Rams could be looking for quarterbacks in 2015 NFL Draft

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GreeneCounty

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http://www.turfshowtimes.com/2014/8/4/5967611/st-louis-rams-sam-bradford-2015-nfl-draft


Could the Rams be looking for quarterbacks in the draft next year? One national insider thinks they should.

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Jason La Canfora from CBS Sports stopped by Earth City last week to watch the St. Louis Rams practice. Aaron Donald and the defense get their due in his writeup, but LaCanfora focused on the latest make-or-break year for quarterbackSam Bradford.

Bradford's been slinging the ball around through the first part of training camp, making some connections with his receivers and, more importantly, assuring the team about the status of his surgically repaired ACL.

From everything I've gathered, Bradford has been good -- not great -- in practices, which is to be expected at this point in his recovery. Expecting too much might be naïve -- even the greatTom Brady was not himself much of his first year back from an ACL tear -- but the Rams say they are pleased with their quarterback's progress. We'll see if this is the season Bradford and the Rams break out.

Ok, that's really nothing out of the ordinary. It's unreasonable to expect a quarterback coming off a missed season with an torn ACL to be absolutely perfect on every throw in every practice. What made this article so interesting was that LaCanfora was one of several national insiders reporting on the Rams infatuation with quarterbacks available in the 2014 NFL Draft, including Johnny Manziel.

La Canfora was one of several national reporters who said that the Rams had at least had some preliminary conversations about trading Bradford during the offseason.

So what's he saying this time?

More Manziel talk
He doubled down on past reports that the Rams had done a pretty intensive review of the Texas A&M quarterback in the lead up to the draft. He also added that had Manziel fallen a bit further than No. 22 (where theBrowns drafted him), that he believes the Rams would have traded back up in the first round to get him.

Yahoo's investigative reporter Charles Robinson reported after the draft that the Rams would have taken more of an interest in Manziel had they received a serious trade offer for Bradford. Whether the Rams were willing to deal Bradford or not, his contract made it nearly impossible.

Again in 2015?
La Canfora added this tidbit about what the Rams might do in the 2015 NFL Draft:

I have a hard time thinking they won't be incredibly mindful of quarterbacks again as they prepare for the 2015 draft. It would be silly if they weren't.

He added that even if the Rams stick with Bradford for another season in 2015, the last year of his deal, they need to find a viable young guy to groom behind him. (Sorry, Garrett Gilbert fans, he's just too much of a project for the NFL).

The other possibility is an extension with Bradford, the "make" part of his make-or-break season. Andy Dalton's $115 million deal with the Bengalstoday gives you some idea about what that might cost compared to Bradford's career output so far.
 

Philly5

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Hopefully Gilbert develops and we don't need another QB so soon. Nice to add one every few years when the value is there.
 

cracengl

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Most reports I've read indicates he's been better than just good, aside from some rust in the first few days. I mean, it sounds like LaCanfora is such an expert because the Rams realized they could use him to put stuff out there and he'd blare it like a school girl to whoever wanted to listen. Either way I think they'd be foolish not to at least do their due diligence in 2015. 1. you want to get better everywhere and keep competition going, even at QB. 2. There's no reason not to do that at the QB position when the rookie wage scale makes it much more manageable cap wise. But I get tired of same old argument that they'll have to look because Sam does/will suck. Even if that's true, does it need another article pointing it out?
 

RamFan503

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And we could be looking for a new mascot by then. Pretty safe statement and the best part, there's no commitment to the thought and no accountability. I'm going to go out on a limb here. Rams COULD be looking to draft players in 2015 draft. Really - I'm pretty confident they will.
 

HE WITH HORNS

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The thing is, if Jeff Fisher has to bring in a new QB, he will going into year four of his deal, and he's much more likely to stick to the guy that gives us the best chance to win now. Fisher doesn't have the job security to bring in a rookie starter, and let him learn on the job for 2-3 years before we're good enough to win it all.
 

TheDYVKX

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If we did draft a QB, I'd be fine with that. But I don't think we'll need to.
 

Irish

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The thing is, if Jeff Fisher has to bring in a new QB, he will going into year four of his deal, and he's much more likely to stick to the guy that gives us the best chance to win now. Fisher doesn't have the job security to bring in a rookie starter, and let him learn on the job for 2-3 years before we're good enough to win it all.

Unless he can successfully pitch to Kroenke and the rest of ownership after the season that Bradford was the reason they haven't succeeded yet.

Believe me, if it came down to a coach keeping his job or siding with a QB, the QB ends up under the Greyhound every single time. Rookie, cost controlled QBs are all the rage right now. If getting one in here buys Fisher a few more years, he will do it in a heartbeat. So many built in excuses for Fisher on this team:

Overrated Quarterback (he inherited Sam; not his guy)
Lack of Receiver talent (Demoff should have done more to get me better talent in Free Agency)
Toughest Division in football (can you believe what we did in this division? 8-8 is AMAZING! We would be 10-6 or 11-5 in any other division!)
Stadium Issues (My staff and my team hasn't been able to fully dedicate itself to winning because we are always worried about where we will call home next year)


Any combination of the above can save a coach's rear end when that seat starts to warm up. Hopefully this conversation is moot after Sam goes out and proves his naysayers wrong, but if it isn't, Fisher won't hesitate to cut bait on Sam if it means he stays the head coach for a few more years.
 

Akrasian

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If the right guy is available round 3 or 4 - sure, they could draft a QB. Or if Bradford suffers another major injury, even higher. But they aren't going to be drafting high enough to get a guy who is a lock or near lock - keeping in mind that Bradford had that label. So anybody they get is going to be a developmental guy.

I think Gilbert gets a year to develop at least before they start thinking of drafting someone - unless Gilbert does well enough that they think of drafting somebody to be a 3rd stringer in 2015.
 

FRO

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When Demoff and Snead talked at Fanfest they seemed overly high on Bradford. They made it sound like they want to lock him up long term. LaConfora is wrong so often that when he reports something I expect the opposite.

I've been to practice, you couldn't notice Bradford hobble. LaConfora says otherwise. I don't know what he thinks. I guess he and Mortensen were so wrong on the Manziel stuff he is covering his butt and saying he was right and things just didn't play out that way. What a terrible reporter. He was wrong about Fisher going to Miami. He was wrong about Cook going to Miami. He has been wrong multiple times with multiple teams.
 

bluecoconuts

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And we could be looking for a new mascot by then. Pretty safe statement and the best part, there's no commitment to the thought and no accountability. I'm going to go out on a limb here. Rams COULD be looking to draft players in 2015 draft. Really - I'm pretty confident they will.

Breaking news here guys, a real whopper of a story just coming in from a hot super secret source. In 2015 the St Louis Rams will be potentially looking to play football and score points. When I talked to Fisher he just gave me a real puzzled look so obviously he's worried about the leak. I don't know about you guys, but I'm just floored by this all.
 

Angry Ram

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They said the same fuckin thing last year.

They have changed every part on the offense EXCEPT Sam Bradford (and Austin Pettis, but I digress).

They passed on Robert Griffin III, they passed on EJ Manuel, they passed on Johnny Manziel, they passed on Teddy Bridgewater.

They passed on every mid round QB that was supposed to "push" Sam like AJ McCarron, Aaron Murray, Jimmy Garapplo (or w/e his name is),etc. until round 6!!!

Why would any team look for a QB despite all these non-moves?! It's dumb, and if they're looking for QBs to replace Sam that should be in the 1st or 2nd round, which most likely would be a high pick. Which would mean the team is expected to do bad, and I highly doubt Jeff Fisher would purposely try to do that.

It's fuckin stupid. And besides, this quote confirms it:

"He'll be back and he's our QB."- Jeff Fisher
 

Mojo Ram

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I'll say this, if we do find ourselves bringing in a new starting QB next season(be it a rookie or whomever)...he'll be coming into a situation very much like Kaepernik and Wilson did. Timing is everything.
 

rafa

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Bradford will win the Super Bowl this year, then they'll stop doing this kind of story and start talking about how much money he deserves in the next contract.:shades:
 

DR RAM

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OK, question not asked yet for the guys who have been to multiple camps. How does Bradford look in comparison to previous years..apples to apples? I wouldn't expect him to be 100% at this point, but I'm not worried about him either.
 

RamFan503

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I'm guessing it would be easier to find the farther you go back.