Tim Barnes named starting Center/Wags

[Elmgrovegnome]

Coach O since day one.

Plus he claimed to have some inside info from the start about Rams wanting him back despite not resigning him initially.

I was skeptical about his starting potential. I figured if they ook their chances by letting him go then how likely would it be that he starts. I obviously was wrong.

He was allowed to look around, so does I still think Barnes was not looked t as a long term answer. He just was the best they had. Maybe he will take advantage of the opportunity and prove to everyone that the Rams don't need to find a center next offseason. I hope so.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

I can't say as I expected Jones to be released. I do think they REALLY like Wichmann at G. Which ultimately ended up costing Jones his job.

Had they felt comfortable with getting Wichmann to the PS I think they could have made a case for keeping all 3 centers with Barnes and Rhaney having the dual position flexibility. But they are committed to the young guys. And simply ran out of numbers.

Williams was inserted as the #2 LT from the outset of training camp and never missed a beat. So him making it didn't surprise me.

And I give them credit for not caving and choosing to keep Battle over Williams.

Any chance on Wichman as a future Center? He did it in OTAs.

Barnes is the best we got but I want a Rodney Hudson type. Just greedy I guess.

 

[PFaulk]

I'm pleased.

Barnes seems to understand the mental side of the game. I think the physical side will come to him.

 

[GabesHorn]

Plus he claimed to have some inside info from the start about Rams wanting him back despite not resigning him initially.

I was skeptical about his starting potential. I figured if they ook their chances by letting him go then how likely would it be that he starts. I obviously was wrong.

He was allowed to look around, so does I still think Barnes was not looked t as a long term answer. He just was the best they had. Maybe he will take advantage of the opportunity and prove to everyone that the Rams don't need to find a center next offseason. I hope so.

Tim is still a work in progress. Roger Saffolds comments on Tims hard work in the weightroom and elsewhere are to credit his improvement even over where he was when he was talking with Chiefs and we called him home. He is doing now what he was unable to do last season with 3 injuries and he is totally healthy and has busted his ass to everyones awareness ,so its paid off for him. HARD ASS WORK on lower body (something Jones & Rhaney still lack) I'm sure he will continue the same routine to chase off all comers. Everyone had to get a start somewhere. Tim's came from very hard work and so glad he earned it. Now how much time it takes for this group to gel is another story. Staying healthy across tje line is a rare occurance in the NFL. Its definately our year to escape the carnage after many,many years of insane injuries.

Tim knows he is not a finished work just because he won the starters position. It was his to lose for those who don't know that inside info Coach let me in on many months ago. I KNOW he is gonna continue his film study and proper weight training all year round and eating right too. I'm excited for the guy. I think he has not reached his ceiling at 27 with only 4 games played and may be another late bloomer like Warner was. We will see. Won't be for lack of hard work and we have some really good guys around him also. Some have such low expectations they think success will be if he does'nt embarrass himself. I think he now DESERVES some time with this new crew to get some things locked down. Takes a lil' time. Finally no more rotation stuff. Can't say coach Fisher was'nt fair and I think he wasted time on Tim's progress by a few weeks myself. It was a very tough call not to give B. Jones his fair shot after injuries also. I see both sides. LETS ROLL!!! NO INJURIES!!!

 

[CoachO]

Any chance on Wichman as a future Center? He did it in OTAs.

Barnes is the best we got but I want a Rodney Hudson type. Just greedy I guess.

Not trying to be an ass here, but can we just stop all the he did it thru OTAs talk? He is the guy who was "volunTOLD" to serve that role since there were no other Centers at the ROOKIE ORIENTATION portion of OTAs.

He is not a potential candidate to play center. What he could end up being is the best prospect of the group at Guard.

 

[LACHAMP46]

Saffold is NOW calling Robinson a game tape addict

I hope so....Did you read this somewhere, or more "IN$IDER" Info....

The seahawks will also start 2nd year man from Mizzu Britt (OT) that might have a rough day with our many DE's. Wilson will be going down!!!

Britt plays guard now...Not sure why, thought he did well at tackle...

Another question to any Mizzu fans out in ROD-Verse....Did any of you guys see Barnes, Britt, and tthe other guy? Did they look comparable to YOU as college players? Just curious? Thanks for any replies....

 

[Fatbot]

Tim knows he is not a finished work just because he won the starters position. It was his to lose ... Can't say coach Fisher was'nt fair

You kind of lose me here -- when you say it was "Barnes' job to lose", that opens the door to the thought that it wasn't a fair competition. "His job to lose" could mean the extreme of Fisher saying "ok well Barnes is our guy and we'll only replace him with Jones or Rhaney if they vastly outplay him".

Barnes as the default choice could make it unfair because it leaves open the possibility that Jones or Rhaney did, in fact, outplay Barnes, but not "vastly enough" to fire Barnes from his incumbent position.

At this point I'd rather buy into Fisher's public commentary that it was an equal, open tryout for the job and did not include pre-slot rankings, and he chose the best guy on the merit of what they showed on the field. Whether or not it was "Barnes' job to lose" really doesn't add anything to the situation other than negative thoughts. At this point I'm trying to stay positive that even if it was set up for Barnes to win, he was the best guy regardless.

 

[GabesHorn]

I hope so....Did you read this somewhere, or more "IN$IDER" Info....

Britt plays guard now...Not sure why, thought he did well at tackle...

Another question to any Mizzu fans out in ROD-Verse....Did any of you guys see Barnes, Britt, and tthe other guy? Did they look comparable to YOU as college players? Just curious? Thanks for any replies....

L.A. I'm sorry I got the information off of the NFL.coms Seahawks roster guide that has Britt as a starting OT. Had no clue he was moved inside except he had the worst pre-season grade of all starting OL foe shegals. Hate posting wrong info. I blame them tho.

I did watch shegals in PS and they looked worse than we dod OL wise except they have a Point Guard running their offense at QB and he did get sacked when teams kept containment on outside. When he could escape he got many a 1st down and just slid. Wilson ran for 107 yards and threw for just over 300 yds in the game we beat them in last year. (hope those are correct). A. Ogletree is the key to this game as we use him as a spy on Wilson and he is also in coverage and he has to make just the right decision to break coverage and heat seek Wilson like a missle (and not miss) lol. A.O. has been embarrassed before at this.

Hope our pass rushing D.E.'s are still focused on containment as thats the key to stopping Wilson. Not counting on two perfectly called and executed ST plays to win this one for us. I worry about ST coverage on Lockette all game and the Offense giving our "D" adequate rest with possesion time on the field. 1st downs ,meaning no dumb penalties (drive stoppers) and some success in passing even if not much time allowed to throw. Benny and I. Pead will need to get close to 100 yards rushing between them. What will Cignetti do? Can he make adjustments on the fly? Anything will be better than what we had (shotty). No adjustments. They have two very good WR's and a TE that will get lots of looks especially close to the endzone. The Ref that is calling the game is notorius for flagging us the most of any official and crew we will see. Read the article from Seattle paper and that is key to me also.

Can't wait to see what we've been sitting on all PS vanilla time. Think our recievers are gonna shine. Cook especially as a early Foles favorite in practice. We need everything we have to work. returns from TA to change field position and tackles just past LOS and not for 7-8 yard runs. Coach Williams can't blitz every play. he leaves too many running lanes open. Hope McDonald and Barren have great tackling games and Ayers and A.O are on fire and lead team. We held Wilson to near 20 yards rushing for 2 games in the Loo ,just not the last one. So lets go back to what we did then. Wish it was gametime now. NO INJURIES!!! GO RAMS!!!

 

[DCH]

Welp, time to find someone else's water to carry. @PFaulk I have updated my signatures on both sites in accordance with our bet.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Not trying to be an ass here, but can we just stop all the he did it thru OTAs talk? He is the guy who was "volunTOLD" to serve that role since there were no other Centers at the ROOKIE ORIENTATION portion of OTAs.

He is not a potential candidate to play center. What he could end up being is the best prospect of the group at Guard.

Wouldn't that be something. If he is close to what they predict Brown will become and Brown actually does become that.

 

[RamzFanz]

I hope so....Did you read this somewhere, or more "IN$IDER" Info....

It was a quote in an article I read yesterday. Saffold said Robinson has become a tape addict. Perhaps this is why they felt OK moving Saffold?

 

[RamzFanz]

You kind of lose me here -- when you say it was "Barnes' job to lose", that opens the door to the thought that it wasn't a fair competition. "His job to lose" could mean the extreme of Fisher saying "ok well Barnes is our guy and we'll only replace him with Jones or Rhaney if they vastly outplay him".

Barnes as the default choice could make it unfair because it leaves open the possibility that Jones or Rhaney did, in fact, outplay Barnes, but not "vastly enough" to fire Barnes from his incumbent position.

At this point I'd rather buy into Fisher's public commentary that it was an equal, open tryout for the job and did not include pre-slot rankings, and he chose the best guy on the merit of what they showed on the field. Whether or not it was "Barnes' job to lose" really doesn't add anything to the situation other than negative thoughts. At this point I'm trying to stay positive that even if it was set up for Barnes to win, he was the best guy regardless.

Hey, it's all hearsay and Fisher speak, so it's to each their own to believe what is said. I can see why you would prefer no frontrunner.

Coach O had a very good reason to believe Barnes was the frontrunner going into camp and the one expected to win the job. That doesn't mean the others weren't given every chance to win it.

We need to remember that Fisher knows so much more about these guys and what goes on then we do. If he had Barnes as the front runner, I trust it was with good reason.

I don't believe a word out of Fisher's mouth, and that's OK. He's coy and it works for him. I don't believe poker players either and that's not a negative.

 

[GabesHorn]

You kind of lose me here -- when you say it was "Barnes' job to lose", that opens the door to the thought that it wasn't a fair competition. "His job to lose" could mean the extreme of Fisher saying "ok well Barnes is our guy and we'll only replace him with Jones or Rhaney if they vastly outplay him".

Barnes as the default choice could make it unfair because it leaves open the possibility that Jones or Rhaney did, in fact, outplay Barnes, but not "vastly enough" to fire Barnes from his incumbent position.

At this point I'd rather buy into Fisher's public commentary that it was an equal, open tryout for the job and did not include pre-slot rankings, and he chose the best guy on the merit of what they showed on the field. Whether or not it was "Barnes' job to lose" really doesn't add anything to the situation other than negative thoughts. At this point I'm trying to stay positive that even if it was set up for Barnes to win, he was the best guy regardless.

Come on you saw what everyone else saw. Even though everyone saw different things from the same games. Fisher was TOO fair in my personal opinion. Sorry I was Privy to some inside information I'm not at liberty to share but I think they wanted to put a fire under Barnes' ass and not just hand him the job instead he did with his extra heavy work in the weightroom as commented on by the Senior OL Rodger Saffold in many of those long boring fact posts you hate. The competition was more than fair and Coach O will give you every specific detail each player had over the other. Basically it was'nt as close as some make it out to be. Fisher is super slow and as Coach O reported T. Barnes knew he won the job and was told privately before the team was told days later. No great controversy. Barnes was'nt getting steamrolled as both Jones and Rhaney were. Have no clue what some people were watching. I was an OL for 8 years and I saw some good from Jones when he played against 2-3's . Love the guy but just hate it for his limitations from surgeries. Barnes lower body strength was KEY in this decision. Hope he even gets stronger and gets stronger upstairs too. He is bigger than Mebane and I'm not worried about the middle rush they will try with Wagner. Hope Saffold has one game he does'nt leave the field nicked. NO INJURIES!!!

We all know it was fair. What kept B. Jones from putting in extra weightroom work? Probably pain limitation from back and previous serious foot injuries and surgeries (loved the guy) just too soft for the pro's right now and yet the desperate steelers may still give him a shot to start. We did'nt sign Wisneiski when we had him in and he signed a 1 year prove it deal with Jags and is thier starter for game one recovering from double shoulder surgery. We cut Mr. Person who many thot less of than Barnes and he's starting for Falcons game 1. I can post every center that played during PS and the list of 70-80 players has Tim Barnes in the low teans as performance in PS. Yes -X- says those are bogus due to being PS facts. It is what it is. Same fact gathering just in PS by PFF. I'll take Tim Barnes and his story and I know he is still on his way up. He studies film like a center should and reads pre=snap reads that only Coach Paul is privy too . So we have to trust our OL coach right?

He wins in mental and physical and with the rotation he is probably behind a tad from other teams centers. Shegals had a center competition this offseason too. They had a rotation system too. Steelers lost their starter and brought in two UDFA centers Dismukes and Finney and cut them both in final cuts and picked up B. Jones after we let him go. Both the Steelers and Dolphins have a Pouncey brother starting as center. The steelers' is on IR now with 13 other players.

 

[Fatbot]

We all know it was fair. ...

I appreciate the thoughtful post, but my point was reconciling the "his job to lose" versus "it was fair"... I think it logically has to be one or the other since "his job to lose" implies an unequal starting footing, which wouldn't be totally "fair". But I think it is safe to say it was "fair" in the sense all the guys had ample opportunity to win the job. Fisher made his choice as the best man for the job, time for me to move on to other useless minutia to obsess over.

 

[PFaulk]

Welp, time to find someone else's water to carry. @PFaulk I have updated my signatures on both sites in accordance with our bet.

A quite honorable good sir.

This was one of those times where the broken clock was right.

 

[GabesHorn]

Wouldn't that be something. If he is close to what they predict Brown will become and Brown actually does become that.

I predict Brown and Wichmann as next years scary good starting OG's unless G. Rob. proves he must be moved inside after a year trying OLT. I think he finally gets it and with more fire under his ass from coaches, fellow teammates and lots of film study he had'nt been doing. Plus Our UDFA is coming very fast behind his ass now. Thats not even considering what Battle can be if he gets his head right and starts to bust ass in weightroom. He has size but you can't get away with counting on just that in the Pro's. Who knows if Andrew Donnal with weightroom can challenge Havenstein. This shotgun drafting OL approach may actually pay off but everyone will come due at same time if they don't stagger extentions after a rookie proves he is worthy as a keeper. Shame we did'nt see or find value in any rookie centers later in draft. I'm sure Rhaney will bust ass to challenge Barnes as the OG depth with Reynolds may swallow him. Hell we're gonna have injuries as the OL avg. injury level is disgusting. We just don't need it being so young.

We may be able to save some big bucks with if we think we can go without oft injured R. Saffold. (Highly Paid too) need to check dead money cost. Who knows? just looking forward. NO INJURIES!!!

 

[Memento]

Not trying to be an ass here

You're not succeeding in not trying to be an ass. Just saying.

 

[-X-]

Not trying to be an ass here, but can we just stop all the he did it thru OTAs talk? He is the guy who was "volunTOLD" to serve that role since there were no other Centers at the ROOKIE ORIENTATION portion of OTAs.

He is not a potential candidate to play center. What he could end up being is the best prospect of the group at Guard.

Sure he's a potential candidate to play center. Why wouldn't he be? If there's one thing Boudreau wants more than anything, it's positional versatility across his line. Last year Saffold played 4 positions on the line in our last game against Seattle. This is also likely why we saw Rhaney at guard and Wichman at center during preseason. I mean, it makes sense doesn't it? You don't wanna be limited by pigeon-holing these guys into one position and not being able to move them around if/when injuries disrupt the line. This year it seems he wants to keep the tackles at tackle and mix & match the interior with flex guys in order to maximize their options should the inevitable happen.

 

[hotanez]

Sure he's a potential candidate to play center. Why wouldn't he be? If there's one thing Boudreau wants more than anything, it's positional versatility across his line. Last year Saffold played 4 positions on the line in our last game against Seattle. This is also likely why we saw Rhaney at guard and Wichman at center during preseason. I mean, it makes sense doesn't it? You don't wanna be limited by pigeon-holing these guys into one position and not being able to move them around if/when injuries disrupt the line. This year it seems he wants to keep the tackles at tackle and mix & match the interior with flex guys in order to maximize their options should the inevitable happen.

Wichmann played center? Do you remember what game? I would like to see how he played there.

 

[OldSchool]

Wichmann played center? Do you remember what game? I would like to see how he played there.

In rookie OTA activity because there wasn't anybody else to play it.