Rams Must Strongly Consider Cutting Ties With Laurinatis, Drafting Replacement

[Tron]

That is probably the best description of him I've heard yet. True beyond belief.

 

[jrry32]

Unfortunately, it's kinda true. We all love his personality, durability, and intelligence, but he's deceptively average.

Having discussed PFF's grading system with their founder, it has major flaws. But Laurinaitis is currently better than Wagner imo. Dansby had a much better 2013 but he appeared to be on the decline prior to that so it's up in the air. Washington, Bowman and Willis are definitely better. Laurinaitis is an above average LB...that's about it. He has some big flaws. But we have bigger fish to fry than replacing a quality starter that provides leadership and calls our plays on the defensive side(and is still relatively young).

They don't try to figure that out. The make that pretty clear. They just watch them in coverage, watch them when a RB is in their zone, and register their respective penalties. I love J.L. as much as anyone, but it's not necessarily a good thing when you never hear about your middle linebacker.

It is and it isn't. Guy is a very good LB in coverage especially when he's used as a Tampa 2 MLB and dropped deep down the seam in a zone. He's one of the reasons why we do so well against TEs. Although he's not ideal for man to man against slot WRs or quicker HBs. He also does not fight off blocks...at all. He can sift through traffic and attack the back-field when he gets through lanes unblocked but if he's blocked, he's basically useless. He's not like Dunbar who attacks blockers in the hole like he caught them in bed with his wife.

The problem with PFF, as jjab stated, is that they don't try to account for scheme and responsibility. They only rate based on what they see. While that is the best they can do, the issue is that what you see is sometimes misleading. For example, there were a couple plays this year early on where McLeod was distracted prior to the snap of the ball and missed one of the CBs trying to alert him to something then ended up hanging the CB out to dry on his responsibility. Based on that play, PFF will hammer the CB not realizing that McLeod's actions were a bigger reason for the failure than the CB's actions.

If you want an example of what I mean, I'd be happy to provide it.

 

[laramsoriginal]

Iyam rams must draft a capable starter at OG, S, CB, and add depth at OT, LB, DT

 

[rdlkgliders]

All of you are kidding....right? Ya we should replace a player that is performing well at his position or move him to a position that doesn't suit him. We are so deep and performing at such a high level in all areas that it is time to go through the roster and start strengthening at positions we already have young and capable players . Our recent consecutive trips to super bowl victories won by our reserves has afforded us the luxury to replace productive starters.

 

[laramsoriginal]

Lol what?

 

[ausmurp]

They need another LBer. If James is injured then who plays MLB that can make all the calls on D? Nobody. JL is key and the Rams need another instinctual LBer on the team that can be groomed to take over the middle if need be.

I agree that we should think about replacing him, honestly, with a more athletic freak MLB to match our nemises.

I don't agree with what you are saying though Elm. JL is one of those guys that will not get injured, he works out/preps for games the right way. I'm not worried about him getting hurt at all, he's never been and probably wont be until he gets old.

 

[Ramifications]

Sixth best? BS. I'd say only Willis and Bowman are better for sure.

I actually like JL (if not love him), so that is more of a testament to how good the NFC West defenses are. SEA and SF were 1-2 in the NFL, I think, an ARI might have been around 6?

There are different ways to look at it, and age would factor into it if were GMs actually building a real team.

Bobby Wagner may have made the Pro Bowl in his rookie season, he was one of the top rookies LBs (and defensive players overall) in 2012 with Luke Kuechly and Lavonte David. Statistically he didn't seem to make as big an impact last year, and when we think about their defense, it does tend to be about the Pro Bowl stacked secondary (Thomas, Sherman, Chancellor), but Wagner plays a key role in the best defense in the league. I don't think the fact that he is faster and more athletic than Laurinaitis could be in dispute. JL may be smarter and have better instincts (not even sure about that), but Wagner's youth and superior range him significantly more upside (in run support and coverage), IMO, if in fact he isn't more talented already.

In ARI, Daryl Washington had some off field problems and was suspended for the first month of the 2013 season, and had a somewhat quiet season, but in 2012 he was one of the best LBs in the league, and pretty sure he was a Pro Bowler. He runs and covers like a safety, was a prolific tackler (top 3 that year?) and also had something like 8 sacks, not sure if that was near a record for an ILB/MLB? WIh Dansby, age comes into play. I'd rather have JL because he is like 32-33 (?). But if we are justtalking straight up who is more talented, I don't think it is close. Dansby was a former Card who went to MIA in free agency around 2010, and returned in 2013. I don't know if he made the Pro Bowl (kind of tough with how stacked the NFC in general and NFC West specifically is), but he easily had the stats to do so. Pretty sure he was among the leaders in tackles, and had some big plays, too. Dansby is a gifted athlete that was a nationally recruited, top 20-30 WR for Auburn, was converted to safety (and retained the kind of coverage ability and hands we assciate with that position) , and blew up to LB size, where he may hve played outside and inside. Ogletree has a similar resume and career arc, as a former safety that played LB inside and outside at Georgia, and we can see the tantalizing athleticism and raw coverage potential that could make him a future star and Pro Bowler. A player with if possible an even more impressive background as a freakish athlete with positional versatility (I remember Carnell Lake played LB at UCLA, and safety for PIT in the NFL, even filling in at a high level as a CB when there were injuries) is Pats rookie second rounder Jamie Collins, also a former safety who played outside and MLB, and even DE his last year. Despite not playing much in the regular season, he looked like an emerging star in the playoffs. I think he broke the Combine broad jump record (around 11'7", previously held by Calvin Johnson, one of the freakiest of the freaky himself :^) ).

I started a thread at another site, and compared STL to SEA in this respect. And BTW, guys like Chris Long and JL are respected team leaders, so even if they are slipping a little from their prime, or if their skills were to slowly erode, they probably aren't going anywhere for a few years. But when you lock players into $10 million per year contracts, you kind of become joined at the hip for a while. SEA has the constant competition philosophy which he brought from USC, so if JL had been there, I'm not sure he would have the attitude that he is our guy from the next half decade, or would he recognize that he is good but not great at a very important positon, and look to upgrade him? But, maybe like Bradford on offense, who will probably never be Manning, Brady, Brees or Rodgers, but has the upside to crack the top 10, and we can win with by surrounding him with more talent, we can better the defense around JL (we already did with Ogletree, Quinn elevated his game and took a giant step forward in his evolution, Brockers is a future stud, the next step imo is to upgrade the secondary with a FS and more CB talent/depth).

 

[Stranger]

To be clear: my post is poking fun at the Bradford post!

How 'bout we just trade JL & Sam during THIS offseason. That'll make everyone happy.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

I agree that we should think about replacing him, honestly, with a more athletic freak MLB to match our nemises.

I don't agree with what you are saying though Elm. JL is one of those guys that will not get injured, he works out/preps for games the right way. I'm not worried about him getting hurt at all, he's never been and probably wont be until he gets old.

They have to be prepared. look how Bowman was injured. I am not calling him broke down. Just saying that they lack a good backup plan.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Witherspoon is a bona fide middle linebacker. But that's not the future, obviously.
Maybe Armstrong could be groomed to be the MLB?

I doubt Armstrong is ready for that. Ditto for Ogletree. Maybe down the road, but neither strikes me as being smart enough to be trusting the D with.

 

[Penguin.]

He is average. Not really a hindrance, but that contract.