Snead will be very creative this offseason, I think...

[Rams43]

Yeah, he’s always pretty creative, but I think this offseason he will be a virtuoso.

He will have to be in this last SB window season before Goff gets extended.

My predictions:

At least one trade for a starter, maybe more. Probably pick for player, probably a D player.

Lion’s share of offseason moves will be devoted to D. Duh!

I expect Barron for sure to be a cap casualty. Possibly Brockers, too. Rams will be ruthless.

Rams will let Fowler and Saffold walk UNLESS they agree to cap friendly numbers. Simply no other choice for the Rams. I really like both players but business is business. Rams now draft well and are fairly confident that they can find quality players to replace them with.

Rams will lean on 2nd tier FA’s for maybe a couple of starting positions. Ram coaches excel at developing and scheming players and the experience factor for incoming FA’s is highly valued.

I expect 5 new D starters next season, unless Fowler is extended. Both edge players, ILB, DL, and FS.

Snead will trade down from #31 if he possibly can. Just depends on whether there’s a trade partner. In any case, I expect Snead to trade down later in the draft, probably more than once. I bet we wind up with 10 or more picks.

It wouldn’t floor me if Snead traded away Peters. Not predicting it, just saying that it might be 30-35% likely. Peters is not untouchable. It depends on what Wade wants, tbh.

I expect improved DL play under coach Henderson. Noticeably improved.

LB play better improve next season or Joe Barry is a goner. I’m halfway surprised Barry was’t fired along with Johnson, tbh.

Can’t believe we started the ‘18 season with Ebu and Longacre as edge starters. McVay/Wade will NOT enter the ‘19 season weak at both edge starters. This is offseason Job One.

Edge or DT will be our first pick, unless somehow both have been fully addressed via trade or FA.

Sully will be opening day starter at C, but will be replaced by Allen at some point in mid season. Kromer loves Allen.

If Saffold extends, then Boom will be our starter at RG. If Saffold walks, Boom will be our starter at LG and Blythe remains at RG.

Malcolm Brown will extend and CJ will be gone. A RB will be drafted later rounds in this draft.

Brandon Allen will be our backup QB while Mannion departs. Doubt if a QB from this weak class is the backup plan.

Our first pick will NOT be one of the following positions:

RB
QB
C
OG
OT
TE
WR

Probably not CB, either. Value/need not there.

McVay will have come up with a counter to the Patriot, Bears, and Lions D schemes by opening day.

Goff will have his best year yet.

Rams will have 3 WR’s exceed 1000 yards.

All due respect to Ebu, Obo, and Kiser, but none of these 3 are likely to be starters this season, certainly by opening day. All 3 have to win me over.

JJ will be voted to the Pro Bowl this year.

Rams will have 50+ sacks after adding 4 new players on their front 7.

Rams will have a top 3 D in ‘19 if they add those 5 new starters I listed.

Rams sweep the division again.

Rams finish 13-3 again.

Rams not only return to the SB, but they win it!

Wade then retires.

These bold enough for y’all? Lol.


Okay, what did I miss? Your thoughts or comments wanted, because some of mine are controversial, to say the least.

 

[coconut]

Yes I can see it now.

 

[Liberator]

Just get Coop back and healthy is all I ask.

 

[Jacobarch]

Well I hope you're right in your assessment. Getting back to 13-3 and back to the SB is a tall tall order. Teams hardly make it back to the SB after losing their first one. That's going to be tough no matter how well we do during the season.

I expect Brockers to restructure his contract and maybe we can bring back Suh on a team friendly deal. He doesn't have too many years left in the tank and tbh he wasn't a very good fit during the season. We can't have him giving half efforts during the regular season at DT because that will bite us in the arse. We won a handful of games because we got lucky, our D showed up on the last drive, or should I say AD showed up. We can't expect AD to always be that guy that pulls them out of a jam.

Barron has lost his step and it's probably due to being injured for so long and the wear and tear for a smaller LB is just too much at that inside position. Realistically, Littleton should be playing in Barrons spot and a bigger LB should be playing at Littletons current position. Teams know how to attack us because of those issues.

OLB is our biggest weakness, Samson is just a rotational starter, not a guy that should be starting on the QB's blindside. He played over 60% of his snaps on the QB's blind side and has been a liability on the outside run. He often peaks inside and gets caught with his pants down all too often. That's something that can be fixed tho.
I expect us to retain Fowler, he seemed like a pretty good teammate and was effective in the little time he got to catch up with the Rams scheme. Hopefully he's wise and wants to play for a contender.

Joyner has to be let go, only way I keep him is if he signs a very friendly deal. I don't know what happened to him from last year to this year but he clearly was a huge liability in coverage. I expect us to upgrade that position thru the draft or FA.

Oline is tricky. Is Boom going to play tackle next year? I know Whit is coming back but honestly how much more time can that guy be really effective against the better pass-rushers in the league. Don't get me wrong it's nice to have that insurance of a solid tackle in Boom behind Whit if something were to happen to him, or his game really regresses.
I don't think they'll have Boom play guard at either position. If all goes well we move over Blythe to Center and draft or sign a guard to cover RG. Allen backs up and so does Boom. Noteboom might be ready to start at LT right now but we'll never know if AW stays healthy all season and plays well. Saffold wants to stay with the Rams but we've seen him try to jump ship before. Yes, the Rams were a different team back then going from 4-12 to 11-5 but business is business and a lot of these guys go to where the money is. Question is will someone put up big bucks for a 31 y/o OG with injury history. I think your'e right about Sully, but I think he's not the starter Day 1. I think he's a backup or camp body and gets released. He really struggled the last half of the year.
All of this is predicated on whether the Rams OLine can stay healthy the entire season. We really lucked out the last two seasons with our Oline being one the best in the bizz and staying healthy as well. I dont expect that trend to continue, if history tells us anything it's someone on the Rams Oline will go down with an injury and we need guys that can backup and not lose a step. I'm pretty sure McVay and co will get this covered.

One thing I really want to see is McVay adjust his ZRS. The playbook is out on how to beat our Line and it's going to keep happening if we don't get that fixed. Goff really regressed torwards the end of season and that's a huge reason why. Teams learned how to attack our PA passing game. They shoot gaps and get to the QB quickly and we never really seemed to have an answer for it. I'm sure those leaks will be fixed and teams will have to find another way but that's really the only way I see our Oline struggling next year.

Good write up btw.

 

[HitStick]

I doubt Brockers gets cut until we know where Suh ends up

 

[Ram65]

It will be interesting that is for sure. Didn't see a lot of the past two year moves coming. From Whitworth to Cooks and all in between. This year it's starts with who goes with Joyner, Suh, Fowler, Barron, Saffold and Brockers all possibly becoming former Rams.

We all have made are wants and predictions from free agency, trades and the draft. At this point it's starts with who the Rams will keep. Most think it's Brockers or Suh with a far outside chance of both. Most think Joyner and Barron are gone although, I think Barron has an outside chance to lower his salary and stay. Most are fearful that Saffold and Fowler will be priced out of the Rams range. Snead needs to find cheaper quality replacements all around.

Snead needs to grab at least a safety or defensive lineman or LBer or Edge rusher in free agency or trade before the draft. Actually, two of the positions would be better. Then it's up to finding the others in the draft or late free agents/cuts.

It would be nice to keep Fowler while I have a hard time thinking Brockers would be cut. Safety could be had in either round 1 or 3 or free agency. I prefer the least expensive route of round 3 or reasonable free agent unless it's the BPA by a decent margin in round 1. Free agents like Shelton and/or Poe would give the Rams some flexiblity in the draft.

Should Saffold leave it's up to the young Noteboom to step in or possibly drafting a top level replacement early.

I really want some vast improvement on the edge. Fowler solidified the position some but, I want a pass rusher that can get pressures and sacks along with Fowler.

It's up to Snead and the staff to figure it all out. All we can do is post the possibles and hope they do the near impossible of solving the 2019 off season question marks.

 

[Merlin]

If it were me I'd be trying to get some extensions locked down first:

1. Brock. I think he's a core piece, but restructuring him to reduce his cap hit would be ideal.

2. Littleton. He deserves an extension and will cost less now than later, similar to what they did with Havenstein.

3. Whitworth. I don't see a restructure with next year used to lower his cap hit as a problem because he's in superb shape for his age. Keep the hit low and if he gets beaten out in camp we have great depth and leadership.

Other notes:

* Not worried about our two starting CBs as they are good for this year at current cost vs production. Depth is the thing the Rams will be looking for, as we have huge dropoff after our top 3.

* LB had a bunch of low talent/draft position kids last year. It's hard to bag on Joe Barry for the production of the group as a whole due to that. It's also a mistake, IMO, to not consider that we could see a lot of improvement out of Ebu and Obo in terms of the LOLB position. The right side is the big need. That and of course more consistency next to Littleton inside. Then judge Barry on what he puts on the field.

* It is entirely possible that Suh, Fowler, and Joyner all get bigger contracts than they should. Which helps us. And Saffold of course will definitely get a top market deal which he deserves. This means the Rams should be able to sign a big FA and maybe another good signing and still look forward to some compensation.

* Still think they hit Safety hard day one of FA. Then use the strengths of the draft for OLB, NT, and OG, where all positions are deep with plenty of options.

* ILB is sort of a darkhorse to my mind. Presume they try to get a cheap upgrade through an under the radar type signing but it might be another year of late rounders and UDFAs which Wade might be able to work with.

 

[CanRamFan]

Just get Coop back and healthy is all I ask.

...and Von Miller and Dontari Poe

 

[OnceARam]

He will have to be in this last SB window season before Goff gets extended.

@Rams43

If, and a big if, Gurley is a healthy scratch then that's $14 M not counting towards the cap, which means next season no longer counts as a continuation of the window we had last season. And if Gurley isn't ready to go we can't rely on Brown alone (given his injury history), so we have to have more than a late round running back as an answer.

Hoping for a FS with our first pick!

 

[Rams43]

If it were me I'd be trying to get some extensions locked down first:

1. Brock. I think he's a core piece, but restructuring him to reduce his cap hit would be ideal.

2. Littleton. He deserves an extension and will cost less now than later, similar to what they did with Havenstein.

3. Whitworth. I don't see a restructure with next year used to lower his cap hit as a problem because he's in superb shape for his age. Keep the hit low and if he gets beaten out in camp we have great depth and leadership.

Other notes:

* Not worried about our two starting CBs as they are good for this year at current cost vs production. Depth is the thing the Rams will be looking for, as we have huge dropoff after our top 3.

* LB had a bunch of low talent/draft position kids last year. It's hard to bag on Joe Barry for the production of the group as a whole due to that. It's also a mistake, IMO, to not consider that we could see a lot of improvement out of Ebu and Obo in terms of the LOLB position. The right side is the big need. That and of course more consistency next to Littleton inside. Then judge Barry on what he puts on the field.

* It is entirely possible that Suh, Fowler, and Joyner all get bigger contracts than they should. Which helps us. And Saffold of course will definitely get a top market deal which he deserves. This means the Rams should be able to sign a big FA and maybe another good signing and still look forward to some compensation.

* Still think they hit Safety hard day one of FA. Then use the strengths of the draft for OLB, NT, and OG, where all positions are deep with plenty of options.

* ILB is sort of a darkhorse to my mind. Presume they try to get a cheap upgrade through an under the radar type signing but it might be another year of late rounders and UDFAs which Wade might be able to work with.

Just to be clear, Merlin.

When you say restructure Brockers, do you mean push dead money into future years? If so, I’m against that.

But if you mean re-do his entire contract to reduce it’s cost, then I’m a big proponent.

As to our LB play last year? I have NO problem bagging on Barry, and Wade too, for that matter.

Coaches are ultimately responsible for their results and LB play coulda been a helluva lot better. Starting with personnel decisions like counting on Longacre and Ebu as starters. And counting on Barron being healthy and performing well.

Until Fowler arrived in mid season, a move that was forced upon Snead by inferior edge play, btw, our ONLY LB performing even reasonably well was Littleton. C’mon... The fact is that Wade and Barry strategized all that poorly.

So yeah, I lay that at their feet.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Wasn’t Snead creative last year?

 

[Ram_Rally]

Wasn’t Snead creative last year?

Looks like you skipped the first line

 

[LesBaker]

At least one trade for a starter, maybe more. Probably pick for player, probably a D player.

Yes, this is almost a certainty.

Lion’s share of offseason moves will be devoted to D. Duh!

Duh!

One will be devoted to RB, count on that.

I expect Barron for sure to be a cap casualty. Possibly Brockers, too. Rams will be ruthless.

Brockers is going NOWHERE.

Rams will let Fowler and Saffold walk UNLESS they agree to cap friendly numbers.

Saffold is going NOWHERE.

Snead will trade down from #31 if he possibly can.

I think he will trade up. Wanna bet???

I have ROD bucks to spend.

It wouldn’t floor me if Snead traded away Peters.

Peters is going NOWHERE.

Goff will have his best year yet.

Rams will have 3 WR’s exceed 1000 yards.

Shit they could have had 3 of them go over 1200 last year.

This is a foregone conclusion IMO.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Looks like you skipped the first line

Yep. I only read the title.

 

[Adi]

After last year's offseason I figured this year would be boring and the rams would have limited money to spend.

Boy was I wrong, seems like the team has alot of money to play with . I want to see this linebacking core improved and we need a safety that's not 5 foot 8.

But let's not forget what the offense did in its last game , they lacked a true target that could break press and make catches. Kupp will help this but I think snead and mcvay go out and get a tight end , I have been unimpressed with Everett .

 

[Merlin]

Just to be clear, Merlin.

When you say restructure Brockers, do you mean push dead money into future years? If so, I’m against that.

But if you mean re-do his entire contract to reduce it’s cost, then I’m a big proponent.

As to our LB play last year? I have NO problem bagging on Barry, and Wade too, for that matter.

Coaches are ultimately responsible for their results and LB play coulda been a helluva lot better. Starting with personnel decisions like counting on Longacre and Ebu as starters. And counting on Barron being healthy and performing well.

Until Fowler arrived in mid season, a move that was forced upon Snead by inferior edge play, btw, our ONLY LB performing even reasonably well was Littleton. C’mon... The fact is that Wade and Barry strategized all that poorly.

So yeah, I lay that at their feet.

Lot of people hear restructure and they immediately picture the whiners of yesteryear. But IMO Brock is a good player who came in a bit too light and who still has a future with us. Restructure/extend him to lessen overall cap hit and set him in the range he should be at and keep him a Ram.

Cutting a guy like him would save money but also create a hole in the roster, and we already have enough holes. Key IMO after the obvious desire of having the best roster is having a roster where as many of your players as possible are earning in the range they should be.

Limiting factors any season are cap space and number of picks. We are in decent shape cap-wise but don't have a ton of cap space to play with. And in picks we aren't exactly flush either. I have faith in Les/Kevin of course, and I expect he'll do something like that with Brock but we'll have to wait and see.

 

[RamDino]

Some of last year's rookies will almost certainly be better this year. I have high hopes for Obo and Micah Kiser, and also for Brain Allen at center. Noteboom too, but he might have to wait another year. I understand the concern for the young linebackers, but it should only take a year for the game to slow down for them. My wish list is edge, corner, d-line, o-line, and running back, in whatever order they fall to the Rams. I don't anticipate a lot of trades (maybe trade down in the first round) or big free-agent signings for Snead. I would love to see Suh, Saffold, and Brockers back, but that's about it. Joyner, Barron, Sully all gone.

 

[Rams43]

Lot of people hear restructure and they immediately picture the whiners of yesteryear. But IMO Brock is a good player who came in a bit too light and who still has a future with us. Restructure/extend him to lessen overall cap hit and set him in the range he should be at and keep him a Ram.

Cutting a guy like him would save money but also create a hole in the roster, and we already have enough holes. Key IMO after the obvious desire of having the best roster is having a roster where as many of your players as possible are earning in the range they should be.

Limiting factors any season are cap space and number of picks. We are in decent shape cap-wise but don't have a ton of cap space to play with. And in picks we aren't exactly flush either. I have faith in Les/Kevin of course, and I expect he'll do something like that with Brock but we'll have to wait and see.

I like Brockers, just to be clear.

But he came in light, had a bad year, and is costing us $11M. Those make him non-viable unless something changes.

So, I could see where the Rams might make him a reduced offer, or else. Less expensive FA’s or a DL rich draft give the Rams viable options.

As you say, the best roster is one in which as many as possible of the players are earning n the range they should be. Last year Brockers’ salary far outstripped his production.

 

[CanRamFan]

I think snead and mcvay go out and get a tight end

I hope so. I want Hockenson so bad ! I really hope we go get him . Our offense would be unstoppable.

 

[Ram_Rally]

Yep. I only read the title.

Grad student here .I could explain every failed research paper with the same explanation so I feel you there lmao