Replacements for released Rams likely to come from in-house/Wagoner

[RamBill]

Replacements for released Rams likely to come from in-house
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-ra...nts-for-released-rams-likely-to-come-in-house

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The Los Angeles Rams said goodbye to three key veterans last week in linebacker James Laurinaitis, defensive end Chris Long and tight end Jared Cook.

As with any time a team releases a player, a void is created. For a team like the Rams, creating more needs wouldn't seem to be a wise decision. But these moves were a little bit different.

This time, the Rams believed they had most of their replacements already on the roster. Let's take a look at how the Rams could go about replacing Long, Laurinaitis and Cook.

1. Alec Ogletree moves to middle linebacker to replace Laurinaitis. Assuming the Rams can re-sign Mark Barron to step into Ogletree's spot on the weak side, this is the Rams' plan to replace Laurinaitis. After Ogletree suffered what turned into a season-ending injury in Week 4 last year, Barron stepped in at weak side linebacker and played well in his stead. That left the Rams with a dilemma of trying to figure out how they can have Barron and Ogletree on the field at the same time moving forward. And not just on the field together but on the field together enough to justify what figures to be a decent-sized contract for Barron. So sliding Ogletree to the middle (a position he played in college) and keeping Barron in Ogletree's former spot was the solution that they ultimately came up with. Ogletree certainly offers playmaking ability but he will be tested when it comes to holding up to the rigors of playing inside.

2. William Hayes re-signs to replace Long. It wouldn't be a surprise if the Rams ended up spending the No. 15 overall pick on a defensive end. We've seen that they love spending high picks on defensive linemen and this year's draft is loaded with them. But the more logical move would be to re-sign Hayes and then spend a later pick on a young defensive end to develop behind him in a draft that has plenty of depth there. Hayes has played well as a starter in Long's place each of the past two seasons and though he's going to be 31 at the start of next season, he still has gas in the tank. The Rams also have youngsters Ethan Westbrooks and Matt Longacre, who both have flashed potential and should be able to contribute in a rotation. For his part, Hayes prefers to play for coach Jeff Fisher, who drafted him in Tennessee and signed him with the Rams. So long as the money is about equal, that's a deal the Rams should be able to get done.

3. Lance Kendricks takes on a larger role to replace Cook. The Rams re-signed Kendricks to a fairly lucrative contract last offseason and used him in tandem with Cook on a regular basis. Of these three openings, this is the one where the Rams will probably have to go outside their roster to find help. Kendricks could get an increased role but after him, there's not much in the way of sure things. Cory Harkey is an unrestricted free agent and Justice Cunningham has value but more as a blocker than a pass-catcher. The Rams could use a tight end who can be a consistent threat as a receiver but Kendricks is the guy on the roster most likely to step in and play whatever snaps Cook leaves behind.

 

[blackbart]

I don't see quotes from Fisher or Snead so is this just Wagoner flapping his jaws?

 

[den-the-coach]

I don't see quotes from Fisher or Snead so is this just Wagoner flapping his jaws?

True, but IMO, Nick is on point because there have been multiple reports about Ogletree and the interest to bring back Barron add the fact that Hayes did an excellent job filling in for Long so bringing him back is not a stretch either.

Keep in mind it seems one complains with the lack of information about the team, but Nick connected the dots and seems to have foretasted it right, however, if you're waiting for confirmation from Fisher and Snead, that day won't come until the contracts are signed, sealed and delivered.

 

[shaunpinney]

It's a shame they couldn't have re-structured Long's contract AND kept Hayes (as I mentioned in another thread) I really don't think that was in the realms of fantasy - we know Long was ready to restructure

 

[Noregar]

One thing overlooked is that Long and Hayes were very tight. I still hope that Hayes comes back but losing his best friend in the locker room might make the Rams slightly less attractive from Hayes perspective IMO. If the Rams are willing to move on from Long maybe they move on from Hayes and Sims too. One good thing the Rams did in anticipation of potentially losing 3 vet DE's is work on developing their younger Undrafted Players like Longacre and Westbrooks who can provide rotational depth but are not starter material. I expect he Rams to sign one or two FA DE's and that could be Hayes, Sims, and/or someone new but I also expect them to draft a least one DE somewhere and bring in more undrafted guys that can also compete.

 

[fearsomefour]

It's a shame they couldn't have re-structured Long's contract AND kept Hayes (as I mentioned in another thread) I really don't think that was in the realms of fantasy - we know Long was ready to restructure

Yeah, I hear ya.
I hate to see Long go. But, restructure to him may have meant going from $14M to $11M while the Rams idea of restructure may have been to free up $9M. Two very different things.
I am fine with Hayes replacing Long. As long as he can play disciplined he may bring more to the table than Long at this point (remembering Long hasn't been healthy for two years).
I am totally fine with Kendricks replacing Cook. He is a better TE already.
Ogletree at MLB is the move that is a concern to me.

 

[blackbart]

True, but IMO, Nick is on point because there have been multiple reports about Ogletree and the interest to bring back Barron add the fact that Hayes did an excellent job filling in for Long so bringing him back is not a stretch either.

Keep in mind it seems one complains with the lack of information about the team, but Nick connected the dots and seems to have foretasted it right, however, if you're waiting for confirmation from Fisher and Snead, that day won't come until the contracts are signed, sealed and delivered.

I don't think we will know for sure until we are through FA and the draft and start OTAs or even training camp. Although if Fisher gets a radio show deal he might give some information about how the team is being built over the summer? He seemed pretty forthcoming on the show he did in StL

 

[BonifayRam]

Reference to the Restructured thoughts here......If I were Fisher & Snead & in their positions I would not have offered a low ball bid to either JL or Chris I would have thought that would be a Classless move on to very high class players.

In truth this release of JL & CL should not have been so surprising to either of them IMO. The best was to let them have a short period of time to be a totally free agent outside the rules of the new 2016 NFL Official Free Agency period that starts here just after the first week of March. If we beleiev JL on his comments since the release ...then JL must not have any pocket awareness to the business side of the NFL along with self awarness on his overall decline in his on field performance...somehow ( I know this is going to upset the sensitive bleeding heart Ram members here) I not buying what JL has been saying in his media shows lately & what he is putting out there about how surprised he was as to the release. :huh:

Long like I have posted numerous time before will find a wonderful free market for his brand. Big big $$$ is out there for Chris (that he would not of got here with the Rams) him in a 1 to 2 yr contract. Dallas Cowboys are in dire need for some serious Chris long CLASS in their DL right now! Dallas is the perfect spot for Chris to land IMO for the next few yrs.

Now JL is in for a serious shock when his offers come back at him. JL needs to look for a 34 defense where he can get some big help inside with another inside LB'er covering up for his big lack of physicality & speed. On Jared Cook??? Hopes are that Jared takes his show to San Jose or Seattle.

 

[DaveFan'51]

I don't see quotes from Fisher or Snead so is this just Wagoner flapping his jaws?

YEP!! And the problem w/ Wagoners theory is these "Replacements" , IMHO, is that they are NOT up-grades over the players they are replacing!!

 

[fearsomefour]

Reference to the Restructured thoughts here......If I were Fisher & Snead & in their positions I would not have offered a low ball bid to either JL or Chris I would have thought that would be a Classless move on to very high class players.

In truth this release of JL & CL should not have been so surprising to either of them IMO. The best was to let them have a short period of time to be a totally free agent outside the rules of the new 2016 NFL Official Free Agency period that starts here just after the first week of March. If we beleiev JL on his comments since the release ...then JL must not have any pocket awareness to the business side of the NFL along with self awarness on his overall decline in his on field performance...somehow ( I know this is going to upset the sensitive bleeding heart Ram members here) I not buying what JL has been saying in his media shows lately & what he is putting out there about how surprised he was as to the release. :huh:

Long like I have posted numerous time before will find a wonderful free market for his brand. Big big $$$ is out there for Chris (that he would not of got here with the Rams) him in a 1 to 2 yr contract. Dallas Cowboys are in dire need for some serious Chris long CLASS in their DL right now! Dallas is the perfect spot for Chris to land IMO for the next few yrs.

Now JL is in for a serious shock when his offers come back at him. JL needs to look for a 34 defense where he can get some big help inside with another inside LB'er covering up for his big lack of physicality & speed. On Jared Cook??? I really could care less what happens to him hopes he goes to the 9ers or the Seabirds.

Good post.
You are right, giving guys an early entrance to FA to find the best deal is the classy way to handle it. I am sure neither player was surprised. A team like San Diego, that 3/4 D when JL can team with a younger inside player makes sense.
Long will get offers. Oakland and Dallas make a lot of sense.

 

[Rams43]

With all due respect to Wagoner...

Our "in house" players are band aids at DE and TE. And I'm trying to keep an open mind about Tree at MLB, but let's just say I have my doubts.

Look, I like both Hayes and Kendricks just fine. Hayes was our de facto starter at LDE and played pretty well. Kendricks was just okay. But they're both just backups on a playoff roster. Perhaps S&F really like Ayers or Hager at LB and intend to blend them in this season?

But that's all faint praise, isn't it?

The playoffs opened my eyes as to what REAL TE and LB play looks like.

We don't have those caliber players at the following positions:

QB
WR
TE

Now LDE and one LB can be added to that list.

We do have 6 draft picks, including 3 in the top 45, and over $60 million in cap space to improve our weaknesses and resign our key FA's.

Should be enough if the picks and FA dollars are spent wisely.

 

[Fatbot]

I guess I'm more bearish on Hayes than most. I think he feeds off big situations that skew his overall numbers into suggesting he's better than he actually is. On one hand that's great, but I'm concerned he doesn't have the consistency for an every down starter. He has a tendency to get hooked and give up the edge too much. Plus, he has injury concerns. Ideally I'd like him to stay a pass rush situational rotation guy where he can thrive. But the defense was fine without Long last year at LDE and I expect it will be the same, I'm just not thinking it's going to get better like some seem to be excited will be the case now that Long is gone.

Ogletree is very interesting to me in terms of where the NFL theory has gone re: stopping the run. Size just doesn't matter, strength at the point just doesn't matter. The days of the MLB bringing the wood to stand up a blocker, shed the block and scrape down the line in pursuit seem gone. I think part of it is that shedding blocks is a lost art due to offensive line holding (and not called) gone wild. So the NFL is going to home run hitting playmakers at MLB that either read correctly and make an unblocked tackle, or guess wrong and are out of the play. Which is what I think we will get with Ogletree at MLB (and also Barron at OLB).

I guess the reason is it matches up with the spread of zone blocking, but part of me thinks that it's feeding right into the goal of zone blocking -- to spread the defense horizontally and read which defender makes the mistake to create a lane for the RB to cut up field. AO in the wrong place or over-pursuing gives that exact cut up lane. But on the other hand, AO's superior athleticism means that he can compensate for read mistakes and recover to make amazing plays, which he's shown over and over, which could ruin the zone blocking's plan when the RB reads something that he thinks is there then out of nowhere AO slams it shut.

Still, it's hard for me to give up on wanting the old school big fireplug of a thumper MLB. Especially with the Rams also going small on the d-line, I don't see why opponents don't just go jumbo and get their 4 yards and a cloud of dust on the undersized Rams. But maybe in today's game that's just not a strength of offenses any more.

As to Kendricks, I was against his big contract last year so again I'm more low on him than others but I've always liked him as an overall player, I just think that it would be more valuable to have different guys with different elite skills to put in at the TE position (one guy an elite receiver, another guy an elite blocker), not a guy that's an average at everything "swiss army knife" type.

 

[Merlin]

At MLB they should be ok with Ogletree. He will be an upgrade too in rushing the A gaps on certain downs, as well as dropping into coverage and not having to leave the field because he's much quicker than JL was. He's also a lot stronger than given credit for and it shows in his tendency to strip the ball. My only question with him is can he take the pounding but there's only one way to find out. Rams might take a LB at some point in this draft, gonna come down to how happy they are with their offensive picks and overall value though.

At DE Hayes is going to be a transition starter. He can hold it down for a year or two at LDE and the Rams have time there. This draft does have some great depth too, but the problem they run into is number of picks because those round 3 and 4 picks might also be needed for a center or kicker, or some other BPA they find they cannot pass up due to value on draft day. And I have a feeling they are much higher on Longacre then people realize and he might be part of the reason they decided to cut bait vice redoing Chris' contract. Bottom line is they're fine as long as they re-sign Hayes.

TE is the only position I think Wags is wrong on. Lance can take on more, sure. But they need a guy with some hands who can line up in the passing game. So if they see an option like Fleener hit the FA market they will pounce on him IMO.

 

[BonifayRam]

YEP!! And the problem w/ Wagoners theory is these "Replacements" , IMHO, is that they are NOT up-grades over the players they are replacing!!

I have a ton of thoughts here Dave on your thoughts:coffee:........... The loss of 3/4's of the Rams four DE's since Fisher arrived in 2012 is a very big hit right there next to the loss of both starting CB's. That's two very sizable positional hits to take care & upgrade in just one off season. I agree that the current players DE/CB signed who would replace them now would NOT be an UPGRADE. Rams have 3 or maybe 4 signed players that we will see a lot of in TC & pre season.

Ethan Westbrooks entering his 3rd season has seen a ton of on field action. EW ( UDFA & good cap friendly) has well earned his paycheck doing a ton of dirty nasty work playing out of position in the interior of the DL. EW has played both the NT & DT interior post along with seeing action lightly @ both DE posts. EW has played in 19 games over two seasons & played his rookie season mostly with a badly broken right hand which cost him many games. This very thin over 6-4 267 pound DT held up well. No way EW was going to play his ideal position LDE over a CL or a WH. I not sure we have seen the best that EW can do yet!!!!!!! Now we will finally see what EW can do playing in a post that best suites his skills.

John Longacre (another cap friendly UDFA) was brought in mid season when CL was injured to back up WH. The rookie Longacre saw a ton of action in five games & played well both against the run & pass. Longacre should continue to move forward in his 2nd TC & preseason.

The next two are tweeners Zack Hodges was signed late last season he is a 6-3 255 pounder who played DL in college but has size issues to play any of the DL other than as a passing down RDE behind Rob Quinn. ZH is listed a DE/LB'er. One thing that will stick out when you read all the write up on this player is the remarks about his extra long arms (34 1/4") & high athleticism, a bursty, edge-bending pass rusher with a devastating spin move.

Tweener Akeem Ayers yes our last season starting strong-side Lber. AA has the very good ability when needed to play as a edge rusher on any passing downs. AA could end up being considered to replace JL as the part time MLB'er too but if the Rams end up short & in need of a pass rushers. AA can easily fill this need & many others.

Finally here @ DE UFA Eugene Sims could be a much easier resign when William Hayes is buried from a ton of incoming high $$$ contract offers from over a dozen teams. Sims could soften the losses of both WH & CL. But Sims is no pass rusher but could get them by well enough with the other mentioned DE's here. A healthy Rob Quinn, Aaron Donald, Micheal Brockers as the main three Fisher may have to let it ride on the above five prospects in 2016 and see who develops. I am fine with this.

 

[BonifayRam]

I guess I'm more bearish on Hayes than most. I think he feeds off big situations that skew his overall numbers into suggesting he's better than he actually is. On one hand that's great, but I'm concerned he doesn't have the consistency for an every down starter. He has a tendency to get hooked and give up the edge too much. Plus, he has injury concerns. Ideally I'd like him to stay a pass rush situational rotation guy where he can thrive. But the defense was fine without Long last year at LDE and I expect it will be the same, I'm just not thinking it's going to get better like some seem to be excited will be the case now that Long is gone.

Ogletree is very interesting to me in terms of where the NFL theory has gone re: stopping the run. Size just doesn't matter, strength at the point just doesn't matter. The days of the MLB bringing the wood to stand up a blocker, shed the block and scrape down the line in pursuit seem gone. I think part of it is that shedding blocks is a lost art due to offensive line holding (and not called) gone wild. So the NFL is going to home run hitting playmakers at MLB that either read correctly and make an unblocked tackle, or guess wrong and are out of the play. Which is what I think we will get with Ogletree at MLB (and also Barron at OLB).

I guess the reason is it matches up with the spread of zone blocking, but part of me thinks that it's feeding right into the goal of zone blocking -- to spread the defense horizontally and read which defender makes the mistake to create a lane for the RB to cut up field. AO in the wrong place or over-pursuing gives that exact cut up lane. But on the other hand, AO's superior athleticism means that he can compensate for read mistakes and recover to make amazing plays, which he's shown over and over, which could ruin the zone blocking's plan when the RB reads something that he thinks is there then out of nowhere AO slams it shut.

Still, it's hard for me to give up on wanting the old school big fireplug of a thumper MLB. Especially with the Rams also going small on the d-line, I don't see why opponents don't just go jumbo and get their 4 yards and a cloud of dust on the undersized Rams. But maybe in today's game that's just not a strength of offenses any more.

As to Kendricks, I was against his big contract last year so again I'm more low on him than others but I've always liked him as an overall player, I just think that it would be more valuable to have different guys with different elite skills to put in at the TE position (one guy an elite receiver, another guy an elite blocker), not a guy that's an average at everything "swiss army knife" type.

Look I am big fan on Hayes & I do want him back BUT if you go back & review, take a look at his 3 sack Seattle game in wk 16 Which made him 5.5 sacks for the season after finishing 12 games as our starter.....check to see which positions spent a good part pf the game blocking Hayes & Long....:eek:

In fact when you look back at the opponents game plans later in the season to stop DT Aaron Donald in the middle of their OL came from the opponents using OT's to slow AD down because the interior OL's(OG & OC's) were just to slow to be effective. I wonder who blocked our DE's Sims/Hayes/Long??????

Then you will find some additional ammo to back up your post. Warning here you will not feel more positive of these 3 free agent Ram DE's.

 

[Ram65]

Ogletree is not a MIKE.

Hayes was that good last year as a starter. He is better coming off the bench and being moved around.

 

[shaunpinney]

Yeah, I hear ya.
I hate to see Long go. But, restructure to him may have meant going from $14M to $11M while the Rams idea of restructure may have been to free up $9M. Two very different things.
I am fine with Hayes replacing Long. As long as he can play disciplined he may bring more to the table than Long at this point (remembering Long hasn't been healthy for two years).
I am totally fine with Kendricks replacing Cook. He is a better TE already.
Ogletree at MLB is the move that is a concern to me.

I've never been a Cook fan, dude just doesn't look like he wants to play - I'm also concerned with Ogletree at MLB, I know JL55 seems to have a lot of haters, but I think he was almost like having a defensive playbook on the field, he's been the rams DQB for years, he will be hard to follow - thats just my opinion obviously.

 

[fearsomefour]

I've never been a Cook fan, dude just doesn't look like he wants to play - I'm also concerned with Ogletree at MLB, I know JL55 seems to have a lot of haters, but I think he was almost like having a defensive playbook on the field, he's been the rams DQB for years, he will be hard to follow - thats just my opinion obviously.

Agreed.
The knock on JL was he struggled to get off blocks....which is exactly what Olgetree struggles with, but, he is smaller and does not have experience running a D in the NFL. He is more athletic for sure, but, I would rather sign a guy like Tullock to play MLB. Maybe Ogletree can handle it.

 

[shaunpinney]

Agreed.
The knock on JL was he struggled to get off blocks....which is exactly what Olgetree struggles with, but, he is smaller and does not have experience running a D in the NFL. He is more athletic for sure, but, I would rather sign a guy like Tullock to play MLB. Maybe Ogletree can handle it.

Lets hope whoever steps into JL55s shoes they can fill 'em