River's McVay/Wade Mock 2.0 ... One trade

[Riverumbbq]

2.0 marks my first trade in a mock this off-season. While I generally believe adding trades to mocks makes what is already a low percentage crap-shoot tougher to take in, and this may be no exception, I add this as other posters have been including trades. As mentioned in a previous post, our possibly switching to a 3/4 hybrid base D under Phillips, and Greg Williams moving on to Cleveland where he will be switching from a 3/4 to a 4/3 base, may allow me to explore how both teams might help themselves. The Rams badly need a quality LT, we also could use 3/4 Linebackers, Cleveland needs 4/3 DE's and a quality 4/3 WLB, so I present the following : Ogletree & Hayes for Joe Thomas & Chris Kirksey. Both 'Tree' and Kirksey are young quality players on the upswing, ... Joe Thomas & William Hayes are quality vets. While player for player trades are quite uncommon, I don't necessarily see this as too drastic a move for teams trying to adjust schemes.
I've allowed 10 Rams Free Agents to move on and CAP Cut 3 more, adding the cost differential for the trades & dead money (Hayes), giving us near $48.mil in available CAP to pursue outside free agents and sign our new draft class. McVay & Phillips will be able to start the process of acquiring those players they feel may work better in their respective schemes.
This new starting OL should make for a powerful force allowing both Goff and Gurley to get on track, our newly constructed OLB'ers should also become a major pass rush weapon, making Donald just as dangerous as ever. Many will not like the loss of Tru Johnson & Ogletree, but i'm not sure Tru's cost will be worth the price in a year where the draft offers so much talent at the CB position, i'm also questioning whether 'Tree' could be comfortable as a 3/4 interior LB, or whether it would be a good fit. One more reason for the large turnover in personnel is to get this culture of losing behind us, embrace our new coaches with the players which hopefully takes our Rams to new heights, competing at a high level sooner than some might otherwise expect. I drafted 2 FS's to ensure Mo Alexander spends more time at SS. I couldn't decide on a 4'th TE or a 4'th RB, so I flipped a coin and Green won. 3 new CB's as Joyner will also be spending time at FS.

Re-sign :

Easley
Zuerlein
B. Cunningham

CAP cuts :

Sims
Barnes
Rhaney

Not to be resigned Free Agents :

Tru Johnson
Britt
Keenum
Quick
Reynolds
Cam Thomas
TJ McDonald
Westbrooks (RFA)
Longacre (ERFA)
Trinca-Pasat (ERFA)

2017 Free Agency:

LOLB - Nick Perry
DT - Abry Jones
C - J.C. Tretter
WR - Pierre Garcon or Alshon Jeffery
CB - AJ Bouye

Trade :

WLB Ogletree & LDE Hayes for Cleveland's LT Joe Thomas & MILB Chris Kirksey

2017 Draft :

1) n/a
2) CB - Gareon Conley, Oh.St.
3) DE - Tanoh Kpassagnon, Vil.
4a) OG - Nico Siragusa, SD St.
4b) CB - Marquez White, Fl.St. (Comp Pick)
5) FS - Josh Jones, NC St.
6a) FS - Rayshawn Jenkins, Miami
6b) ILB - Marquel Lee, W.F. (Comp Pick)
7) FB - Freddie Stevenson, Fl.St.

Offense (26) :

LT - J.Thomas, Williams
LG - Saffold, Wichmann, Siragusa
C - Tretter, Wichmann
RG - GRob, Brown, Siragusa
RT - Havenstein, Donnal

RB - Gurley, B.Cunningham, M.Brown, Green

TE - Kendricks, Higbee, Hemmingway

FB - Harkey or Stevenson

WR - Garcon or Jeffery, Austin, Cooper, Spruce, M.Thomas, Marquez North or Paul McRoberts

QB - Goff, Mannion

Defense (24) :

LDE - Easley, Kpassagnon
NT - Brockers, Jones
RDE - Donald, Kpassagnon

LOLB - Perry, Fox
LILB - Kirksey, Forrest
RILB - Barron, Hager, Lee
ROLB - Quinn, Fox

CB - Bouye, Conley, Gaines, Joyner, Jordan, White

SS - Alexander, Randolph, ... Barron
FS - Jones, Jenkins, ... Joyner, Davis

Special Teams (3) :

P - Hekker
K - Zuerlein
LS - McQuaide

 

[jrry32]

That's a very interesting trade. I actually like it. I don't think it would happen, but it's certainly an original thought and justifiable for both teams. Everything else looks good. I'd hope we'd add some more depth in FA. The one critique I have is that I think we can do better than Marquez White in the 4th. I'm not a huge fan of his cover skills (love the way he plays the run, though).

 

[Riverumbbq]

Wanted to avoid it becoming 'too much' with the OP, but the Cleveland trade could easily be enhanced with their desire to transition from a 3/4 base D to a 4/3 base now that Greg Williams has taken over as DC. Consider the Rams have multiple defensive players that are unlikely to fit with the new Phillips 3/4, so RFA's and ERFA's like Trinca-Pasat, Westbrooks, Longacre, etc., who are all well known to Williams, might be added to the original trade or offered as a secondary trade, even future draft picks could be offered. Say we offer all 3 of the above players AND a 2018 5'th round draft pick in order to swap our 2017 2'nd and 3'rd round picks for the Cleveland 2'nd & 3'rd round picks, which is only a 4 pick gain in each of the two rounds, but could still be a difference maker in landing a potentially desirable player that may not have otherwise fallen to us. jmo.

 

[Riverumbbq]

Couldn't edit in the free agent CAP, so I offer it here :

Re-sign :

Easley (RFA Tender)
Zuerlein (3 years, $7.5mil)
B. Cunningham (3 years, $6.mil)

2017 Free Agency:

LOLB - Nick Perry (4 years, $30.mil)
DT - Nick Fairley (4 years, $22.5mil) or Abry Jones (4 years, $20.mil)
C - J.C. Trotter (3 years, $12.5mil)
WR - Pierre Garcon (3 years, $33.mil) or Alshon Jeffery (4 years, $48.mil)
CB - AJ Bouye (4 years, $24.mil)


Just in from RotoWorld :

Packers placed OL J.C. Tretter (MCL) on injured reserve.

Tretter had knee surgery this week. He was already ruled out for the postseason. A free agent, 25-year-old Tretter will likely have to settle for one-year offers.

 

[jrry32]

Couldn't edit in the free agent CAP, so I offer it here :

Re-sign :

Easley (RFA Tender)
Zuerlein (3 years, $7.5mil)
B. Cunningham (3 years, $6.mil)

2017 Free Agency:

LOLB - Nick Perry (4 years, $30.mil)
DT - Nick Fairley (4 years, $22.5mil) or Abry Jones (4 years, $20.mil)
C - J.C. Trotter (3 years, $12.5mil)
WR - Pierre Garcon (3 years, $33.mil) or Alshon Jeffery (4 years, $48.mil)
CB - AJ Bouye (4 years, $24.mil)


Just in from RotoWorld :

Packers placed OL J.C. Tretter (MCL) on injured reserve.

Tretter had knee surgery this week. He was already ruled out for the postseason. A free agent, 25-year-old Tretter will likely have to settle for one-year offers.

I think the numbers are a bit off. But they go both ways. So no big deal.

 

[Riverumbbq]

That's a very interesting trade. I actually like it. I don't think it would happen, but it's certainly an original thought and justifiable for both teams. Everything else looks good. I'd hope we'd add some more depth in FA.

That's a full 53 man roster, so no room for any more unless I get into the Practice Squad.

 

[jrry32]

That's a full 53 man roster, so no room for any more unless I get into the Practice Squad.

There are 5-10 guys who won't make the roster.

 

[Riverumbbq]

There are 5-10 guys who won't make the roster.

We are all welcome to our opinions, and when I see a mock that hits on everything and every one, i'll retire from these attempts.

In your first post on this thread you mention everything looked good other than a CB you didn't particularly care for, now there are up to 10 players who won't make the roster in your opinion. So who are the 10 guys you see as at risk, other than the 6'th or 7'th rounders who are always a bit risky to make most any team ?

My mocks purposefully create a 53 man depth chart, i'm not aiming to put together a 90 man camp roster. I wish more posters would give us the full 53 rather than just pick a dozen or so free agents who may not all make their final cut. Very rare that a team is 100 % at every position or unit, if I had more CAP I would have gone after a quality veteran FS, as it is, with Joyner, a couple rookies and some good coaching, i'm hoping it will be enough. If not, i'd look towards 2018 to fix the next depth problem that appears. I'd personally prefer more depth at DE & LB, but I didn't want to sacrifice Green or a 6'th WR at this time, although with subsequent mocks, they may also be in trouble for the 53. Same goes for Darrell Williams, will he come back from injury and look like those bright moments he had in 2015, or will he wash out in camp ? Same with Randolph, he looked pretty sharp at times before he went down. Same again goes for which of our current LB'ers fit with Phillips, which won't. We can't replace everyone, not imo.
Honestly, none of our mocks reflect what the team will look like next season, but it is fun to play GM and anticipate team needs and how best to create an opportunity to win sooner rather than later. Our mocks are likely to look very different immediately prior to the Combine, Free Agency, and again prior to the draft, they are all a work in progress as we receive and decipher whatever new information comes available. I appreciate all mocks, some give us new ideas that have me asking 'why didn't I think of that', others may appear a mess, but at least people are trying, and in so doing, learn more about our team and the players who may or may not become available to us. In 10 years, maybe i've seen one mock where I've said to myself 'I can't do any better than that', ... i'm hoping for that day to repeat itself. jmo.

 

[jrry32]

We are all welcome to our opinions, and when I see a mock that hits on everything and every one, i'll retire from these attempts.

In your first post on this thread you mention everything looked good other than a CB you didn't particularly care for, now there are up to 10 players who won't make the roster in your opinion. So who are the 10 guys you see as at risk, other than the 6'th or 7'th rounders who are always a bit risky to make most any team ?

I'm saying that there are 5-10 players on your depth chart who won't make the roster (guys like Aaron Green, Paul McRoberts, Darrell Williams, etc.). The point there is that we could sign more veteran depth players. I think it's a good idea to make young players beat out veteran depth. I'd rather not be forced to start random rookie UDFAs again.