Couple of questions for the board “deeper thinkers”...

[TexasRam]

Whitworth is still playing amazing. Cam Jordan And Chandler jones are monsters.

Also, Goff used to solid blocking tends to hold the ball a long time a lot.

 

[BonifayRam]

Shoot me for suggesting this, but if Whit gets hurt or falls off, I’d prefer Saffold over any rookie at LT. Guards are cheaper and easier to find in later rounds. Let’s hope we are a couple years away from that scenario. The DE’s that have beaten Whit have beaten everyone from time to time.

I have no issue with this deep thinking but who would be our LG? If you are looking @ 2018 Blythe may already be the leading starting center prospect when OC John Sullivan contract ends in March. That decision would between the Saffold post change or resigning FA Darrell Williams over the next 4 wks games in 2017. Rams really do not have a Saffold back up!

If Brown & Dunbar can get healthy to carry a load that will help with a critical Withworth injury possibility. I for one thinking more run than pass will help Andrew Whitworth & the rest of the OL.till the season concludes. If you think that AW load the last 3 games has been real rough! It will not get better the next 2 weeks either.

What to cease up this Ram offense in 2018? Ignore the OL the Rams will pay a serious costly price! Things can change very fast just ask the Redskins.

 

[dieterbrock]

 

[JoeBo21]

BPA. ALWAYS. see Gurley and Donald for supporting argument

- Woods coming back (HUGE. honestly wouldn't rush him, make sure he's totally healthy for the last few/playoff run!)
- Brown back to spell Gurley (also huge. our new Benny, has been missed)
- more Pharoh King Tutt
- more Everett
- less Tavon (completely, try to trade him for something. we need to keep Watkins)

 

[Snaz]

I think Tavon's wrist is complicating his role. Not being used int he passing game. He can be an explosive player, and you have to throw or run him every so often so that he is accounted for as a decoy on other plays. Eyeball test, looks like we usually get positive plays from Gurley in the run game when Tavon is in.

 

[DaveFan'51]

For the love of g*d, please stop handing the ball off to Tavon. He's not an NFL HB and my blood pressure rises every time I see him lined up as HB. Try throwing him a few screens/quick slants/quick outs to get him in a little space to operate...Coach him to run north as south!!!!

Make sure Gurley is fed his 15-20 carries and 2-4 screen/seam routes every...dayum...game. Please Coach...

These^ are good points!! Welcome to ROD!

 

[Warner4Prez]

Depth in the secondary is going to be primary for me. We can consider Tru a goner, right? And when Webster missed time in that MN game, the pass defense looked like Swiss cheese (not to take anything from Thielen & Diggs). That's not to take away the need to address depth on the line, because that will be a need too, but we have to make sure the secondary can push forward next year.

 

[Adi]

No drafting offensive tackles in the first round!
It doesn' seem to work out for us and there is alot less risk bringing in a proven starter.

 

[Mackeyser]

Couple of things.

I'm realizing that it's too hard to go into all the possible iterations with respect to our secondary at this point. Too many of us, myself included, seem to take getting Malcolm Butler as if it's already happened or that we won't have an issue signing Tru.

So, our situation regarding the secondary we won't know until the 1st week of March. And that affects the draft. If we lose Tru and can't sign Butler, then I think there's a fantastic chance that a CB will be our top demand. Josh Jackson from Iowa comes to mind, but there are others that are 1st round worthy and play solid press-man.

Secondly, as I've posted to many's chagrin, we may lose AD. Not for the money but the structure of the contract. I posited that AD wants a 3 year opt-out clause which no FO in their right mind would agree to. So, while the Rams might just put him on track to lose him in 3 years with the 5th year option and two Franchise Tags, they may also find someone who "makes them an offer they can't refuse" and trade him away. And if they do trade AD away, then depending on if any players come back to us, that also affects the draft and the rest of FA.

Lastly, we don't know who we're going to keep and how that affects our cap. Do we keep Quinn or promote Longacre? Do we keep Austin, ask for a paycut or move on from him? Do we re-sign Sullivan? Do we re-sign Sammy Watkins?

So, with so many parts that we simply cannot know at this time, we have to have the caveat that any projections are rife with assumptions.

As we've seen with Gurley and AD, going BPA in the first round tends to work out for us, but beyond that? Who knows...

 

[Snaz]

I seriously doubt a trade of Aaron Donald would be in the works. I don't think you let go of a once in a generation talent like that when in their prime. It would be foolhardy.

 

[I like Rams]

Draft talk?? Can we win the Super Bowl first, guys???

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

I'm a BPA guy but as far as positional priority (since we have a QB) I believe it all starts with OL, and it's something that has to be planned and developed because it's not usually an easy fix once things start to break down (we were very fortunate to land Whit, and that Sully turned out to be able to start and last health-wise--I hope they can both play for a few years, but who knows). I also agree with Adi ^ FA seems to be less risky than the draft with OL.

 

[“Turbo set!”]

We should draft the best available offensive lineman. I know we have other needs but the o-line should be a priority.

 

[DR RAM]

I'll answer very simply to the first question. No matter how we do it, finding, or grooming a replacement for a future OLT should always be a very high priority.

 

[Riverumbbq]

I seriously doubt a trade of Aaron Donald would be in the works. I don't think you let go of a once in a generation talent like that when in their prime. It would be foolhardy.

Certainly not now. We can keep Donald for two years at less than market prices, then think about a trade if it ultimately became necessary, he would still command 2 first round draft picks as a 'franchise tagged' player. Controlling where he is traded is also important as we wouldn't want him in our own division should this worst possible development occur.

 

[CGI_Ram]

It could be that McVay doesn't want to run Gurley into the ground with too many carries. Lighten his workload and hopefully he will remain fresh coming into the playoff run. I agree that Tavon seems to be ineffective but I believe he still needs to be accounted for by the defense so that might be a part of the plan.

Yes, we need to start grooming for a new LT. If not by draft, perhaps by FA again. Whitworth has done a great job. I hope he's got a few more good years. With the salary cap, some players won't be back next year.

THAT avatar... lol. Awesome.

 

[leoram]

Why don’t we be like Seattle, ignore the offensive line and trade Goff to get Baker Mayfield so he can run around and bail out the whole team with lucky chucks downfield and count on defensive PI’s to get third downs? Then we wouldn’t even need Gurley...we could replace him with any old third rounder (that where you get a Kamara, right?) so we could trade him for a stud pass rusher to replace Quinn. We could then trade Aaron Donald to get all the cornerbacks we want. This way McVay gets to start over with “his guys”.

Um, remind me how to get blue font on here before somebody believes this is really what I mean by “deep thinking”.

 

[nighttrain]

I'll answer very simply to the first question. No matter how we do it, finding, or grooming a replacement for a future OLT should always be a very high priority.

Just maybe Whitworth is schooling Lucas
train

 

[Jacobarch]

Obviously, you consider yourself a “deeper thinker” since you’re reading this. Just kidding, Lol.

Here goes...

Should the Rams move the drafting of a future replacement for Whit a bit higher up their offseason priority list? Reason I pose the question is that Whit seems to have struggled a bit in these last 2 games vs the Saints and Cards. Is Father Time having an effect on our soon-to-be 36 year old LOT? Gulp...

The other one is about our overall O. Early in the season our O seemed unstoppable. Perfect scheming and playcalling. It was carrying Wade’s D. But now? Seems to be a complete role reversal. Now our D and ST seem to be carrying our O. What to do? Thoughts, anyone?

I have a couple of suggestions, fwiw.

More Gurley, Coach! Never reduce Gurley’s running touches. Period. Burns the clock and keeps opposing QB on the sideline.
Fewer trick plays. Why get cute when we have the horses to beat teams straight up with the run and the pass?
More Pharoh, less Tavon. I’m serious. And throw in a run/pass option for Pharoh vs the Eagles, while you’re at it.
Can we please have a few more Watkins targets? If only to determine whether to extend him? Sigh...
Time to unleash Everett. Just do it. You can thank me later.
Might want to focus a bit better on clock management and use of TO’s, as well.

I sure hope that McVay and his O staff do some really serious self scouting this week.

I brought this up a couple of weeks ago in regards to Whit. I just don't see him going much further than the middle of next year. Age catches up with every player and it catches up quickly. I think he has the rest of this season covered and will be fine but when he goes, he'll go fast. I'd take a long look at a young LT in FA this offseason and the draft. I don't think we have anyone on our roster that can come close to what he does at the tackle position. Nor do I think we'll be lucky enough to find one first try. But who knows in this league it's all a crap shoot.

I don't think he struggled the last two games tho. If you look at the tape they were both coverage sacks. One where Goff hung back in the pocket for about 3 or 4 seconds and didn't step up and the other was a coverage sack/fumble. You can't put that on Whit. The best OLinemen can only block for 3 or 4 seconds one-on-one until the guy gets past them, especially a top 5 DE.

I honestly don't know what you're talking about when it comes to our Offense doing a total role reversal. Our Defense carrying our team??? What team are you watching? You gotta be stopped dude.
We are tied for the highest scoring offense in the league right now. We scored 32 and 26 against two very good defenses the last two weeks. Yes I know one of those TD's was a defensive TD but nonetheless we are getting the job done, and done nicely. Of course there's going to bumps along the way, there are going to be teams that stop our offense and there's going to be days were we are a little off. It happens, it's football and there's another equally talented team on the other side of the ball doing everything in their power to stop you. It's not always gonna go our way.
Is averaging 30+ points a game boring to you? Do you think we should be scoring 40 points a game? I'm just a little confused at this... It seems borderline trollish....
If this in any way offends you i apologize in advance, I'm just not sure why you're bringing this up. It's the laaaaaaaaaaaast thing thats wrong with our team. You want to talk about something that's wrong with our team???
Lets talk RUN DEFENSE. Then you'll have my ear. Until then, lets talk about things that the Rams are actually having issues with.
Again, I usually like your post very much, I just think you're being ultra critical of a team that has done a complete 180 this year in regards to offense and scoring points.
/end rant.


I do agree fewer trick plays, I would also like to get Cooper more involved in the game, even the run game on jet sweeps. He offers a bigger body than TA and to my surprise he seems just as explosive. Maybe more? We'll see. I don't think Watkins needs more touches, I think he's contributing in a West Coast offense where the philosophy is spread the ball around and keep the defenses guessing. Like others have pointed out the thing with a true WC system is it's about concepts and less about playmakers. It's just a bonus to have playmakers

Disagree on Gurleys touches, he needs a breather, and he needs to stay healthy and when Brown comes back he'll be on the sideline like he should. All good RBs have to come off at some point in the game.

 

[Mackeyser]

Okay. I think people are missing the point and I don't know why.

This is all about the patterns (yep, it's genetic. My son's high functioning autistic and he takes my pattern stuff exponentially farther)

If, as the patterns of behavior suggest, AD isn't happy with the contract, why? Well, the offer was to be close to the highest paid defender in the NFL. With the increasing cap, I can't see a few million dollars over six years being an impediment. The Rams are creative enough with the cap to work that out. So what could have caused such difficulty that AD held out ALL of the offseason?

When filtering the possible permutations (there aren't a lot), the ONLY thing that makes any sense based on the theory that "people tend to act rationally based on their own self-interest" (I made that up, I think...) is that AD was looking for contract language that the Rams are unwilling to adopt. The terms including things like guarantees for top-flight defenders is pretty standard at this point, so minor deviations aren't an issue.

WHY is AD's contract a problem, then?

Well, based on some research, the ONE issue that teams simply won't do again is the 3-year opt-out. And with AD having been so underpaid for the last few seasons, if his reps think the cap will go up on the next TV deal (something that I feel is not certain with the current decline in viewership and lack of accounting for streaming ad revenues), then AFTER the next TV deal, the Rams would have to deal with a certain opt-out and ANOTHER megadeal right as Goff is going to need to be paid and likely right after Gurley has gotten paid. The Rams are simply not going to do it. They're willing to pay AD once for a massive 6 year contract. A 3-year opt-out sets up AD to be paid twice with the Rams having no point where AD's cap hit is manageable.

This is a scenario that fits everything that's happened. Rams are willing to pay him...once. But that's it.

If AD INSISTS on a 3-year opt-out, which is the pinnacle of a type of contract detail that would be a hard no from any team at this point, then we are ALREADY at the point where the Rams are looking at the exit.

Meaning, if AD wants that opt-out and THAT'S what he held out for, then he's ALREADY gone. ALREADY.

The ONLY question is if the Rams stick with his 5th year option and then Tag him twice... OR... if some team makes them an offer they can't refuse.

I, personally, would LOVE to cheer for AD until he retires in 10+ years as the GOAT defender and guy like Merlin Olsen who only ever played with the Rams and then wears the Gold jacket proudly as only ever having been a Ram.

Point is in observing these patterns is that *I don't choose*. This isn't about a preference. This is about what I see as likely to happen based on data, past behaviors and future behaviors using the model of current parameters.

Now, might he change his mind now that he's played for Wade and sees that McVay has the Rams set up to be winners for a long time?

Yeah, that's possible. The opt-out may have been a mechanism from a winner who wasn't willing to play his entire career for a Jeff Fisher losing team.

So, the most optimistic outlook is that because of our current and projected future success, the NEED for such an opt-out clause may not be there anymore and AD may feel free to sign a more traditional contract.

If not, then the only question is 'how does this end'?

As much as I HOPE, HOPE, HOPE for the optimistic outlook, I have to recognize that it may not be what happens. In that event, the subsequent events follow a bifurcated path... either Tags and leave or be traded.

Hope this clears it up.