Welp, I see 2 big holes and 2 big question marks on this team...

[Relwolf91]

Man if we draft Engram in the second, JuJu in the 3rd, Center in the 4th, our offense will be solid.

 

[PARAM]

I see it similarly. Thinking top ten defense in points allowed, which is not unrealistic given talent that Wade is inheriting plus his history. Offense is the question, expect something along the lines of 15-20th in scoring, which I personally do not think is unrealistic but would be a significant improvement.

It's very realistic. I think the offensive numbers could be even better if things go better than we expect. Like Goff becoming "that guy" a little earlier in the season; Gurley returning to form; Tavon being a multifaceted weapon; and Woods being a reliable possession guy, something I believe would make a world of difference. Anything more like the O line playing lights out and Higbee being the guy we all envisioned and the possibilities are endless. Of course, that is an awful lot to go right and I don't expect it all.

I think the Rams biggest "hole" is an edge pass rusher. Barwin and Quinn are talented no doubt but barwin is old and who knows how much he's got let in him, and Quinn hasn't been the same since his back injury. Gonna need to find future players at both those spots sooner rather than later imo

There's a kid from Villanova, Tonah Kpassagnon (6'7'', 289, 4.83 40) I'd love to see them grab in the 4th. Could be a situational guy for us this year and play an even bigger role in year 2.

Man if we draft Engram in the second, JuJu in the 3rd, Center in the 4th, our offense will be solid.

We could improve it in the draft but I don't expect all offense with the first 3 or 4 picks.

 

[Legatron4]

I think the Rams biggest "hole" is an edge pass rusher. Barwin and Quinn are talented no doubt but barwin is old and who knows how much he's got let in him, and Quinn hasn't been the same since his back injury. Gonna need to find future players at both those spots sooner rather than later imo

Agreed that we need our own Von Miller. A do it all guy who can rush the edge. Quinn I don't think can play coverage.

 

[Loyal]

Draftnicks always like the shiny toys. How about fixing the center position?

Sure, we brought a second stringer from another team, but that can't be it. We have been purposefully ignoring this position for a while and no, you can't make a slow,plodding UDFA college guard into a real NFL center...This UDFA strategy has been tried and retried by multiple coaching staffs. Freakin STOP IT! Finishing the Oline with a real NFL Center (round 2-4), will make the whole Oline better, give Goff more time, and give Gurley more holes....For the love of God, Les Snead....

 

[bubbaramfan]

time to come up for air 43 :death:

 

[Rams43]

Let me try to posit it in a different way for those that feel we have no holes, at present.

First, let me say that "being able to field a team" does not meet my definition of no gaping holes.

Second, can we all agree that McVay likes to frequently field 2 WR sets and the occasional 3 WR set? If that's true (and it clearly is), does a Woods, Tavon, and Spruce/Cooper combo strike fear in your heart if you're the opposing DC? I don't THINK so. Ergo, we need another WR with good hands as an outside threat. (Anyone counting Tavon as a serious and consistent WR threat is kidding themselves). WR is still a hole, y'all.

Third, with TE it's much the same thing. McVay is adept and is very fond of deploying 2, and sometimes 3 TE sets. Therefore, Higbee and Hemmingway (both as yet unproven, btw) need at least one more stud added from this draft. At least. Fortunately, it's a rich TE draft. TE is still a hole by definition, IOW.

So, go ahead and pretend that we don't have a hole at WR and TE, if you want. But it won't change the facts one whit.

Britt and Quick were allowed to walk and only Woods was brought in as a WR starter. That's a hole.

Kendricks was outright released and no starting type TE has been brought in. That's another hole.

If that doesn't meet the definition of 2 "holes", then I don't know what does.

 

[OldSchool]

Let me try to posit it in a different way for those that feel we have no holes, at present.

First, let me say that "being able to field a team" does not meet my definition of no gaping holes.

Second, can we all agree that McVay likes to frequently field 2 WR sets and the occasional 3 WR set? If that's true (and it clearly is), does a Woods, Tavon, and Spruce/Cooper combo strike fear in your heart if you're the opposing DC? I don't THINK so. Ergo, we need another WR with good hands as an outside threat. (Anyone counting Tavon as a serious and consistent WR threat is kidding themselves). WR is still a hole, y'all.

Third, with TE it's much the same thing. McVay is adept and is very fond of deploying 2, and sometimes 3 TE sets. Therefore, Higbee and Hemmingway (both as yet unproven, btw) need at least one more stud added from this draft. At least. Fortunately, it's a rich TE draft. TE is still a hole by definition, IOW.

So, go ahead and pretend that we don't have a hole at WR and TE, if you want. But it won't change the facts one whit.

Britt and Quick were allowed to walk and only Woods was brought in as a WR starter. That's a hole.

Kendricks was outright released and no starting type TE has been brought in. That's another hole.

If that doesn't meet the definition of 2 "holes", then I don't know what does.

Hole means a gap, something is empty a vacancy. You may not like what is filling a position but if it has something filling it by definition it's not a hole Seems I've said that before. If something doesn't strike fear in an opponent, in your estimation, that isn't a hole that by definition is a weak spot that could be upgraded.

It's quite funny that people, not just you, but many cite Washington's strength at WR and how drafting Crowder was such a good thing because he was amazing and on and on. He was a 4th round pick. Why not give last years 4th round pick of the Rams at WR a chance to flourish in McVay's offense? Incidentally Crowder by NFL.com had a 5.3 grade on Crowder with a 4th or 5th round grade comparing him to Eddie Royal. Cooper? A 5.67 grade with a 3rd round grade comparable to Josh Reed. Give the kid a chance with a real offense. I'm much happier going into the season with our main 3 WR as Austin, Woods and Cooper than Austin, Britt and Quick from last year. Primarily because I'm not writing people off for how they did under Fisher and Boras.

 

[tomas]

With the receivers you gotta look at the roles. We have plenty of Y & Z types. Woods isn't really an ideal X either, even though they'll play him out there if they don't find an option in the draft. So as I've been saying the draft need is a wideout who can play outside on the LOS. Round 2 Godwin, round 3 Ford, those are the guys I like personally but it might be someone they project to play outside as well so no telling how it will play out.

It's not a sin to enter the season with young players at a given position. We discussed TE early on and it was predicted that Kendricks would be cut and that the Rams would stand pat in FA and draft the position and/or go young there. That's what has happened. Just because you haven't seen them do it on the field doesn't mean it's a hole. Sometimes the team actually does have an answer on the depth chart. I love Higbee, and I'm pretty sure the bottom of the TE depth will be added to in the draft and our TE room will be just fine.

We have coaching now on offense 43. TE will be a strength, only question I have is the depth which should be addressed in the draft. WR it's all about the X, hopefully they can find a guy who has snaps demonstrating an ability to play it, but if not I still don't think it's as doom and gloom.

Don't forget Practice Squad Tight End Bruce Williams

• 6'6" Height
• 33 5/8" Arm Length
• 257LBS. Weight
• 9 5/8 Hands

NFL Scouting Report -
Bottom Line
Williams added 13 pounds of muscle onto his frame last summer and it offered no visible drain on overall athleticism or speed. As a blocker, Williams needs more toughness and attitude to go with his size, but as a pass catcher, he has the tools and field-stretching potential that offensive coordinators are looking for. Williams won’t be every team’s cup of tight end coffee, but for teams looking for a matchup tight end, he will be intriguing. http://www.nfl.com/draft/2016/profiles/bryce-williams?id=2555148

 

[Ramhusker]

I'm getting excited about this draft because it seems to be deep in our positions of need. I think we can come out of it with an impact player at WR, TE, CB, C, and maybe a OLB or DE. I think we see this team improve at all those positions. What order that is done is of course key and I'm trusting the staff will nail it!!!!!

 

[Rams43]

Hole means a gap, something is empty a vacancy. You may not like what is filling a position but if it has something filling it by definition it's not a hole Seems I've said that before. If something doesn't strike fear in an opponent, in your estimation, that isn't a hole that by definition is a weak spot that could be upgraded.

It's quite funny that people, not just you, but many cite Washington's strength at WR and how drafting Crowder was such a good thing because he was amazing and on and on. He was a 4th round pick. Why not give last years 4th round pick of the Rams at WR a chance to flourish in McVay's offense? Incidentally Crowder by NFL.com had a 5.3 grade on Crowder with a 4th or 5th round grade comparing him to Eddie Royal. Cooper? A 5.67 grade with a 3rd round grade comparable to Josh Reed. Give the kid a chance with a real offense. I'm much happier going into the season with our main 3 WR as Austin, Woods and Cooper than Austin, Britt and Quick from last year. Primarily because I'm not writing people off for how they did under Fisher and Boras.

Have it your way OldSchool.

I will say this.

Holes or no holes, here's my prediction for our early draft...

There will have been a WR, TE, and CB picked (in some order) by the end of round four. Three of our first four picks, IOW.

If I'm right, isn't that an indication that the Ram brain trust sees those positions as best value/need intersections?

 

[Loyal]

Have it your way OldSchool.

I will say this.

Holes or no holes, here's my prediction for our early draft...

There will have been a WR, TE, and CB picked (in some order) by the end of round four. Three of our first four picks, IOW.

If I'm right, isn't that an indication that the Ram brain trust sees those positions as best value/need intersections?

I'm sure you misspelled "Center" as our greatest need:yess:

 

[OldSchool]

Have it your way OldSchool.

I will say this.

Holes or no holes, here's my prediction for our early draft...

There will have been a WR, TE, and CB picked (in some order) by the end of round four. Three of our first four picks, IOW.

If I'm right, isn't that an indication that the Ram brain trust sees those positions as best value/need intersections?

Value/need has nothing to do with your labeling wanting more WR's as a hole. Because they add a WR to the room doesn't mean it was a hole. It means they added depth to the position to make it stronger.

Once again if we were to start the regular season right now we would have a starter at each position and have a backup at each position, except Center unless they convert one of our Guards to it like they've discussed. That simple statement of fact defeats the line of thought that there are holes on this roster. There are absolutely spots where talent could be upgraded. That's not a hole that's a weak spot that needs to be reinforced with more talent.

 

[OldSchool]

I'm getting excited about this draft because it seems to be deep in our positions of need. I think we can come out of it with an impact player at WR, TE, CB, C, and maybe a OLB or DE. I think we see this team improve at all those positions. What order that is done is of course key and I'm trusting the staff will nail it!!!!!

We're very lucky this year. Area's where us fans think we need to add more talent (WR/TE/CB/DE/C) all have a bunch of players that can help us out.

 

[MTRamsFan]

 

[Rams43]

Value/need has nothing to do with your labeling wanting more WR's as a hole. Because they add a WR to the room doesn't mean it was a hole. It means they added depth to the position to make it stronger.

Once again if we were to start the regular season right now we would have a starter at each position and have a backup at each position, except Center unless they convert one of our Guards to it like they've discussed. That simple statement of fact defeats the line of thought that there are holes on this roster. There are absolutely spots where talent could be upgraded. That's not a hole that's a weak spot that needs to be reinforced with more talent.

We clearly have different definitions of the word "starter", OldSchool.

Semantics, I guess.

 

[BonifayRam]

I think the Rams biggest "hole" is an edge pass rusher. Barwin and Quinn are talented no doubt but barwin is old and who knows how much he's got let in him, and Quinn hasn't been the same since his back injury. Gonna need to find future players at both those spots sooner rather than later imo

If BIG IF both our new OSLB'ers can return to previous seasons a few yrs back this Defense is sure to be very effective. If Not we are in big trouble. Barwin had 14.5 sacks & Quinn had 10.5 sacks during the 2014 season. Could you imagine if they returned to that past form to go with our DL inside LB'ers & safety duo will be able to accomplish.

 

[OldSchool]

We clearly have different definitions of the word "starter", OldSchool.

Semantics, I guess.

The difference is really easy to explain and let's see if you understand the difference in our wording after this. I don't like Rodger Saffold. He's injury prone, expensive and IMO not as good as some people think he is. But because I don't like our current starter that doesn't make it a roster hole. It makes it a roster spot I'd upgrade. You don't like our WR starters right now just like I don't like our LG but that doesn't make WR a hole.

 

[PARAM]

It's quite funny that people, not just you, but many cite Washington's strength at WR and how drafting Crowder was such a good thing because he was amazing and on and on. He was a 4th round pick. Why not give last years 4th round pick of the Rams at WR a chance to flourish in McVay's offense? Incidentally Crowder by NFL.com had a 5.3 grade on Crowder with a 4th or 5th round grade comparing him to Eddie Royal. Cooper? A 5.67 grade with a 3rd round grade comparable to Josh Reed. Give the kid a chance with a real offense. I'm much happier going into the season with our main 3 WR as Austin, Woods and Cooper than Austin, Britt and Quick from last year. Primarily because I'm not writing people off for how they did under Fisher and Boras.

And that's an important point. "Under Fisher and Boras" we have no idea how good these offensive players are really. I think they're going to grab two wide receivers, 1 high and 1 lower. Having said that, your mention of Cooper is interesting because he showed a lot last year....in that impotent offense. Another guy was Thomas. He was supposed to be able to take the top off of defenses, contest for balls and run good routes with great body control on the sidelines. He was relegated to KR for the most part. He may surprise. But I think the receiver we take high will fit into the top 4 on this team unless Thomas prevents that. Maybe he doesn't.

 

[bubbaramfan]

Holy cow! This "hole" debate has a whole bunch of opinions!

 

[Riverumbbq]

Holy cow! This "hole" debate has a whole bunch of opinions!