Free agency thread

[1maGoh]

To play devils advocate, Ogletree was all of those (besides sneads first pick) AND just got extended and yet was on his way packing the next season.

That's exactly what I was going to say.

 

[So Ram]

That's exactly what I was going to say.

Yeah — LMAO !!!!

How Quickly you want to forget the Atlanta Game when Brockers gets hurt & Ogletree missed a game losing tackle to illimante The Rams at home to end the season.
- Brockers was just on the defensive line that only gave up only 13 points & was on the field most of the game. He is a favorite of Wades & who do The Rams have at DT/DE ?

 

[So Ram]

We need to keep Fowler if at all possible. Overpay him if we have to on a one or two year deal, just long enough to find out if our younger edge rushers can replace him or not. We had zero outside rush without him. That won't do next season.

Saffold needs to be re-signed obviously.

Suh was an absolute monster this post-season. And his play in the regular season, although middling in my opinion using the "eye-test" (and in the opinion of most other fans it seems) actually graded out very well according to PFF. I think he is gone, but I certainly wouldn't mind him back. If he leaves we can definitely use that money elsewhere. Not to fussed about whichever direction happens.

How many comp picks can The Rams end up with next season ?? They Accumulated a lot of talent.

 

[“Turbo set!”]

Peters had such a good SB that he will be back.

 

[Turducken]

For most of the year I complained that Suh wasn't worth his salary, but then he finished very strong. I've read comments that he was uninspired until the playoffs, but what if it just took this long to gel in a new defense? If we knew we would get Playoff Suh for the next two regular seasons it would be worth the $12-14m/yr hit.

 

[dang]

In the end it was the Offense that faltered. Part of this was due to whatever is going on with Gurley. Some of it will be remedied with the return of Kupp. I would like the Rams to look towards strengthening the OL (Saffold/Whit retention, Sullivan replacement, depth in case of injury) and figuring out what they are doing at TE.

 

[BonifayRam]

Peters had such a good SB that he will be back.

Is he worth the cap hit of $9.1 million?

How many comp picks can The Rams end up with next season ?? They Accumulated a lot of talent.

Depends on many elements of what the Rams do in FA'cy. Who they decided to sign or let walk. Like I said in my post above the main four are FS Joyner, ER Fowler, DL Suh, OG Saffold & RB CJ Anderson. I think that its a very good possibility that all 4 will get much better $$$ offers elsewhere.

Rams will have to work the salary cap with some Ram cap casualties to compete with other teams offers for them. The most Comp picks a team can get awarded is four. Snead's signings in FA'cy starting on March 13th can cancel out all potential compensatory selections,

Most have been discussed many times in many posts here in the ROD. The big 3 are CB Marcus Peters $9.1 mil., LB Mark Barron $7 mil. & John Sullivan $4.25 mil. Rams signed a possible Barron replacement yesterday, ILB'er & Rams drafted Travin Howard, who is like Barron a converted SS.

In the end it was the Offense that faltered. Part of this was due to whatever is going on with Gurley. Some of it will be remedied with the return of Kupp. I would like the Rams to look towards strengthening the OL (Saffold/Whit retention, Sullivan replacement, depth in case of injury) and figuring out what they are doing at TE.

I agree. The Rams SB OL was unable to do its job enough to win for most of the evening. This OL has 3 well-seasoned well-paid veterans who the Rams paid 25.3 million in 2018.

OC Sullivan earned 8.1 mil played weak overall in pass protection all season & was just as bad in the SB game. RG Austin Blythe who played even worse but he is only 26 yrs old & this was his first season as a starter. RG Blythe only earned 600K so he is not a major concern going into TC. However, Blythe might be Kromer's solution to strengthening the starting center post for the 2019 season. He has been working in practice @ both OC & RG this past season.

Pro Bowl alternate Saffold who has already cleaned out his locker is the best of the OG's entering 2019 FA'cy by a large degree. IMO Saffold will have 2 dozen serious Flirts, a dozen suitors & a trio of mega-contract offers from teams with cap salary $$ to burn. High probability that Kromer will have a new starting Left OG in 2019 with Saffold playing elsewhere (if Andrew Whitworth advises the Rams he will play in 2019).

Kromer as I pointed out above has another issue @ OL on the questionable return of 37 yr old Andrew Whitworth. If AW does give indications of pending retirement this next month, Rams will move quickly & forced to franchise tag Saffold by 3-5-2019. This tag action might end up being a salary cap hit of $14 million for Saffold services. It should be a non-exclusive rights franchise tag. It then gives the Rams & Saffold a window of a few months to work out a long-term deal. In addition it helps Snead/Demoff have some control over an ongoing crucial turning bad OL situation. Plus it adds flexibility & time to work out a long-term deal with Saffold.

 

[“Turbo set!”]

Is he worth the cap hit of $9.1 million?.

For an above average starting cornerback $9.1M is probably a little bit high but I think the Rams will pay it.

 

[OntarioRam]

Saffold has already chased money once only to return to the Rams. Remember the Oakland Raiders saga with Saffold failing his physical? I am sure Saffold learned from that experience that simply going to the highest bidder isn't always what is best for a player. By all accounts, Saffold likes his teammates and being a Ram, believes in what McVay is building, and is comfortable with our system/playbook without needing to go through the pain of learning another. And who wouldn't want to live in sunny Los Angeles with a multi-million dollar salary easily afford it? The Rams also give Saffold a legit chance to win a Super Bowl, and there is something to be said for playing your career with one franchise. I think Safforld has even hinted in the past he might be willing to take a bit less money to stay in horns, but I would need to go digging for the article.

Saffold will want a raise. And he certainly deserves one. But as long as what the Rams offer him is reasonable and competitive with other suitors, I think he takes it. He's versatile, capable of playing multiple positions on the line, seems to have put injuries behind him (knock on wood), and it is nice to have at least one veteran on the offensive line (Sully is likely gone, and Whitworth is uncertain and likely not around for too much longer anyway). The game is won and lost in the trenches. When it comes to Saffold, we need to pay up.

 

[Merlin]

So in the end it was the OL and EDGE rushing that appears to be the most vulnerable. Retention of what worked and addition of what was lacking thru FA/Draft along with a stud ILB seem to be the biggest needs.

Yes. 3 of our 4 starter level needs defensively (OLB, ILB, NT) are in the front seven. No matter how well these guys played in the playoffs we have to upgrade the roster for next season to give ourselves the best chance to make another deep playoff run.

 

[BonifayRam]

For an above average starting cornerback $9.1M is probably a little bit high but I think the Rams will pay it.

Rams have till March 13th, 2019 to make that decision. It's a decision based on negative vs positives.

Positives ??
A big one would be the added $9.1 million back in the Rams 2019 Salary Cap. Another positive is that IF Peters 5th yr option is terminated before the 2019 NFL season begins then CB Peters would become a Ram UFA thus identified as Qualifying for a future 2020 Comp pick. Peters has a good chance to get an overpriced contract from teams with large amounts of salary cap much like CB Trumaine Johnson & thus place the Rams in consideration for an awarded 3rd rd selection.

Negatives ??
Naturally its the loss of an average starting corner. Another is the Rams have only 2 CB's left under contract on the roster (Talib & Robey-Coleman). However, it's highly probable that ERFA's corners Peterson & Hatfield will get low-cost Ram contracts. In addition, UFA CB Shields & Hill can be signed easy enough too if desired. Another negative is this would propel the needs @ corner in this upcoming draft.

 

[Merlin]

In the end it was the Offense that faltered.

No matter how well you stack a unit it can falter in the playoffs vs the very best units in the league. And when you look deeper at our failure offensively vs the Patriots three things stand out:

1. Weakness in the OL. They got manhandled and pushed around, which surprised me. Most of our problems in that game go back to our OL allowing quick pressure on the QB and losing at the LOS in the run game. I list this number one because of decisions with Whit and Saffold looming, although hopefully both return. This has to be looked at and if it's only schematic the way forward will be a bit easier.

2. Lack of threats. Threats are that counterbalance to the protections, where the Pats eliminated them quickly and effectively for most snaps. The Rams get Kupp back next year, but they do need to look at this and improve the depth of threats if possible.

3. Experience. Mainly Goff is a consideration here. He's 24 and in his first Super Bowl. Yeah he played like crap but he wasn't set up for success by any means and one thing about this kid is he tends to learn and improve greatly when he gets his nuts kicked in. This one will improve automatically, with him and many other core players on the roster having been there and done that in the biggest game.

 

[Loyal]

Saffold has already chased money once only to return to the Rams. Remember the Oakland Raiders saga with Saffold failing his physical? I am sure Saffold learned from that experience that simply going to the highest bidder isn't always what is best for a player. By all accounts, Saffold likes his teammates and being a Ram, believes in what McVay is building, and is comfortable with our system/playbook without needing to go through the pain of learning another. And who wouldn't want to live in sunny Los Angeles with a multi-million dollar salary easily afford it? The Rams also give Saffold a legit chance to win a Super Bowl, and there is something to be said for playing your career with one franchise. I think Safforld has even hinted in the past he might be willing to take a bit less money to stay in horns, but I would need to go digging for the article.

Saffold will want a raise. And he certainly deserves one. But as long as what the Rams offer him is reasonable and competitive with other suitors, I think he takes it. He's versatile, capable of playing multiple positions on the line, seems to have put injuries behind him (knock on wood), and it is nice to have at least one veteran on the offensive line (Sully is likely gone, and Whitworth is uncertain and likely not around for too much longer anyway). The game is won and lost in the trenches. When it comes to Saffold, we need to pay up.

I think what we all learned with the Raiders debacle, was that a buyers remorse filled Mark Davis decided he didn't want to pay the agreed upon price and must have told his doctor "fail him." Then Saffold was damaged goods in the eyes of other NFL teams, except the Rams, who knew he was ok.

Hopefully we resign him now.

 

[PhillyRam]

For most of the year I complained that Suh wasn't worth his salary, but then he finished very strong. I've read comments that he was uninspired until the playoffs, but what if it just took this long to gel in a new defense? If we knew we would get Playoff Suh for the next two regular seasons it would be worth the $12-14m/yr hit.

I think Suh needs to halve his snaps reduced. He was playing 90% of the snaps in the regular season. So i thibk he was pacing himself.

If you keep him you need to reduce that to 65-70%. I think you will then see more like "Playoff Suh" when he is on the field. Of course can't pay him $10M for 65% of the snaps, but maybe he would prefer that type of arrangement for maybe $6M plus incentives. Less wear and tear and still a shot to get back to the big game.

 

[jrry32]

He was the only guy who had anything approaching success in M2M coverage against Edelman, and he shut Hogan down. He was quite good in the SB.

 

[Liberator]

At this point, people hate Peters because it's trendy. No one who watched the Superbowl could seriously be saying negative things about his performance.

 

[thirteen28]

At this point, people hate Peters because it's trendy. No one who watched the Superbowl could seriously be saying negative things about his performance.

Ditto. He played very well in the playoffs and was lights out in the Super Bowl. In general he played pretty good down the stretch.

 

[So Ram]

Is he worth the cap hit of $9.1 million?

Depends on many elements of what the Rams do in FA'cy. Who they decided to sign or let walk. Like I said in my post above the main four are FS Joyner, ER Fowler, DL Suh, OG Saffold & RB CJ Anderson. I think that its a very good possibility that all 4 will get much better $$$ offers elsewhere.

Rams will have to work the salary cap with some Ram cap casualties to compete with other teams offers for them. The most Comp picks a team can get awarded is four. Snead's signings in FA'cy starting on March 13th can cancel out all potential compensatory selections,

Most have been discussed many times in many posts here in the ROD. The big 3 are CB Marcus Peters $9.1 mil., LB Mark Barron $7 mil. & John Sullivan $4.25 mil. Rams signed a possible Barron replacement yesterday, ILB'er & Rams drafted Travin Howard, who is like Barron a converted SS.
I agree. The Rams SB OL was unable to do its job enough to win for most of the evening. This OL has 3 well-seasoned well-paid veterans who the Rams paid 25.3 million in 2018.

OC Sullivan earned 8.1 mil played weak overall in pass protection all season & was just as bad in the SB game. RG Austin Blythe who played even worse but he is only 26 yrs old & this was his first season as a starter. RG Blythe only earned 600K so he is not a major concern going into TC. However, Blythe might be Kromer's solution to strengthening the starting center post for the 2019 season. He has been working in practice @ both OC & RG this past season.

Pro Bowl alternate Saffold who has already cleaned out his locker is the best of the OG's entering 2019 FA'cy by a large degree. IMO Saffold will have 2 dozen serious Flirts, a dozen suitors & a trio of mega-contract offers from teams with cap salary $$ to burn. High probability that Kromer will have a new starting Left OG in 2019 with Saffold playing elsewhere (if Andrew Whitworth advises the Rams he will play in 2019).

Kromer as I pointed out above has another issue @ OL on the questionable return of 37 yr old Andrew Whitworth. If AW does give indications of pending retirement this next month, Rams will move quickly & forced to franchise tag Saffold by 3-5-2019. This tag action might end up being a salary cap hit of $14 million for Saffold services. It should be a non-exclusive rights franchise tag. It then gives the Rams & Saffold a window of a few months to work out a long-term deal. In addition it helps Snead/Demoff have some control over an ongoing crucial turning bad OL situation. Plus it adds flexibility & time to work out a long-term deal with Saffold.

Nice report !!!

-Peters stays .imo -I know the haters
My prediction
Suh-gone ,unless Saffold does not get franchised. Even if AW does not retire,which I think he doesn’t.
-Sullivan?? Was super surprised he got 2 years.Quetion cap hit to release?
Fowler & Joyner gone
CJ, I think wants to stay.-Snead was against paying 2RB’s though ?? At least drafting?

Barron? Amazes me he is still around with his cap number.

 

[LA_Rams_#29]

Its crossed my mind that Brockers being cut may be a possibility... John Franklin-Myers looks really solid as a rookie...

it would be sad, but I wouldn't be surprised...