Opinion I just found.....with some interesting stats on Tru
http://www.turfshowtimes.com/2017/2...-rams-must-do-to-be-successful-in-2017-part-1
What The Rams Must Do To Be Successful in 2017, Part 1
By Fishkiller
1) Use the Franchise Tag on Trumaine Johnson. The
Rams need to upgrade their secondary. Losing Tru without assurances of an adequate replacement runs contrary to that objective. But, after franchising him in 2016, if the Rams franchise him again this year and fail to work out a long-term deal he would get paid a base salary of $16.75 million for the 2017 season, gobbling up roughly 42% of the Rams current available salary cap space for 2017, and accounting for about 10% of the Rams salary cap space overall. Only one CB made $16 million in base salary last year, and that was
Darrelle Revis, who sucked in 2016 but had been a hall of fame caliber Corner for his entire career prior to last year's debacle.
The problem is, Tru's not worth anything close to that kind of money. He has 50 missed tackles since entering the league, the fifth-most by a CB in that time period. Further, just look at where Tru, as the primary coverage defender, ranked in 2016 among the 81 CB's who were on the field for at least 50 percent of their team's defensive snaps (stats from Pro Football Focus). He allowed 520 receiving yards, landing him at 48th, well below average. He allowed a 60.7% completion percentage, which ranked 42nd, slightly below average (sadly, that's right about his career average as well). Tru allowed 1 catch for every 11 snaps, coming in at 37th, just slightly above average. He also came in slightly above average in QB rating, allowing a 89.4 QB rating when QB's threw in his direction, which was good for 34th. Tru fared better in TD's allowed, ranking a respectable 24th after giving up only 4 TD's on the season, but that may have been more a product of how bad
Troy Hill and
E.J. Gaines played opposite him, rather than anything special he did. Where Tru excelled was in a stat called "yards per coverage snap" where he came in at 14th, allowing 0.93 yards per coverage snap. But when you add it all up, it's clear he didn't perform well enough to justify a base salary over $16 million for 2017. After 5 years in the NFL it is also clear he is not a #1 Corner.
So why do I say the Rams should franchise him then? For one simple reason - to buy the organization time. But not in the way you might think, at least not initially anyway. Most teams franchise a player to buy them more time to work out a long term deal. I think the Rams should use the franchise tag on Tru to hold him in place just in case they can't secure an upgrade through free agency. Maybe they can sign one of the other free agent cornerbacks that could be available such as rising star
A.J. Bouye, the 3rd ranked CB from 2016 who finished the year ranked in the top 10 in catch percentage allowed (50.5 percent), pass breakups (13), and passer rating into his coverage (58.5), or
Stephon Gilmore, who many rate as the only true #1 CB prospect in this free agent group and has been the
Bills #1 Corner since day 1 of his rookie year. Gilmore has 48 combined interceptions and pass breakups in his 5 year career, good for 9th in the League in that time. Perhaps
Logan Ryan, a solid #2, who has graded out as an above average CB the past couple of seasons, could be lured to the west coast. He's a sure tackler (only 2 missed tackles the past 2 seasons), and unlike Tru, he's extremely versatile, having played a ton in the slot when needed. His versatility to line up at multiple positions should be something a smart D-coordinator like Wade Phillips could use to the Rams' advantage. All of these players will be looking for $12 million or so per year, so they won't be cheap, but I'd rather pay one of them that kind of money than I would the oft injured and inconsistent Johnson. If the Rams can snag a high caliber player to replace Tru, they can then rescind the franchise tag and let him walk, just like the
Panthers did with
Josh Norman last year (except the Panthers didn't have a replacement for Norman).
As a quick mention here, a dark horse candidate could be
Morris Claiborne. Now, Claiborne has been a flop since being drafted at #6 overall in 2012, allowing the ninth-highest passer rating among qualifying CB's since 2012, so he'd be a risk, but he'll also be relatively cheap, allowing the Rams to sign him
and a higher profile CB (or still retain Tru if they so choose). What is worth noting, is that over the first half of the 2016 season, before he got hurt and missed the rest of the season, he was finally playing like someone worthy of a 1st round pick, especially when lining up in press coverage where he allowed a miniscule passer rating of 29.4. If Wade Phillips wants to play a lot of press coverage, Claiborne might be a steal if he plays like last season and stays healthy.
If the Rams can't find an upgrade over Tru via free agency, by having the franchise tag in place it keeps them from losing their best corner and further depleting an already thin unit, and then they can use the extra time provided by the franchise tag to try to work out a long term contract closer to his actual market value, which is probably in the neighborhood of $12 million per year. But if they fail to work out a long term deal, they will have paid Tru just shy of $31 million guaranteed for 2 years (2016 & 2017) and will most certainly lose him after the 2017 season. To put this in perspective, the Rams let their best CB,
Janoris Jenkins, leave via free agency last year for a deal that pays him roughly $39 million over the first 3 years of his contract, with $28.8 million guaranteed. The
Giants can cut JJ after the 2018 season, and it will only cost them $4 million in dead money for 2019 and 2020 combined, while clearing $22.5 million in cap space. If the Rams franchise Tru and fail to work out a long term deal, it will be a clear signal to me that this franchise has failed to learn from it's past mistakes and needs to make further changes beyond just the coaching staff in order to have any chance of sustained success.
The bottom line is that the Rams need to see significantly better play from their DB's as a group in 2017. While
Maurice Alexander had a nice season (he graded out as the Rams' best DB in coverage, against the run, and overall, and just fyi - graded out better than
Rodney McLeod), and
T.J. McDonald was above average in coverage for the first time in his career, and
Lamarcus Joyner graded out well above average, the rest of the unit was terrible.
Troy Hill and
E.J. Gaines were two of the worst CB's in the NFL last season, and the secondary as a whole tied for the League lead in missed tackles by DB's with a whopping 65 on the season. For me, this means regardless of whether or not the Rams retain Tru, or let him walk and sign his replacement via free agency, the team is going to have to draft a CB as early as possible in the upcoming draft.
This may seem like an anti-Tru rant, but in reality I really like him and think he's a good player. Obviously he's the best CB on the roster, and Wade Phillips might be able to put him in a scheme that maximizes his natural talent, resulting in improved play in 2017. It's just the ineptitude of the Rams front office has put the team in a situation in which they may have to pay a good CB elite CB money for the 2nd season in a row, with the strong likelihood of losing him after the 2017 season anyway. In my opinion, the Rams simply cannot allow him to play under the one year franchise tag salary again in 2017.
All I can say is...
50 missed tackles???
