8to12 Reality of Free Agency Mock

[8to12]

Preface: Dealing with the realitiy of losing many Free agents. in this edition I will focus on 2 things: 1) making the interior of the O-line more stout in pass-Pro & 2) adding a penetrator to the D-line. The Rams will need to continue to be able to bring pressure up the middle regardless how many quality Edge rushers they have. At this point of his career, Brockers does not provide the kind of penetration needed. I will address the loss of the many FA’s. IMO, with restructuring and a couple of trades, the Rams should end up with about 20 – 22 Mil in Cap space to sign one or two of their own and couple of low priced Outside FA’s. I will plan on the Cap being settled at 185 million for this Mock.

Cut:

Pre-June 1 - Brian Allen, Kenny Young, Nasimba Webster, Justin Lawler, Kendal Blanton, Donte Deayon, Colin Holba, Brandon Wright

Restructure: Aaron Donald
Jalen Ramsey

Restructure savings – 23 Mil

Departng FA’s:
John Johnson III
Josh Reynolds
Malcom Brown
Austin Blythe
Gerald Everett
Troy Hill
Johnny Mundt
Jake McQuaid

Resign:
Morgan Fox
Samson Ebukam (needed for Edge depth and core special teamer)
Darius Williams – 2nd Rnd tender
Travin Howard
Leonard Floyd ( 3 yrs – 36-Mil ; 21-mil Guar )
-Large bonus upfront should make his Cap hit under 9-mil without leaving the team susceptible to high amount of dead money if they decide to part ways after the second year


Outside FA’s:

Center – Austin Reiter (Chiefs)

Reiter has anchored the Chiefs OL for the last 2 seasons helping reach the Superbowl in both. He is close in size to Blythe and similar in Grade. However, Reiter excels in Pass blocking compared to Blythe. In 2020, Reiter gave up 0 sacks, 7 pressures and NO penalties. He should move well enough to block on the run in the Rams ZBS. His salary was in the 3-4 Mil range.

WR - Marvin Hall Jr (Lions - Browns)


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BNJs3jECXw


Hall was a deep ball receiver for Stafford until he was released and picked up by Cleveland. He has the experience, speed, and existing relationship with Stafford to be the Rams deep ball threat at very affordable price. He has been earning the league minimum.



ILB – Nicholas Morrow (Raiders)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s93fNZ9NzVU&t=204s

Marrow will provide an upgrade in terms of speed at the ILB position. He is great in coverage and may be the most undervalued LB in the league. He will basically take Kenny Young’s spot. Rams should be balanced with 2 early down LB’s in Reeder and Kiser, and (2) coverage LB’s in Morrow & Howard. I don’t see the Rams using any draft picks for this position. His salary has been in the 3-Mil range, so a 3 year deal with a heavy bonus that can be prorated would be in the works.

Player Trade:

Rams send Rob Havenstein

Vikings send 4th Rnd (#115)


Rams send Michael Brockers

Cowboys send 4th Rnd (#137)


Draft:

Rams hold 7 picks at the start of the draft.

3 of their own, 2 comp, and 2 trade (Vikings& Cowboys)

Trade :

#1(trade down)

Rams send #57

Chiefs send #63, #126


#2(trade up)

Rams send #101, #126, 2022 4th

Washington sends #77


#3(trade up)

Rams send #103, #115

Brown send #86


Rams own 7 selections after trades

Rnd 2 pick #63 Safety Hamsah Nasirildeen Florida St

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pWGHoH_Rvo

Nasirildeen is one of my favorite players this year. He is 6’4” – 220lbs. He can play like a LB or play in space with good range. He can take over for John Johnson and IMO, be an upgrade at the Strong Safety position. He was outstanding in coverage against TE’s and RB’s during Senior Bowl week. In addition to his size and length he creates turnovers.


Rnd 3 pick #74 DE/DT Daviyon Nixon - Iowa

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGmciQEVQmA&t=333s

Rams trade up to get IMO the most under-rated player on defense. Nixon, at 6’3” – 305 lbs, is as powerful as he is quick. He has excellent quickness off of the snap and makes many plays in the backfield. He lead the Big-10 D-line play with 33 TFL, 41 total tackles, and tied for lead with 5.5 sacks. Pair him with Donald as the other DE and Rams D-line will be even better.


Rnd 3 pick #86 G/C Trey Smith Tennessee

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrpqlg8YEsA

( Smith is #73 playing left Guard …. Not much tape available from the 2020 season. This is a bowl game from last season )


Smith is 6’6” – 320 lbs, has been a dominant lineman playing Tackle and most recently, Guard. He can bury people in the Run game and has a great base and balance for handling bull rushers in Pass-Pro. Once he gets his hands inside on a defender and extends his arms it’s play over for the defender. During Senior Bowl week he showed some opportunities to improve on redirecting once a D-lineman tries to get past moving from one side to another. His lateral movement skills did not show well but he would have some great coaching with Kromer.



Rnd 4 pick #137 (from Cowboys) CB – Keith Taylor - Washington

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODUk2PAtj1s

Taylor has great size and length for a CB, 6’3” – 195 lbs. He has the ability play press man or drop off into zone. He has speed to recover if beaten initially off of line. He ran track and improved his 100m time from 11.5 to 10.89. He plays physical and is a willing tackler. But, as outlined in the video, his area of improvement is being a more consistent tackler. With the Rams utilizing some single high Safety, I would feel comfortable with Taylor playing boundary CB and being left on an island.


Rnd 4 pick #140 TE – Tommy Tremble – Notre Dame

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFt9HRKEMjQ&t=198s

As I wrote in my previous Mock, I wanted to improve the blocking of the TE unit. And, since Tremble had already been mocked by @Grry, I thought I would try another approach. But, I can’t deny Tremble would be the best option if he falls this far. In addition to being the most dominant blacker in the class, he has enough speed and athleticism to be effective in the Passing game.


Rnd 6 pick #205 WR - Romeo Doubs - Nevada

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af0eu3p2GQQ

Here is the deep threat of the future. Doubs ( pronounced “Dubs” ) is 6’2” – 200 lbs, has elite speed and averaged over 40 yds per TD catch this past season. He also adds value as a returner. He can sit behind Hall Jr on the depth chart until he is ready.


Rnd 7 pick #248 RB - Gerrid Doaks - Cincinatti

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePzOSONhu08&t=88s

Doaks will be the “Big” back that replaces Malcom Brown. At 6’0” – 230 lbs, he is tougher to bring down yet still has enough juice to get large gains. He shows good hands out of the backfield and with his size, should be the most reliable pass protector of the group.

Roster:

Offense-

QB- Matt Stafford, John Wolford

RB- Cam Akers, Darrell Henderson, Gerrid Doaks

WR- Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Marvin Hall Jr, Van Jefferson, Romeo Doubs

TE- Tyler Higbee, Brycen Hopkins, Tommy Tremble

OL- Andrew Whitworth, Trey Smith, Austin Reiter, Austin Corbett, Joseph Noteboom, David Edwards, Bobby Evans, Chandler Brewer

1st team: Whitworth (LT), Smith (LG), Reiter (C), Corbett (RG), Noteboom (RT)

Defense-

DL- Aaron Donald, Joseph-Day, Daviyon Nixon, A’Shawn Robinson, Morgan Fox

OLB- Terell Lewis, Obo Okoronkwo, Justin Hollins, Samson Ebukam

ILB- Micah Kiser, Troy Reeder, Nicholas Morrow Travin Howard,

CB- Jalen Ramsey, Darious Williams, David Long, Keith Taylor

Safety- Taylor Rapp, Hamsah Nasirildeen, Jordan Fuller, Terrell Burgess, Nick Scott

Specialists:
pick a UDFA long snapper
P - Hecker
K - Gay

 

[iamme33]

not sure how all those trades went but i love the size of these picks. i am just getting tired of the smaller players we pick not working out. some of these picks won't work out but it won't be because of their size. nice draft keep it up.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Nice Mock.

Some thoughts:

I may be one of the few who is not a fan of trading what may be the team's 2nd best OLineman in Havenstein. And especially not if his replacement is Noteboom. That's a significant run blocking hit, IMO.

IMO, Nasirildeen (6'3 1/8" 213 Senior Bowl measurements) might be better served adding weight and making the permanent move to LB.

Methinks Morgan Fox is about to get paid during the free agency period. I question if the Rams will be able to keep him.

Along those lines, I question if the Rams would spend that high of a selection on a non-EDGE, DLineman. Why? I'm guessing that the team believes and may be banking on one or two of the 4 DLineman they kept on the practice squad this season to step up.

Morrow would be an interesting free agent pickup. I wonder how much it will take to get him.

Tommy Tremble is slowly becoming my favorite player in the draft for the Rams. I don't think he'll last 140 picks in if he runs as fast as I heard though. I'm also concerned that the Brycen Hopkins selection of last year along with other needs might thwart the team selecting any TE higher. I hope I'm wrong though.

Austin Reiter? I wish I knew how much of his success was his own vs. having someone like Mahomes as his QB.

 

[JonRam99]

#yikes
~Leonard Floyd (he's not on your roster)
I like that you addressed our 2 worst blocking positions, C & TE. But ya I'd rather trade boom than Hav.
Plus I'd rather get a possible LT replacement with our 2nd pick, assuming we ship Boom out -- are you proposing that Boom is still the long-term plan to replace Whit? I really like our depth at Safety, even with losing JJIII.

 

[8to12]

#yikes
~Leonard Floyd (he's not on your roster)
I like that you addressed our 2 worst blocking positions, C & TE. But ya I'd rather trade boom than Hav.
Plus I'd rather get a possible LT replacement with our 2nd pick, assuming we ship Boom out -- are you proposing that Boom is still the long-term plan to replace Whit? I really like our depth at Safety, even with losing JJIII.

First, thanks for letting me know about omitting Floyd. I didn't realize I missed him on the roster.
Second, regarding Boom, I'm leaving him on roster as depth and let him walk the next season. Others trade him off in their mock, but I don't see any team giving the Rams any value for him. With Hav, he has more value, along with reducing the Cap number for RT and having Evans who can step in.