Foles pep rally turns into inquisition on Bradford trade/PD

[Robocop]

its not that complicated if it went down like i believe it probably did. Bradford was their guy but they were hoping he would restructure but were still willing to roll with him either way. maybe somebody whispered trade just to stir the pot and see if it got any nibbles and they let bradford go out and look around. i don't think Snead or Fisher ever expected the bite they got from Kelly but they did and decided the deal was too good to pass up on with the picks and salary cap space and Foles being the only available QB available even somewhat close to Bradford's abilities. its business, i don't believe Snead was lying when he said deleting Sam wasn't the solution and i don't believe Fish was lying backing him for 2 years. shit happens plain and simple. personally I'm still very on the fence with this. yes it gives us the ability now to really build the rest of the roster but if Foles struggles and Sam stays healthy and lights it up ill be sick to my stomach for waiting so fucking long and watch it happen for some other team.

 

[ReddingRam]

Doesn't sound like JT is a Foles fan to me. And his actions sound like he is angry he wasn't privy to the trade.

Always seems to me that the St.Louis media are fairly lazy. They seem like they always expect the story to come to them and not the other way around. Hell .... JT's twitter feed is always hours late to the party it seems on most things, then he posts a tweet like he just "broke" something. I also think that over the tenuous times around Rams Park (the Martz/Ziggy/Shaw feuds) that they were "leaking" things and lots of times you lose "friends" by devulging more than you should at the wrong times. And now the whole L.A./St. louis thing .... yep, they are salty alright.

IMHO the best guy in the St. Louis media worth a salt is no longer with us. May you rest in peace Bryon Burwell

 

[dieterbrock]

ROD has been a great haven to come to, a place where Rams players and coaches are supported and defended, admitted "homerism" if you will.
I hope that trend continues with our current QB.
I for one am fully behind Nick Foles and will support him totally

 

[Athos]

Wow, so what it snisher's plan all along to trade Sam, or is this the local media stirring-up angst? I think I'll trust Demoff & Snisher over the local media.

I don't know but the PD is such cantankerous trash that it almost always seems like they want to stir up angst.

 

[Stranger]

its not that complicated if it went down like i believe it probably did. Bradford was their guy but they were hoping he would restructure but were still willing to roll with him either way. maybe somebody whispered trade just to stir the pot and see if it got any nibbles and they let bradford go out and look around. i don't think Snead or Fisher ever expected the bite they got from Kelly but they did and decided the deal was too good to pass up on with the picks and salary cap space and Foles being the only available QB available even somewhat close to Bradford's abilities. its business, i don't believe Snead was lying when he said deleting Sam wasn't the solution and i don't believe Fish was lying backing him for 2 years. crap happens plain and simple. personally I'm still very on the fence with this. yes it gives us the ability now to really build the rest of the roster but if Foles struggles and Sam stays healthy and lights it up ill be sick to my stomach for waiting so freaking long and watch it happen for some other team.

You'll never be hired as a beat writer my friend. You're far too logical, sensible and measured in your reasoning.

 

[LesBaker]

Always seems to me that the St.Louis media are fairly lazy. They seem like they always expect the story to come to them and not the other way around. Hell .... JT's twitter feed is always hours late to the party it seems on most things, then he posts a tweet like he just "broke" something. I also think that over the tenuous times around Rams Park (the Martz/Ziggy/Shaw feuds) that they were "leaking" things and lots of times you lose "friends" by devulging more than you should at the wrong times. And now the whole L.A./St. louis thing .... yep, they are salty alright.

IMHO the best guy in the St. Louis media worth a salt is no longer with us. May you rest in peace Bryon Burwell

They are lazy and when they get scooped, which happens, they get angry, sometimes I get the vibe that they feel like the story should have been released to them so that they can break it, then the Rams can finish the deal and have the press conference. They have a sense of entitlement or something.

@shaunpinney I agree I think he may have asked if something was happening and was told no, so he let it go and then the Rams did the deal and he feels slighted. Oh well.

 

[LesBaker]

if Foles struggles and Sam stays healthy and lights it up

We waited long enough for that to happen and with each coming year it will become less and less likely. This is a good trade even if Foles plays like he did last year. However I sense that the real Foles is somewhere between his two seasons and on the Rams he will flourish and be a really good QB.

 

[Akrasian]

Question about incentive laden contracts since it appears both Britt & Fairley have heavy doses of incentives in theirs.....

How do such contracts get counted against the cap? Take Fairley's for example. It sounds as though the 'base' contract will pay $5mill, but he could make up to $8mill if he hit all the incentives. For cap counting purposes, are they required to count the entire $8mill, or........?

My understanding is that some incentives need to be counted at once, but not all, depending on how achievable they are based on past history. So for instance, since Fairley only played 8 games last season, if the incentives are based on games played, only some of them count for 2015 - some would be rolled over for cap purposes if achieved.

Sometimes incentives are things that will never be reached, but are there to pump up the player's ego too. Or are there if the player has an all-pro season.

Since the incentives haven't been publically released yet, we don't know what category they fall into.

 

[Akrasian]

I don't think the Rams were lying too much (some deception is inevitable) when they had talked about SB previously. Fisher made it clear repeatedly that he intended for there to be a real QB competition this season - which I took to mean not just that there'd be a starting caliber QB backup in case Sam got hurt, but that if Sam wasn't fully effective thanks to the injuries he would be replaced. So while they were standing behind Sam as "their" guy they were making it clear that it had serious limits.

When they guy they wanted as the competition became available, along with picks and a ton of cap space in exchange for Sam and lesser picks, they pretty much had to take it.

Is anybody really confident Sam will be ready for training camp, after all? Especially how easy his knee was destroyed last training camp? They knew they'd have to go slow with him. Get the QB 1b they wanted and move on became the logical thing.

In terms of upsetting the team, when they see what Fairley and Akers can do, they'll get over it.

 

[ReddingRam]

We waited long enough for that to happen and with each coming year it will become less and less likely. This is a good trade even if Foles plays like he did last year. However I sense that the real Foles is somewhere between his two seasons and on the Rams he will flourish and be a really good QB.

I agree. I'm not one to lump Foles into the Manning/Brees/Brady status, but I do believe he can be right close to the Palmer/Ryan/Dalton level. maybe even a notch up to the Rivers/Romo sttaus if he is allowed to let the game come to him rather than try and make him win the games on his own. You can win with guys like that and I have no idea why, but Foles to me looks a little like a bigger Russell Wilson. I see a guy who has the tools and abilities to be pretty good, had a lot of athleticism and a strong competitive drive in him.

 

[drasconis]

Question about incentive laden contracts since it appears both Britt & Fairley have heavy doses of incentives in theirs.....

How do such contracts get counted against the cap? Take Fairley's for example. It sounds as though the 'base' contract will pay $5mill, but he could make up to $8mill if he hit all the incentives. For cap counting purposes, are they required to count the entire $8mill, or........?

If I recall correctly if they would have hit the incentive last year it is counted this year towards the cap. I.e. if Britts contract said he got a $1m for reaching 700yard the system assumes he will get the bonus and ocunts it against the cap since he did it last year, if it read $1m for reaching 1000yards in a season it would not count towards the cap since he did not do it last year. My understanding is that it only looks at the past year so what happened 2 or 3 years back doesn't count.

Remeber though the bonuses will always end up counting against a cap (this year or next) at some point if paid. If the cap assumes a bonus that doens't occur I am not certain if we get credit back next year....I would assume so, but not 100%.

 

[RamseyF]

I don't why JT seems so salty. I'm sure the Rams did believe in Bradford at the combine, but that was before he refused the pay cut and before teams started bidding on him once they even thought he might be available. Get over it, bud.

Yes. .. grow up JT. A Ram source told him there wasn't going to be a trade and he's upset. . . .please

 

[JackDRams]

All I can say is that Snead is tough to watch/listen to. Dude has turrets or some such crap when he is on front of a crowd. Always seems twitchy and uncomfortable and hard to follow.

I don't usually get that from him though it was the case this time. I think he was trying to pull a rabbit out of his hat to try and make up for practically lying about the Bradford situation. Covering your own ass can be stressful haha.

 

[Dieter the Brock]

Sounds like Jim Thomas is just butthurt

I doubt he gets the attention he feels he deserves from Fisher and Snead

 

[ZigZagRam]

This is very unlike Jim Thomas. He looked really bad yesterday at the press conference, then went n a drama-laced Twitter tirade.

He's likely the reason why Fisher cut the press conference short.

Not fair to Foles, IMO. He was the most important person at the presses and his voice was heard the least.

I normally like JT a lot, but he looked very unprofessional yesterday.

 

[ReddingRam]

A

This is very unlike Jim Thomas. He looked really bad yesterday at the press conference, then went n a drama-laced Twitter tirade.

He's likely the reason why Fisher cut the press conference short.

Not fair to Foles, IMO. He was the most important person at the presses and his voice was heard the least.

I normally like JT a lot, but he looked very unprofessional yesterday.

And I'm sure he didn't do himself any favors for future "scoops". He might as well just cover other sports now. He is going to get ZERO info and the last to know stuff

 

[iced]

I believe Snead and Fisher..

The biggest reasons why I didn't think trading Sam was a bad idea was for the same reasons they did - getting just a draft pick doesn't fix the QB position (nor are they attractive in the draft) and if you do get rid of sam, how do you replace him now?

I believe the trade only became a possibility when a 2nd or higher and competent replacement (Foles) was offered - and it's hard to say no to that especially when keeping injury prone Bradford is a huge risk/reward. Given its their 4th year into this regime, i doubt they wanted to rely on bradford staying healthy for a 3rd straight season if they can get a high pick and a competent replacement, even if he is a downgrade in some respects (there are things that each player does better than the other). I can't imagine their seats aren't getting warm

 

[kurtfaulk]

ROD has been a great haven to come to, a place where Rams players and coaches are supported and defended, admitted "homerism" if you will.
I hope that trend continues with our current QB.
I for one am fully behind Nick Foles and will support him totally

haha, the irony in this post is strong.

.

 

[Thordaddy]

I don't know why ppl expect the brain trust of NFL teams to spill the beans when it comes to their plans. You know what? Maybe Fisher/Snead changed their minds on Bradford. Maybe they changed their minds 3 days prior to the trade. Big whoop. So freaking what? Seriously. It's a business, and in business plans can change at the drop of a hat. I find all this and JT's article a bit ridiculous to be honest.

Had they behaved the way JT intimates they "should" the offers at the combine would have been 2nd round or lower,Snish jusst doing one of the more objectionable part of their jobs the right way ,will say this I expect Chris Long to follow him to Philly and IMO the probably not was a case of being honest at the wrong time.

 

[-X-]

Credibility and trust are important in the player-coach relationship, and some players may be wondering the next time Fisher or Snead lavishes praise on a player: “Does he really mean it?”

This makes me lul.

It makes the players sound like a bunch of girls.
"Do you really love me, Jeff? Or are you just saying that?"

TF outta here.