8to12 Offseason Mock 1.0

[8to12]

Preface:
Offense needs to get back to averaging over 5 yds per carry in the run game. Also, needs a second identity when Defenses go with a 6-1 Front to slow down the Zone Blocking. To me, this means using Power run blocking where the Interior D-lineman get Dbl teamed and using 2-TE’s.

Defense needs to improve in the category of limiting Big Plays and becoming TOP 8 team in scoring Defense. We all would like to see an improvement in the Run defense, but that’s not as important as limiting big plays in the passing game. The 49ers are going to the SuperBowl with a Run defense ranked about 14th I think, so that is not a detriment to post-season success. Using a 3 man Front with Aaron Donald as a DE frustrates me. There is lack of balance on the other side of the line as far as penetration. My aim is to improve this.

Cut:

S Eric Weddle

Edge Clay Matthews

DT Tanzell Smart

OG Jamil Demby


Restructure: Brandin Cooks ( 8-Mil savings )


Let Walk:

DE Michael Brockers

Edge Donte Fowler

LB Bryce Hagar

ST Jojo Natson

OC/G Austin Blythe

S Marqui Christian

DL Morgan Fox


Resign:

OT Andrew Whitworth

QB Blake Bortles

LB Corey Littleton

All ERFA

All Practice squad



Outside FA’s:


Edge Shaq Lawson - brings pass rush production and Run defense at lower price than Fowler

DL David Onyemata - Great penetrator who generated 3 Sacks & 11 QB hits playing on the inside. Will take over as the DE starter opposite Donald.

DL Vernon Butler - Another inside penetrator who will take playing time from SJD and Gaines on the Nose. Or, can be used pairing him and Donald as DT’s in an even front. Generated 6 sacks & 9 QB hits for the Panthers last season.

DL Keionta Davis - A lighter gap penetrator who can spell Donald & Onyemata. This is a league minimum player who had injuries while on the Patriots.

OL Andrus Peat - An inexpensive veteran for the interior O-line. Should sign in the 2 – 3 Mil range.


Trades:

RB Todd Gurley to the Texans for 2020 & 2021 3rd Rnd picks. This will provide approx. 4.5 Mil in Cap savings this year. As mush as I like Gurley, this is a business decision first. You don’t need a 15-Mil per year RB in order to generate 30 points per game. The Rams will be able to do RB by committee. Secondly, on top of the issues of the Championship game with the Saints, where he was not mentally in the game, I have witnessed some indifference in his body language regarding pass blocking this past season.

TE Gerald Everett to the Bengals for a 4th Rnd (#1) in 2020.


Draft:

Trade down with Dolphins:

Rams send 2nd Rnd #20 ; Dolphins send 2nd Rnd #24 & 4th Rnd #39


Trade down with Chiefs:

Rams send 2nd Rnd #24 : Chiefs send 2nd Rnd #31 & 4th Rnd #31


Rams own 10 selections



Rnd 2 pick #31 S Kyle Dugger


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC3kfG-WCzY&t=267s




Dugger offers the Rams the flexibility to use him as a 2ndd Safety in the Box, or as an additional coverage LB. He is stout enough to be a weakside LB and fast enough to cover TE’s, slot receivers and RB’s. He also is a returner who returned 4 kicks for TD’s this past season.



Rnd 3 pick #20 C Caesar Ruiz


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnDzTmRWM9k



With all of the recent picks the Rams have made recently for the O-line, Center Brain Allen is the only one I’m not comfortable with. I prefer Ruiz’ larger base along with his mobility to get the second level.



Rnd 3 pick #37 (from Texans) Edge Bradlee Anae


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB2uhpNfbeo



Anae's size and pass rush ability will help turn the OLB corps into one the Rams strongest position groups. He single handedly tore up the oppositions O-line at the Senior Bowl, registering 3 sacks in the game.



4th Rnd pick #1 ( From Bengals ) WR Devin Duvernay


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcPs1R4xxCA



Duvernay will become Brandin Cooks replacement. He has long speed, great hands ( 3 drops in 140 targets ), can break tackles…. Built like a RB, and has great production in the Screen game. What the Rams do offensively fits his game to the T. He hasn’t blocked much and will need to work on this.



4th Rnd pick # 20 RB Lamical Perine


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGAlzJ0dRG0



Perine is a great cut-back runner that fits with the Rams ZBS. He is also a good receiver and is stout enough in pass / blitz protection.



4th Rnd pick #31 ( from Chiefs) DL Jason Strowbridge


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEW6xPId0vg



Strowbridge is 6’5 / 270 lbs and beat O-lineman in drills at the Senior Bowl from 1-tech, 3-tech and 5-tech. He has the quickness to get past lineman and knows how to keep blockers hands off…has a very good swim move. Would be the first off the bench in a rotation.



4th Rnd pick #34 ( Comp ) TE Cheyenne O’Grady


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNuWkc_ZD94



O’Grady, at this point of the draft, has the best combination of blocking and receiving skills of any of the TE’s remaining. He is already a good seal blocker but will have to work on his inline power. He is a load to bring down and has many plays of gaining YAC with many defenders holding on. His inline ability allows Rams to use more Dbl TE formations. Mundt does a good job but O’Grady will allow Mundt to be used in more of “move” or “H” role in the offense.



4th Rnd pick # 39 ( from Dolphins ) LB Akeem Davis-Gaither


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj_lI6VOZIM



Davis-Gaither is an undersized LB with great coverage ability. He can shine on special teams while being groomed to replace Corey Littleton.



6th Rnd pick #20 CB Nevelle Clark


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE_hMSG39Nw&t=84s


Clark has great size for a CB, 6’1” – 190 lbs along with a long reach for breaking up passes and also is a very good tackler. In the last 2 seasons at UCF, Clark has 4 INT’s, 24 pass deflections and 1 TD. Will make a good #2 boundary Corner.



7th Rnd pick #20 RB Trey Sermon


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gz3J3NkxxE



Sermon’s 2019 season was cut short due to a knee injury or else he might be selected earlier. He finished with 54 rushing attempts for 385 YDs, over 7 yards per carry. A good one-cut runner that fits the Rams scheme. He is also adept at picking-up the blitz. With Henderson, Perine, Sermon, along with keeping Brown 1 more season to groom the young ones, the RB room will be very competitive.

Roster:

Offense-

QB- Jared Goff, Blake Bortles, John Wolford

RB- Darrell Henderson, Lamical Perine, Trey Sermon, Malcolm Brown

WR- Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Brandin Coooks, Josh Reynolds, Devin Duvernay, Nsimba Webster

TE- Tyler Higbee, Cheyenne O’Grady, Johnny Mundt

OL- Andrew Whitworth, Andrus Peat, Caesar Ruiz, Austin Corbett, Rob Havenstein, David Edwards, Joseph Noteboom, Bobby Evans, Brian Allen



Defense-

DL- Aaron Donald, Greg Gaines, Joseph-Day, Vernon Butler, David Onyemata, Jason Strowbridge, Keionta Davis

OLB- Shaq Lawson, Obo Okoronkwo, Samson Ebukam, Bradlee Anae, Jachie Polite

ILB- Micah Kiser, Corey Littleton, Natrez Patrick, Travin Howard, Akeem Davis-Gaither

CB- Jalen Ramsey, Troy Hill, Darious Williams, David Long, Nickell Roby-Coleman, Nevelle Clark

Safety- John Johnson, Taylor Rapp, Kyle Dugger, Nick Scott

 

[Merlin]

Nice draft with lots of good names.

And Dugger is an interesting addition. Been looking at him in fact just watched one of his game tapes, and I feel like he'll convert to ILB at the NFL level.

He's a SS basically though. Which we have in spades, and as such if the coaches liked him this week he'll slot into that round 2-3 range where the better SS types tend to go. But he's shown an ability to do different things, and that all 3 phase contribution he's had is very impressive. He can do returns, has played RB, etc.

WRT his skills I feel like he's got some nice closing speed. The dude can move and it's surprising because he's a bit slow at the snap in terms of his decision making. But he also played a lower level of competition and how fast he looks is related to being on the field with lesser athletes so not sure how teams view that and it's why the Senior Bowl week is so important for him.

I think for him to be a desired option for the Rams he is going to need to show an ability to fill run fits as a LB. One of the problems with our defense vs the run is this continued reliance on safeties in the run game. We need some guys who can hard fill run lanes in traffic IMO. We need size and strength too at ILB. So as much as I like this guy it's hard to imagine the Rams targeting him, although maybe the guy will muscle up and be a beast ILB hard to say.

 

[Merlin]

Here's that game tape btw:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljrdy6Bw7EI

 

[den-the-coach]

Again this is an Offensive Tackle Rich Draft and I like to come away with at least one Offensive Tackle...Also, why would the Texans make that deal for Gurley? I don't think they would quite frankly and I believe the only way a team takes Gurley is if the Rams include a draft choice, like they did with Talib.

BTW, what about Kicker, do the Rams resign Greg Zuerlein or not? You did not include that....Love Andrus Peat, he would be a great signing again I'm a huge fan of Cesar Ruiz and the trade scenarios could work, if those teams truly want to trade up and I like many of the selections too.

 

[spamlord]

I have Sermon down as a 3rd year Junior. I don't think he declared for the draft.

 

[Merlin]

Love Andrus Peat

You do? Why?

 

[den-the-coach]

You do? Why?

Plays LG really well a road grader, went to Stanford, smart, issue durability, but overall, IMHO, Peat would be an upgrade at LG.

According to ESPN, Drew Brees had this to say about the injury to his left guard.

"Of course it’s difficult, because he’s been a starter, for what, five years now, and been one of the main components there with the front,” Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. “But as is our league, every season you’re gonna have guys go down for a period of time — you hope not too long. And you have to have guys step up and fill in and do the job. And I’m confident with the guys we have to do that. "

Coming off of his first Pro-Bowl selection and playing as if he is going to go back, this is a huge loss for the New Orleans Saints. After all, with Peat in the lineup, this team boasted one of the best offensive lines in the league with minimal injuries to start the season.

 

[Tano]

Trades:




Draft:

Trade down with Dolphins:

Rams send 2nd Rnd #20 ; Dolphins send 2nd Rnd #24 & 4th Rnd #39


Trade down with Chiefs:

Rams send 2nd Rnd #24 : Chiefs send 2nd Rnd #31 & 4th Rnd #31

I was going to give you a different opinion but I figured that would be mean.

The Chiefs will have to trade us their #32 and #42 picks. No way am I even allowing the thought of the 49ers winning Superbowl. Nope no way - not going to happen.

Even if they win, I am denying it ever happening.

 

[8to12]

I have Sermon down as a 3rd year Junior. I don't think he declared for the draft.

you are correct. He hasn't. He was listed on a couple of sources I use so it as a presumption up to this point.

 

[8to12]

Again this is an Offensive Tackle Rich Draft and I like to come away with at least one Offensive Tackle...Also, why would the Texans make that deal for Gurley? I don't think they would quite frankly and I believe the only way a team takes Gurley is if the Rams include a draft choice, like they did with Talib.

BTW, what about Kicker, do the Rams resign Greg Zuerlein or not? You did not include that....Love Andrus Peat, he would be a great signing again I'm a huge fan of Cesar Ruiz and the trade scenarios could work, if those teams truly want to trade up and I like many of the selections too.

I didn't realize I left him out. Thank you for catching my error. It was my intention to resign him.