Rams can't wait any more for Greg Robinson to take next step

[VegasRam]

Got to thinking....
Reporters are just supposed to report the facts, so I... uh... could have been a bit harsh.

Although I always liked reading Bernie, JT, and Jeff Gordon - whether I agreed with them or not.

I'll let y'all decide.

 

[OldSchool]

- He was a very high draft pick that came with mucho hype and expectations.

One thing that you and Wagoner seem to forget or ignore or choose not to acknowledge is that along with the hype and expectations there was acknowledgement by everybody was that he also needed coaching and time to grow into the NFL game. He came from a college that had IIRC 4 pass blocking plays he had to learn. He came from a college that was a run heavy team he was asked very rarely to pass block. You won't find anybody that expected him to step in his rookie year and be a starting LT most people said it would take him two years to attune to the NFL game. The plan with him coming to the NFL by Fisher was to start him at LG for the first two years, as we had Jake Long signed for those 2 years, and let him acclimate to the NFL game and then switch him over to LT if it was a perfect world he wouldn't have sniffed LT until this years camp. But we all know how those plans go.

Personally I think the article was crap from Wagoner I have grown to like his reporting and expected more from him than this. He glosses over the work that GRob has done this off season only devoting a couple lines to it. He glosses over the growth that we all saw if we were looking objectively from GRob over the last few games last year. He spends most of the article criticizing GRob and regurgitating quotes from him we've seen over the last couple of weeks. He does nothing to even draw a conclusion, or offer his opinion on what GRob has done this off season. He simply regurgitates things we've already read from others slopped together several paragraphs and put his name at the top.

Clearly, Robinson an the Rams are hoping that the hard work will pay off and he'll be able to meet the expectations that accompanied him as the second overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft in his third NFL season.

He ends with what GRob and the Rams, and of course what us as Rams fans want but offers no opinion or insight? He spent all that time putting this together and offers us no opinion of his own. Totally lazy work by Wagoner with this article. There are no video's or pictures that we all saw posted here of GRob working with Bentley and no pics or video's of him in OTA's. There are no quotes from Bentley and his team and the only quote from a Rams coach is Fisher saying how the whole OLine has gotten bigger working out this off season. I don't want rays of sunshine and unicorns dancing around happy, but for the ESPN staff writer assigned to the Rams this was a very uninformative article that offered me no insight into this supposed Rams experts thoughts on the subject.

 

[fearsomefour]

This is one of the reasons I could never understand taking an offensive lineman with a top 5 pick. Orlando Pace seems to be the only one that has fulfilled his potential. Jason Smith and Alex Barron were both complete failures and smith was also a number 2 overall pick. Rams are not the only team either, I see teams every year take a tackle with top 5 pick and I know its a very important position now days in the NFL but personally I never understood it. How much better could a top 5 tackle be than the guy getting picked in rounds 2-3 ? Sory for the rant but just something that others me every draft.

Any position can be of great value taken early....just has to be the right guy.
QB bust, WRs bust, DBs bust....Olineman bust.
Based on importance (just my humble opinion) of position I would draft QB, LT, DE or DT that early.....that may be about the extent of it.

 

[LACHAMP46]

“The entire offensive line has doubled in size here in the weight room," coach Jeff Fisher said. "They’re all bigger and stronger and quicker, so that’s a good thing. Greg is throwing around a lot more weight. He has a much better feel for what we’re doing. He’s sitting at the front of the classroom. He wants to prove something, and that’s a good thing for him.”

My dear departed rams brother dubs used to talk "ceiling & floors" of players....and G-Rob is a prime example...bonifay said it best, dude was 20 coming out, and only had one year as a starting LT. Was expected to play LG for a while....he's taken some time...and I guarantee they told him to g-rab a defender b4 allowing a clean shot on the QB...And the line got considerably better the last 4 weeks in 2015. Patience my rams brethren...Fisher isn't crazy...and Les KNOWS talent....all of the latest LT picks are struggling...and I'd place it squarely on the CBA....LT's face monsters every week....ask Gurley if G-Rob is a bust....

 

[VegasRam]

And, I would submit, left OT is the second toughest position in the NFL.

 

[Riverumbbq]

He ends with what GRob and the Rams, and of course what us as Rams fans want but offers no opinion or insight? He spent all that time putting this together and offers us no opinion of his own. Totally lazy work by Wagoner with this article. There are no video's or pictures that we all saw posted here of GRob working with Bentley and no pics or video's of him in OTA's. There are no quotes from Bentley and his team and the only quote from a Rams coach is Fisher saying how the whole OLine has gotten bigger working out this off season. I don't want rays of sunshine and unicorns dancing around happy, but for the ESPN staff writer assigned to the Rams this was a very uninformative article that offered me no insight into this supposed Rams experts thoughts on the subject.

Guess I feel a bit differently about this. As you have said, we have all seen the article & photos previously, and the few pictures only show a man working out, none of which can answer the questions you put forward. It is rather comforting that GRob chose to spend his off-season developing his talent with a quality instructor, sure beats pictures of him watching TV and consuming quadruple bacon-cheeseburgers. GRob has had his well deserved share of critics, Wagoner is only pointing out that he is making the effort to improve upon his talent rather than hanging out on the beach or in bars drinking cocktails & eating a ton of fried food. Robinson appears to be taking his football education seriously. Doubtful anyone but the coaches will be capable of properly evaluating whether his off-season workouts translate to more strength and better footwork on the football field. jmo.

 

[DaveFan'51]

Anyone who isn't a part of the Rams organization is an outsider. And more than a few have indicated Robinson has lived a little closer to the 'bust' edge than the 'outstanding up & comer' edge......thus far. And they haven't all been sports reporters.

I don't understand your beef with Wagoner. This article was a pretty accurate statement of the facts....

- Robinson is a pretty major cog in the Rams' ability to improve offensively.
- He was a very high draft pick that came with mucho hype and expectations.
- He simply hasn't come close to living up to those expectations....thus far. Doesn't mean he never will. But thus far, he simply hasn't.

It isn't a sports reporter's job to be all Sunshine & Lollipops. That's for fans on online forums who can't stand to see anything other than S&L discussion of their team.

My "Beef w/ Wagoner" is that he is always a "Debbie Downer" he almost always dwells on the negative! IF he were to ever write a completely positive piece on the Rams, I would drop Dead of a Heart attack! He makes the Writers at the post Dispatch ( Bernie & JT) look like total Homers! Of course this is JMO!!

 

[Merlin]

Tackles coming out of college are the least ready to play in the NFL out of all the positions. Every NFL team knows that when they are going to need a LT, they are either going to have to pay huge $$ for a vet, if there is even one on the market worth signing ( see Jake Long), they are gong to have to draft one with their top pick in the draft and them coach him up for 3 years. LT takes a lot physiclly and mentally and the picking are slim. Rams are lucky they got GRob, he certainly has the desire to get better. He is showing progress, if he plays at least as good as his last five games of last year the OL will be good. I'm betting he will prove his worth this season.

GRob, had he stayed in college, would have been in this years draft. would he have been a better LT staying at Alabama? Probably the worst school in the NCAA to learn to be a LT. I'm surprised he's as far along as an NFL LT as he is.

What is funny is that OT is the safest position to draft in round 1. And when you hit on them they have good shelf life too, with many playing well into their 30s.

Where the Rams erred a bit was focusing on upside a bit too much over polish and experience. They learned from it, too, as last year there was a clear and undeniable trend to take experienced OL with lots of snaps and pro preparedness and it looks like it is going to pay off this year. Of all their picks last year on the OL only one of them didn't have a heavy lineup of game film to watch with tons of snaps and experience.

Oh and one thing I love about the Rams overall, from Snead and the front office types to Fish, is that they do enormous amounts of analysis and I suspect more than many other teams. Snead often cites interesting stats with the draft, and I think he is getting better and better each year as GM because of that.

Anyway, I am excited about this year's OL because of the numbers they have, the depth and talent overall. I wish they had more proven types, but it is what it is, and if things go to plan after this season they'll be a nice example of how to stack it up front.

 

[FrankenRam]

One thing that you and Wagoner seem to forget or ignore or choose not to acknowledge is that along with the hype and expectations there was acknowledgement by everybody was that he also needed coaching and time to grow into the NFL game......

I'm not ignoring or forgetting anything. The reality is.....again, thus far, GRob has lived closer to the 'bust' edge than the 'outstanding up & comer' edge.

Does that mean he will be a bust. No, of course not. He was raw coming in. Does it mean he hasn't shown improvement. No, of course not...I thought he showed a fair amount of improvement the last 4-5 games last year....which maybe not so coincidentally also coincided with the entire line looking noticeably improved.

And it's good to hear about some of the things he's done in the offseason because up until now, he sure didn't seem to have the desire to be great...to 'be all he can be'. If that's changed, fantastic.

But talk is cheap....takes money to buy whiskey. And until the on field play gets a whole lot closer to the hype, don't expect a whole lot of Sunshine & Lollipops to be thrown his way.

 

[tempests]

Again.... I do not think for the moment that the Ram Org. has any plans for Robinson to ever get close to the starting OLT post when the plans were put in place. Three events tool place to put Robinson at the helm of OLT post. The freak near death illness in the summer with center Scott Wells, the blown out for the 2nd straight year in a row of Jake Long's ACL & the total breakdown of Davin Joseph at ORG.

If things had gone right for Boudreau....Robinson would have just concluded his second season (2014/2015) as the Rams starting OLG & Jake Long would be entering his final season under contract as the starting OLT.

The plan initially may have been to have spend his rookie year at OG but there was no realistic scenario in having him spend multiple seasons there. When Long went down in 2013 it was the third year in a row he had ended up on IR.

Long's ability to play 16 games was very much in question, hence spending a no 2 pick on an LT one year after luring the big fish in free agency. Boudreau had to know this.

 

[OldSchool]

I'm not ignoring or forgetting anything. The reality is.....again, thus far, GRob has lived closer to the 'bust' edge than the 'outstanding up & comer' edge.

Does that mean he will be a bust. No, of course not. He was raw coming in. Does it mean he hasn't shown improvement. No, of course not...I thought he showed a fair amount of improvement the last 4-5 games last year....which maybe not so coincidentally also coincided with the entire line looking noticeably improved.

And it's good to hear about some of the things he's done in the offseason because up until now, he sure didn't seem to have the desire to be great...to 'be all he can be'. If that's changed, fantastic.

But talk is cheap....takes money to buy whiskey. And until the on field play gets a whole lot closer to the hype, don't expect a whole lot of Sunshine & Lollipops to be thrown his way.

Again I disagree he's done exactly what we all anticipated him to do when he was drafted. Show us he's a physical freak who needs to learn the technical side of the game and he will struggle until he gets the technical side of the game down. To call somebody a bust after 2 years is awfully short sighted especially when we knew he was going to be a couple year project. Factor in that the coaching staff screwed with him his first year when instead of doing what they said they'd do they tried to get him to learn three positions instead of just one! It's amazing the kid is where he's at the way Fisher screwed him up year one.

 

[OldSchool]

Guess I feel a bit differently about this. As you have said, we have all seen the article & photos previously, and the few pictures only show a man working out, none of which can answer the questions you put forward. It is rather comforting that GRob chose to spend his off-season developing his talent with a quality instructor, sure beats pictures of him watching TV and consuming quadruple bacon-cheeseburgers. GRob has had his well deserved share of critics, Wagoner is only pointing out that he is making the effort to improve upon his talent rather than hanging out on the beach or in bars drinking cocktails & eating a ton of fried food. Robinson appears to be taking his football education seriously. Doubtful anyone but the coaches will be capable of properly evaluating whether his off-season workouts translate to more strength and better footwork on the football field. jmo.

Heh you are actually agreeing with me but saying you don't. This article provide no new info and the author provided no opinion at all whether his own or some other experts opinion.

 

[BonifayRam]

The plan initially may have been to have spend his rookie year at OG but there was no realistic scenario in having him spend multiple seasons there. When Long went down in 2013 it was the third year in a row he had ended up on IR.Long's ability to play 16 games was very much in question, hence spending a no 2 pick on an LT one year after luring the big fish in free agency. Boudreau had to know this.

Your offered up evidence (in your 2nd sentence) to your thoughts on this issue has some merit & is true. Even though Jake had ended up 3 seasons on the IR in a row but the fact is the overall size in real number of games that, Jake had played in his 6 seasons in the NFL was huge. Jake had 112 starts & ONLY missed 7 games. IMO, that argument of being placed on the IR very late in the 3 seasons carries very little weight in the plans to have Jake replaced in 2014 or even 2015 with a 20/21 yr old OL'er like GRob.

If I were going to take up your point, I would point out that the Jake Long contract was front end loaded for the first two seasons making it easier to release him after two seasons (which did occur). But most all of the Demoff contracts are prepared that way too. Long did start 15 games his first Ram season & started 7 the following but the truth about Jake Long's past injuries before the Ram contract never kept him from starting the majority of the regular seasons games. Jake's first big loss of time in starting came in 2014 season when for the first time in his career miss the majority of the season with 9 games.

IMO there was no real strong reason to question Jake's ability to play the majority of the regular season games until week 8 of the 2014 season when Jake tore that 2nd ACL 6 months after the selection of Grob. To offer up a comparison to yours would be a review of Rodger Saffold career. Using just 5 of Saffold's seasons where 80 games Saffold was assigned to start Saffold missed 31 games & most of 8 others. In comparison to Jake Long's 6 seasons (96 games), Jake was assigned, Jake only missed 7.

I have a question for you.......Now tell me how the same Ram Org would plan for Rodger Saffold to start @ OLG this season (ongoing currently) after missing 31 games in his last 5 seasons (less time) & then hold Jake Long to a different measure stick when missing only 7 games in 6 seasons with a plan for dumping Jake for the very young green GRob to take the veteran ex all pro Jake out of the OLT post midway through his sign contract early?

I just simply can not agree with your thoughts here that the Rams Org did not want GRob to work & play in the OLG post, to learn next to Jake Long for a good period of time. In order to prevent what we have seen from GRob up to this point on the playing field. Your statement in your post .."but there was no realistic scenario in having him (Robinson) spend multiple seasons there(Left OG post)" I just can not agree with you on. Thus I have detailed shared my opposite point of view in this replay.

 

[Adi]

Sorry but by your logic we should trade away every 1st round pick. After all you can get people at every position who are successful in later rounds. Antonio Brown was a 6th round pick yet people waste higher round picks on WRs.

I know that's not what you're implying but that's what you said, two firsts round OTs didn't pan out so why would we take another? That kind of logic is going to ruin a team.

No, the point I'm making is I personally don't agree with taking a tackle as a top 5 pick when a playmaker makes a bigger impact, and I don't see the difference in a top 5 pick vs a late round left tackle. They do not differ by much it is not like a top 5 offensive talent VS a late first rounder. Even if he's a great LT which I hope he turns out to be, he does not benefit the team nearly as much as a skill player.

 

[OldSchool]

No, the point I'm making is I personally don't agree with taking a tackle as a top 5 pick when a playmaker makes a bigger impact, and I don't see the difference in a top 5 pick vs a late round left tackle. They do not differ by much it is not like a top 5 offensive talent VS a late first rounder. Even if he's a great LT which I hope he turns out to be, he does not benefit the team nearly as much as a skill player.

Sorry but my point still stands also you're greatly underestimating the value of a good LT.

 

[BonifayRam]

Sorry but my point still stands also you're greatly underestimating the value of a good LT.

Something that Paul Boudreau, Snead & Fisher have figure out lately......All we have to do is look @ what they have assembled here on the Ram roster that have some type of left OT play in their past.

The most experienced LT is Rodger Saffold. He was a starting OLT for his entire college career. For the Rams he was the starting OLT for 3 seasons (2010/2011 & 2012). Since that time he has remained the #1 backup for that post to this moment in time. Our current starting OLT is Greg Robinson a 2nd overall draft selection. Rams drafted in 2015 Jamon Brown on the second day of the draft who was a starting OLT in college for 3 seasons. Other OLT's they signed up was UDFA Darrell Williams who was a pure OLT in college & won a roster spot on last season from his play in TC & pre season @ OLT. Then Snead followed up & selected Isaiah Battle a near 6-8 300 pound pure OLT in the supplement al draft using a 5th rd. 2016 draft pick. One might want to add in last years drafted OT Andrew Donnal into the mix since he was a OLT in HS & competed for the starting OLT post early in college. Finally when the dust cleared from the draft & the UDFA signing Snead added & signed starting college OLT Jordan Swindle.

 

[Adi]

Well I think we can all agree the weakest spot on the o line last year was LT, that guy happens to be the only first rounder out of the starters. The guy playing RT was a second round rookie, he outplayed Robinson in every asset of the game. I never doubt coach and Snead because I think they have done a tremendous job rebuilding this team but Robinson could of been Sammy Watkins, Kalil Mack, Mike Evans, or OBJ . I know college guys are unpredictable especially at offensive tackle but back to my point atop 5 O line pick just doesn't make sense.

 

[bubbaramfan]

some fans don't get it. You just aren't going to get a starting LT from college, in any round. And its just going to get worse. There just aren't 32 starting caliber LT's to go around. Rams realize that. Your "playmakers" that a lot of fans think should be drafted in the first rounds won't be "palymakers" with the lousy LT you drafted in round 6, because your QB will either be on his back or have hands in his face.
Rams realized the FA route wasn't working, so they are taking their lumps for a couple of years while GRob comes up to speed. There just isn't any other way to do it.
This is going to be the way it is for NFL teams that need a starting LT. Doean't look like a rosy outlook for high priced QB's whose LT's get IR'd or sign somewhere else after their contract is up.

Due to the last CBA teams have limited access to players and OLinemen come in to camp the lest prepared.

 

[BonifayRam]

Well I think we can all agree the weakest spot on the o line last year was LT, that guy happens to be the only first rounder out of the starters. The guy playing RT was a second round rookie, he outplayed Robinson in every asset of the game. I never doubt coach and Snead because I think they have done a tremendous job rebuilding this team but Robinson could of been Sammy Watkins, Kalil Mack, Mike Evans, or OBJ . I know college guys are unpredictable especially at offensive tackle but back to my point atop 5 O line pick just doesn't make sense.

If I was in Snead business I would be working real hard to ensure that when my team has a top five pick I would not be in a position to have to consider such a thing in this modern NFL of today. At this point in time it's a good rule of thumb for me that if your looking @ drafting in the top five then your positions of interest should be QB-DE-DT & CB with a Fisher/Williams coached team. I am not a fan of selecting WR/RB/LB/TE or Safety with a very high draft pick.

 

[OldSchool]

If I was in Snead business I would be working real hard to ensure that when my team has a top five pick I would not be in a position to have to consider such a thing in this modern NFL of today. At this point in time it's a good rule of thumb for me that if your looking @ drafting in the top five then your positions of interest should be QB-DE-DT & CB with a Fisher/Williams coached team. I am not a fan of selecting WR/RB/LB/TE or Safety with a very high draft pick.

Sorry but eliminating positions just based on preference and not taking the best player is a sure fire way to ruin a team. You take the best player available and if you can marry that with a position of need you're winning.