those two ORT the next most utilized OL in this post is Andrew Donnal. Donnal has looked good @ ORT so we have arrived at one possibility of a ORT. The next in line is Garrett Reynolds. He looked good enough last night but not as good or as solid as Donnal did the first two games but GR is a legit back up ORT along with being the 3rd (or first swing reserve for both OG posts). Then there's rookie UDFA Jordan Swindle who is a pure ORT. So Snead has done a good job here with this post as you indicated.

On the left side we had a two bona fide breakdowns...being nice. GRob sure looks like he has arrived as a starting OLT so we got one. You mentioned Saffold & yes he is also legit starting OLT but with the major past health issues. So we do have a need for another OLT after those two. I have a different take on your thoughts that Battle & Murphy appear to look like right OT's. Its my belief that they are mostly pure OLT types. Boudreau has been working Battle in @ ORT IMO to slowly work him in the less stressful OT post. plus Boudreau will not have a one post reserve OL'er on the 53 final roster unless he has a gun pointed to his head.

Now we go to the problem that just got broken last night...first breakdown OLT Darrell Williams...what was a pure disaster not see around these parts since Grant Williams & Jason Smith days. Not so sure I want to include DW as an NFL caliber left OT anymore. Not so sure what I saw in him before last night but my faith in him is totally gone. Then to the 2nd breakdown Isaiah Battle's ongoing saga. We know he is a proto type framed OLT but was far from being ready last season. Here we are more than a yr later & Battle once again appears like he is far from being ready now due to a balky bad knee & long periods of down time missing the mandated practice. So this paragraph backs up you argument fully on the OLT issue.

Now to your other question...."Do you think anyone else can be competent at that position, or even as a Band-Aid?" Yes, we may have the band aid you speak of here. The last other OLT that is still working fine a technically sound OLT is Rookie named Pace Murphy. He has been heavy in use pre season games without fault or incident or penalty. Darrell Williams had more issues in one 3 down series than Murphy has had in the entire pre season.

Summary Objective
Boudreau #1- Must find out if rookie Pace Murphy is a possible emergency third left OT this week. #2-Find out if Darrell Williams is still worth investing in refurbishing as a prospective 3rd emergency OLT. #3-Find out if Battle's knee requires surgery or rehabbing event & rest.

Conclusion:
Finding & filling our current need @ OLT amongst the WWC's (Wavier Wire Contingent's) will prove to be very difficult. I still think its possible we can find a remedy to this problem with what we have left in our stash:sneak:.

 

[OldSchool]

C- Brian Folkers
S- Michael Caputo
LB- Corey Littleton
LS- Jeff Overbaugh
OT- Darrell Williams
WR- David Richards
RB- Zach Laskey
WR- Duke Williams
DE- Morgan Fox
DT- Zach Colvin
K- Taylor Bertolet
LB- Nichola Grigsby
TE- Jake Stoneburner
S- Jordan Lomax
QB- Dylan Thompson
TE- Benson Brown
OT- Pace Murphy
That's 17 to take us from 90 to 73.

 

[DR RAM]

Sorry for being so long in verbiage in my response.

I agree with you full on the center reserve situation. So onto to your question #1-......on why keep so many ORT's? The ORT that I believe Boudreau prefers to have starting is Havenstein. The problem for Boudreau his preference ORT has been unhealthy before OTA's that's a long time to be out & rust as your brought out does happen. Now, going into the last week before the final cuts Havenstein is still not practicing yet. Fact is also Havenstein played injured for most all of his rookie season with two different nagging lower leg issues. That currently means we do not have him ready to play, so right there minus one ORT.

The current starting ORT just happens to be the most injured OL in the NFL the last five seasons. Saffold has a very poor staying healthy work history to seriously count him as being a sure thing each & every Sunday as being your starting ORT. So with those two as your top 2 you would have a natural need to have 2 or 3 in the line up would you not?

After those two ORT the next most utilized OL in this post is Andrew Donnal. Donnal has looked good @ ORT so we have arrived at one possibility of a ORT. The next in line is Garrett Reynolds. He looked good enough last night but not as good or as solid as Donnal did the first two games but GR is a legit back up ORT along with being the 3rd (or first swing reserve for both OG posts). Then there's rookie UDFA Jordan Swindle who is a pure ORT. So Snead has done a good job here with this post as you indicated.

On the left side we had a two bona fide breakdowns...being nice. GRob sure looks like he has arrived as a starting OLT so we got one. You mentioned Saffold & yes he is also legit starting OLT but with the major past health issues. So we do have a need for another OLT after those two. I have a different take on your thoughts that Battle & Murphy appear to look like right OT's. Its my belief that they are mostly pure OLT types. Boudreau has been working Battle in @ ORT IMO to slowly work him in the less stressful OT post. plus Boudreau will not have a one post reserve OL'er on the 53 final roster unless he has a gun pointed to his head.

Now we go to the problem that just got broken last night...first breakdown OLT Darrell Williams...what was a pure disaster not see around these parts since Grant Williams & Jason Smith days. Not so sure I want to include DW as an NFL caliber left OT anymore. Not so sure what I saw in him before last night but my faith in him is totally gone. Then to the 2nd breakdown Isaiah Battle's ongoing saga. We know he is a proto type framed OLT but was far from being ready last season. Here we are more than a yr later & Battle once again appears like he is far from being ready now due to a balky bad knee & long periods of down time missing the mandated practice. So this paragraph backs up you argument fully on the OLT issue.

Now to your other question...."Do you think anyone else can be competent at that position, or even as a Band-Aid?" Yes, we may have the band aid you speak of here. The last other OLT that is still working fine a technically sound OLT is Rookie named Pace Murphy. He has been heavy in use pre season games without fault or incident or penalty. Darrell Williams had more issues in one 3 down series than Murphy has had in the entire pre season.

Summary Objective
Boudreau #1- Must find out if rookie Pace Murphy is a possible emergency third left OT this week. #2-Find out if Darrell Williams is still worth investing in refurbishing as a prospective 3rd emergency OLT. #3-Find out if Battle's knee requires surgery or rehabbing event & rest.

Conclusion:
Finding & filling our current need @ OLT amongst the WWC's (Wavier Wire Contingent's) will prove to be very difficult. I still think its possible we can find a remedy to this problem with what we have left in our stash:sneak:.

I don't fundamentally disagree with anything you are saying, in fact, I think we see things in a very similar fashion, but are not connecting on the OLT position, which is my only major problem, besides backup Center. I'm worried to what happens if GRob goes down, because of Saffold, and his injuries. As to Williams, I always thought he would be a prime Guard conversion candidate, which is typical Boudreau, and he has played well up to this point, and I share your view that, I just don't know if he can even play OT at this level, after this one game. Maybe that is unfair, but that was an epic fail.

Murphy, I have to see him play a higher level of competition, but I'd be welcome to see it, as I would be welcome to see a couple more of our OL'ers, who I think should get a look, based on their preseason play, over some of the guys in front of them, based on their play.

Overall, yeah, I'm just worried about that true swing OT, other than Saffold, because Saffold has proven, health wise, to be unhealthy. I like to think in terms of the game activated players first. Do we bring 7 or 8 OL to the party every week. It would be incredible if we could bring 7, but I don't think we can.

Bonifay, we talk about this every year, and we have not solved our swing OT, yet. Is he on the roster for the future, I don't know, maybe, but is he ready now, if Saffold gets hurt. IMO, I don't think so. That is what worries me. 2 guys hurt, derails our whole season, and we've seen that before. I don't want to see it again.

Thanks.

 

[JKBOGEN]

Here's my list:
* K - #1- Taylor Bertolet
* QB - #2 - Dylan Thompson
* WR - #12 - David Richards
* WR - #13 - Mike Thomas
* TE - #49 - Jake Stoneburner
* TE - #82 - Benson Brown
* RT - #70 - Jordan Swindle
* C - #67 - Brian Folkerts
* LT - Darrell Williams
* RDT - #77 - Zach Colvin
* ROLB - Nicholas Grigsby
* FS - #27 - Michael Caputo
* SS - #36 - Rohan Gaines
* LS - # 42 - Jeff Overbaugh

View attachment 15872

your prediction was better than mine congrats. I had 9 you had 10

 

[JKBOGEN]

C- Brian Folkers
S- Michael Caputo
LB- Corey Littleton
LS- Jeff Overbaugh
OT- Darrell Williams
WR- David Richards
RB- Zach Laskey
WR- Duke Williams
DE- Morgan Fox
DT- Zach Colvin
K- Taylor Bertolet
LB- Nichola Grigsby
TE- Jake Stoneburner
S- Jordan Lomax
QB- Dylan Thompson
TE- Benson Brown
OT- Pace Murphy
That's 17 to take us from 90 to 73.

11 correct good job!

 

[DaveFan'51]

your prediction was better than mine congrats. I had 9 you had 10

" Old age Win's 10-9 over Youth!" Dumb Luck actually!! There where a couple of surprises to me! Herring & Lomax. But no great Loss!
The Hard cut's will be the next set!!

 

[JKBOGEN]

" Old age Win's 10-9 over Youth!" Dumb Luck actually!! There where a couple of surprises to me! Herring & Lomax. But no great Loss!
The Hard cut's will be the next set!!

You win this one old age. Youth will prevail in the next round hehe

 

[DaveFan'51]

You win this one old age. Youth will prevail in the next round hehe

Your on Youngin!! Let the game play on!!:snicker::shades::mrburnsevil::cheers:

 

[BonifayRam]

I don't fundamentally disagree with anything you are saying, in fact, I think we see things in a very similar fashion, but are not connecting on the OLT position, which is my only major problem, besides backup Center. I'm worried to what happens if GRob goes down, because of Saffold, and his injuries. As to Williams, I always thought he would be a prime Guard conversion candidate, which is typical Boudreau, and he has played well up to this point, and I share your view that, I just don't know if he can even play OT at this level, after this one game. Maybe that is unfair, but that was an epic fail.

Murphy, I have to see him play a higher level of competition, but I'd be welcome to see it, as I would be welcome to see a couple more of our OL'ers, who I think should get a look, based on their preseason play, over some of the guys in front of them, based on their play.

Overall, yeah, I'm just worried about that true swing OT, other than Saffold, because Saffold has proven, health wise, to be unhealthy. I like to think in terms of the game activated players first. Do we bring 7 or 8 OL to the party every week. It would be incredible if we could bring 7, but I don't think we can.

Bonifay, we talk about this every year, and we have not solved our swing OT, yet. Is he on the roster for the future, I don't know, maybe, but is he ready now, if Saffold gets hurt. IMO, I don't think so. That is what worries me. 2 guys hurt, derails our whole season, and we've seen that before. I don't want to see it again.
Thanks.

As usual we have the same concerns here & yes we have discussed this same topic since Spring Practices in 2013 guess that makes it over 3 yrs now. I waited to see what the Rams did on the first cuts to see if I could get any indications as to where this 3rd swing OT problem was going....No change. We are still looking at the same 3 prospects as discussed. Rookie Pace Murphy, injured knee Isaiah Battle & the degraded very poor Darrell Williams.

Last season after Boudreau lost his swing OT's (Saffold game#5 & Williams game#9) Rookie Battle was the only other OLT on the roster after Robinson. So for 7 2015 regular games IB was our reserve OLT IB was not our Swing OT. Garrett Reynolds still was shifted to ORT whenever either Donnal or Havenstein were injured. So that should tell me if IB has not suffered through 2016 TC & pre season with nagging injuries (knee being the most serious) this swing OT issue would not be our present concern. The injury to IB was not all negative ...

First, it gave UDFA OLT named Pace Murphy a ton of time to prove he was a legit OLT prospect & surprise most all. Pace played a ton in the first two pre season games as did Darrell Williams. Pace outplayed Williams & that's why Pace is still in the battle here so late. Secondly the IB injury permitted & exposed DW's super weakness to quick small size pass rushers. Big discovery here on DW where a healthy DW had zero answers in his skills backpack. So both are positives out a of this IB negative.

In truth the small framed 6-4 300 pound Williams was only active for 5 games. DW never started any NFL games & only real game action with the offense only a few plays. It was not till game #9 was he called into full time action @ ORT where he soon went down to injury & thus IR's for the rest of the season. Most all depth charts have IB as GRob #1 back up not DW. The only reason DW,(IMO) has not been released is due to one thing....the soundness of IB's knee. I do not want DW on the 53 active roster. DW could be OK being signed to the practice squad but not in place of Pace Murphy who has proven to be a better back up @ OLT.

What needs to be cleared up in just 2 days is what is the medical status of IB's health. Will IB's knee heal in time & rest? Or does the knee require surgery? If it does IB will be placed on IR. If not then he will be our long term reserve OLT with Donnal being the main back up to ORT Havenstein. If IB goes IR then the fallback back up to 1st in OLT if GRob is injured (Saffold) would probably be Pace Murphy.

 

[Zaphod]

Wow, this team just keeps getting better along the offensive line every year.