Overall Roster Analysis

[PARAM]

How many defensive players are usually on a team? 25? I only see 14 players on the Rams. That means that unless we pick up more than 2 FA defensive players, we will have almost 10 players on the defensive side with 0 experience. That seems like a lot to me.

Or am I missing other players?

The Rams have carried between 23-24. On any given team how many get significant defensive snaps? 15? 16? 17?

Donald, Murchison, B Brown, E Brown, Jonah Williams, Hoecht (6)

Jones (7)

Fuller, Durant, Kendricks, Rochelle, Jolly, Yeast and Lake (14)

So we pick up a couple of defensive UFAs with experience and draft about 5-6 defenders. Young ? Sure. Gonna be the worst defense in the NFL? I highly doubt it.

 

[Tano]

The Rams have carried between 23-24. On any given team how many get significant defensive snaps? 15? 16? 17?

Donald, Murchison, B Brown, E Brown, Jonah Williams, Hoecht (6)

Jones (7)

Fuller, Durant, Kendricks, Rochelle, Jolly, Yeast and Lake (14)

So we pick up a couple of defensive UFAs with experience and draft about 5-6 defenders. Young ? Sure. Gonna be the worst defense in the NFL? I highly doubt it.

I hope your right.

But right now, I am skeptical.

I hope I am completely wrong

 

[PARAM]

I hope your right.

But right now, I am skeptical.

I hope I am completely wrong

You may be taking my posts the wrong way. You should be skeptical. We all should. But in the same vein, we shouldn't just say, "yeah, shit, a lot of inexperience, we're gonna suck". If you look at KC, they showed what can be done with rookies and 2nd year guys. Of course they had some vets too. But I count AD, Jones and Fuller as our vets. Throw in guys who've been around the team for 3 years, albeit with very limited snaps like Copeland and the Brown Bros., Hoecht, Jonah Williams, etc. and we might have the makings of a blue collar defense. The skill positions on defense are CB and Edge. We need an Edge or two (high in this draft?) but we've got some young CBs with experience. We'll probably add another in the draft. The higher the slot, the more talent he should bring. We're no longer being led by a green 30 year old. He's been around the block a number of times and he knows what's needed and where, to field a good team. Not being a blind loyalist but damn man, he's got a good track record. Is it wrong to think that will continue?

 

[Tano]

Is it wrong to think that will continue?

No but I think he may have taken on too much to chew at this point.

Walter Alston was a great manager but even he had some really subpar years

 

[PARAM]

No but I think he may have taken on too much to chew at this point.

Walter Alston was a great manager but even he had some really subpar years

You lost me with the Alston comparison. No doubt great manager. But just 4 World Series in 23 years while owning the best farm system in baseball during the era players were akin to slave labor? Alston got OLD and MLB free agency was in it's infancy when he was done.

McVay is neither OLD nor behind the times. He's taken on no more than he did as a 30 year old rookie in 2017. In fact, I'd submit, he's taking on extremely less considering his system is established AND successful, he's identified the leadership he's not willing to part with and he just upgraded (in his mind) his staff. Personally, I think he's ready to surprise a lot of people, yet again establishing himself as one of the best in the league.

But that's just me. Someone who's witnessed a remarkable 6 years with him at the helm. People make a big deal about how many starters we lost. The 2021 SB team had 3 starters on offense and 1 on defense from the 2018 SB team. Kupp, Whitworth, Havenstein and Donald.

 

[So Ram]

And the answer to your question is........wait for it........they played well! That would be one of the reasons they won the SB. Chiefs and Shitchickens killed the draft last year, hopefully we can this year!

The sad thing is they get 2 1st. Rd picks.If they pick up The Best OT(LT) in the draft that is a starter the next 10 years. I remyJines from Florida State there & he was as good as O. Pace.
The hope is that is what we(Ram Fans) want to Kuck Azz in the draft. It hurts when The Rams could have had a lot of the same players. RB in both cases really made the difference IMO.
In the next 3 years the RB’s KC & Hags drafted are going to prove that even more.
—How good will Williams play ? Cam Akers needs to be resigned to a multi-year contract.Even then a bigger RB is needed.

 

[Tano]

You lost me with the Alston comparison. No doubt great manager. But just 4 World Series in 23 years while owning the best farm system in baseball during the era players were akin to slave labor? Alston got OLD and MLB free agency was in it's infancy when he was done.

McVay is neither OLD nor behind the times. He's taken on no more than he did as a 30 year old rookie in 2017. In fact, I'd submit, he's taking on extremely less considering his system is established AND successful, he's identified the leadership he's not willing to part with and he just upgraded (in his mind) his staff. Personally, I think he's ready to surprise a lot of people, yet again establishing himself as one of the best in the league.

But that's just me. Someone who's witnessed a remarkable 6 years with him at the helm. People make a big deal about how many starters we lost. The 2021 SB team had 3 starters on offense and 1 on defense from the 2018 SB team. Kupp, Whitworth, Havenstein and Donald.

Alston also was in 3 other worlds series that he lost so he and McVay pretty much are at the same percentage wise with World Series and Superbowls in number of years coached.

Alston had to face the damn yankees orioles and A's in the world series he lost who had better players than the dodgers and SF Pittsburgh and Cardinals were really good in some of the other years that Alston was not in the world series

But Alston did have a couple down years due to not having the players the down year and I think McVay may be similar this year due to not having the players

He only had 4 losing records in his 24 years

And to the best players - I believe he had only Koufax and Drysdale after 1956 that are in the Hall of Fame (I don't count snyder's coliseum years) - I don't have time to look it up but I think I am right on that unless Maury Wills made it

 

[Tumak61]

Read an article on how the Rams may be trying to copy the Chiefs approach in roster building. I mean outside of Jones can anyone name a player on the Chiefs Defense? This might be the new strategy and the Rams are out in front of it.

 

[PARAM]

Read an article on how the Rams may be trying to copy the Chiefs approach in roster building. I mean outside of Jones can anyone name a player on the Chiefs Defense? This might be the new strategy and the Rams are out in front of it.

Well, maybe not out in front....but right behind the Chiefs!

They used 6 defensive rookies, significantly last year. They also used a 2nd year LB, a 3rd year LB and S. So the experience of the Chiefs defense included Chris Jones, Frank Clark, Justin Reid (drafted in 2018 by Houston) and Juan Thornhill (2019 by KC). Not exactly the over the hill gang.

 

[oldnotdead]

There is a lot of raw talent on this team right now. Now add in the rookie class and what this year will show is how good or how bad the coaching staff is. A good coaching staff can put together a good roster. With a lot of young and inexperienced players, you need them to be good within their assigned roles. That means not only do the coaches have to mold this team into a functional unit but it means they must be played to their strengths. The Pats during their SB winning years were teams cobbled together with a bunch of solid role players. But those coaches played to their strengths and it hid their weaknesses.

This year more than the other years, is when the coaches must be the strength of this team. My concern is all the new faces, will they be assets or will they be liabilities. Case in point is Morris. His strength is calling the plays during the game. I give him that. What makes him a mediocre coach is his inability to use players properly, i.e. he doesn't know his roster and so he doesn't know how to play to their strengths and cover their weaknesses. So if Aubrey can be the guy that can coach these DBs to play aggressively within Morris zone scheme, then this defense could be good rather than a weakness.

For example, you don't play Fuller as a deep safety. Play him in that short and mid-range zones. Without Scott they no longer have a good free safety, so you must play a double high scheme with Lake and Yeast who have enough speed and range to cover half the split zones. You play more one gap attacking style with your DL to give the LBs & DBs time to work their zones, i.e. read and react to jump the routes.

A single gap attacking style of front 7 is much easier to play for rookies and inexperienced players. When you force your players to think their way through each play they will be slow when you need them to play fast. When you two gap your DL they must know how to shed blocks. Most rookies don't have that skill set coming into the NFL.

The season isn't lost as some seem to think. The damn season hasn't even begun. They don't even know who is on the roster and where they will play. The OL, DL, and Secondary are all open books as to who is starting and where they will play. The season will be won or lost in the off season by the coaching staff in how they construct each unit and coach them to play. How good is Wendell as a new OL coach? The run attack begins with the OL and the blocking techniques they will use and how well they execute them. You don't design run plays that require a pulling OG if you don't have one that can pull and execute the block. DBs must be coached on route concepts so they can recognize them and know what to expect in order to jump the routes. DL must be coached up on shedding blocks and proper hand play. Last season was a cluster fuck because so damn many players couldn't execute their assigned roles. Either they simply lacked the ability to play that style, such as Kendricks in extending his coverage downfield, and poor OL blocking in both run blocking execution and pass protection. The OL acted as if they didn't know what a defensive stunt was much less how to block it. The only one who had a clue was Shelton. He picked up more stunts than the rest of the OL combined. That's why he was a priority to re-sign. It's why so many coaches were fired.

Last year wasn't so much a player cluster fuck it was a coaching disaster. When starters started going down the backups weren't ready to play. It's the coaches that will make or break this year. It was the coaches that created last year's disaster.

 

[fanotodd]

The point is Kansas City employed many young guys and rookies and were the #11 defense. Their offense made them champs

That is something else to consider—the old “sometimes the best defense is a good offense.”

limiting the playbook with a track meet type game or putting offenses in predictable spots can do wonders for a young defense.
…so can a great pass rush.

It is easier to beat teams by putting their QB on their back than it is to defend his passing abilities.

It is easier to defend teams by putting their offense in predictable spots.

I think this is close to the Rams’ mindset going into this season. They simply can’t fill every hole and replacing ramsey requires more than just drafting another CB. He was a legit all-pro. Those guys aren’t exactly abundant.

The Rams have more experienced and proven parts on offense going into the draft. They want to score points, a lot of points. They have the QB, a star WR, and some pieces on the OL. Any kind of a running game and this offense takes off again.

I’m not saying the Rams shouldn’t draft a CB, I’m saying the defense is more than a CB away and an Edge rusher would make more sense.

I’m not saying the offense is gonna be lights out just yet, but all it really needs is to hit on one solid starter on the OL and one playmaker (who might already be on the team?) and this offense can be as good as it needs to be—but it has to stay relatively healthy, that’s all.

And that would be the ideal situation to help a young defense.

 

[Merlin]

I’m not saying the offense is gonna be lights out just yet, but all it really needs is to hit on one solid starter on the OL and one playmaker (who might already be on the team?) and this offense can be as good as it needs to be—but it has to stay relatively healthy, that’s all.

Maybe so. Comes down to the other question marks on the OL and whether they can produce. It's possible they do nothing on the OL other than maybe a pipeline addition and it works out.

If they go that route then I definitely would prefer a move down, try to hit on a TE, then go apeshit on defense approach. Because WR is loaded with options that need to show up, we don't need more wideouts coming in though I am sure McVay disagrees. But TE is where you can upgrade the pass game threat quite a bit and we're gonna have a shot at some good ones. RB would be a need still but they can get by there with a backup who can eat some carries just to ensure Akers can't hold them hostage.

But no matter how they approach it there's gonna be holes. So might as well just BPA the hell out of this draft. At least that way there's a chance we get an OL added who can help us year one.

 

[Loyal]

Maybe so. Comes down to the other question marks on the OL and whether they can produce. It's possible they do nothing on the OL other than maybe a pipeline addition and it works out.

If they go that route then I definitely would prefer a move down, try to hit on a TE, then go apeshit on defense approach. Because WR is loaded with options that need to show up, we don't need more wideouts coming in though I am sure McVay disagrees. But TE is where you can upgrade the pass game threat quite a bit and we're gonna have a shot at some good ones. RB would be a need still but they can get by there with a backup who can eat some carries just to ensure Akers can't hold them hostage.

But no matter how they approach it there's gonna be holes. So might as well just BPA the hell out of this draft. At least that way there's a chance we get an OL added who can help us year one.

OR....get a RB that is so good at running routes and can line up in the slot!.

 

[Neil039]

OR....get a RB that is so good at running routes and can line up in the slot!.

 

[Loyal]

Jahmyr Gibbs, Uncle Rico APPROVED!

 

[Merlin]

 

[So Ram]

Well, maybe not out in front....but right behind the Chiefs!

They used 6 defensive rookies, significantly last year. They also used a 2nd year LB, a 3rd year LB and S. So the experience of the Chiefs defense included Chris Jones, Frank Clark, Justin Reid (drafted in 2018 by Houston) and Juan Thornhill (2019 by KC). Not exactly the over the hill gang.

Well I guess Old Spags might be a HOF coach ? Really though he is a winner when it comes to defense.