One way to measure the Rams' progress

[News Bot]

Mike Sando
<a class="postlink" href="http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/100944/one-way-to-measure-the-rams-progress" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/ ... s-progress</a>


Former St. Louis Rams receiver Steve Smith announced his retirement through the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday.

The story by itself shouldn't mean much to Rams fans.

Smith, after all, started only two games in 2012 while trying to overcome serious knee injuries. He was never a player the Rams were counting on for significant contributions.

Smith's retirement is notable in another context, however. His name tops what should be a relatively short list of players to disappear from the game in 2013 after making at least one start for the Rams last season.

Last season, 16 players made zero regular-season appearances in an NFL game after starting at least once for the Rams in 2011. One such player, linebacker Chris Chamberlain, probably would have played with New Orleans had he not suffered a knee injury. Many of the others languished for lack of interest.

A quick look at the list of 15 players beyond Chamberlain: Adam Goldberg, James Hall, Fred Robbins, Tony Wragge, Jason Brown, Cadillac Williams, Rod Hood, Al Harris, C.J. Ah You, Mark Levoir, Ben Leber, Nick Miller, A.J. Feeley, Mike Sims-Walker and Mark Clayton.

Hall, Robbins, Goldberg, Wragge and Brown started at least half the games in 2011. Some others found opportunities because the Rams suffered from an unusual number of injuries that season.

Still, as the Rams improve and build around younger players, including quite a few drafted in the first two rounds, they should have less room on their roster for stopgap veterans. At receiver, for example, none of the Rams' players is even 26 years old. Players such as Smith, Sims-Walker and Clayton wouldn't fit.

 

[BonifayRam]

Mike Sando
<a class="postlink" href="http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/100944/one-way-to-measure-the-rams-progress" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/ ... s-progress</a>


Former St. Louis Rams receiver Steve Smith announced his retirement through the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday.

The story by itself shouldn't mean much to Rams fans.

Smith, after all, started only two games in 2012 while trying to overcome serious knee injuries. He was never a player the Rams were counting on for significant contributions.

Smith's retirement is notable in another context, however. His name tops what should be a relatively short list of players to disappear from the game in 2013 after making at least one start for the Rams last season.

Last season, 16 players made zero regular-season appearances in an NFL game after starting at least once for the Rams in 2011. One such player, linebacker Chris Chamberlain, probably would have played with New Orleans had he not suffered a knee injury. Many of the others languished for lack of interest.

A quick look at the list of 15 players beyond Chamberlain: Adam Goldberg, James Hall, Fred Robbins, Tony Wragge, Jason Brown, Cadillac Williams, Rod Hood, Al Harris, C.J. Ah You, Mark Levoir, Ben Leber, Nick Miller, A.J. Feeley, Mike Sims-Walker and Mark Clayton.

Hall, Robbins, Goldberg, Wragge and Brown started at least half the games in 2011. Some others found opportunities because the Rams suffered from an unusual number of injuries that season.

Still, as the Rams improve and build around younger players, including quite a few drafted in the first two rounds, they should have less room on their roster for stopgap veterans. At receiver, for example, none of the Rams' players is even 26 years old. Players such as Smith, Sims-Walker and Clayton wouldn't fit.

I see very measurable progress...& its from the inner core of this new Ram organization. I see visible & feel under the surface the latent signs yet to discovered of sizable progress. I sure prefer this type of growing slow but solid and well thought out ....to slow for many but I am comfortable with the slow step by step march to installing great foundational building blocks to a future NFL powerhouse for many many years.

Seem like yr after yr I would get serious heartburn with overpriced purchases of declining or brittle UFA's. With each and every purchase it weakens the future team progress. In the past the org just did not have the right knowledgeable personnel in top positions with real bonified goals & objective with plans on building long range long term winning Ram teams.

To point out a few of major positive moves in this yr alone my desire was to move away from paying Amendola a over priced UFA contract and use the $$ for an unknown non starter named William Hayes...my desires were met. My next target was a fast tall receiving TE after watching TE Kendricks for two yr fight the football into his hands each and every time. I could not find a UFA that I knew who could fill that bill but the org found the perfect TE out of my view. Once again it sure looks like they have done their work ...Jared Cook is going to be the real deal.

My biggest issue has been with the orgs fabrication of Sam's OL. I had problems digesting the Jake long courting and the shifting and seemingly dissing of Rodger Saffold..afterwards Jake's contract was not a killer Jake will make less than Scott Wells did last yr. Saffold could be a better ORT since Turley & Tucker yrs over a decade ago. Plus now if Long misses a few games the blind side has a serious former starting OLT ready! I actually believe that if Saffold succeeds that this Ram org will invest in Saffold new contract for him believing & trusting in them & pay him for his Ram team loyalty for his past four yrs.

I think we have just seen the tip of this great iceberg of what lies ahead for this team and the rest of the NFL is the partying titanic floating in their over-hyped coastal big city press-clippings into our direction.

 

[SaneRamsFan]

wow what a nightmare those rosters were. Makes whats going on around here even that much more exiting. Count me as a fan who stuck with them thru those years, but it wasnt easy. I think if that last year with spags didnt break you nothing will.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I see very measurable progress...& its from the inner core of this new Ram organization. I see visible & feel under the surface the latent signs yet to discovered of sizable progress. I sure prefer this type of growing slow but solid and well thought out ....to slow for many but I am comfortable with the slow step by step march to installing great foundational building blocks to a future NFL powerhouse for many many years.

Seem like yr after yr I would get serious heartburn with overpriced purchases of declining or brittle UFA's. With each and every purchase it weakens the future team progress. In the past the org just did not have the right knowledgeable personnel in top positions with real bonified goals & objective with plans on building long range long term winning Ram teams.

To point out a few of major positive moves in this yr alone my desire was to move away from paying Amendola a over priced UFA contract and use the $$ for an unknown non starter named William Hayes...my desires were met. My next target was a fast tall receiving TE after watching TE Kendricks for two yr fight the football into his hands each and every time. I could not find a UFA that I knew who could fill that bill but the org found the perfect TE out of my view. Once again it sure looks like they have done their work ...Jared Cook is going to be the real deal.

My biggest issue has been with the orgs fabrication of Sam's OL. I had problems digesting the Jake long courting and the shifting and seemingly dissing of Rodger Saffold..afterwards Jake's contract was not a killer Jake will make less than Scott Wells did last yr. Saffold could be a better ORT since Turley & Tucker yrs over a decade ago. Plus now if Long misses a few games the blind side has a serious former starting OLT ready! I actually believe that if Saffold succeeds that this Ram org will invest in Saffold new contract for him believing & trusting in them & pay him for his Ram team loyalty for his past four yrs.

I think we have just seen the tip of this great iceberg of what lies ahead for this team and the rest of the NFL is the partying titanic floating in their over-hyped coastal big city press-clippings into our direction.

Good stuff.

The current brass isn't afraid to go big for "talented young guys"; Finnegan, Hayes, Long, Cook.

No more Drew Bennetts, Fred Robbins, etc.