Any chance Saffold is the future LT?

[So Ram]

Good Morning OldSchool :coffee:. I believe we have had this discussion before. First we know you & I have never agreed on Saffold & never will. Great chance that we will not have to have this debate after 2018 either. Your points on Saffold getting injured @ LT has merit but that because he has so many seasons & events when he was the starting Rams LT too.

To get the timing down right on the last time Rodger Saffold started @ Left OT was on 12/30 2016. About 13 months ago. Darrell Williams is not under Ram contract @ this time. If they do decide to offer him a contract... I am sure he would be listed on the depth chart @ LT since that the only real OL post he can manage with his limited skill set. DW was a Ram from 2015/2016 & 2017 & saw action as a starter in one game @ LT his only start was wk #17.

The fact is IF Whitworth were to go down for a moderate to longer period of time places the OL in a weaken state this state ..would be there even if there were no Saffold available to insert. So Saffold does not add to this issue by the mere mentioning of his name does it. Rams best playing OG is Saffold so naturally any OL'er who is plugged in @ LG would be a lesser player that's a given. I would never plan to utilize a Darrell Williams for any moderate or long term period of time @ starting LT. Our current best reserve OL'er is Austin Blythe not Darrell Williams.

The situation is not a good one to be in & thus its a matter that must be addressed ASAP. The options are few & either expensive or costly in future Ram team investments & assets. Until this matter is rectified my humble suggested plan for the long term @ the moment would be Saffold in for Whitworth @ LT & Austin Blyhte @ LG. If that makes you then let us both hope that our team can :lifting: & come up with a much better solution....I sure hope so. I wish them great luck in this huge undertaking.

Snead did come up with a excellent plan last year @ starting & reserve LT prospects. It was a huge success as far as the starting LT acquirement of veteran Andrew Whitworth. Yes it came @ an enormous cost in terms of team assets but was well worth it IMO. Guess there's a lesson still to be learned here for me. Some pricey aging vets are worth it & do pan out.

Other 2 elements of this plan included ex starting & still very young LT for Rams seasons 2014/2015/2016 was Greg Robinson & Darrel Williams 2015/2016. The two other lesser prospects were Andrew Donnal who saw some sizeable snaps & LT & our previous 3 seasons starting LT 2010/2011/2012 Rodger Saffold. That's the five OL'er who had a part in the plans @ LT. Not a bad overall plan as it looked early summer last yr.

The biggest unforeseen #1 hit this early 2017 plan took was with the very poor attitude & non professional Greg Robinson off season lack of effort. Kromer & GRob did not blend well & GRob soon found himself working 2nd & 3rd team RT behind former swing reserve OG Jamon Brown. This situation went sour fast & one element of the LT reserve plan was sent packing to Detroit for a draft selection & salary relief & some other reliefs not fully known too.

I was of the opinion that Grob was still to be game planned right up to his departure as the main swing OT on the game day roster. That ended on 06/15/2017. There were some other lesser known OT issues that Kromer learned early too. #2 hit Darrell Williams is not close to being a NFL reserve Right OT. #3 hit Same was learned about Jamon Brown, that Jamon was much better @ both OG posts Than @ RT. Thus those two negative issues resulted in Kromer to shelve his desires on having Rob Havenstein as his starting Right OG & forced him to insert Rob back in @ starting RT.

Rams had no reserve RT so on 09/12/17 they savaging the Wavier Wire Contention & came up free agent ex Lion Cornelius Lucas. Another lesser negative element event @ reserve OT was the late 2016 season injury surgery & #4 hit never ending rehabbing event of Andrew Donnal. That event ended on 11/11/2017 when he was released.

So here we are back @ the OT planning stage again for a new season. This time Snead/McVay/Kromer have a much greater knowledge of their situation in their OL than last season. This time they have very few current signed OT's. As far as free agency offing much help...I have posted on a few possible UFA considerations in the area of reserve RT types who play the interior now like (Justin Pugh NYG or Jack Mewhort Colts) However I see nothing available @ LT. So the draft appears to be the likely path route to take here.

In the post above you say Saffold would have played LT as fact ‘ then humble option ?? The fact is he has never played LT under this regime , except maybe a snaps during preseason. DW got first team reps & imho he would have stayed at LT. He is a RFA so will see where the value is ??

Roger Saffold is the starting LG is fact !!
He was replaced by Blythe a couple times.
I’m not sure if Brown got hurt ?
I thought Big Rob started the 9er game & got replaced ?

—Yea The Rams need to add to quality if there depth chart at Offensive Line.

I will say this very strongly about Whitworth. He was one of the best FA pick ups in Rams History!!
To say he won’t ma’am’s it through his contract would be nieve or negative?

I watched the Pro Bowl today & Whitworth looks excellent. He even got moved to RT,
Now I can say The Rams need to find that LT of the future to get groomed.Whitworth can groom & slide over th RT in a year or too ?

 

[So Ram]

See my mock I'll never be ok with moving Saffold back to LT again just so he can get hurt or replaced again I've drafted what my vision for the LT of the future is.

Who do you like at Tackle from draft or FA ,or is answering that against rules ?

I agree with your statement in Saffold. It will be interesting to see what The Rams do.
Snead will show his hand on draft day. The Rams trust There process.

 

[yrba1]

He’s the future backup LT

 

[BonifayRam]

In the post above you say Saffold would have played LT as fact ‘ then humble option ?? The fact is he has never played LT under this regime , except maybe a snaps during preseason. DW got first team reps & imho he would have stayed at LT. He is a RFA so will see where the value is ??

Roger Saffold is the starting LG is fact !!
He was replaced by Blythe a couple times.
I’m not sure if Brown got hurt ?
I thought Big Rob started the 9er game & got replaced ?

—Yea The Rams need to add to quality if there depth chart at Offensive Line.

I will say this very strongly about Whitworth. He was one of the best FA pick ups in Rams History!!
To say he won’t ma’am’s it through his contract would be nieve or negative?

I watched the Pro Bowl today & Whitworth looks excellent. He even got moved to RT,
Now I can say The Rams need to find that LT of the future to get groomed.Whitworth can groom & slide over th RT in a year or too ?

Thanks for your comments So Ram

"In the post above you say Saffold would have played LT as fact ‘ then humble option ?? The fact is he has never played LT under this regime , except maybe a snaps during preseason. DW got first team reps & imho he would have stayed at LT. He is a RFA so will see where the value is ??"

In McVay's first season as HC , he was very lucky in not having to face the problem of having to move Saffold to LT due to any serious injury to Whitworth so we have no ideal what their game plan would be on this subject. Thus I would place little merit on the your comment "The fact is he has never played LT under this regime ". Saffold has taken started or played LT for series of offensive plays for the following seasons ...2010-2011-2012-2013-2014-2016 seasons. That's 6 of Saffold past Ram 8 seasons. The right side of the OL was a major worry early last season. I am sure that very little concern was applied to the left side.

"I will say this very strongly about Whitworth. He was one of the best FA pick ups in Rams History!!
To say he won’t ma’am’s it through his contract would be nieve or negative?"

I agree above with your first sentence above.....does look as good as the 1999 OG Adam Timmerman contract.

On your 2nd sentence I'll say this ....I find it very hard to be positive when the Rams had the oldest starting LT in the NFL last season by a far margin of over 2 yr for the next still standing LT. Staring NFL OL'ers are the most injured unit of all the NFL units thus the chance of injury is very high. Rams have withstood decades of losing season with copious amounts of injuries to our starting & reserve OL'ers this was the first season in a long long time where we did not have any. What are the chances of that continuing?

Just today long time All Pro LT Joe Thomas who is only 34 yr old came out & said his future with the Brown might be coming to an end. Appears he is considering retirement @ only 34 yrs old.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/4152/joe-thomas

http://www.news-herald.com/sports/2...t-tackle-a-second-round-priority-jeff-schudel

Yes I would call a Ram fan thinking that our aged 36 year old LT will continue to play as he did in 2017 without a major injury or drop off until the end of his 2019 season contract awful wish full thinking & very highly unlikely to occur. Naive might be a word that would fit, but I would not use it in a nice conversation with a good fellow Ram fan.

"I watched the Pro Bowl today & Whitworth looks excellent. He even got moved to RT,
Now I can say The Rams need to find that LT of the future to get groomed.Whitworth can groom & slide over th RT in a year or too ?"

Yes I enjoyed watching Andrew play yesterday & he did very well on the left side but was not good @ RT IMO. He had problems & had to have help many times on the right side. Andrew was the best LT on the field in Orlando yesterday. Andrew will never be moved to the right side IMO.

 

[So Ram]

Thanks for your comments So Ram

"In the post above you say Saffold would have played LT as fact ‘ then humble option ?? The fact is he has never played LT under this regime , except maybe a snaps during preseason. DW got first team reps & imho he would have stayed at LT. He is a RFA so will see where the value is ??"

In McVay's first season as HC , he was very lucky in not having to face the problem of having to move Saffold to LT due to any serious injury to Whitworth so we have no ideal what their game plan would be on this subject. Thus I would place little merit on the your comment "The fact is he has never played LT under this regime ". Saffold has taken started or played LT for series of offensive plays for the following seasons ...2010-2011-2012-2013-2014-2016 seasons. That's 6 of Saffold past Ram 8 seasons. The right side of the OL was a major worry early last season. I am sure that very little concern was applied to the left side.

"I will say this very strongly about Whitworth. He was one of the best FA pick ups in Rams History!!
To say he won’t ma’am’s it through his contract would be nieve or negative?"

I agree above with your first sentence above.....does look as good as the 1999 OG Adam Timmerman contract.

On your 2nd sentence I'll say this ....I find it very hard to be positive when the Rams had the oldest starting LT in the NFL last season by a far margin of over 2 yr for the next still standing LT. Staring NFL OL'ers are the most injured unit of all the NFL units thus the chance of injury is very high. Rams have withstood decades of losing season with copious amounts of injuries to our starting & reserve OL'ers this was the first season in a long long time where we did not have any. What are the chances of that continuing?

Just today long time All Pro LT Joe Thomas who is only 34 yr old came out & said his future with the Brown might be coming to an end. Appears he is considering retirement @ only 34 yrs old.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/4152/joe-thomas

http://www.news-herald.com/sports/2...t-tackle-a-second-round-priority-jeff-schudel

Yes I would call a Ram fan thinking that our aged 36 year old LT will continue to play as he did in 2017 without a major injury or drop off until the end of his 2019 season contract awful wish full thinking & very highly unlikely to occur. Naive might be a word that would fit, but I would not use it in a nice conversation with a good fellow Ram fan.

"I watched the Pro Bowl today & Whitworth looks excellent. He even got moved to RT,
Now I can say The Rams need to find that LT of the future to get groomed.Whitworth can groom & slide over th RT in a year or too ?"

Yes I enjoyed watching Andrew play yesterday & he did very well on the left side but was not good @ RT IMO. He had problems & had to have help many times on the right side. Andrew was the best LT on the field in Orlando yesterday. Andrew will never be moved to the right side IMO.

Cool - we can go und & round on this.

1.

McVay lucky ? Well yes in part , but he & Reggie did a real good job at keep players healthy. Barron was held out all preseason, but made it through most weeks. Just an example of how The Rams new regime reguards health.

— That also said you were a big believer in Donnal at LT ? He flat out got cut without any real word why ?
As far as DW he was taking first team snaps next to Saffold . To say Kromer was ever going to slid Saffold to LT to switch to players that are not even taking first team reps at those positions does not make sense. There is no indication with the new regime that they would move Saffold at all because of what Fisher & wine man did in the past ?
Kromer is about croSs training, I’ll give you that but Blythe was getting a lot of reps at center when DW was taking snaps at OT. When there was an injury those were the slots they took. I think DW even got reps at RT ? Why not move Brown to RT & Blythe RG ?

We will get more clues moving forward , but we can debate that till our faces turn blue.
2. On Whitworth vs Thomas . Totally 2 different players. Whitworth looks like a fountain of youth. McVay gives him his Veterans Day off. Keeps it fresh, & fun.
Will see , but if your talking injury you can go back to Orlando Paces early days off hold outs & injury.
Timmerman yes was a excellent FA . He didn’t last long because he didn’t take care of his body & no real will ? Maybe not true but I don’t think he resigned & never heard much about him.
—As far as playing RT ? I only caught a certain amount of plays. All the plays I saw with Withworth were solid. If he was playing RT on the last too series with Goff I’ll agree. Was trying to focus on Jared.

I’ll put this to bed until end of February.

 

[nighttrain]

or better, the end of April

 

[BadCompany]

Maybe you guys can correct me on this, but what are the odds of getting a star LT on Day 3 of a draft? Even if you get 2-3 years to coach him? You'd really have to be finding a diamond in the rough at that point, no? For such an important position, and given the short-ish time frame we have to solve this problem, I don't see the draft being the solution. Hoping a project who turns into a stud is gambling, in my opinion.

I see this being a free-agent position going forward. We scored with Whitworth, so hopefully we get another one of those guys whenever Whitworth is ready to hang them up. You'd have to think we'd be an attractive destination, given the upwards curve of the team, no? If you're a premiere LT looking for a new home, wouldn't one with a Pro Bowl quarterback AND a Pro Bowl running back AND (hopefully) legitimate Super Bowl aspirations be pretty enticing to you?

Which stud LTs are looking at free agency next year, or two years from now?

 

[BonifayRam]

Maybe you guys can correct me on this, but what are the odds of getting a star LT on Day 3 of a draft? Even if you get 2-3 years to coach him? You'd really have to be finding a diamond in the rough at that point, no? For such an important position, and given the short-ish time frame we have to solve this problem, I don't see the draft being the solution. Hoping a project who turns into a stud is gambling, in my opinion.

I see this being a free-agent position going forward. We scored with Whitworth, so hopefully we get another one of those guys whenever Whitworth is ready to hang them up. You'd have to think we'd be an attractive destination, given the upwards curve of the team, no? If you're a premiere LT looking for a new home, wouldn't one with a Pro Bowl quarterback AND a Pro Bowl running back AND (hopefully) legitimate Super Bowl aspirations be pretty enticing to you?

Which stud LTs are looking at free agency next year, or two years from now?

When was the last time the Rams discovered a starting OL'er from a third day draft selection? Here's some examples of what we have done in this area over the last 20 years. You can make your own determination just how effective find 3rd day draft Ol'ers who can be effective as a starter.

Andrew Donnal 4th rd. 2015 =6 starts @ RT/LG no longer a Ram.
Cody Wichmann 6th rd 2015=18 starts @ OG no longer a Ram.
Mark Setterstorm 7th rd 2006= 12 starts OC/OG
Ryan Tucker 4th rd 1997= 31 starts @ RT

Here's your answer to your other question BadCompany....this is the projected 2019 UFA LT cadre:
Joe Thomas LT Browns
Duane Brown LT Seahawks
Ben Ijalana LT Jets
Jake Matthews LT Falcons
Ereck Flowers LT Giants
Taylor Lewan LT Titans
Cameron Erving LT Chiefs
Cedric Ogbuehi LT Bengals
DJ Humphries LT Cardinals
Donovan Smith LT Buccaneers
Ty Sambrailo LT Falcons
Josh Wells LT Jaguars

Good bet that Snead might end up drafting a number of LT types on the last day of this upcoming draft. But coming up with a "Star" ??? would seem highly unlikely. Yep you could invest 3 yrs to 4 yrs coach up these less talented OL'ers to get ready to start but by that time his contract is up & they would be ready for the open free agency market to go elsewhere & use his skills against your team on Sunday's. Your are 100% right it is a total gamble.

Free agency has also been a gamble proof is just reviewing Rams history involvement but in 2017 we finally struck gold with Whitworth & Sullivan. This current 2018 UFA LT's are mostly WWC's @ best.

With all of our members here drooling to spend the Rams cap funds dry on all sorts of various non OL'er positions it sure looks like its the last thing on most every members minds even with four of our starting Ol'ers being involved in Free agency 2018/2019.

Speaking for myself as a very small minority here in this forum ......Rams best keep their #1 priority on the protection of Goff by the procurement & investments in well seasoned veteran healthy OL'ers. ...or I fear that very large vast investment paid for Goff in draft wealth in the 2016 draft 2016 will be wasted & lost. Time will tell the rest. My preference is to use the draft heavy to fill the defensive vacancies & beef up the depth. Good chunks of Cap funds on veteran OL'ers.

A recent reminder was last Sunday as we seen in the last quarter of the pro bowl when Goff was trying to bring the NFC back for a win. Even with a pro bowl OL in front of him for protection.....Goff show'd he is not very good under hard pressure & he sure made the poor plays that gave the Game to the AFC after the NFC lead for the entire game. He does have continuing issues of loosing the ball when being pressured in the collapsing pocket. As the Rams OL weakens from it high point of this past 2017 season expect to see much more open season in 2018 on Goff while he is still on the field of play.