Studs & Duds against the Seahags ...

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Allen2McVay

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On the dud grade on Tyler Higbee......Ram Org will be paying for his services until 2026. Long after his contract ends in 2023.

Is Higbee worth his $8,625,000 cap hit to play here in 2023?

Yeah. The Cap is a real thing; and the maneuvers the Rams have made to field their roster come with a real cost.

Whitworth is on the cap this season (for $2.16M) and will be next year too ($2M).

A'Shawn Robinson will be on the Rams' 2023 cap even if he leaves via free agency.

Troy Hill ... I believe ... is on the cap for both 2023 and 2024, even if he leaves this off-season.

If I am reading Over-the-Cap correctly, the Rams can create $6.25M of cap space by releasing Higbee with a post-June-designation that carries $2.375M of Dead-$.
 

BonifayRam

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Yeah. The Cap is a real thing; and the maneuvers the Rams have made to field their roster come with a real cost.

Whitworth is on the cap this season (for $2.16M) and will be next year too ($2M).

A'Shawn Robinson will be on the Rams' 2023 cap even if he leaves via free agency.

Troy Hill ... I believe ... is on the cap for both 2023 and 2024, even if he leaves this off-season.

If I am reading Over-the-Cap correctly, the Rams can create $6.25M of cap space by releasing Higbee with a post-June-designation that carries $2.375M of Dead-$.
"Trail of Ram Fan Tears" into the future when fans realize how much of the future assets have been mortgaged to give us this 2022 season to enjoy.
 

Kupped

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"Trail of Ram Fan Tears" into the future when fans realize how much of the future assets have been mortgaged to give us this 2022 season to enjoy.
Meh.

Soooooo many factors in any season. Health, being the biggest.

The Rams reasonable best-case scenario next season is still pretty fucking good.

It'll be up to you whether some of this is reasonable.

Alaric Jackson comes back and plays at least as well as he did this season, but for a full year. With the clear possibility he's better.
Bruss and Anchrum are healthy and ascending young players.
They figure out a Center situation that's solid.

It looks like Akers/Williams will be a rotation that makes sense. Akers is fully healthy and has his head on straight.

Tutu isn't a mirage right now.. and he supplants Jefferson. This will require some re-thinking on offense.

They sign a lower-priced edge to go opposite of Floyd to start the season.. but keep eyes out for an upgrade, mid-season.

Durant and Rochell takes steps forward.
Yeast and Lake take steps forward.

They keep one of Robinson or Gaines and Bobby Brown takes a real step forward.. plus Williams, Hoecht and Copeland continue to contribute.

Stafford is healthy.
Kupp and Robinson are healthy.
Higbee is decent.

These are pretty easy things to foresee.. without even factoring in a draft. Hit a couple of home runs on draft day on top of this.. who knows?

This team has fooled conventional thinking before.. it can happen again.
 

Allen2McVay

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Meh.

Soooooo many factors in any season. Health, being the biggest.

The Rams reasonable best-case scenario next season is still pretty fucking good.

It'll be up to you whether some of this is reasonable.

Alaric Jackson comes back and plays at least as well as he did this season, but for a full year. With the clear possibility he's better.
Bruss and Anchrum are healthy and ascending young players.
They figure out a Center situation that's solid.

It looks like Akers/Williams will be a rotation that makes sense. Akers is fully healthy and has his head on straight.

Tutu isn't a mirage right now.. and he supplants Jefferson. This will require some re-thinking on offense.

They sign a lower-priced edge to go opposite of Floyd to start the season.. but keep eyes out for an upgrade, mid-season.

Durant and Rochell takes steps forward.
Yeast and Lake take steps forward.

They keep one of Robinson or Gaines and Bobby Brown takes a real step forward.. plus Williams, Hoecht and Copeland continue to contribute.

Stafford is healthy.
Kupp and Robinson are healthy.
Higbee is decent.

These are pretty easy things to foresee.. without even factoring in a draft. Hit a couple of home runs on draft day on top of this.. who knows?

This team has fooled conventional thinking before.. it can happen again.
All reasonable thoughts that could come true (fingers-crossed!). However, also extremely optimistic.

As to the the exchange between me and @BonifayRam ... Yes, I have Power of Attorney to speak on his behalf ... we are just trying to make the point (with specific players and some numbers) that the Rams had to make some concessions for future seasons' salary cap to restructure some deals in order to try and put together a Run-It-Back-Season in 2022.

Understand fans not wanting to follow cap ramifications but too many (in my opinion) dis-regard those cap ramifications with throw-away comments like ... 'they can always make the numbers work.' That's just not true.
 
Last edited:

den-the-coach

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I'm begging the Rams to bench Derion Kendrick and look at Shaun Jolly please. Kendrick IMO, does not have the ability or cover skills at this level, it's obvious and all he's doing is allowing completions in front of him on a consistent basis.
 

Tano

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I'm begging the Rams to bench Derion Kendrick and look at Shaun Jolly please. Kendrick IMO, does not have the ability or cover skills at this level, it's obvious and all he's doing is allowing completions in front of him on a consistent basis.
I would go with Rochelle first Durant Second then Jolly
 

Riverumbbq

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Meh.

Soooooo many factors in any season. Health, being the biggest.

The Rams reasonable best-case scenario next season is still pretty fucking good.

It'll be up to you whether some of this is reasonable.

Alaric Jackson comes back and plays at least as well as he did this season, but for a full year. With the clear possibility he's better.
Bruss and Anchrum are healthy and ascending young players.
They figure out a Center situation that's solid.

It looks like Akers/Williams will be a rotation that makes sense. Akers is fully healthy and has his head on straight.

Tutu isn't a mirage right now.. and he supplants Jefferson. This will require some re-thinking on offense.

They sign a lower-priced edge to go opposite of Floyd to start the season.. but keep eyes out for an upgrade, mid-season.

Durant and Rochell takes steps forward.
Yeast and Lake take steps forward.

They keep one of Robinson or Gaines and Bobby Brown takes a real step forward.. plus Williams, Hoecht and Copeland continue to contribute.

Stafford is healthy.
Kupp and Robinson are healthy.
Higbee is decent.

These are pretty easy things to foresee.. without even factoring in a draft. Hit a couple of home runs on draft day on top of this.. who knows?

This team has fooled conventional thinking before.. it can happen again.

I don't believe this scenario is all that far-fetched, although overall team health will once again dictate future fortunes.
As long as Stafford, Kupp, Donald & Ramsey make up the core of our starters, the Rams can't be counted out anytime soon, and while I don't know their shelf-life expiration dates, we can probably count on them for another two years, so we do have time through the draft and free agency to build a future which will no longer include them. I remain pretty optimistic about our potential for acquiring the necessary personnel, I'm less positive about how our coaches make use of them. jmo.
 

bubbaramfan

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Folks need to realize Tyler Higbee has been used a lot as help to the OL. He's been like a sixth O lineman and its limited him being able to get involved in the passing game. Its also beat the crap out o him.
 

Tano

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Okay - I was really curious as to who Wolford was throwing to on the last Ram offensive play of the game that got intercepted.

He threw it with all his might and it went a grand total of 30 yards while coming up short at minimum 20 yards trying to get it to Tutu

Just look at this screenshot. After I saw this on the ALL 22 - I went you have got to be kidding me.

The guy intercepted it at the 39 and Tutu is at the 47 of Seattle. I highly doubt Tutu would have come close to catching that pass but at least get the ball within 5 yards of him. I have seen some really weird plays if the ball is close to the receiver. NO vs Minn in the playoffs a couple years ago comes to mind.

1670454872605.png
 

Riverumbbq

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Folks need to realize Tyler Higbee has been used a lot as help to the OL. He's been like a sixth O lineman and its limited him being able to get involved in the passing game. Its also beat the crap out o him.

I don't know, but imo he's served his purpose, ... and while his production is down for 3 years straight and he's constantly dinged up, I'm quite ready to move on. Higbee is one of only a few veteran Rams players which offers some genuine CAP relief, so maybe that money is better used elsewhere. Not sure what level of draft pick he might garner via trade at this point, but I'd rather take that than another dismal season where he's then lost to 2024 free agency and a lower compensation pick. This is a good year for TE's coming up for the draft in the off-season, maybe we should find his replacement sooner rather than later. If we wait until 2024, we'll also probably be looking at replacing two TE's as Hopkins will join Higbee as a free agent, grab one now (2023) and another in 2024 and our TE room will be completely transformed. jmo.
 

fearsomefour

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Coaches miss, sometimes.. and I think they many times focus too much on what a specific player *can't* do, instead of what they can.

I think that's especially true in Tutu's case.

The Hoecht thing is interesting.. but I think one thing we should all be real about is that he's NOT an OLB. They've dropped him a few times.. but he just doesn't move in space well enough to cover anyone. They started running three safeties more in the second half.. and I think that was driven, in part, by Hoecht. He's closer to a 4-3 DE.. and big for that role, to be honest. But I'm glad he's performing well.. I've been a fan for a while.
Also, coaches do feel loyalty to players at times. A guy has been on a team doing the work and earned his way on the field, they may be reluctant to swap someone out.
Some guys are great practice players and not in games, the reverse is true as well.
All that said, Hoecht hasn't done much playing hand down, but, he also hasn't gotten many opps. He may find a role as a pass rusher in that stand up position.
 

fearsomefour

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Okay - I was really curious as to who Wolford was throwing to on the last Ram offensive play of the game that got intercepted.

He threw it with all his might and it went a grand total of 30 yards while coming up short at minimum 20 yards trying to get it to Tutu

Just look at this screenshot. After I saw this on the ALL 22 - I went you have got to be kidding me.

The guy intercepted it at the 39 and Tutu is at the 47 of Seattle. I highly doubt Tutu would have come close to catching that pass but at least get the ball within 5 yards of him. I have seen some really weird plays if the ball is close to the receiver. NO vs Minn in the playoffs a couple years ago comes to mind.

View attachment 57743
Im guessing the ball slipped or stuck in his hand or something.
A backup jv high school QB can throw 30 yards, haha.
 

RamDino

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I must say, joking aside, some of the staffs handling of young players does make one question their objective evaluation.
I agree here. At times, McVay seems reluctant to play rookies or second-team players. And when he does play rookies, he doesn't sit them when they screw up... ala Kendrick. Hoecht deserved a shot at some playing time just because of how good he looked on special teams. I also believe McVay tends to lean on players too much at times. He rode Gurley until that horse was shot. Kupp also has a lot of mileage on him. Like Higbee, many of these guys are playing close to 100% of the plays every game. I can understand linemen playing every play because they are part of a unit, but you have to be able to rotate other guys in and out to keep them fresh. JMO.
 

Tano

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Im guessing the ball slipped or stuck in his hand or something.
A backup jv high school QB can throw 30 yards, haha.
Yeah possibly - it could also have been his shoulder was hurt and he shouldn't have even been in the game
 

BonifayRam

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Last time we may see him as a Ram ...

My thought here has changed a bit over the last few months on David Edwards. My position was very early and DE time here was done. I have been vocal about this team drafting OT's & morphing them into OG's. I thought that DE would get some very good offers from poor OL teams rich in the salary cap.

Now with DE in an unhealthy way from several back-to-back head concussions with big questions on his NFL future, it's doubtful that DE will get any offers of any substance in free agency. DE has not been a very good run-blocking OG period from the LG post this season. His pass protection fell off the cliff this season too. Maybe a long period of time before things clear up way past the draft.

The Ram's issues @ LT might get him a look as a backup LT/LG/RT position if these health problems @ LT continue with both Jackson/Noteboom. AJ Arcuri might be shifted to LT next season too to the point where DE might find a spot as a low economy-priced backup to Havenstein. The RT position is most likely the best NFL OL post for DE.
 

BonifayRam

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I'm begging the Rams to bench Derion Kendrick and look at Shaun Jolly please. Kendrick IMO, does not have the ability or cover skills at this level, it's obvious and all he's doing is allowing completions in front of him on a consistent basis.
With CB David Long out (injury) & CB Troy Hill questionable (injury)...... there is a very good chance that DC Morris will not make you happy den, with your desire to see CB Derion Kendrick not being utilized tonight.

I just do not understand why Robert Rochell or Ram's top defensive draft selection CB Decobie Durant has been sitting on the bench during the 2022 defensive series game after game.

CB Derion Kendrick should not be on the field with the defense.