• To unlock all of features of Rams On Demand please take a brief moment to register. Registering is not only quick and easy, it also allows you access to additional features such as live chat, private messaging, and a host of other apps exclusive to Rams On Demand.

OldSchools final Mock

Great job, Old School. My only question is if KAD is rated for the second round.
Most mocks I've seen have him in 3rd or 4th round.
YMMV

~ArkyRamsFan~
I've seen him in the 2nd a lot along with Max Melton and a few others and I've seen some of them in the 3rd. I've seen each of them as high as like 35 and as low as 90. Anything is possible and there could be others like Sanistril though I've seen him in the high second or late 3rd mock but I think he's a bit small and likely a slot CB.

Rams Draft Needs (Fantastic analysis of team here)

For those looking for the Rams to draft a LT, this has statistics to support that.

For those arguing that the Defensive Line is the most glaring need, this has statistics to support that.

One of my biggest questions/concerns is what happens when Kyren isn't on the field? Whether that's just snaps off or injury.
They have two returning backs.. but I think we all would like to see another viable option. Kyren's injury history, along with the performance of the offense without him, makes me worry about this spot.
Agreed, If that article has merit, then Tackle by stats and Edge by personnel are glaring needs to be addressed. AJ picked it up after a suspect start in my eyes.

An NFL Team Disaster and its Response

Earthquakes along East Coast and in the midwest often can be much more widespread and more violent at the same scale as one that hits West Coast. More violent mostly because infrastructure east of the Rockies weren't built to be Earthquake proof because they're older and the quakes tend to cause much faster back and forth shaking motion. They don't happen frequently thankfully but at the same time that's part of the problem. But yeah, 4.5 is tame but when you experience maybe 1 real quake in your lifetime if your an adult it's going to be more jarring.

Hoping I'm not around when the New Madrid fault decides to have its next serious earthquake because it's going to absolutely level most things up and down the Mississippi River area from St. Louis down to Mississippi and maybe over to Ohio Valley

2) Earthquakes of the same magnitude affect larger areas in the East than in the West:

The size of the geographic area affected by ground shaking depends on the magnitude of the earthquake and the rate at which the amplitudes of body and surface seismic waves decrease as distance from the causative fault increases. Comparison of the areas affected by the same Modified Mercalli intensity of ground shaking in the 1906 San Francisco, California, the 1971 San Fernando, California, the 1811-12 New Madrid, Missouri, and the 1886 Charleston, South Carolina, earthquakes shows that a given intensity of ground shaking extends over a much larger area in the Eastern United States. Ground shaking affects a larger area because amplitudes of seismic waves decrease more slowly in the east than in the west as distance from the causative fault increases.

Eastern North America has older rocks, some of which formed hundreds of millions of years before those in the West. These older formations have been exposed to extreme pressures and temperatures, making them harder and often denser. Faults in these older rocks have also had more time to heal, which allows seismic waves to cross them more effectively when an earthquake occurs. In contrast, rocks in the West are younger and broken up by faults that are often younger and have had less time to heal. So when an earthquake occurs, more of the seismic wave energy is absorbed by the faults and the energy doesn’t spread as efficiently.

More Vulnerable Infrastructure in the East

Many of the older structures in the East, such as buildings and bridges built before the 1970s, were not designed to endure earthquakes and therefore may not fare well. The recent earthquakes that struck near Christchurch, New Zealand showed the damage that infrequent earthquakes can do to a region with older structures. With that said, modern buildings are being constructed to newer design standards, and there has been progress in retrofitting many older buildings in the East. In the West, older structures are often retrofitted, and new structures are designed to withstand strong shaking.
https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/earthquake-damage-sherman-building
Furthermore, smaller structures such as houses could experience stronger and more damaging shaking in the East. Earthquakes in the East tend to cause higher-frequency shaking—faster back and forth motion—compared to similar events in the West. Shorter structures are more susceptible to damage during fast shaking, whereas taller structures are more susceptible during slow shaking.
Anything above a 5.0 and I am saying if you are anywhere close to the epicenter - you could be in trouble.

Anything lower and you really have to be within a mile or two of the epicenter to be in trouble even with older buildings on the east coast.

Norell Pollard - a name that is not commonly mentioned with Rams

Some really good points West. Stuff like this happens every year really. I get hung up on where a player goes because I had seen them in mocks or big boards much earlier or later. It makes you think a team reached or a guy fell but in reality they only get drafted once. The price of real estate is what someone is willing to pay regardless of all the price comps etc.

Who is Your Top 6 Les Snead draft Picks?

I am just going to consider rookie years in my ranking because guys like Puka has only had one year so far.

1. Aaron Freakin' Donald: He singlehandedly changed how opposing teams blocked vs our Dline in his rookie year. Pro Bowl.
2 Todd Gurley: Our last "home run hitter" at the RB position. As a rookie, he was an electric, smart RB who was also unselfish. I was shocked the first time I saw him dance around the one yard line, running out the clock as a rookie. SAVVY!
3. Puka Nacua: Dude was critical in getting the Rams into the playoffs. He received for the most yards for ANY rookie WR in history. Pro Bowl selection.
4. Cooper Kupp: A superstar almost from day one, which we all know. He was really good in his rookie year, just not Puka good.
5. Steve Avila: It sucks that the Big Guys can't get honored more for the work they do, but Steve Avila was a revelation of consistency and availability. He did that at LG and I don't think any of us doubt him at his new position at Center.
6. Big Rob: What can be said about him besides that he has been a rock at RT for years. Eminently stable at that position, starting in St Louis.

If you consider them from a total career perspective, then I have....
1. AD
2. Kupp
3. Goff
4. Gurley
5. Big Rob
6. Johnny Hekker

Position makeup of the first round

QB (5)
Caleb Williams, USC
Drake Maye, North Carolina
Jayden Daniels, LSU
J.J. McCarthy, Michigan
Michael Penix Jr., Washington

RB (0)
None

WR (6)
Marvin Harrison, Ohio State
Rome Odunze, Washington
Malik Nabors, LSU
Brian Thomas Jr., LSU
Adonai Mitchell, Texas
Ricky Pearsall, Florida

TE (1)
Brock Bowers, Georgia

OT (8)
Joe Alt, Notre Dame
Troy Fautana, Washington
Taliese Fuaga, Oregon State
Olu Fashanu, Penn State
J.C. Latham, Alabama
Amarius Mims, Georgia
Kingsley Suamataia, BYU
Tyler Guyton, Oklahoma

IOL (2)
Graham Barton, Duke
Jordan Morgan, Arizona

EDGE (4)
Jared Verse, FSU
Dallas Turner, Alabama
Laiatu Latu,UCLA
Chop Robinson, Penn State

IDL (2)
Byron Murphy II, Texas
Jer’Zhan Newton, Illinios

LB (0)
None

CB (4)
Quinyon Mitchell, Toledo
Terrion Arnold, Alabama
Cooper Dejean, Iowa
Nate Wiggins, Clemson

S (0)
None
  • Cheers
Reactions: OldSchool

Jer'Zhan Newton Should Be Our Pick

Growing up there was a few hundred acres of fig orchards all around our house. Within a ten mile radius it was probably in the thousands of acres. I grew to hate figs. Even Fig Newtons.
I buy these figs called black mountain figs and they have a bunch of flavonoids. I'm not sick of them yet but I could see how you got to where you just can't stand them.

Earnest Jones shooting the gap

My concern with Cooper is he’s a bit light in the pants at 230. I’d prefer a bigger MLB.
Maybe that weight isn’t accurate and he’s much bigger than that now idk.

Also, I just read his weaknesses as per Walter Football: coverage and he has make up concerns (ego, bad attitude). The latter stuff does not seem to be a fit with the Rams philosophy.
E Cooper is 6.3 230.
Guess who else is 6.3 230? Fred Warner.
  • Like
Reactions: Ramstien

Will the Rams ignore conventional wisdom and make offense the priority?

I hadn't really considered this. Between Jackson and Noteboom, there is a cap hit this year of $16.5 mil allocated to that LT position. Maybe next year they move on from both guys and sign a premium free agent LT.

Do we know any LTs scheduled to hit the market in '25?
Well when I say figure it out next season I am insinuating drafting the position. And the reason I think our next LT will be drafted is because good answers rarely hit the market. Only guys you get on the market are those who are doubted for different reasons. When we got Whit it was because he was old as hell. But generally you're not gonna have a Whit sitting there and you don't have hindsight to fall back on so you are rolling dice on an older or flawed player stepping up. This year there was a top OT with injury problem history, and the Rams passed on him, electing to address the interior with two big contracts which I think makes the pick likely at LT.

So the combination of rare opportunities to see a top LT on the market, plus the Rams putting so much cap space into the rest of their OL, pretty much spells out the plan. They could of course get real creative and load up another OL contract if necessary. Not saying it is impossible to do that or anything. But I doubt they pay another player at LT for a while.

In the draft they have a shot this year at 19 to find one. The class is quite strong at the top with options. There are going to be project types at 19 at the very least that we usually don't get falling to us where we typically pick in round 2. And maybe one of the better options gets to us, too, though I expect a run on the OTs to occur and as per usual they will fly off that board quickly once that starts. But it could happen for us in this draft.

If not then they're going to need to trade up next year I would think. Just use a futures pick if you need to and get it done. But that's a problem for next year. The advantage of having Boom hanging around still plus Jackson is that we should be ok for 2024.
  • Like
  • Cheers
Reactions: Kevin and DzRams

Reasons for WR at 19

I don't hear as many people talk about the negatives on Thomas. The PFF guys don't like him. They say that he is Marques Valdez-Scantling. If they are accurate, do you use a first rounder on that?

Thomas us a one trick pony. His route running isn't great, and with his long frame, isn't likely to improve much. He's not as physical as I'd expect for a big kid, especially in contested catches. So would he be a willing blocker. Then you have a few drops and concentration lapses. I keep thinking that he's a bigger Van Jefferson. He's not the big, physical, instinctual player that Nacua is.

I'd rather they took Jalen Coker in later rounds. Coker is 6'-1" 208. He's got good hands and is a YAC machine.

Another later round receiver that I like is Ryan Flournoy. He's got plus hands, ran a 4.44 with explosive traits. He can block too. Hes 6'-1", 202 lbs and project as 7th round pick. Coker went to Holy Cross and Flournoy went to SE Missouri State. In comparison, Pearsall is 6'-1" and 198 lbs. He ran a 4.41, but is not as physical as either of these two.

Then if they want size, Johnny Wilson from FSU is 6'-6" 231 lbs. They supposedly wanted Mike Evans. Why not Wilson? Wilson is very physical. He's great at contested catches, has a huge wingspan, is a tenacious blocker with large hands. He's a physical freak athletically. He was on Feldman as freak list. He needs a lot of route refinement, but so does Thomas. He's not a blazer like Thomas. He ran a 4.52. But with his his size and strength, that could be fast enough. Mike Evans isn't a speedster.

Tez Walker ran a 4.36 and is 6'-2". He's not very physical but he's a x receiver type.

AD Mitchell is nearly identical in size and speed to Thomas. I think he or Troy Franklin are better prospects that will go in round 2.

To me there are too many good options at receiver in this draft to draft a guy like Thomas in round 1. If he was a more complete player I'd say okay. I think Franklin and Adonai Mitchell are more finished products.
I agree with what you are saying here. I'm not a Thomas guy, I was just pointing out a reason why McVay might be salivating over getting this guy. Its hard to argue that he isn't the best deep threat in the draft, and his athletic testing did prove that. Now, do I want them to draft him, emphatically no. Of all the positions in this draft, WR is the deepest. Not sure why you would lean taking one with your 1 premium pick, unless your in range to take one of the top 3 elite guys. If it comes down to WR vs OL at 19, now you'll find me a fan of taking WR. Outside of that, nope. Too many really solid WR's sprinkled in this draft.

Oh and AD Mitchell is like 98% going in the 1st round. Several "insiders" (including Rappaport, or was it Shefty?) have stated that he is going higher then most think.
  • Like
Reactions: Elmgrovegnome