Rodney McLeod to Be in Demand?

[RamBill]

Dave Birkett‏@davebirkett
One other safety that'll be in demand next week: Rodney McLeod of the Rams. Was a mystery to me but NFL people like him.

Pete Prisco ‏@PriscoCBS
This. They like him a lot.

 

[Psycho_X]

It's cause he's good, damn't we better resign our own developed talent or I'm going to lose a gasket.

 

[-X-]

 

[BonifayRam]

Funny how thing s changed. For most last season we would often read from many other sites that the Rams has a weak duo of starting safeties and PPF's this & PPF's that & a bunch of Ram safety chumps. Rotoworld writers were the worse. Welcome into the modern world guys. Rams are no longer safety deprived. Fisher & Snead have brought big change to this area. Rod is a very good deep safety for this defense.

Rams have easy access to young good safeties like TJ McDonald, Mo Alexander, CB Bryant, Cody Davis & Lamarcus Joyner who could be plugged into any vacancy that the loss of Rod McLeod would make. I love Rodney but he is far from a big need to pay high for return action.

 

[Jorgeh0605]

I just shivered at the thought of losing Long, Laurinaitis, Mcleod, Barron, And Jenkins. I would be severely deflated if that happens. Retain at least Tru, Barron, And Mcleod

 

[Merlin]

McLeod is not a critical re-sign. Rams have the safety depth to let him go if he wants bank. It is time for TJM to range in the deep middle, and move Alexander in for more defensive snaps.

Critical re-signs: one CB (with tag), Barron, and Hayes.

 

[BonifayRam]

If The Rod got some out of line $$$ thrown at him & he does not return..... Rams may have one similar type DB named Christian Bryant, S, 5-10, 193, Ohio State. Rod was UDFA & was short too. Bryant was a four-star cornerback recruit who quickly saw immediate playing time due to injuries & stepped into a starting nickel-back. Like Rod, Bryant has fluid athleticism with the play speed & feet of a former cornerback, but has the mentality and physical nature of a safety. Like Rod, Bryant has rangy athleticism allows him to cover a lot of ground and his instincts frequently lead him to being in the right spot at the right time in college. Bryant also has some other Rod stuff in him cause he closes fast with bad intentions, aggressively throwing his body around. The biggy, needs to stay healthy to prove he can be durable enough for the NFL.

I not sure I would move TJ McDonald back to the rear of this defense TJ just might fall asleep on the field. Mo Alexander is no deep safety has more ability close to LOS much like Mark Barron than Rod.

Rams fastest DB on the 2015 defense was Cody Davis 4.41 sec 40 yd dash as a 6-2 206 pounder. Cody has been a Ram since 2013 & has played in 33 Ram games. He knows Greggs defense. In college he was Capital One Academic All-America (first team)...Phil Steele All-Big 12 (second team)... All-Big 12 (second team). As a pro he has been playing behind Rod. It's hard to find big, physical safeties with speed and movement skills like Cody.

I think that Both Bryant & Davis should be given the opportunity first to fill the Rod post before spending big in UFA' cy or drafting a FS in this yrs draft. You might be surprised! At worse they could be a bridge this season until the 2017 draft.

 

[Boston Ram]

Critical re-signs: one CB (with tag), Barron, and Hayes

Agreed but would add both CB's.

 

[Dieter the Brock]

Rodney is the type of player this team needs UDFA who keeps getting better and has so much guts - he's actually my favorite player
Still remember the day Jim Thomas laughed at me for suggesting Rodney should start during his rookie year and now he's in demand
Gotta keep this guy - I hope they do
But other teams clearly see what I see, an affordable gamer who is durable and a great teammate

 

[Merlin]

The strength of the Rams coaching staff is on defense and in that secondary. Williams maximizes his talent and has a pipeline going at safety, I'm tellin you guys. Alexander is huge and athletic. TJM is huge and athletic. Let that depth work for us and let McLeod enjoy his big payday.

Barron ensures they have enough at LB and S and needs to be signed this week. Hayes is critical to replace Long and needs to be signed this week. With Tru locked down with the tag, that's all they need.

If they don't sign Barron it would be a big shock to me at least, because there's nobody in FA who can play at the level he showed. That means they gotta draft another big hybrid safety or a speedy LB and the dropoff from Barron to that draftee in this scheme is huge.

If they don't sign Hayes then I think they might be looking at an upgrade like Williams. But I expect it to get done.

Of course I was wrong about Jenks so wtf do I know...

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

If The Rod got some out of line $$$ thrown at him & he does not return..... Rams may have one similar type DB named Christian Bryant, S, 5-10, 193, Ohio State. Rod was UDFA & was short too. Bryant was a four-star cornerback recruit who quickly saw immediate playing time due to injuries & stepped into a starting nickel-back. Like Rod, Bryant has fluid athleticism with the play speed & feet of a former cornerback, but has the mentality and physical nature of a safety. Like Rod, Bryant has rangy athleticism allows him to cover a lot of ground and his instincts frequently lead him to being in the right spot at the right time in college. Bryant also has some other Rod stuff in him cause he closes fast with bad intentions, aggressively throwing his body around. The biggy, needs to stay healthy to prove he can be durable enough for the NFL.

I not sure I would move TJ McDonald back to the rear of this defense TJ just might fall asleep on the field. Mo Alexander is no deep safety has more ability close to LOS much like Mark Barron than Rod.

Rams fastest DB on the 2015 defense was Cody Davis 4.41 sec 40 yd dash as a 6-2 206 pounder. Cody has been a Ram since 2013 & has played in 33 Ram games. He knows Greggs defense. In college he was Capital One Academic All-America (first team)...Phil Steele All-Big 12 (second team)... All-Big 12 (second team). As a pro he has been playing behind Rod. It's hard to find big, physical safeties with speed and movement skills like Cody.

I think that Both Bryant & Davis should be given the opportunity first to fill the Rod post before spending big in UFA' cy or drafting a FS in this yrs draft. You might be surprised! At worse they could be a bridge this season until the 2017 draft.

I thought Mo was the most likely replacement for McLeod.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Got trust this staff on these defensive players.

Kind of scary losing so many starters.

 

[Ramrasta]

With Eric Berry being franchise tagged, Rodney is up there with the best available free agent safeties but there are so many good options in the draft and he is not well recognized so resigning him shouldn't be as much trouble as it has been with Jenkins.

 

[Merlin]

Yeah there are some really good safeties in this draft. A guy who is a great fit for what Fish/Williams like is Killebrew. He'd be strongly considered as a Barron replacement but they'd have to use a round 2 pick on him because teams are gonna be all over that dude.

 

[StealYoGurley]

I think some people are underrating rod.

1. After cutting Long and JL Rod is one of the few remaining leaders on the team
2. He makes all the coverage calls it would be tough blow to loose our defensive play caller and our guy who calls out our coverage all in one season
3. People complain about the lack of splash plays but you'll b hard pressed to find a safety who would make many plays when the play as deep as rod
4. Nickel is not his best position but he can fill that role in pinch

I wouldn't go over 5.5 million a year and I don't think we need to. He likes LA, he likes the coaching staff, and loves his teamates. Unlike Jenks he seems like he really enjoys hanging out with his secondary mates especially TJ and Tru. If we give him a fare offer I think he will want to come back and do something really special with his boys.

 

[kurtfaulk]

.

I think they're ready to let mo go.

Go out there and kick ass. He's had his babying period. Now it will be pedal to the metal.

They won't overpay for McLeod and this is his chance for a big payday. I think he's outta here.

.

 

[tempests]

Dave Birkett‏@davebirkett
One other safety that'll be in demand next week: Rodney McLeod of the Rams. Was a mystery to me but NFL people like him.

Pete Prisco ‏@PriscoCBS
This. They like him a lot.

Why wouldn't they like him. Player that's improved every year.

No matter how much depth the Rams may have; losing two key starters would hurt any secondary.

 

[StealYoGurley]

There is huge difference between replacing McLeod with Bryant/Davis and replacing Jenkins with Gaines/Roberson. Gaines and Roberson have 21 Career starts between them compared to 0 between Bryant/Davis. It speaks to Rodney's durability and the experience we have behind him. Free safties are hard to find we have a top ten FS IMO and we shouldn't give up on him so easily.

 

[jrry32]

McLeod is a solid safety but he's not great. If a team wants to overpay, go for it.