Rams' Saffold expected to hit open market: PD

[blackbart]

Well obviously Roger's representation does not think what ever has been offered is enough. I say god luck to him and move on it has been discussed thoroughly here and everyone knows the details. We need better more consistent play than he can provide at tackle and he wants more than playing guard. Just not a fit. Let him and the Rams both check out the FA market for some depth and use a couple of picks in this draft, preferably first and second day picks, to finish the OL for 2014.

Not the end of the world, just more clarification on the direction the organization needs to go.

 

[Alan]

Rams and Gators with an optimistic view:
I only see 2, Long will be back and Fisher has faith it will be game 1, Barnes is fine at C and Jones has potential, Barksdale is nailed in for RT, so both OG spots need filling if we trade down to #6 with the Falcons I'd draft Robinson even if he never takes over Long's spot, which leaves the RG spot for either Saffold if he re-signs, or possibly Jones, or a FA, or Su'a-Filo/Yankey, that would leave at least two more picks in the first two rounds for FS/WR/CB. And I really hope we bring back Dunbar.

We also need depth.

Your filling one of those three holes with a FA which is fine but that still means we have 3 holes on the O-line. As I said, I'm OK with whatever method we use to fill all our holes. Your scenarios sound good to me but I'd not count too heavily on the complete unknown commodity called Jones if I were you.

As for Fisher having faith, disinformation. Do you think that if Fisher said Long might not be ready to go right away that it might effect how other teams look at who we might draft? Or tell the FA agents how desperate we are for some help there? History has shown that few players recover that quickly from the injury he suffered and Long's not a young dude anymore which means you need to add even more time to the recovery period IMO. If he plays in the first 4 games I'll be astonished. And full of poop.

 

[Alan]

BonifayRam with his bottom line:
Yes OL and DB's if our entire draft is nothing but Offensive linemen & DB's I will be fine.

I'm right there with you on that. At least through the first 4 rounds. I'm kinda hoping for a decent developmental QB in the 5th or so.

Sorry about your friend. I had to do that three years ago. 16 yrs old. Died in my arms (after the injection) giving one last little lick on my bicep. He's buried in my back yard. It was devastating and I cried like a baby. It's one of the reasons I only have small dogs. They live a lot longer.

 

[RamsSince1969]

I know most won't agree with me, but if Saffold can get another team to pay him like a tackle then he needs to take it and move on. Overpaying a player that had trouble staying on the field is a bad idea.

I like Rodger very much as a player. He's been a good Ram, but he's by no means irreplaceable.

I agree. Missing 17 full games plus parts of others, in only 4 years, is not worth the crazy jack someone like the Skins will throw at him. Also, we've seen it time and again, he may have played especially well this year because of the free agent year coming up. To be fair, he has always been solid every year when healthy and in the game. But, after the big free agent payday, a broken fingernail with some of these guys and the player sits out. I love the hell out of him, even with the injuries, but his agent is being greedy with no insight on how well Roger and the Rams fit together. The agent has to get the monster deal elsewhere so he can pad his own client resume of deals he got done and doesn't care about the team, the city, the personal relationships or bond Roger has with these individuals. In my fantasy world, lets say I get on the Rams as a kicker, they draft me and they pay me something like $850,000 a year, I do well and they offer me $2,000,000 to stay a Ram the contract year, but other teams are calling and offering me say $2,400,000 or $2,600,000 for the same time period, I stay a Ram. The Rams drafted me, gave me a break, and now I return the favor. That's just me. I'm very loyal to the people who give me a break in life as are most of us. We all want a raise in pay, and the Rams are offering Roger a pretty good raise in pay. Take it and stay a Ram.

 

[mr.stlouis]

I know most won't agree with me, but if Saffold can get another team to pay him like a tackle then he needs to take it and move on. Overpaying a player that had trouble staying on the field is a bad idea.

I like Rodger very much as a player. He's been a good Ram, but he's by no means irreplaceable.

I agree.

Robinson and Yankee should should be able to handle it.

 

[fearsomefour]

To me it's about options. Are there FA options that are as good and come cheaper? Not to me.
Shwartz or Saffold is bound for Oakland in my opinion. Too much money to spend. Shwartz may hold an edge as it helps the Raiders AND hurts a rival.
There is a good chance we are looking at Long/rookie/Wells/Dahl/Barksdale for the bulk of the season....if injury does not come up. Who is opening day 1 at LT? Who knows.
So, if the Rams think Saffold is not worth $6m they should just let him walk and try to find an equal G for less. I don't see it.

 

[blackbart]

To me it's about options. Are there FA options that are as good and come cheaper? Not to me.
Shwartz or Saffold is bound for Oakland in my opinion. Too much money to spend. Shwartz may hold an edge as it helps the Raiders AND hurts a rival.
There is a good chance we are looking at Long/rookie/Wells/Dahl/Barksdale for the bulk of the season....if injury does not come up. Who is opening day 1 at LT? Who knows.
So, if the Rams think Saffold is not worth $6m they should just let him walk and try to find an equal G for less. I don't see it.

Long Matthews
Matthews Jones
Wells Barnes
Jones Colon/Lauvao Yankey/Jackson
Barksdale Matthews Washington

 

[Ky Ram]

Maybe the market for Saffold isn't what he expects it to be and we meet in the middle at 7 mil per with game time incentives that could kick it up to the 8 mil he wants?

 

[blackbart]

Maybe the market for Saffold isn't what he expects it to be and we meet in the middle at 7 mil per with game time incentives that could kick it up to the 8 mil he wants?

That is about twice as much as he is worth. He is not worth more than Dahl was paid last year

 

[PressureD41]

That's hilarious

I agree.

I swear if he signs with Seattle or San Francisco I might get arrested.

 

[NJRamsFan]

Would love to have Saffold back but HAS to be at the right price. I refuse to pay him as an elite anything. If he wants a big pay day, let some other team overpay him. Sure he looked good at guard for a few games (key word few), but he has yet to prove he can stay on the field

 

[BonifayRam]

That's hilarious

It was pretty funny

Saffold would not start on that 9ers Ol period. Tell me who they would bench him for?

 

[Rams and Gators]

Your filling one of those three holes with a FA which is fine but that still means we have 3 holes on the O-line. As I said, I'm OK with whatever method we use to fill all our holes. Your scenarios sound good to me but I'd not count too heavily on the complete unknown commodity called Jones if I were you.

As for Fisher having faith, disinformation. Do you think that if Fisher said Long might not be ready to go right away that it might effect how other teams look at who we might draft? Or tell the FA agents how desperate we are for some help there? History has shown that few players recover that quickly from the injury he suffered and Long's not a young dude anymore which means you need to add even more time to the recovery period IMO. If he plays in the first 4 games I'll be astonished. And full of poop.

Where are you getting 3 from? Are you including Barnes in there? I wouldn't count on Jones but I'd view him as worthy of competing for a spot.

I suppose it's possible that we're targeting a LT, and a trade down to #6, and we're worried that Cleveland and Jacksonville both trade down. Otherwise we're 90% guaranteed a OT either way.

 

[Ky Ram]

That is about twice as much as he is worth. He is not worth more than Dahl was paid last year

Dahl finished the season on the bench, not Saffold. I don't see how a guy who can play multiple positions well across the o-line isn't worth 7 mil per.
If you're thinking his worth is in the 3.5-4 mil range we just disagree. Nothin wrong with that.

 

[BonifayRam]

Long Matthews
Matthews Jones
Wells Barnes
Jones Colon/Lauvao Yankey/Jackson
Barksdale Matthews Washington

This is the current Ram OL

OLT- Long/Hooey
OLG- Washington/Persons
OC- Wells//Jones
ORG- Dahl
ORT-Barksdale/Pocic

The OG's post would seem to be very weak and minus a Swing OT.

Dahl finished the season on the bench, not Saffold. I don't see how a guy who can play multiple positions well across the o-line isn't worth 7 mil per.
If you're thinking his worth is in the 3.5-4 mil range we just disagree. Nothin wrong with that.

Dahl was riding the bench but as soon as the season was over he had Ankle surgery not sure if that injury happened when he suffered that 3rd grade MCl sprain on that knee or not. Dahl did reappear for a few series but it was painful to see him try to play it was bad.

On Saffold my position is he was beat out outplayed by Joe Barksdale @ ORT. I would not come close to say he played ORT well Ky Ram but I would also say we may have not seen him play his best position yet that would be OLG post. I would also contend that his play @ OLT that caused Boudreau to push for Jake Long signing....to man his OLT post.

IMO I would say that Saffold could play both OG posts @ a very high level maybe all pro level ...Saffold's play @ both OT posts at a level a little below average. The team who signs Saffold to play & start @ OLT will be seriously displeased.

 

[blackbart]

Dahl finished the season on the bench, not Saffold. I don't see how a guy who can play multiple positions well across the o-line isn't worth 7 mil per.
If you're thinking his worth is in the 3.5-4 mil range we just disagree. Nothin wrong with that.

I don't see Saffold as a guy who can play multiple positions at an NFL level and he also can't stay on the field for a full season. $4m with incentives for playing time would be smart. $7 for a part time guy is throwing money away. FWIW I don't want Dahl or Wells back either.

 

[LesBaker]

Although the dialogue continues between the Rams and the agents representing offensive lineman Rodger Saffold, it’s becoming evident that Saffold will not be re-signed by the start of free agency on Tuesday. In fact, one of those agents — Alan Herman — flatly stated that will be the case.

“Rodger definitely will be out in the free-agent market,” Herman told the Post-Dispatch.

Of course, a lot can happen between now and Tuesday. And the Rams could provide millions of reasons for Saffold and his representatives to change their minds before then.

“We had a good conversation with Rodger’s representatives at the (scouting) combine,” Rams executive vice president Kevin Demoff said. “They said all the right things. As Jeff (Fisher) and Les (Snead) said in their interviews, re-signing Rodger is a priority. There’s good dialogue going on.”

Fisher is the Rams’ coach and Snead their general manager.

It struck me as odd that he felt like he had to mention that.

 

[Ram_of_Old]

If only he could stay on the field...

 

[Alan]

Rams and Gators needing further refinement of my answer:
Where are you getting 3 from? Are you including Barnes in there? I wouldn't count on Jones but I'd view him as worthy of competing for a spot.

1 tackle and 2 guards. I'm not including Barnes because that's just to high a hill to climb. That doesn't even include the depth you mentioned. We only have Barksdale at RT and Barnes, underwhelming as he is, to start the season.

Even if you were to believe that Long will be ready game 1, it's kind of optimistic to expect there to be no injuries at tackle during the year. Why don't the legitimate concerns about Saffold's injury history also hold true for Long? Hooey and Pocic are our backups which in my mind means we have no backups when one of our tackles goes down. As I said though, I don't believe that Long will be back to full speed or even at all for game 1. He may not even be up to his old playing level for a large portion of the year.

I do disagree with Bonifay about Saffold. Not on his assessment of him but in regards to bringing him back to play RG. I'd pay him $7 million/yr if he'd agree to stiff injury clauses. Probably won't happen though.

Bottom line for me is that we need to get at least 4 players in FA or the draft. 3 of them starters. I'm on board with bringing Smith back as a backup but that still leaves 3 if we don't resign Saffold and two if we do. 2 is manageable because we could draft Matthew/Robinson/Lewan at 4-8, Pryor or Ha-Ha at 13-20, Top G or CB left at the extra 2nd rounder we got in the trade down, top G or CB left at 12 and the top OLB available in the 3rd round. I'm not looking to reach at any of those picks so it's fluid and a D-lineman could slip in somewhere in the mix and push all the picks after OT down one notch.

Any whole we fill in FA would adjust that accordingly but I'm not sure if any team has ever drafted three quality O-line starters in one draft. You ever hear of that happening before?

 

[Boffo97]

Well, I guess that means we're not drafting Sammy Watkins considering that essentially both guard jobs will need to be filled

A rookie guard and an FA guard (besides Saffold) is also an option.

Anyone see any decent (read: not Incognito) names here?

Guards

Leroy Harris, Detroit Lions
Jon Asamoah, Kansas City Chiefs
Zane Beadles, Denver Broncos
Kevin Boothe, New York Giants
Eben Britton, Chicago Bears
Bruce Campbell, Carolina Panthers
Willie Colon, New York Jets
Oniel Cousins, Cleveland Browns
Vladimir Ducasse, New York Jets
Mike Gibson, Arizona Cardinals
Geoff Hangartner, Carolina Panthers
Leroy Harris, Detroit Lions
Richie Incognito, Miami Dolphins
John Jerry, Miami Dolphins
Charlie Johnson, Minnesota Vikings
Mike Johnson, Indianapolis Colts
Shawn Lauvao, Cleveland Browns
Jamon Meredith, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Paul McQuistan, Seattle Seahawks
Uche Nwaweri, Jacksonville Jaguars
Rich Ohrnberger, San Diego Chargers
Seth Olsen, Minnesota Vikings
Chad Rinehart, San Diego Chargers
Mike Pollak, Cincinnati Bengals
Geoff Schwartz, Kansas City Chiefs
Chris Scott, Carolina Panthers
Jason Spitz, Seattle Seahawks
Wade Smith, Houston Texans
Brian Waters, Dallas Cowboys
Travelle Wharton, Carolina Panthers
Garry Williams, Carolina Panthers
Brandon Carter, Dallas Cowboys
Greg Van Roten, Green Bay Packers
David Arkin, Miami Dolphins