Welp, I see 2 big holes and 2 big question marks on this team...

[Rams43]

The difference is really easy to explain and let's see if you understand the difference in our wording after this. I don't like Rodger Saffold. He's injury prone, expensive and IMO not as good as some people think he is. But because I don't like our current starter that doesn't make it a roster hole. It makes it a roster spot I'd upgrade. You don't like our WR starters right now just like I don't like our LG but that doesn't make WR a hole.

Agree that Saffold is injury prone and expensive. Also agree that he is NFL starter quality.

Woods is a starter quality WR. Not a ProBowler, but starter quality.

However...

Tavon is not starter quality WR.
Cooper is not proven starter quality WR.
Spruce. Ditto.
Marquez. Ditto.
Thomas. Ditto.
All the rest. Ditto.

We need another starter quality WR. Don't know how I can speak more plainly.

TE is a similar situation. No proven starter quality TE's currently on the roster. Have a couple of guys that have "potential", but they're definitely not proven starter quality.

Hence, my use of the term "hole".

Just because we can give players a uniform and a helmet, then trot them out to take a snap at a WR or a TE position DOESN'T mean that they are "starter quality".

 

[OldSchool]

Agree that Saffold is injury prone and expensive. Also agree that he is NFL starter quality.

Woods is a starter quality WR. Not a ProBowler, but starter quality.

However...

Tavon is not starter quality WR.
Cooper is not proven starter quality WR.
Spruce. Ditto.
Marquez. Ditto.
Thomas. Ditto.
All the rest. Ditto.

We need another starter quality WR. Don't know how I can speak more plainly.

TE is a similar situation. No proven starter quality TE's currently on the roster. Have a couple of guys that have "potential", but they're definitely not proven starter quality.

Hence, my use of the term "hole".

Just because we can give players a uniform and a helmet, then trot them out to take a snap at a WR or a TE position DOESN'T mean that they are "starter quality".

Anybody we draft would not be a proven starter quality and by your definition of a hole we'd be drafting somebody that wouldn't fill a hole! Your own use of the word is never going to be filled by a draft pick do you see why it's a horrible word to use what you're describing? Don't know how I can explain that more plainly. Your own term means that you'll never fill your own idea of a hole

 

[PARAM]

.

However...

Tavon is not starter quality WR.
Cooper is not proven starter quality WR.
Spruce. Ditto.
Marquez. Ditto.
Thomas. Ditto.
All the rest. Ditto.

We need another starter quality WR. Don't know how I can speak more plainly.

TE is a similar situation. No proven starter quality TE's currently on the roster. Have a couple of guys that have "potential", but they're definitely not proven starter quality.

Hence, my use of the term "hole".

Just because we can give players a uniform and a helmet, then trot them out to take a snap at a WR or a TE position DOESN'T mean that they are "starter quality".

And to piggyback on Old School's point, unless we're signing a post June 1 or training camp cut, we won't get "stater quality" at any position. College kids have to prove/earn the moniker "starter quality". Now a guy who's been in the NFL for a year and may not have started as of yet, or started on a limited basis, probably has a better chance to become "NFL starter quality" sooner. As in Higbee, Cooper and Thomas. And I disagree that Austin is not NFL starter quality. He's just used so many different ways, he really has no single position. But the guy has 13 TDs from scrimmage and 72 first downs the last two years, along with 19 plays of 20+ yards plus a special teams TD. Who on the current Rams has more? I'll save you the research.....Gurley with 16 TD and 83 first downs and 13 plays of 20+ yards. Woods has 4 TD, 59 first downs and 15 plays of 20+ yards, albeit in an offense almost as pitiful as the Rams 2015-2016. I'm convinced a legit NFL offensive scheme will allow all three of those guys, plus others like Higbee, Cooper and Thomas to produce more.

 

[BeefJurky]

#37 - Engram
#69 - Juju Smith-Schuster

boom

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Hole means a gap, something is empty a vacancy. You may not like what is filling a position but if it has something filling it by definition it's not a hole Seems I've said that before. If something doesn't strike fear in an opponent, in your estimation, that isn't a hole that by definition is a weak spot that could be upgraded.

It's quite funny that people, not just you, but many cite Washington's strength at WR and how drafting Crowder was such a good thing because he was amazing and on and on. He was a 4th round pick. Why not give last years 4th round pick of the Rams at WR a chance to flourish in McVay's offense? Incidentally Crowder by NFL.com had a 5.3 grade on Crowder with a 4th or 5th round grade comparing him to Eddie Royal. Cooper? A 5.67 grade with a 3rd round grade comparable to Josh Reed. Give the kid a chance with a real offense. I'm much happier going into the season with our main 3 WR as Austin, Woods and Cooper than Austin, Britt and Quick from last year. Primarily because I'm not writing people off for how they did under Fisher and Boras.

Nit picking

 

[PARAM]

#37 - Engram
#69 - Juju Smith-Schuster

boom

#112 Elflein
#141 Kpassaganon

 

[Memento]

#112 Elflein
#141 Kpassaganon

Kpassagnon won't last that long. I'd take him with our third round pick in a heartbeat, though.

 

[Ram65]

Woods/Tavon/Cooper will likely be our starters regardless. I still think Cooper is a darn good football player.

There are no "holes" on this team in the classic sense. We have a starter for every position. What we need, and the draft will provide, is depth.

It would be nice to upgrade our offensive weapons by adding a WR and TE - I think we have positioned ourselves beautifully to do just that in the 2nd and 3rd rounds of this draft. On defense our starters are set, we just need depth - Quinn, as you pointed out, is a question mark - which is why I wouldn't be upset at all if we spent an early pick on a pass rusher.

WR/pass rusher/TE in rounds 2/3/4 and all we need is for the OL and Goff to improve.

Cooper Kupp or Chris Godwin with Kittle round 3-4. Not sure about a the pass rusher but Snead will find one..

This is going to be a marathon and not a sprint. Great teams are built through the draft and this is a light year for us in draft capital so we have signed several veterans to 1 year place-holder deals while McVay plans out the future.

We are inevitably going to have holes because injuries always happen and this team lacks depth at basically any given position. I fully expect improvement on last year but I'm not expecting playoffs for a brand new coaching staff taking over a 4-12 team

I agree the Rams lack depth. The one year deals seem to be for every team to keep cost down and temporarily fill holes. The draft will help. Injuries are always around the corner. One good thing is we will get to see some young players get a chance. Westbrooke, Fox, Trina-Passat, Coopers, Spruce, Hemingway, Thomas and others. will compete. After the easy street camps of Fisher the McVay camp will be intensely competitive. Some cream will rise to the top!

 

[StealYoGurley]

If you mosey on the draft section I just posted an article on how rare it is for WRs drafted in round 4-7 to be very productive. Now thats not saying Cooper or Thomas wont or cant help the team it just means their presence shouldn't stop the Rams from adding more talent especially early in the draft.

Add that to two starting veteran WRs who have yet to exceed 700 receiving yards in a season in their careers with one being historically inefficient as a WR and you have a huge hole. With that said I like Woods and I think he can eclipse his meager career totals and Tavon's skillset will be used more efficiently in this offense.

 

[OldSchool]

If you mosey on the draft section I just posted an article on how rare it is for WRs drafted in round 4-7 to be very productive. Now thats not saying Cooper or Thomas wont or cant help the team it just means their presence shouldn't stop the Rams from adding more talent especially early in the draft.

Add that to two starting veteran WRs who have yet to exceed 700 receiving yards in a season in their careers with one being historically inefficient as a WR and you have a huge hole. With that said I like Woods and I think he can eclipse his meager career totals and Tavon's skillset will be used more efficiently in this offense.

And yet the best WR in the NFL and likely the best QB ever were both 6th round picks. I heard a stat today from a draft guy at the NFLN that 30% of top 10 picks turn out to be very good players. Every year you can go down the first round and play a 50 50 game. 50% will be boom 50% will be bust/underperform and every round the mix goes down.

 

[StealYoGurley]

And yet the best WR in the NFL and likely the best QB ever were both 6th round picks. I heard a stat today from a draft guy at the NFLN that 30% of top 10 picks turn out to be very good players. Every year you can go down the first round and play a 50 50 game. 50% will be boom 50% will be bust/underperform and every round the mix goes down.

I am just saying at WR Brown is the exception not the rule, so we need to temper expectations for our WRs. Go read the article you will see how rare Antonio Brown is. Quick synopsis of the article Brown is one of 4 of 143 WRs drafted after round 4 in the past 10 years who averaged very good production. The rest of the list is Garcon, Stevie Johnson, and Stephon Diggs. Additionally in the past 10 years 3 out of 58 WRs drafted in the round 4 were very productive (Crowder, Martavis Bryant, Mike Williams). The success rate for players drafted higher isn't great either, but it isn't close to the abysmal WR success rates in rounds 4-7.

 

[OldSchool]

I am just saying at WR Brown is the exception not the rule, so we need to temper expectations for our WRs. Go read the article you will see how rare Antonio Brown is. Quick synopsis of the article Brown is one of 4 of 143 WRs drafted after round 4 in the past 10 years who averaged very good production. The rest of the list is Garcon, Stevie Johnson, and Stephon Diggs. Additionally in the past 10 years 3 out of 58 WRs drafted in the round 4 were very productive (Crowder, Martavis Bryant, Mike Williams). The success rate for players drafted higher isn't great either, but it isn't close to the abysmal WR success rates in rounds 4-7.

Yup the guy I heard was I think Mangini and his comment was you get 30% of your draft picks to work in any draft regardless of round. He was basically explaining the Browns moneyball philosophy. Why have 7 picks for a success rate of 30% when you can trade down a bunch have 12 picks and have a 30% success rate. You get 2 more good players that way. Theoretically, this is all theory there is no science to not drafting busts.

 

[Loyal]

:yess:
2nd Round: Pat Elfien, Ohio State
3rd Round: Ethan Pocic, LSU

 

[Mojo Ram]

Hole means a gap, something is empty a vacancy. You may not like what is filling a position but if it has something filling it by definition it's not a hole Seems I've said that before. If something doesn't strike fear in an opponent, in your estimation, that isn't a hole that by definition is a weak spot that could be upgraded.

This.
Rams have several positions that need upgraded, but lets not forget about the young offensive talent drafted just one year ago. I think we can all agree that these youngsters likely weren't coached up to NFL standards last season.

 

[So Ram]

I actually like the TE situation a little more than most. Hemingway is gonna be a player...Higbee should be as well. Harkey is the cousin/nephew of some fam I have in LA....

Should be several good wr's in this draft in the later rounds.

Question is, are they ready to contribute?

Goff is the key...and the only way to really help him is to give him time on the majority of his drop-backs.

Hence...the line needs to stay healthy and have quality depth. 35 year old tackles, 32 year old center with back issues, and Saffold....I'd concentrate a lot of resources there and on the stronger defensive players (lots of upcoming FA's) in this draft.

How much money & how many picks. The Rams have excellent young depth. They are all going into there 3rd year with starting experience , plus a solid offense line coach . Then offensive minded HC & Olsen as a veteran QB coach.

 

[So Ram]

And to piggyback on Old School's point, unless we're signing a post June 1 or training camp cut, we won't get "stater quality" at any position. College kids have to prove/earn the moniker "starter quality". Now a guy who's been in the NFL for a year and may not have started as of yet, or started on a limited basis, probably has a better chance to become "NFL starter quality" sooner. As in Higbee, Cooper and Thomas. And I disagree that Austin is not NFL starter quality. He's just used so many different ways, he really has no single position. But the guy has 13 TDs from scrimmage and 72 first downs the last two years, along with 19 plays of 20+ yards plus a special teams TD. Who on the current Rams has more? I'll save you the research.....Gurley with 16 TD and 83 first downs and 13 plays of 20+ yards. Woods has 4 TD, 59 first downs and 15 plays of 20+ yards, albeit in an offense almost as pitiful as the Rams 2015-2016. I'm convinced a legit NFL offensive scheme will allow all three of those guys, plus others like Higbee, Cooper and Thomas to produce more.

Don't forget about Lance Dunbar . He is going to be electric as well.

 

[So Ram]

This.
Rams have several positions that need upgraded, but lets not forget about the young offensive talent drafted just one year ago. I think we can all agree that these youngsters likely weren't coached up to NFL standards last season.

Injury also played a role. The full offseason coming up will really make a huge difference .

 

[Zero]

There will have been a WR, TE, and CB picked (in some order) by the end of round four. Three of our first four picks, IOW.

If I'm right, isn't that an indication that the Ram brain trust sees those positions as best value/need intersections?

Agree with everything but corner.Kavon will start with Johnson with Gaines backing them.

This.
Rams have several positions that need upgraded, but lets not forget about the young offensive talent drafted just one year ago. I think we can all agree that these youngsters likely weren't coached up to NFL standards last season.

Preach Brother Mojo Preach.

 

[BonifayRam]

I was just wondering if Snead & McVay may have a strong opinion that iit may be very wise to fully discover the present hidden & cloaked Offensive treasures on this roster first ? Snead fully knows that he has invested heavily in the last two draft on the offensive side. I am sure he has not failed to bring up to HC McVay that over the last 2 Ram drafts 12 out of 15 picks were utilize on OFFENSE! In addition some of the most interesting UDFA's signed over this same period of time were on offense too.

Players like:
TE- Tyler Higbee a converted wide out who was injured most of his rookie season.

WR- Pharoh Cooper is a all-purpose player who was injured most of his rookie season

TE/SL/WR- Temarrick Hemingway now this Ram is a odd one...not your typical tight end prospect frame more like a very tall WR who is supper fluid with pass-receiving ability that said would take time developing.

WR- Thomas- shown to hit explosive play after explosive play when left in the lineup.

WR- Nelson Spruce-Injured entire rookie season but in college has proven to be polished, dependable route-runner with the soft hands.

WR- Marquez North- Previous a four-star prospect, injured his entire rookie season known to be highly reliable, soft hands, snatches ball away from his frame and gets upfield quickly-

Just how much of this talent was developed or even utilized on the field? Now after one & two seasons with the following Unsuccessful coaches like Frank Ciginetti Jr., Rob Boras, Dave McGinnis, Ray Sherman & Paul Boudreau working with these former draft selections & UDFA's just maybe there is more here buried than we may think? In conclusion can McVay really finally figure out how to utilize & unlock the mystery of WR Tavon Austin ?