RB Tre Mason have a bright Ram future?

[BonifayRam]

Wow! :shocked: just what happen to Mason in 2015? It was a serious disappointing season for the second-year pro. He hardly hit the field in 2015 & when he did failed mode was on display. Mason had a 4.3 yds per carry in his impressive rookie season & a 2.8 yds per carry in 2015 along with 3 fumbles in limited action off the bench. In our last game he was given the start over the turf toed Gurley & only rushed 18 times for 44 yards and a touchdown in the Rams' Week 17 loss to San Francisco. Mason had super fresh legs too. Another thing was Mason had many games where he was a healthy scratch.

Mason seemed to have ankle issues for much of the season after having hamstring issue during pre season & early season. I heard Mason weighed 207 at his Combine in 2014 & that he took off some pounds to where he was down to 195 lbs??? Before the draft I was under the impression that Mason was a #1 RB and had secured that position....I was sure wrong.

Now after I have digested most of the 2015 season I have no ideal what happen to Mason & what his future is here since IMO failed as the #2 back behind Gurley. Fisher has retained Gurley, Brown, Watts & Mason under contract now. Benny Cunningham & Chase Reynolds are RFA's. Watts who was very impressive in pre season looks to be gone. I am left with a the feeling that Fisher will work hard to find a way to upgrade this 2016 RB cadre. Does anyone else have any thought on this?

 

[Merlin]

Interesting note, and it might have a lot to do with why the RB coach was fired. My thought is Fish loves talent, and will try to get it out of Mason this year because he is going to need to keep Gurley fresh.

Either way, our RB room is better than 95% of the rest of the league. So I think Mason will rebound but if not the Rams will still be good to go.

 

[jetplt67]

I think RBs need reps to stay consistent. If he is getting 10 carries a game he should be fine as a backup. If he goes to a team where he is getting 20 reps a game I think he re-gains his form.

 

[den-the-coach]

Was not a fan of him this year at all, he put the ball on the ground, seem not to adjust to being number two and lost weight and got slower. Give me Malcolm Brown next season and I hope the Rams can trade Mason somewhere else, maybe Tennessee, but I would feel much better if he was gone next season.

 

[Rams43]

Interesting dynamics on our O last year.

Let's see...

Foles regresses from career norm (Big time)
Mason regresses
Cook regresses
Britt regresses
Quick never even got restarted

Cignettit fired
Sirmans fired
Sherman fired
Boras promoted (although TE's regressed)

Statistically, Rams had worst O in the league.

Fisher remains.

As of 1/19/16, no OC officially named.
No asst coaches hired.

Progress on O coaching moving with the speed of a glacier.

Meanwhile, all HC vacancies have been filled and coordinator hirings for other teams are already occurring. Are we gonna get asst coach leftovers while attempting to rebuild the worst danged O in the league?

Kinda looking that way, huh?

 

[OnceARam]

Mason should be cut. He's yet another 2nd round bust. We need some serious help with evaluating offensive skilled positions.

 

[Rams43]

Mason should be cut. He's yet another 2nd round bust. We need some serious help with evaluating offensive skilled positions.

Mason was a 3rd round pick, Once.

And he sure as hell didn't look like a bust in '14, did he?

A lot of our O players regressed in '15.

That was my point in my above post.

 

[LACHAMP46]

@Rams43 and @OnceARam have gotten me all depressed.....

Weight loss was stupid....He needed more power...Seemed like he fell on first contact....or perceived contact.

No doubt Snisher tries to find a late round/undrafted gem at RB....and the way RB's are, I'm sure it can get done.

Like what Brown was doing...Lets see if he comes back after this offseason in better shape...And he LOOKS like he could lose a few pounds....

 

[Noregar]

Good post subject Boni! I too have considered that Mason regressed in 2015. In fact based on his 2015 performance I wonder if Mason is viable option as the Rams number 2 back in 2016. Mason's start in the finale was underwhelming, especially factoring in the opponent. I think the Rams would have won that game had Gurley been starting. Benny Cunningham (RFA) looked much better in the finale than Mason and he is a good third down back (hope he is retained). I think it is too early to give up on Mason but I expect if the draft falls right the Rams will take another RB that could threaten Mason's position on the depth chart. Fish has taken a RB in every draft and I expect him to take one in 2016 too. Richardson and Stacy both showed promise in their rookie campaigns only to disappoint in their second seasons and now neither is with the team.

 

[diggity]

Mason is the ideal switch to RB for Gurley. And, to go different, Cunningham is the bulldozer. This is the ONE SINGLE area that Fisher has actually done a good job in setting up for the RAMS O.
GO RAMS!!!!!

 

[Loyal]

You can't coach getting rag doll tackled with one hand by a Dlineman. You can't teach a RB how to instinctively hit a hole thats open briefly. You can't teach a RB that habitually fumbles the ball at the wirst freakin times...I like Benny Cunningham much better than Mason, imho.

 

[diggity]

Gurley and Mason have basically the same Fumble #s. Gurley has 251 touches with 3 fumbles. Mason has 288 with 5 fumbles. Cunningham has 227 with 4.
Gurley is the stud. Cunningham is the power. Mason, I.M.H.O., is a nice option for Gurley to take a breather (10 carries or so per game).
Lets not forget that Mason had a nice season in 2014. 782 yards rushing( 4.3 YPC) in only 12 games (2 fumbles in 179 carries). And, he wasn't really named the starter until around game #4 when for whatever reason...Stacy completely fell out of favor.
GO RAMS!!!

 

[LosAngelesRams]

Was not a fan of him this year at all, he put the ball on the ground, seem not to adjust to being number two and lost weight and got slower. Give me Malcolm Brown next season and I hope the Rams can trade Mason somewhere else, maybe Tennessee, but I would feel much better if he was gone next season.

Good idea about Tennessee, package him for that #1 pick.

 

[OnceARam]

Mason was a 3rd round pick, Once.

And he sure as hell didn't look like a bust in '14, did he?

A lot of our O players regressed in '15.

That was my point in my above post.

Thank you for the correction. 3rd round bust it is.

I get your point and I wonder if you are attributing the regression to Fisher or to the players themselves?

Personally I think it's on the players.

2.8 yards a carry is not on Fisher.

 

[hotanez]

I place a majority of the blame on the oline. Gurley is a superstar he gets positive yards when he gets hit behind the line of scrimmage but Mason can't he's just not that type of player. I don't know if it's the system we're using ZB or what but the oline was not doing in a good job at run blocking. It just seems like we drafted players who fit a power scheme but decided it would be better to ZB more. I just don't understand but they did a good job pass blocking so go figure. If this oline can improve their run blocking next season Gurley and Mason are going to be unstoppable

 

[fearsomefour]

I saw a lot of tentative running from Mason.
He may have been nicked up all year, he certainly was not healthy at the beginning of the year.
He has talent, I am not worried about him in the least.
I would try to resign Cunningham.
I like our RB group.

 

[rdlkgliders]

Heal the hammy and ankle, add back some strength and run with power like 14'. He definitely needs a good training camp and off season weight program but there is a good change of pace back in there. lets hope he shows up at the Coliseum in 16'

 

[Rams43]

Thank you for the correction. 3rd round bust it is.

I get your point and I wonder if you are attributing the regression to Fisher or to the players themselves?

Personally I think it's on the players.

2.8 yards a carry is not on Fisher.

I think there's plenty of blame to go around, Once. Both players and coaches disappointed.

But consider that all the following O players regressed last year:

Foles
Mason
Cook
Britt
Quick

Is there any wonder that there were so many O asst coaches fired?

Hard for me to believe that Fisher has a handle on our O woes, frankly.

Other opinions may vary, however.

 

[OnceARam]

I think there's plenty of blame to go around, Once. Both players and coaches disappointed.

But consider that all the following O players regressed last year:

Foles
Mason
Cook
Britt
Quick

Is there any wonder that there were so many O asst coaches fired?

Hard for me to believe that Fisher has a handle on our O woes, frankly.

Other opinions may vary, however.

What's sad is those guys start for us.

 

[BonifayRam]

I think there's plenty of blame to go around, Once. Both players and coaches disappointed.

But consider that all the following O players regressed last year:

Foles
Mason
Cook
Britt
Quick

Is there any wonder that there were so many O asst coaches fired?

Hard for me to believe that Fisher has a handle on our O woes, frankly.

Other opinions may vary, however.

Could add FB Cory Harkey & TE Lance Kendricks names to your list if you look @ 2015 productions compared to 2014 seasons productions.