Roger Saffold

[AllGasNoBrakes]

not hindsight for all of us. A few were upset that they !are little effort to retain him.

We had Noteboom ready to go and obviously had a couple of OL in mind to take in the draft. Hindsight 20/20, who knew Noteboom would be out for the season and Blythe would regress at G the way he did (partially due to injuries). Rams made the cost effective choice at the time.

 

[FarNorth]

We had Noteboom ready to go and obviously had a couple of OL in mind to take in the draft. Hindsight 20/20, who knew Noteboom would be out for the season and Blythe would regress at G the way he did (partially due to injuries). Rams made the cost effective choice at the time.

Or not. Some of us thought that retaining Saffold was actually pretty critical. At the moment failing to do so is looking more like the Bengals' decision to let Whitworth walk (though the Titans have other good linemen too.)

Instead we spent the money on defensive players, but the D was inconsistent and never pulled it together for a stretch run.

At the end of the day the o-line was a problem all year, never really opening the run game and forcing us into a higher percentage of passing downs than almost any (or maybe any) other team.

In the big picture this was not exactly cost effective.

 

[Riverumbbq]

We had Noteboom ready to go and obviously had a couple of OL in mind to take in the draft. Hindsight 20/20, who knew Noteboom would be out for the season and Blythe would regress at G the way he did (partially due to injuries). Rams made the cost effective choice at the time.

Sure, it might be hindsight now, but it wasn't the most cost effective move since moving Brockers and keeping Saffold would have been a relative push in relation to the CAP.
Imagine if we had drafted Florida Edge Josh Sweat in the 4'th round rather than Brian Allen, we'd still have Saffold, likely could have traded Brockers for something, ... and Sweat put up far better numbers this season than Brockers even from a reserve role. Plenty of people here wanted Sweat, so it wasn't a far fetched idea. Anyway, it doesn't matter much now.

 

[Corbin]

Spilt coffee = trading Aaron Donald

 

[Young Ram]

 

[kurtfaulk]

.

Shit happens.

Can't get every decision right. They thought noteboom could get it done. With the way he played as a rookie it wasn't an unreasonable thought. They were wrong.

Not gonna cry about it.

.

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

We had Noteboom ready to go and obviously had a couple of OL in mind to take in the draft. Hindsight 20/20, who knew Noteboom would be out for the season and Blythe would regress at G the way he did (partially due to injuries). Rams made the cost effective choice at the time.

I have no idea where the idea "Notebook (or Allen) was ready to go" came from. Quality OL doesn't fall from trees, and has a huge impact on everything. We should've done whatever it took to keep Saffold and invested more heavliy in OL depth and eventual replacements.

I really hope the Rams' FO learned something critical from this.

 

[Petrowsky]

Saffold signed a 4 year, $44.mil contract.
Brockers had a $10.750mil CAP hit this season.

One of them had to go for CAP reasons. I preferred keeping Saffold. Brockers had a fairly poor 2018 so it was difficult for me to understand the decision, although Brockers did recover some this season, he's still in the wrong scheme where I believe he as a 4-3 DT is a much better fit.
jmo.

I think the Rams could have made it work. Instead of signing Fowler to the one year contract, they could have signed Shaquil Barrett and Saffold. It would have been a little more expensive, but not too bad.

 

[den-the-coach]

Everyone undersstand this, IMO, the FO philosophy was not to sign players to their last contracts Andrew Whitworth, notwithstanding (his was 3 year deal) however, the Rams were wrong on Saffold as he had proven durability and was a linchpin to the OL. IMO, the Rams focused too much on the defense with contracts and I believe that is one of the reasons, Wade is no longer Defensive Coordinator.

Another little tidbit about the Titans Offensive Line that might make you more upset...

LT...Taylor Lewan....Rams could have drafted Lewan over Greg Robinson, Lewan was not rated as high, however, was more proven and worked his ass off, something Robinson never did.

RG...Nate Davis, many on this board who do mocks like @jrry32 & @Memento for example, had us taking Nate Davis out of Charlotte ranking Rams should have heeded their advice.

RT...Jack Concklin, was the first player the Titans took with the Los Angeles Rams pick in the Jared Goff trade...So no doubt Ram fans have somewhat of a vested interest in the Titan Offensive Line.

 

[IBruce80]

Best of luck to him and the Titans.

 

[leoram]

Rodger Saffold to Gurley/Henry = Steve Hutchinson to Alexander/Peterson.

Ever since we had Tom Mack, I’ve believed a dominant OG was critical to a top rushing attack. Yes, it takes all five...but without that one dude...you won’t consistently win the run game.

 

[dang]

Last year the OL had a very good year with some regression at the end. The weak links being Sullivan and Blythe in the interior. This year the interior was a mess for a number of reasons. The Rams need to make a concerted effort to Fix the interior this year to reestablish the run game and balance the offense.

 

[OldSchool]

.

Shit happens.

Can't get every decision right. They thought noteboom could get it done. With the way he played as a rookie it wasn't an unreasonable thought. They were wrong.

Not gonna cry about it.

.

shhhhh let them enjoy some revisionist history.

 

[Ram65]

The decision not to resign Saffold was made before his final year with the Rams. It wasn't like if the Rams would trade/cut Brokers before this season we can keep Saffold.

It feels like I took a long boat ride as far as posting about keeping, then not keep Roger Saffold. I wanted the Rams to resign him before he entered the last year of his contract. I thought they could resign him for $8-9 Million a year by giving him the security of having his money earlier. Let's not forget Roger had some earlier injuries and often during games he would go down and miss plays.

The Rams decided to extend Havenstein in late August of 2018. The choice was made that Havenstein was the guy the Rams wanted to keep. I was holding out hope even after the season ended last year. Long discussions on what Roger would net as a free agent. IIRC $13-14 Million was floated around as high amounts and I was hoping for less $10-12 Million. It became apparent that the Rams were going to go with the younger Noteboom at LG and let Saffold get his big payday elsewhere. A decision seemingly made with the resigning of Havenstein.

I thought resigning Havenstein was a good move at the time. He had played very well up to that point. He was younger than Saffold and could help anchor the offensive line in his prime. I still wanted the Rams to resign Saffold until it became apparent that the job was going to Noteboom. I jumped aboard the Kromer train that Noteboon can take over for Saffold. Noteboom was not nearly as good as Saffold and got injured. The Rams also had less favorable results with Allen taking over for Sullivan at OC. Then injuries hit both of them and Havenstein regressed before getting injured.

In the NFL with a salary cap in place, decisions have to be made a year or two in advance. You could see the Rams plans coming together over that period of time. It must have made sense to the Rams at the time. It seemed like the plan could work to me as it was unfolding. Unfortunately, it didn't work out as the Rams thought it would.

 

[LesBaker]

It was a bad move, but they weren't going to pay him what the Titans did.

Remember they let him go to Oakland too.

I guess it's a case of "you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone".

 

[fearsomefour]

Does work, esp getting to the second level in the running game. Him and the LT in Tennessee get it done in the run game.
NFL record streak Henry is on.
Saffold certainly doing his part.

 

[fearsomefour]

The Rams decided to let Saffold walk when he signed with Oakland.
They clutches their pearls and found a way out of the deal and the Rams got him back at a cheaper price.
The org doesn’t want to pay big contracts for interior lineman. That is pretty obvious at this point.

 

[BonifayRam]

Rams Org preferred WR Brandon Cooks $81 mil. 5 yr deal over the LG Rodger Saffold $44 million 4 yr contract. That decision IMO . Rams Org. looking forward & hopefully learning from this major mistake.

With the Titans take down of the Media Sports world's darling NFL team the Ravens the Titans OL with Taylor Lewan, Saffold, Ben Jones, Nate Davis, James Douglas & Jack Conklin demoralized the Ravens mental mojo. That's how you win Championships with strong investments in a talented smooth running OL. Ram Todd Gurley could have ran for 300 yds last night behind that OL.

I prefer Titans & Chiefs play for the AFC championship. I also hope that Rodger Saffold continues to grade out as OUTSTANDING! Snead sure can use an extra 2nd day draft selection awarded...I feel good @ this time that it might be a 3rd rounder yet!

Saffold is teetering between a 3rd & 4th round designation, but as of late he has proved durable & solid in creating lanes for Derrick Henry, thus bring in the higher value. Most of the projected players listed as 3rd round awards have had bad seasons & did not deliver much if any in comparison to what Rodger Saffold has. It will be interesting.

 

[Riverumbbq]

The org doesn’t want to pay big contracts for interior lineman. That is pretty obvious at this point.

And nowhere does that ring more true than at the Center position. I love Les Snead, but until the aging John Sullivan finally arrived in 2017, the reliance on cheap, bad or low range draftees was a constant.

Fisher Era

2012 Rams Centers :
Robert Turner, Tim Barnes

2013 Rams Centers :
Scott Wells, Tim Barnes, Barrett Jones (draftee)

2014 Rams Centers :
Scott Wells, Tim Barnes, Barrett Jones, Demetrius Rhaney (draftee)

2015 Rams Centers :
Tim Barnes, Demetrius Rhaney, Eric Kush

2016 Rams Centers :
Tim Barnes, Demetrius Rhaney

McVay Era

2017 Rams Centers :
John Sullivan, Aaron Neary

2018 Centers :
John Sullivan, Brian Allen (draftee)

2019 Centers :
Brian Allen, Austin Blythe, Coleman Shelton


During the Fisher era, the RG position has also been treated quite badly.

 

[fearsomefour]

And nowhere does that ring more true than at the Center position. I love Les Snead, but until the aging John Sullivan finally arrived in 2017, the reliance on cheap, bad or low range draftees was a constant.

Fisher Era

2012 Rams Centers :
Robert Turner, Tim Barnes

2013 Rams Centers :
Scott Wells, Tim Barnes, Barrett Jones (draftee)

2014 Rams Centers :
Scott Wells, Tim Barnes, Barrett Jones, Demetrius Rhaney (draftee)

2015 Rams Centers :
Tim Barnes, Demetrius Rhaney, Eric Kush

2016 Rams Centers :
Tim Barnes, Demetrius Rhaney

McVay Era

2017 Rams Centers :
John Sullivan, Aaron Neary

2018 Centers :
John Sullivan, Brian Allen (draftee)

2019 Centers :
Brian Allen, Austin Blythe, Coleman Shelton


During the Fisher era, the RG position has also been treated quite badly.

Scott Wells cost a few bucks and was an upgrade but couldn’t stay healthy if I remember correctly.
They had a string of luck finding guys....Mike G, then Andy McCollum and Tom Nutten (the most underrated signing of the GSoT era) on the cheap. But it more often than not doesn’t work.
Where are we at C for next year.
Allen....sort of reminded me of Barnes actually.
Shelton.
Need an upgrade. Wonder if Corbett will be given a shot there.