Les Snead on nfl network

[LesBaker]

Sorry but I dont buy Sneads line of thinking.

The teams that WIN....and Im talking about important things like SBs, playoff wins year in and out......consistently do not draft running backs in round 1, pretty much ever. Round 2? Sure. Seattle let Buffalo waste a 1st on Lynch and then got him for a 4th and 5th. Le'Veon Bell, Eddie Lacy etc? Not round 1 picks. I cant see Gurley ever putting up more yards from scrimmage than Bell did last year....especially when you factor in 2nd round vs top 10 pick.

Do I love Todd Gurley as a RB? Yes. It's more of the fact that teams who are winning...a lot....are taking linemen, pass rushers, franchise QBs in round 1....not rbs.

More to the point is this.

Snead seems to feel that he has his WR's, TE's and QB. He knew he needed OL but didn't want to reach at 10 for one so he took a gamble that could pay big returns while getting two guys he wanted when they should have been drafted, round two and later. The 10th overall became a luxury pick, maybe the first choice was someone else that was gone and they decided to take Gurley.

So it isn't at all about "oh if you pick a RB that high it doesn't do anything to help you win" just because teams don't always do it. Although lots of teams that win a lot actually DO take guys in round one sometimes.

 

[LazyWinker]

The guys we got might have been "overdrafted" by what the pundits think, but they truly fit the mold and style we want to play...

This was a unusual draft in that aside from the top dozen or so guys there isn't a concensus of where everyone ranks. I don't think it was possible to overdraft someone in this draft. Someone may have the guy you rated higher or lower.

Draft grades are useless but this year they're especially useless.

 

[cracengl]

I'm just happy we are further along when drafting someone like Gurley. One of the problems with really high skill players is their value can remain high independent of team success. But unless your team is overall successful, they don't necessarily win games for you in amd of themselves. So then when you blow your wad on one and don't have shit around him, you spend all of his cheaper years or overpay him while you try to get everything else together.

 

[iced]

This was a unusual draft in that aside from the top dozen or so guys there isn't a concensus of where everyone ranks. I don't think it was possible to overdraft someone in this draft. Someone may have the guy you rated higher or lower.

Draft grades are useless but this year they're especially useless.

plus there's scheme fits, medical info, background info, interviews with the player, etc. all sorts of things every year that always affect the board - nfl boards are always way different than the pundits' boards

 

[yrba1]

The Rams could have Russel Wilson right now no?? I mean, unless you think Michael Brockers is more important?

Yawn, I hate that woulda, coulda, shoulda mentality. If you really think Russell Wilson would replicate the same production with the Rams, you're really delusional. Your supporting cast usually determines your ability to produce effectively.

 

[OC--LeftCoast]

I would take Le'Veon Bell 100/100 times over Todd Gurley

Yeah...that's just brilliant.

We'll have to reset this one midway thru next season.

 

[Mackeyser]

Also, the "once in a generation" title is about the biggest load of hyperbole I have read. I would take Le'Veon Bell 100/100 times over Todd Gurley and I doubt he ever puts up a stat line like Bell did. And he was a 2nd rounder.

Is Adrian Peterson a "once in a generation" type of player? No, because that means Ladanian Tomlinson or Marshall Faulk never played in the NFL. The use of that label is just plain stupid in the media to add buzz to a story. Very good, yea....but goddamn do I hate that label. The kid already has ridiculous expectations to live up to, people on this forum are already saying things like the "next AP"....yea that's realistic.........

It's football generations... like dog years.

A human generation is like 20 years. That's NOT what folks are saying. A football generation is like 7 years in that entire team's rosters can be turned over in 7 years including the HC and Front Office.

So, yeah, Todd Gurley is BY FAR the best RB to come out in a football generation. He's a transcendent talent.

You may not see it or don't agree with the eval, but the "title" is what it is.

And, yeah, it gets misunderstood a lot.

 

[RamBill]

Les Snead explains why the team chose to select Todd Gurley, what the plan is for getting him on the field and what went behind the decision to draft Sean Mannion.

Watch Snead Interview

 

[DrLurkalot]

When Buffalo was trading Lynch, they were hoping to just get anything for him. They thought they had another Lawrence Phillips on their hands and considered him a ticking time bomb who would soon have no value at all. Without those issues, they probably could have gotten a 1st rounder for him. As for Bell, if there was a redraft, he'd probably go in the 1st round too. RBs may have lost value, but the elite ones are still worth a 1st round pick imo. If Gurley is healthy and is a top ten back, the pick is definitely worth it.

 

[WestCoastRam]

Lynch was a first round pick and was traded for a 4 and a 5 - so that's a lot of draft picks invested in Lynch

We have our bell cow now with a 1st pick in a weak draft

And Wilson was a mid round pick - and you say below that Championship teams draft Franchise QB's in the first..... Brady was a low draft pick ....



dude, we drafted Sam Bradford #1 and that failed - we have Foles and got Mannion with the 3rd - and may I remind we we have a lot of pass rushers and DLinemen

As far as offensive lineman go we just drafted 4 of them.....

Not getting your point

Dieter, you point out something which could be an interesting research project: Maybe being a championship team is about hitting on a superstar after the 1st round. It's a rarer occurence but when teams do, it sets them up really well. Of the last couple superbowl winners, I wonder how many have 2nd round or later blue chip players on their team.

 

[Memphis Ram]

Sorry but I dont buy Sneads line of thinking.

The teams that WIN....and Im talking about important things like SBs, playoff wins year in and out......consistently do not draft running backs in round 1, pretty much ever. Round 2? Sure. Seattle let Buffalo waste a 1st on Lynch and then got him for a 4th and 5th. Le'Veon Bell, Eddie Lacy etc? Not round 1 picks. I cant see Gurley ever putting up more yards from scrimmage than Bell did last year....especially when you factor in 2nd round vs top 10 pick.

Do I love Todd Gurley as a RB? Yes. It's more of the fact that teams who are winning...a lot....are taking linemen, pass rushers, franchise QBs in round 1....not rbs.

Seems to me that the problem with your point of view is that you seem to be disregarding that teams draft players and not positions and that the strengths and weaknesses of each draft class is different. (Not to mention that teams that win consistently don't usually have top 10 picks).

Anyway, Snead didn't draft Gurley because he believed that teams need to draft 1st round RBs to be successful. He drafted Gurley because they deemed him to be clearly the best player available at their selection in the 2015 draft.

Surely you don't believe that they should they have simply ignored their scouting department and selected a lesser rated player at one of the positions you believe to be more worthy do you?

BTW, the Rams main rival, the Seattle Seahawks have had double digit winning seasons the past 3 years and have played in the last 2 Super Bowls. And to my knowledge the only 1st round lineman, pass rusher, or QB they have selected are Russell Okung (LT to Snead's point) and situational pass rusher Bruce Irvin.

Edit: Just looked it up and saw that they did use a late 1st rounder on RT James Carpenter who busted there and had to be switched to OG. Also Bruce Irvin has only produced 16.5 sacks in 3 seasons.

 

[Ram_Rally]

Did any of the last three superbowl winners even have a 1st round QB?

Flacco

 

[iced]

Seems to me that the problem with your point of view is that you seem to be disregarding that teams draft players and not positions and that the strengths and weaknesses of each draft class is different. (Not to mention that teams that win consistently don't usually have top 10 picks).

Anyway, Snead didn't draft Gurley because he believed that teams need to draft 1st round RBs to be successful. He drafted Gurley because they deemed him to be clearly the best player available at their selection in the 2015 draft.

Surely you don't believe that they should they have simply ignored their scouting department and selected a lesser rated player at one of the positions you believe to be more worthy do you?

BTW, the Rams main rival, the Seattle Seahawks have had double digit winning seasons the past 3 years and have played in the last 2 Super Bowls. And to my knowledge the only 1st round lineman, pass rusher, or QB they have selected are Russell Okung (LT to Snead's point) and situational pass rusher Bruce Irvin.

Edit: Just looked it up and saw that they did use a late 1st rounder on RT James Carpenter who busted there and had to be switched to OG. Also Bruce Irvin has only produced 16.5 sacks in 3 seasons.

I'll take it a step further and say it's not just that Gurley was BPA, but someone they viewed as an elite talent.. A generational player. They've said so actually in the post conference - and I completely agree. He just needs to come back healthy - and he's young enough (20) to where that's realistically possible...

And I loved their reference about passing up gurley for an lesser tackle would be akin to the cardinals passing on adrian peterson for levi brown

 

[Bluesy]

Sorry but I dont buy Sneads line of thinking.

The teams that WIN....and Im talking about important things like SBs, playoff wins year in and out......consistently do not draft running backs in round 1, pretty much ever. Round 2? Sure. Seattle let Buffalo waste a 1st on Lynch and then got him for a 4th and 5th. Le'Veon Bell, Eddie Lacy etc? Not round 1 picks. I cant see Gurley ever putting up more yards from scrimmage than Bell did last year....especially when you factor in 2nd round vs top 10 pick.

Do I love Todd Gurley as a RB? Yes. It's more of the fact that teams who are winning...a lot....are taking linemen, pass rushers, franchise QBs in round 1....not rbs.

Ok. So who would you have taken at 10 that would have been a better prospect? I'm pretty sure any of the "linemen, pass rushers, and franchise QB's" would have been a pretty huge reach at that spot, none to mention we're pretty set with pass rushers right now.

Let's face it, nothing is a guarantee in the draft, and at least people pretty much hands down recognize Gurley as an elite prospect. Hell the Giants were getting crap for taking Flowers and the Redskins received negativity for taking Scherff over other players at that spot.

 

[JoeBo21]

Im not saying Lynch isnt important to the team, what Im saying is that Seattle didnt spend a 1st on him either. They spent a 4th and 5th on him.......thats it, while they drafted the nucleus of the team to let him excel. It was the arrival of Russel Wilson, not Lynch, that made that team finally win.

Franchise QBs, linemen, and pass rushers win SBs and get you to the playoffs..... not Gurley, or for that matter, Adrian Peterson. Those guys affect every play. Seattle, NE, GB, the Giants, Pittsburgh (not this last year but in recent years) etc who have won a ton of Super Bowls in recent years had those things...not franchise RBs. Who does NE need at rb to win SBs? GB? Pittsburgh? Those teams have a consistent draft strategy for the first round......none of which involve taking running backs....thats all Im saying. Round 2 seems like an ideal spot, find the freakish pass rushers and dominant hogs on both sides of the ball in round 1....there arent many of those guys to go around.

except our d-line is stacked and there weren't any o-lineman worth the 10th pick after Scherff. They made the right pick with Gurley

 

[LesBaker]

Seattle had the luxury of wasting/risking a 1st round pick, they were already a SB caliber team. The Rams are not.

Oh. I. Call. Bullshit. They were coming off a 5-11 year then went 7-9 and then 7-9 again so that's a far cry from a SB caliber team.

It wasn't a waste of a first round pick, it was the player that helped get them where they wanted to go. No Lynch, no ring. So not only wasn't it a "waste" or "risk", it was a move that in large part put that franchise where it is now.

 

[RamFan503]

Sorry but I dont buy Sneads line of thinking.

The teams that WIN....and Im talking about important things like SBs, playoff wins year in and out......consistently do not draft running backs in round 1, pretty much ever. Round 2? Sure. Seattle let Buffalo waste a 1st on Lynch and then got him for a 4th and 5th. Le'Veon Bell, Eddie Lacy etc? Not round 1 picks. I cant see Gurley ever putting up more yards from scrimmage than Bell did last year....especially when you factor in 2nd round vs top 10 pick.

Do I love Todd Gurley as a RB? Yes. It's more of the fact that teams who are winning...a lot....are taking linemen, pass rushers, franchise QBs in round 1....not rbs.

Want to try again? The last two SB champs obviously didn't get their QBs in the 1st. Did they get their O-linemen in the first? Hell - we are loaded with first round talent on our D-line, we have a first rounder at LT. I guess we should win the SB then. Oh wait. I forgot. The only thing that makes that not happen is us drafting Gurley in the first. Well - we're sunk then.

The shecocks have two of their original first round picks playing for them - two. The patsies picked DBs in the first round, three of four years and took Maroney (RB) in the first in '06. The NY Giants took a RB in the first the last year they won the SB.

Super Bowl winners are teams that draft and sign wisely with a little luck thrown in. They very obviously don't rule out RBs in the first. BTW - Emmitt Smith called.

 

[blue4]

I never did buy into the pigeonholed positions in the draft. QB, C, RT, LT, RB it doesn't matter if he's a guy that you think is a probowler and helps your team win, take him. Gurley top of your board, then take him. You have a guy you think will be the best center in the league, take him and let Kiper cry about it.

 

[UnknownREknown]

I don't really care what other teams are doing...I like what THIS team is doing, though.

 

[RamFan503]

Also, the "once in a generation" title is about the biggest load of hyperbole I have read.

You mean like Super Bowl teams NEVER take a RB in the first?