- Joined
- Jul 31, 2010
- Messages
- 8,874
Bonsignore: Rams GM Les Snead juggles all aspects of transition
By Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/201...m-les-snead-juggles-all-aspects-of-transition
INDIANAPOLIS — If you’ve ever been to a professional football practice, you’ll notice everything is in timed segments.
There is a team period and an individual position period and a situational pass-rush period and a special-team period.
The ending of each is punctuated by the sound of a loud, obnoxious horn.
Les Snead doesn’t have a horn in his office. But the Los Angeles Rams general manager might as well, the way his days are broken up into a group of dizzying periods in which he simultaneously tries to improve the Rams roster while also assisting the monumental move of transferring the franchise from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
“There’s a lot going on in our building,” Snead said Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine, flashing a knowing smile.
Ya think?
The Rams have 12 unrestricted free agents, many of whom they desperately want back. They have eight restricted free agents too. They need to identify a franchise quarterback, a No. 1 wide receiver. They have a young defense to keep intact and decisions to make with the offensive line.
Oh, and they have a cross-country franchise move to make, one that finds them not exactly knowing where they will be in a few months for training camp for the 2016 season. Let alone know where to buy or rent a house.
“We’ve tried — I don’t know if we’ve successfully done it, but we’ve tried because of the normal calendar, whether it’s re-signing your own in free agency, the draft, OTAs, those things are set in stone — we’ve tried to make it where that nothing really impacts that,” Snead said, “The logistics of moving a franchise from one city to another is a lot, but there’s a team in place, a very competent team, that is handling a lot of that, so it has allowed us, in personnel and the coaches, to continue doing the same things you normally do.
“So that’s where we’re at. Obviously any time you do this, there will be a few glitches, but it’s been smooth to date.”
In the middle of it is Snead, the Rams’ fifth-year general manager who has built a budding roster that, with the addition of a dependable quarterback, could emerge as one of the best young teams in the NFL.
Where to begin?
Well, if you’re Snead, the answer is fairly simple.
The double-edged sword of constructing a quality young roster is having players other teams covet. Every player in the Rams’ starting defensive backfield is an unrestricted free agent, including starting cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson and free safety Rodney McLeod.
Part of ensuring the Rams develop into a playoff caliber team is making sure they bring back as many of those young defenders as possible. And while Snead is here in Indianapolis scouting the top college prospects in the country, his mind is on locking up Jenkins, Johnson and McLeod.
“If I were to prioritize what’s going on in our building, and there’s a lot going on, that is priority A right now, even at this combine,” Snead said. “We’ll meet with their reps maybe more than one time at the combine. And I’m not going to say anything gets done, but there’s a lot going on here and that’s priority A.”
Complicating the situation is the upcoming 48-hour legal tampering period in which every team’s unrestricted free agents can talk to other teams. And while Snead is in constant contact with the agents of Jenkins, Johnson, McLeod and Mark Barron, he understands their need to gauge their value.
“Right now, it’s us saying, ‘We’d like your guy back,’ and them saying, ‘We’d like to be back,’” Snead said. “I think we’re stuck on the number, as we all go through this. Really, everybody is trying to find out what the realistic value is.
“Once a guy gets out of his UFA season, he’s that much closer to getting into that 48-hour window to negotiate with other teams to truly figure out what his market is. Because right now it’s all speculation.”
The Rams’ obvious other need is identifying a franchise quarterback, and Snead arrived in Indianapolis anxious to get a look at the draft’s top prospects — Cal’s Jared Goff, North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz and Memphis’ Paxton Lynch.
But there is also free agency, where Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins, Ryan Fitzpatrick might also be available.
Snead understands the importance of solidifying the position.
But he also has some interesting thoughts on how to go about it — and the value in also building a team around the quarterback.
“We’ve done a lot of studies, as many as any team, about QBs and what makes a QB successful and all that, over the past couple years,” Snead explained of how he and coach Jeff Fisher went about the process. “The goal of this whole thing is to win games, so let’s just look at QBs this way. We’ve done a lot of studies since 2012 — and that’s when Jeff and I got to the Rams — about how teams win. There’s been 21 QBs since 2012 that have started 45 or more games. So if their team gives up 25 or more points, there’s only one of those QBs who has actually got a winning record, and it’s just over .500. I’ll let you guys do the research to figure that out.
“If your team gives up 17 or less than 17 points, all 21 of those guys have winning records. it’s not just one variable to win in this league. There’s a lot. The QB is important, but there is a lot of other things that are important, too.”
With that, Snead was off.
There were players to scout and interview and agents with whom to negotiate.
And a franchise to move across the country.
By Vincent Bonsignore, Los Angeles Daily News
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/201...m-les-snead-juggles-all-aspects-of-transition
INDIANAPOLIS — If you’ve ever been to a professional football practice, you’ll notice everything is in timed segments.
There is a team period and an individual position period and a situational pass-rush period and a special-team period.
The ending of each is punctuated by the sound of a loud, obnoxious horn.
Les Snead doesn’t have a horn in his office. But the Los Angeles Rams general manager might as well, the way his days are broken up into a group of dizzying periods in which he simultaneously tries to improve the Rams roster while also assisting the monumental move of transferring the franchise from St. Louis to Los Angeles.
“There’s a lot going on in our building,” Snead said Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine, flashing a knowing smile.
Ya think?
The Rams have 12 unrestricted free agents, many of whom they desperately want back. They have eight restricted free agents too. They need to identify a franchise quarterback, a No. 1 wide receiver. They have a young defense to keep intact and decisions to make with the offensive line.
Oh, and they have a cross-country franchise move to make, one that finds them not exactly knowing where they will be in a few months for training camp for the 2016 season. Let alone know where to buy or rent a house.
“We’ve tried — I don’t know if we’ve successfully done it, but we’ve tried because of the normal calendar, whether it’s re-signing your own in free agency, the draft, OTAs, those things are set in stone — we’ve tried to make it where that nothing really impacts that,” Snead said, “The logistics of moving a franchise from one city to another is a lot, but there’s a team in place, a very competent team, that is handling a lot of that, so it has allowed us, in personnel and the coaches, to continue doing the same things you normally do.
“So that’s where we’re at. Obviously any time you do this, there will be a few glitches, but it’s been smooth to date.”
In the middle of it is Snead, the Rams’ fifth-year general manager who has built a budding roster that, with the addition of a dependable quarterback, could emerge as one of the best young teams in the NFL.
Where to begin?
Well, if you’re Snead, the answer is fairly simple.
The double-edged sword of constructing a quality young roster is having players other teams covet. Every player in the Rams’ starting defensive backfield is an unrestricted free agent, including starting cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson and free safety Rodney McLeod.
Part of ensuring the Rams develop into a playoff caliber team is making sure they bring back as many of those young defenders as possible. And while Snead is here in Indianapolis scouting the top college prospects in the country, his mind is on locking up Jenkins, Johnson and McLeod.
“If I were to prioritize what’s going on in our building, and there’s a lot going on, that is priority A right now, even at this combine,” Snead said. “We’ll meet with their reps maybe more than one time at the combine. And I’m not going to say anything gets done, but there’s a lot going on here and that’s priority A.”
Complicating the situation is the upcoming 48-hour legal tampering period in which every team’s unrestricted free agents can talk to other teams. And while Snead is in constant contact with the agents of Jenkins, Johnson, McLeod and Mark Barron, he understands their need to gauge their value.
“Right now, it’s us saying, ‘We’d like your guy back,’ and them saying, ‘We’d like to be back,’” Snead said. “I think we’re stuck on the number, as we all go through this. Really, everybody is trying to find out what the realistic value is.
“Once a guy gets out of his UFA season, he’s that much closer to getting into that 48-hour window to negotiate with other teams to truly figure out what his market is. Because right now it’s all speculation.”
The Rams’ obvious other need is identifying a franchise quarterback, and Snead arrived in Indianapolis anxious to get a look at the draft’s top prospects — Cal’s Jared Goff, North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz and Memphis’ Paxton Lynch.
But there is also free agency, where Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins, Ryan Fitzpatrick might also be available.
Snead understands the importance of solidifying the position.
But he also has some interesting thoughts on how to go about it — and the value in also building a team around the quarterback.
“We’ve done a lot of studies, as many as any team, about QBs and what makes a QB successful and all that, over the past couple years,” Snead explained of how he and coach Jeff Fisher went about the process. “The goal of this whole thing is to win games, so let’s just look at QBs this way. We’ve done a lot of studies since 2012 — and that’s when Jeff and I got to the Rams — about how teams win. There’s been 21 QBs since 2012 that have started 45 or more games. So if their team gives up 25 or more points, there’s only one of those QBs who has actually got a winning record, and it’s just over .500. I’ll let you guys do the research to figure that out.
“If your team gives up 17 or less than 17 points, all 21 of those guys have winning records. it’s not just one variable to win in this league. There’s a lot. The QB is important, but there is a lot of other things that are important, too.”
With that, Snead was off.
There were players to scout and interview and agents with whom to negotiate.
And a franchise to move across the country.