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Rams mailbag: Early training camp impressions
By Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/20134/rams-mailbag-early-training-camp-impressions
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The St. Louis Rams are little more than a week into training camp but their first preseason game is less than a week away in Oakland.
With that in mind, there's no shortage of questions for this week's mailbag.
Brenden Finnerty @BengySTL
Who has been the most impressive player at training camp so far?
@nwagoner: This is a hard question to answer only a week into training camp but let's be clear that the team has only had three padded practices to this point, so the bigger body of work to judge is at the skill positions on offense and the secondary on defense. To that end, in my early estimation, it's been a strong camp so far for cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Marcus Roberson and safety Rodney McLeod. McLeod looks particularly instinctive and hasn't been caught out of position at all from what I've seen. That's a good sign after he vowed that he wanted to cut down on the mistakes that led to big plays last season. At receiver, it's hard not to be impressed with receiver Brian Quick. Quick has recovered from a devastating shoulder injury and doesn't look like he's missed a beat.
Robert Connelly @RConnelly_
Top 5 jerseys you have seen fans wearing, I'm sure some Archuleta 31s were out at Rams Park.
@nwagoner: I'm answering this question at the team's Friday night scrimmage and actually have seen some good ones here. There's a No. 25 Corey Chavous jersey right in front of me, for example. There's been quite a few No. 87 Rickey Proehl jerseys floating around as well. But the best was early in camp when a fan showed up in the classic throwback No. 24 Trung Canidate jersey.
Josh @josharace
Fisher says he isn't worried about the young o-line, do you believe him or is he just putting confidence in his guys?
@nwagoner: Well, I believe him to some extent but let's be real here: What else is he supposed to say? What good would it do him to publicly come out and wonder whether the offensive linemen -- whom he had a huge part in drafting, by the way -- can get the job done, especially at this time of year. Put it this way, despite the positive reviews that Jeff Fisher has consistently floated, there's still a lot of work to be done. There's no set starter at center and nobody has really separated in that spot yet. Greg Robinson and Rodger Saffold look solid but the two rookies will remain a work in progress. That isn't to say they have been bad, just that they're rookies still up against a fairly steep learning curve with little time to get caught up.
J-Rod @jhoodswag
U said before that Rams drafted Battle in hopes to compete w/ Havenstein for RT. Is he not living up to his draft stock?
@nwagoner: I actually said the Rams were hopeful Isaiah Battle could compete with Robert Havenstein for the job in 2016. While the Rams have certainly kind of walked back from the "redshirt" comments general manager Les Snead made when the team drafted Battle, it just doesn't seem likely that he'll be able to catch up quickly enough to push for a starting job this season. Still, Battle does need to catch up enough to be able to contribute in case of an emergency. The Rams will probably have to keep him on the roster and if he's on the roster, the Rams can't afford to have a player who can't help since he's always only a couple of plays from being in a game.
Mark Warren @MarkWarren_39
I get the impression J. Brown is impressing more than Havenstein. Truth to this? I worry about Big Rob. Plays too high
@nwagoner: I think that's probably a fair assessment at this point. From what I've seen, the praise for Jamon Brown rings more true than the praise for Havenstein. Havenstein has been better since the pads came on and by his own admission still has some work to do. Namely, Havenstein told me last week that he is struggling more to adjust to the speed of his opponents. Brown has been able to adjust fairly quickly to playing guard, an effort that's been buoyed by coming in and playing the same position the whole time rather than bouncing between tackle and guard as Greg Robinson did a year ago.
By Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/20134/rams-mailbag-early-training-camp-impressions
EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The St. Louis Rams are little more than a week into training camp but their first preseason game is less than a week away in Oakland.
With that in mind, there's no shortage of questions for this week's mailbag.
Brenden Finnerty @BengySTL
Who has been the most impressive player at training camp so far?
@nwagoner: This is a hard question to answer only a week into training camp but let's be clear that the team has only had three padded practices to this point, so the bigger body of work to judge is at the skill positions on offense and the secondary on defense. To that end, in my early estimation, it's been a strong camp so far for cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Marcus Roberson and safety Rodney McLeod. McLeod looks particularly instinctive and hasn't been caught out of position at all from what I've seen. That's a good sign after he vowed that he wanted to cut down on the mistakes that led to big plays last season. At receiver, it's hard not to be impressed with receiver Brian Quick. Quick has recovered from a devastating shoulder injury and doesn't look like he's missed a beat.
Robert Connelly @RConnelly_
Top 5 jerseys you have seen fans wearing, I'm sure some Archuleta 31s were out at Rams Park.
@nwagoner: I'm answering this question at the team's Friday night scrimmage and actually have seen some good ones here. There's a No. 25 Corey Chavous jersey right in front of me, for example. There's been quite a few No. 87 Rickey Proehl jerseys floating around as well. But the best was early in camp when a fan showed up in the classic throwback No. 24 Trung Canidate jersey.
Josh @josharace
Fisher says he isn't worried about the young o-line, do you believe him or is he just putting confidence in his guys?
@nwagoner: Well, I believe him to some extent but let's be real here: What else is he supposed to say? What good would it do him to publicly come out and wonder whether the offensive linemen -- whom he had a huge part in drafting, by the way -- can get the job done, especially at this time of year. Put it this way, despite the positive reviews that Jeff Fisher has consistently floated, there's still a lot of work to be done. There's no set starter at center and nobody has really separated in that spot yet. Greg Robinson and Rodger Saffold look solid but the two rookies will remain a work in progress. That isn't to say they have been bad, just that they're rookies still up against a fairly steep learning curve with little time to get caught up.
J-Rod @jhoodswag
U said before that Rams drafted Battle in hopes to compete w/ Havenstein for RT. Is he not living up to his draft stock?
@nwagoner: I actually said the Rams were hopeful Isaiah Battle could compete with Robert Havenstein for the job in 2016. While the Rams have certainly kind of walked back from the "redshirt" comments general manager Les Snead made when the team drafted Battle, it just doesn't seem likely that he'll be able to catch up quickly enough to push for a starting job this season. Still, Battle does need to catch up enough to be able to contribute in case of an emergency. The Rams will probably have to keep him on the roster and if he's on the roster, the Rams can't afford to have a player who can't help since he's always only a couple of plays from being in a game.
Mark Warren @MarkWarren_39
I get the impression J. Brown is impressing more than Havenstein. Truth to this? I worry about Big Rob. Plays too high
@nwagoner: I think that's probably a fair assessment at this point. From what I've seen, the praise for Jamon Brown rings more true than the praise for Havenstein. Havenstein has been better since the pads came on and by his own admission still has some work to do. Namely, Havenstein told me last week that he is struggling more to adjust to the speed of his opponents. Brown has been able to adjust fairly quickly to playing guard, an effort that's been buoyed by coming in and playing the same position the whole time rather than bouncing between tackle and guard as Greg Robinson did a year ago.
