River Mock 2.0 ...

[Riverumbbq]

BIG CHANGES. One costly free agent signing along with several vets moving on. Two minor trades for additional draft picks and also to increase overall available CAP.
As you can see, the Rams will be getting much younger, but I believe this remains a deep play-off caliber roster when healthy. jmo.

Re-Sign :

Greg Zuerlein
RFA Donte Deayon, ERFA's John Kelly, John Carraway, Johnnie Mundt, Coleman Shelton, Jake Gervase, and all Practice Squad members.

Departing Free Agents :

Andrew Whitworth
Donte Fowler
Cory Littleton
Michael Brockers
Aqib Talib
Blake Bortles
Bryce Hager
Marqui Christian
Mike Thomas
Austin Blythe
RFA-JoJo Natson
RFA-Morgan Fox

Cuts :

Tanzel Smart
Micah Kiser

New Free Agent :

Brandon Scherff

PUP :

Joe Noteboom

Trades :

Nickell Roby-Coleman (4'th rounder)
Troy Hill (6'th rd.)

2020 NFL Draft * :

1) N/A
2) DE - Carlos Basham, W.F.
3a) OT - Alex Leatherwood, Ala.
3b) Trade up for an earlier 3'rd or later 2'nd rd. pick. for Leatherwood
4a) C/OG - Cesar Ruiz, Mi.
4b) CB - Jaylon Johnson, Ut. (From Roby-Coleman Trade)
5) S - Khaleke Hudson, Mi.
6a) WR - KJ Hill, Oh.St.
6b) QB - Brian Lewerke, Mi. St. (From Troy Hill Trade)
7) DE/DT - Robert Windsor, PennSt.


Rams 2020 53 Roster :

OFFENSE (24)

QB :
Goff
Wolford

OL :
Brandon Scherff
Leatherwood *
Havenstein
Ruiz *
Shelton
Edwards
Evans
Brewer
Corbett

RB's :
Gurley
Brown
Henderson

TE's :
Everett
Higbee
Mundt
Blanton

WR's :
Cooks
Woods
Kupp
Reynolds
KJ Hill*
Webster

DEFENCE (26)

DL :
Donald
Basham *
Joseph
Gaines
Copeland
Lawler

ILB's :
Young
Patrick
Howard
D. Allen

OLB's :
Matthews
Okoronkwo
Polite
Durham
Ebukam
Carraway

CB's :
Ramsey
Long
Jaylon Johnson*
Williams
Deayon

Safeties :
Weddle
Johnson
Rapp
Gervase
Scott

Special Teams (3) :

Hekker
Zuerlein
McQuaide

Practice Squad :

OL - Demby
RB - Kelly
QB - Brian Lewerke*
C - Trewyn
CB - Alexander
C - B. Allen
ILB - Reeder
S - Khaleke Hudson *
DE/DT - Robert Windsor *
UDFA #10

 

[Memento]

I'm really worried about wide receiver. You've obviously got Cooks out for potentially his career. Thomas is out, Natson potentially out, and Reynolds and Kupp are in walk years. I'd pick two wideouts early, especially since you shored up the O-line with Scherff.

I don't mind Basham. I like Leatherwood, but he's got first round potential.

Totally disagree with Brian Allen on the practice squad because he actually has starting experience and knows the line calls, however much he struggled playing this year. Starting two rookies at left tackle and center (Leatherwood and Ruiz is a recipe for disaster.

Also disagree with cutting Kiser; our inside linebackers look especially vulnerable without Littleton and with Reeder on the practice squad. Kiser should at least get the chance to compete, given that he's the best run stuffer at ILB we have.

 

[Riverumbbq]

I'm really worried about wide receiver. You've obviously got Cooks out for potentially his career. Thomas is out, Natson potentially out, and Reynolds and Kupp are in walk years. I'd pick two wideouts early, especially since you shored up the O-line with Scherff.

I don't mind Basham. I like Leatherwood, but he's got first round potential.

Totally disagree with Brian Allen on the practice squad because he actually has starting experience and knows the line calls, however much he struggled playing this year. Starting two rookies at left tackle and center (Leatherwood and Ruiz is a recipe for disaster.

Also disagree with cutting Kiser; our inside linebackers look especially vulnerable without Littleton and with Reeder on the practice squad. Kiser should at least get the chance to compete, given that he's the best run stuffer at ILB we have.

OK, if you think trading up our two 3'rd round picks is not enough gas to move up into the 2'nd for Leatherwood, then i'll just take Lucas Niang in the 3'rd and keep our second 3 for another player. Either way, it's going to be the BPA OT with that first pick of ours in the 3'rd round, whether we have to move up or not.

I'm good with my WR choices, at least until it becomes official that Cooks is going, ... if that should occur i'll adjust for it in my next mock. Kupp won't be going anywhere, Reynolds can be replaced in the 2021 draft.

Brian Allen was obviously a tough call, but he hasn't done anything this season to make me a believer, so i'm adding depth and likely starting Shelton. We will have plenty of competition at the position with Ruiz, Allen, Trewyn, Kolone & Shelton. I didn't say anything about Leatherwood and/or Ruiz starting.

Kiser's another guy who left a lot to be desired during his few starts, I won't miss him if he's beaten out. Right now I like Patrick starting, we'll have to wait on who plays next to him. Kiser will have every chance to compete, I just don't have him making the team at the moment. jmo.

 

[JonRam99]

Like it or not, we made Cooks our WR1 when we traded for him. He doesn't have size but he does stretch the field for us. But now he's teetering on the edge of retirement. Without a 1st round pick, it will be very hard to replace him without finding a late round gem. Which can be done btw.
We need to keep one of Fowler, Littleton or Brockers to avoid using our <late> 2nd rounder on a DE. Okoronkwo is doing great as an OLB, so maybe Fowler can be expendable. Brockers does so much but maybe he can be as well, as we seem to like JFM, JSB, etc. But hitting on a LB like Littleton is rare, we need to extend him as soon as practicable. So I may be on board with DE in the 2nd, but what WR options can be had there? and if we let Littleton walk (a "Fletcher 2.0" mistake IMO) what LB options are there?
It's possible our OL picks of the last 2 drafts will work out, but Scherff alone would be a huge upgrade. We've upgraded at S, CB, OLB, RB, TE, and most other positions I can think of. So I'm starting to think WR1 would be the best option, but with a late 2nd pick, we may not have good options there if the WR pool isn't deep.

 

[Riverumbbq]

Like it or not, we made Cooks our WR1 when we traded for him. He doesn't have size but he does stretch the field for us. But now he's teetering on the edge of retirement. Without a 1st round pick, it will be very hard to replace him without finding a late round gem. Which can be done btw.
We need to keep one of Fowler, Littleton or Brockers to avoid using our <late> 2nd rounder on a DE. Okoronkwo is doing great as an OLB, so maybe Fowler can be expendable. Brockers does so much but maybe he can be as well, as we seem to like JFM, JSB, etc. But hitting on a LB like Littleton is rare, we need to extend him as soon as practicable. So I may be on board with DE in the 2nd, but what WR options can be had there? and if we let Littleton walk (a "Fletcher 2.0" mistake IMO) what LB options are there?
It's possible our OL picks of the last 2 drafts will work out, but Scherff alone would be a huge upgrade. We've upgraded at S, CB, OLB, RB, TE, and most other positions I can think of. So I'm starting to think WR1 would be the best option, but with a late 2nd pick, we may not have good options there if the WR pool isn't deep.

Thank you for your comments.

Of the 3 you mention, Littleton would be the guy I keep if it's financially feasible. Brockers isn't a 5T DE, he really belongs with a 4 - 3 Base Defense, we need someone who can exert more pressure on QB's and take on double teams so Donald can be even more effective than he already is. Fowler is expendable because we have a great deal of depth at the position and some team will overpay.

While it may seem a stretch to replace Cooks with the untested Webster at this time, he's a speedster and showed very good hands during the pre-season, I'm hoping he'll get an opportunity to start in place of Thomas soon, Thomas is likely gone following this season anyway. With all this, we may be premature in contemplating the end of Cooks career as we just don't know how this will all play out yet.

It's early yet in the experiment, but our rookie offensive linemen have passed their first major test in a starting role, so this may relieve some of the pressure from hitting an expensive free agency home run for a run at Brandon Scherff. We'll still need to add an OT and C/OG during the draft for increased competition, but following the Chicago game i'm leaning more towards retaining Whitworth for one more season. The difference in cost between Scherff & Whitworth could make re-signing Littleton possible, it will also give Noteboom extra time to recover,
strengthen and learn.

My next mock will reflect on the above, but probably won't be drastically altered. jmo.