McVay on absence of TuTu as of late

[Karate61]

Having seen tons of high draft picks go south over the years, in my opinion the Tutu tiny guy experiment is over.

Is he really even that fast? Football fast? He may run the blazing 40 yard in shorts and t-shirt, running in a straight line. But, I haven't seen that speed translate on the field, in pads, darting tacklers. I don't think he looks fast on the field.

Dumb pick if you ask me!

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

2025 6th rounder is what Snead would shoot for. I'd hope we could do better than that though.

At this point what sense does it make to trade him honestly? Just ride it out and hope he develops and starts putting more work and effort in. If hes a bust, hes a bust. Akers and Van seem to be very good players, you cant hit on them all. I just hated the pick AFTER we signed Djax. If we didn't sign a speed guy in FA, then I get the pick. But to get Djax, and already have Van from last year it just seemed like such a reach to go WR in round 2 again.

With Kupps supreme route running and Van’s speed it would seem that they’ve got deep threat covered. This makes the pics seem more peculiar imo. Maybe like @Merlin said they could be planning to move on from Woods due to his contract this winter and inserting TuTu into the offense. If so, then that’s looking like a pretty sketchy plan.

 

[Memphis Ram]

I'll worry next year, maybe.

Agreed.

I didn't like the selection, but given that the VETERAN DeSean Jackson is hardly getting any time either, I don't entirely blame the ROOKIE Atwell for his lack of an immediate impact.

 

[blackbart]

How can McVay expect him to be engaged when he gets zero PT...

Maybe they could design a play for him? Get him involved somehow. Something.

How do you know what happens at practice?

I’m sure Atwell has been given direction on what he should be doing and it sounds like he isn’t putting in the effort they expect of him to complete these tasks.

 

[OntarioRam]

Time will tell with Atwell. It's still extremely early in his career. He might yet prove to be a big time contributor. But for a team with Super Bowl aspirations, and very limited draft capital, you can't afford to be throwing away 2nd rounders. Again, time will tell, but unfortunately, it is my opinion that Atwell will become a bust and a wasted pick. I thought that at the draft and nothing thus far has changed my mind.

Imagine how much better this team might look right now with a quality CB or ILB taken in round 2, instead of 150lbs Atwell...

 

[OregonRamsFan]

I think the problem with keeping guys around that lack motivation and fire is that they can have detrimental effects on the team as a whole. Many things can affect motivation. Work ethic though, is difficult to fix.

 

[LouisvilleRam]

Time will tell with Atwell. It's still extremely early in his career. He might yet prove to be a big time contributor. But for a team with Super Bowl aspirations, and very limited draft capital, you can't afford to be throwing away 2nd rounders. Again, time will tell, but unfortunately, it is my opinion that Atwell will become a bust and a wasted pick. I thought that at the draft and nothing thus far has changed my mind.

Imagine how much better this team might look right now with a quality CB or ILB taken in round 2, instead of 150lbs Atwell...

We've used some high draft picks on defense recently Burgess,Rapp,Long and Gaines and none of them has set the world on fire so there's no guarantee that a late 2nd round defensive pick this year would be a major contributor

 

[Jacobarch]

It didn't sound nearly as bad when listening to his entire answer in the press conference.

I have to disagree. He straight up called him out. Just in a very professional manner

 

[Jacobarch]

I see the tutu pick as a total Snead pick. Tavon was a failure and tutu is Snead's attempt at righting his failure. Speculating of course.

 

[Tano]

I absolutely hated the pick. And in retrospect, I would still have taken Creed Humphrey

 

[ottoman89]

Not too worried about the Atwell pick. It was a pick for the future, not this year. Let him learn from DJax and go from there.

 

[OnceARam]

How do you know what happens at practice?

I’m sure Atwell has been given direction on what he should be doing and it sounds like he isn’t putting in the effort they expect of him to complete these tasks.

I don’t know. It sounds more like CYA for a bad draft day decision to me.

It would be more honourable to say, “I shouldn’t be left alone without supervision in the draft room” than to blame a 5”2’ year old.

 

[OnceARam]

I see the tutu pick as a total Snead pick. Tavon was a failure and tutu is Snead's attempt at righting his failure. Speculating of course.

Snead was home with COVID.

 

[Ramstien]

Maybe Sneed can trade Atwell and a 7th round pick in 2027 for a 6th round pick in 2027.

 

[JonRam99]

I really don't see any point drafting a 150# player in the NFL. Being short is one thing, Steve Smith was short, Tyreek is short; but short + slender is not a good combo here. Not even (and especially not even) for special teams, yet when you're behind 4 other WR's in the WR room, that's where you have to carve out a role for yourself, and as of last game, he didn't even get on the field.
This pick was a head-scratcher in every respect. I agree with others on here who think it was reactionary. Something went wrong on draft day when we were on the clock, and I hope they fix it before next April.
If the thought was, well, if D-Jax gets dinged up, Atwell will slide in, but what if he doesn't?? and, at 150#, he's STILL not a comparable replacement for D-Jax.
Add in that he's apparently now got some motivational issues, and the first pick of the 2021 draft doesn't look like it's going to pan out.

 

[blackbart]

I finally got a chance to listen to the interview.

The comment about seeing him with some more urgency doesn’t sound good but the context and the other things he said doesn’t make it seem as if Atwell isn’t working.

Not a fan of the pick but I still hope he can become a positive addition some how.

 

[Soul Surfer]

The last thing you want to hear about your top draft pick is that he lacks urgency.
Please tell me that this is not referring to work ethic.


View: https://twitter.com/JourdanRodrigue/status/1453463653554946049?s=20

Fine, as in Tavon Austin fine?

No matter how many posters try to convince me otherwise, this has always reminded me of the Tavon Austin pick.

A undersized gadget player that is nowhere near an every-down player.

A coach or general managers ego should never play into someone drafted as high as Austin/Atwell.

Ready to be proven wrong like I was about Brian Allen but until I see it?

I don't believe it.

 

[badnews]

Snead was home with COVID.

So he didn't set up draftboards that the team used in his absence?
The entire Rams college scouting and drafting machinery grinds to a halt if Snead isn't in the same room on draft day??
My impression was that the Rams had done their homework, stacked their board and let the draft come to them. I could be wrong of course.

It's quite clear that the angry mob mentality that has turned the GDT into an embarrassing display of infantile tantrums and chicken little-esque negativity for one of the best teams in the league have also lit their torches to go after Atwell.
So be it but it's still too soon for me. I'm too oldschool I guess but rookies don't bust 6 weeks into their first season.

IF the Rams FO missed on Atwell, it happens... but if they missed on him because as some have suggested, he isn't "trying hard enough" is "too lazy" or "doesn't want to play pro football" then THAT would be a HUGE failure that this Rams regime hasn't made before. That's on McSnead.

Of course I wish McVay had said "He's doing everything right, he's amazing and should have been the 1st pick overall, he's just too far down the depth chart because we're stacked there with 4 probowl caliber guys that deserve to be out there ahead of him!"

 

[Da-Rock]

LOL.......cracks me up every time to read people's opinions on something using their emotional state as a basis......"Didn't like the pick" = bad player, wasted if not starting and winning games......7 games in = player isn't meeting requirements set by fans therefore is a bust and player should be cut and drafting responsibility should be removed from whoever was responsible.......

Same crap every year.......I like opinions, but dislike knee jerk reactions that are defended until the fan can no longer speak. Knee jerk reactions and cascading rants belong on game day threads.....(just look at mine).

 

[Ramstien]

LOL.......cracks me up every time to read people's opinions on something using their emotional state as a basis......"Didn't like the pick" = bad player, wasted if not starting and winning games......7 games in = player isn't meeting requirements set by fans therefore is a bust and player should be cut and drafting responsibility should be removed from whoever was responsible.......

Same crap every year.......I like opinions, but dislike knee jerk reactions that are defended until the fan can no longer speak. Knee jerk reactions and cascading rants belong on game day threads.....(just look at mine).

This looks familiar, wasn't something similar posted after halfway though Tavon's first season?