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- The Dude
Lots of condemnation for the "mishandling" of the following draft picks this year, so I figured (to the nausea of the board) I'd take a look and see what all the hubbub is. Maybe "letting these potential playmakers leave" WAS a bad idea. Or. Maybe it's not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
5th Round: Jermale Hines
Strong/Free Safety from Ohio State University.
(Release, Panthers and now Colts)
7th Round: Mikail Baker
DB from Baylor University
(IR - drafted for ST)
7th Round: Jabara Williams
LB from Stephen F. Austin
(Released, Bears)
7th Round: Jonathon Nelson
DB from Oklahoma University
(Released, Panthers practice squad)
Injuries have forced the Rams to sacrifice some of their younger players in rounding out the roster this year. That's evident. Some of these players fans claim could have been developed, and as such, the GM and/or coach should shoulder the "blame" for them being on other teams. But. Is it out of the ordinary for late round picks to get pushed around the league before they find a home? Is it out of the ordinary for teams to let go of their late round picks to make room for players who could fill an immediate need? Of course not.
And here's the thing. The Rams drafted them, and they got released. That resulted in criticism. So we must not have a problem with the GM if players drafted in the 7th round are highly coveted. It must be the head coach who let them walk that is the problem. But is he? For those 3 guys that left, here are the UDFA's and OTHER TEAM'S late round picks that are here and either contributing or are on our PS and/or are backups.
UDFA: Darian Stewart
DB University of South Carolina
(Not drafted, starter at safety)
This cancels out all those late rounders who were drafted to be a DB.
UDFA: Tim Atchison
CB Baylor
(IR, had a pretty decent preseason)
This cancels out any any one of those aforementioned guys except Williams
UDFA: Bryan Mattison
OL Iowa State
(Starter for the Rams, signed by Jets, spent time with Ravens)
UDFA: Quinn Porter
RB Stillman College
(Signed by Packers, started for Rams on ST)
Meh. Not a great contributor, but he had to fill in while Amendola was on IR and Norwood was nursing a hammy.
UDFA: Josh Gordy
CB CMU
(Signed by Jags, spent time on Packers PS)
Starter for the Rams, and having a fairly good season. Miss Nelson much? Or Baker?
UDFA: Kevin Hughes
OL Southeastern Louisiana
(Signed by Rams, starting on OL)
UDFA: Nick Miller
WR Southern Utah
(Signed by Raiders [udfa], picked up by Rams)
So this year, the Rams let 3 late round picks leave and had one go on IR early. To counter that, they signed 7 UDFA's who ARE starting or ARE backups. One could go as far to say that UDFA's that make it, or get playing time, pretty much takes the sting out of letting late round picks leave. At worst, it's a straight up wash.
What are the other questionable roster moves? Letting Mardy Gilyard leave. "He could have been developed." Oh yeah? Do we know that? To make up for the gaping void left by Mardy Gilyard, the Rams signed Mark Clayton and Brandon Lloyd. Gilyard is a free agent after the Jets picked him up. If Spagnuolo is so unaware of untapped talent, then surely somebody would have signed him by now. I mean, did you see that excellent pre-draft video of him where he cuts on a dime and can run routes blindfolded? There's a collective stupidity out there if this guy isn't being developed by someone.
How about releasing Donnie Avery? "He had speed." Yep. He sure did. That one confused the hell outta me too. But what is he doing right now? Zero catches for zero yards. Maybe he wasn't as healthy as he led us to believe? I have no idea. Sure the Rams could use his speed, but couldn't Tennessee use it as well? Why do they keep him as an inactive every week? Are they stupid too? The popular school of thought is that you just need to trot him out there and safeties will flock to him like buzzards to a possum carcass. Puzzling to say the least.
Look, I'm not trying to make a ton of excuses here. I'm only pointing out what's going on that often gets ignored. We let late rounders walk, and we pick sign UDFA's (wash). We let "potential playmakers" leave, and they do nothing when they're gone. In some cases, they don't even get signed again. This happens with every team in the league, by the way. I'm not going to enumerate the instances of that because I'm sure everyone is aware that it's a universal truth. For every sack a Larry Grant makes, you get a punt return TD from a Nick Miller. For every tackle Jabara Williams makes (1), you get an interception from Gordy (or in this case ... 2).
I guess what I'm saying is, "Is this really such a big deal?"
5th Round: Jermale Hines
Strong/Free Safety from Ohio State University.
(Release, Panthers and now Colts)
7th Round: Mikail Baker
DB from Baylor University
(IR - drafted for ST)
7th Round: Jabara Williams
LB from Stephen F. Austin
(Released, Bears)
7th Round: Jonathon Nelson
DB from Oklahoma University
(Released, Panthers practice squad)
Injuries have forced the Rams to sacrifice some of their younger players in rounding out the roster this year. That's evident. Some of these players fans claim could have been developed, and as such, the GM and/or coach should shoulder the "blame" for them being on other teams. But. Is it out of the ordinary for late round picks to get pushed around the league before they find a home? Is it out of the ordinary for teams to let go of their late round picks to make room for players who could fill an immediate need? Of course not.
And here's the thing. The Rams drafted them, and they got released. That resulted in criticism. So we must not have a problem with the GM if players drafted in the 7th round are highly coveted. It must be the head coach who let them walk that is the problem. But is he? For those 3 guys that left, here are the UDFA's and OTHER TEAM'S late round picks that are here and either contributing or are on our PS and/or are backups.
UDFA: Darian Stewart
DB University of South Carolina
(Not drafted, starter at safety)
This cancels out all those late rounders who were drafted to be a DB.
UDFA: Tim Atchison
CB Baylor
(IR, had a pretty decent preseason)
This cancels out any any one of those aforementioned guys except Williams
UDFA: Bryan Mattison
OL Iowa State
(Starter for the Rams, signed by Jets, spent time with Ravens)
UDFA: Quinn Porter
RB Stillman College
(Signed by Packers, started for Rams on ST)
Meh. Not a great contributor, but he had to fill in while Amendola was on IR and Norwood was nursing a hammy.
UDFA: Josh Gordy
CB CMU
(Signed by Jags, spent time on Packers PS)
Starter for the Rams, and having a fairly good season. Miss Nelson much? Or Baker?
UDFA: Kevin Hughes
OL Southeastern Louisiana
(Signed by Rams, starting on OL)
UDFA: Nick Miller
WR Southern Utah
(Signed by Raiders [udfa], picked up by Rams)
So this year, the Rams let 3 late round picks leave and had one go on IR early. To counter that, they signed 7 UDFA's who ARE starting or ARE backups. One could go as far to say that UDFA's that make it, or get playing time, pretty much takes the sting out of letting late round picks leave. At worst, it's a straight up wash.
What are the other questionable roster moves? Letting Mardy Gilyard leave. "He could have been developed." Oh yeah? Do we know that? To make up for the gaping void left by Mardy Gilyard, the Rams signed Mark Clayton and Brandon Lloyd. Gilyard is a free agent after the Jets picked him up. If Spagnuolo is so unaware of untapped talent, then surely somebody would have signed him by now. I mean, did you see that excellent pre-draft video of him where he cuts on a dime and can run routes blindfolded? There's a collective stupidity out there if this guy isn't being developed by someone.
How about releasing Donnie Avery? "He had speed." Yep. He sure did. That one confused the hell outta me too. But what is he doing right now? Zero catches for zero yards. Maybe he wasn't as healthy as he led us to believe? I have no idea. Sure the Rams could use his speed, but couldn't Tennessee use it as well? Why do they keep him as an inactive every week? Are they stupid too? The popular school of thought is that you just need to trot him out there and safeties will flock to him like buzzards to a possum carcass. Puzzling to say the least.
Look, I'm not trying to make a ton of excuses here. I'm only pointing out what's going on that often gets ignored. We let late rounders walk, and we pick sign UDFA's (wash). We let "potential playmakers" leave, and they do nothing when they're gone. In some cases, they don't even get signed again. This happens with every team in the league, by the way. I'm not going to enumerate the instances of that because I'm sure everyone is aware that it's a universal truth. For every sack a Larry Grant makes, you get a punt return TD from a Nick Miller. For every tackle Jabara Williams makes (1), you get an interception from Gordy (or in this case ... 2).
I guess what I'm saying is, "Is this really such a big deal?"
