Some fascinating (and agonizing) final cuts coming up, huh?

[jrry32]

I just don't buy the "pull his game back" part. That PR came on a day where it was 1000 degrees on the sideline for a 10am body clock game.

Yes our coverage was not good - but it's pretty simple to me:

Either someone told him to punt shorter to adjust for the coverage - and in that case, he's in no danger here. He will make the team.

Or nobody said anything and he did it to himself, or his play fell off.

One PR TD in that situation - especially considering how other parts of the team played that day, which shows that the heat and/or time was a factor - does not justify scaling it back to that degree unless the coaches specifically told him to do it.

And in that case, he's safe and this is all a moot point.

Dude averaged 47.4 yards per punt through the Miami game (half the year) and 43.9 yards per punt after it. Hekker's career average before 2020? 47.0 yards per punt. I will just say that I think you can draw your own conclusions from that. I don't think he's safe if the coaches told him to scale it back. They could still opt to pinch pennies and keep Bojorquez because of his powerful leg and the belief that the offense will be strong enough to not need an elite punter.

 

[Steve808]

Dude averaged 47.4 yards per punt through the Miami game (half the year) and 43.9 yards per punt after it. Hekker's career average before 2020? 47.0 yards per punt. I will just say that I think you can draw your own conclusions from that. I don't think he's safe if the coaches told him to scale it back. They could still opt to pinch pennies and keep Bojorquez because of his powerful leg and the belief that the offense will be strong enough to not need an elite punter.

This will be a tough decision but Hekker always had the threat of carrying out a great fake punt. He saved our skin in the NFC championship against New Orleans with a game changing converted fake punt.

 

[FarNorth]

I think the Rams may need to make some statement cuts here in a day or so. To include some former picks of value like Evans and maybe Lewis. Potentially even Hekker.

Do they go full meritocracy here? Or maybe puss out and weight those draft spots vs the shame of admitting they missed on guys.

McVay is ruthless. Whatever they do won't be pussing out.

 

[CGI_Ram]

Will Rams keep Blanton over Hopkins at TE? Assuming that they still are calling Harris a TE, that is? I’m leaning Blanton over Hopkins because Hopkins’ early apathy kinda ticked me off. Hopkins’ late surge was a little too late to suit me.

I was wondering this exact thing watching the Broncos game.

Blanton looks the part to me. Big target.

I might keep Blanton over Hopkins. It depends on the practice reps, we don’t see.

 

[TexasRam]

I was wondering this exact thing watching the Broncos game.

Blanton looks the part to me. Big target.

I might keep Blanton over Hopkins. It depends on the practice reps, we don’t see.

Yea I feel the same. I feel like Hopkins would be creating alot of penalties. But we have not seen much from Blanton so its hard to say what he offers. Probably comes down to practice.

 

[TheTackle]

Evans has always had poor feet and unfortunately has not improved. I didn’t like the pick but then he came in and played year one, but let’s not kid ourselves, he struggled at times in every game and was terrible last year when he subbed in. Gone!

Who knew, the depth at center, guard and tackle look like dangerous weaknesses :-(

The way McVey talked about Brewer I thought he would be more impressive but we can stash him on the practice squad as perhaps it’s just rust

 

[ottoman89]

When does it have to be cut to 53?

 

[FrantikRam]

Evans has always had poor feet and unfortunately has not improved. I didn’t like the pick but then he came in and played year one, but let’s not kid ourselves, he struggled at times in every game and was terrible last year when he subbed in. Gone!

Who knew, the depth at center, guard and tackle look like dangerous weaknesses :-(

The way McVey talked about Brewer I thought he would be more impressive but we can stash him on the practice squad as perhaps it’s just rust

Indeed, the sky is falling. Our backup OL looked okay, but they didn't play against any starters.

Oh wait - they played against the Broncos starters? Well, Miller and Chubb didn't play.

Oh wait - they did play? And held their own? So it's possible the Rams have the best OL depth in the league? Wow

 

[Loyal]

A team acquiring Hekker would be paying him $3.75M in 2021. That's high for a Punter, but it's not exorbitant. Multiple other punters have contracts worth $3+ million per year.

Yes @jrry32

You are correct looking at the financial aspect to justify keeping Hekker.

Regardless, I would be a bit stunned if they kept Hekker over Bojo.

There is not a big enough gap in their punting skills to get me on the keep Hekker bandwagon.

View: https://imgur.com/a/h1hDM3R

 

[dieterbrock]

Ha ha, made u look at punter contracts

Lol!!!
To be honest, I went in to Incognito mode before I did so it doesnt show up in my browser history!!!

 

[den-the-coach]

Oh wait - they did play? And held their own? So it's possible the Rams have the best OL depth in the league? Wow

Poor Vic Fangio, he's in a no win situation with a GM in George Paton that did not hire him, maybe after the Rams win the Super Bowl, the Broncos fire Vic Fangio, hire Rams DC Raheem Morris as their HC and the Rams in turn hire Fangio as their Defensive Coordinator.

 

[Neil039]

When does it have to be cut to 53?

Tomorrow 4 p.m. eastern time (Tuesday).

 

[Allen2McVay]

Tomorrow 4 p.m. eastern time (Tuesday).

Yep, and then many players will be brought back a couple days later signed to the Practice Squad.

Heck, just from the numbers. Teams are at 80, and need to cut-down to 53. That's 27 moves.

Say three go to IR, and 24 are released. A team could re-sign 16 of the 24 (two-thirds) to their Practice Squad.

Now that's too simple. Some cut players will get picked-up and placed on another team's 53; and some will join the PS of other teams.

Many teams after cutting to 53 by tomorrow's deadline, will make subsequent moves to tweak the final roster over the next week. Maybe even more post-cut-down-moves this year, with an additional week before the start of the Regular Season.

 

[Psycho_X]

I had to look it up, because I surely thought you were mistaken.
Silly me....
Not only are there 7 punters being paid 3M+, there's another 5 making more than 2.4 mill
View attachment 47618

Punter Contracts and Salaries | Over The Cap

Ranking the top NFL Punter contracts and salaries in the NFL

overthecap.com

And to me this is a part that people don't seem to get with this "should we cut Hekker to save cap space" equation. Lets say Hekker is cut or traded and Bojorquez has a decent season. He's on a one year deal so we'll either have to sign him to a deal that'll probably pay him $3 plus million a year just to keep him or we suddenly have to find a punter. We don't really save all that much in 2021 so most of the big cap savings people talk about are for 2022 and 2023 seasons which will be offset enough by whatever contract we give Bojorquez that the savings will be change.

So having said that, the cap savings are pointless. So to me this decision comes down to purely one thing, who is the better punter? Hekker is a possible hall of fame candidate one day, has trick plays/punts up his sleeve, and has far better accuracy than Bojo has ever shown short of this last preseason game which was probably the best one Bojo has ever had to his credit. Bojo has youth on his side and has a stronger leg. The youth part isn't a big deal because there's no reason Hekker couldn't punt another 9 years probably.

So to me it comes down to one thing really... do I prefer accuracy or do I prefer leg strength? I prefer accuracy. Hekker should stay.

 

[fearsomefour]

If Hekker is released or traded for peanuts I would be incredibly disappointed.

Peanuts is all you’d get for a punter.....even a great one.

 

[fearsomefour]

Kiser looked better than Jones and Howard. I would keep Kiser.

Evans did not look better yesterday. He looked even worse.

Our O-line and ILBer depth is a huge concern. I don't think our cuts are going to yeild any more diamonds in the rough than any other team. WR and DT cuts might yield some NFL starting caliber players. But our starting OL and ILBers are questionable, the debt is bad.

Evans played better vs Denver.
He made a few very nice plays in the screen game (the first screen to Jones went for positive yards because Evans did his job....blocking inside then shifting off and sealing the lane for the screen) and the run game. Still wasn’t great by any stretch but was better.
The Rams aren’t going to cut Jones so it comes down to Kiser and Howard. I could see either winning out as I don’t see enough separation between them.

 

[Tano]

Peanuts is all you’d get for a punter.....even a great one.

 

[Tano]

Evans played better vs Denver.
He made a few very nice plays in the screen game (the first screen to Jones went for positive yards because Evans did his job....blocking inside then shifting off and sealing the lane for the screen) and the run game. Still wasn’t great by any stretch but was better.
The Rams aren’t going to cut Jones so it comes down to Kiser and Howard. I could see either winning out as I don’t see enough separation between them.

I thought Kiser played much better against Denver than Howard.

Howard blew the play on 3 straight plays in the first half.

One of the reasons why Denver scored a TD in the first half when our second string and third string defense was doing so well against Denver's #1 offense

 

[JRobinson]

I have always liked Hekker but the fact is this other guy is cheaper and has a stronger leg. Hekker's contract makes him expendable.

Agreed

 

[JRobinson]

Kiser looked better than Jones and Howard. I would keep Kiser.

Evans did not look better yesterday. He looked even worse.

Our O-line and ILBer depth is a huge concern. I don't think our cuts are going to yeild any more diamonds in the rough than any other team. WR and DT cuts might yield some NFL starting caliber players. But our starting OL and ILBers are questionable, the debt is bad.

A lot I agree with here, but Jones is better than Kiser. Much more athletic and aggressive. I think Jones starts with Reeder. Kiser is probably not a cut candidate, but he’s not as high on the depth chart as he was IMO