Les just said Aaron Donald was “jacked” about the Byron Young and Kobie Turner picks — specifically Turner, who Les sees similarities with him and Donald in terms of their get-off… per the post-draft show https://t.co/jkxhy4QvTP

— Rams Brothers (@RamsBrothers) April 29, 2023

The Rams can carry up to 90 players, but they don’t have to – and Sean McVay sees a benefit to having fewer players on the roster https://t.co/u1DPKKrcxD

— Rams Wire (@TheRamsWire) May 1, 2023

Jourdan Rodrigue

Why don’t you think it isn’t a more natural fit for Atwell. Didn’t seem like he got too many chances, but I felt like he produced when he did get the chance.

RODRIGUE: I have written about this before but – when I say that I mean they had to scheme him into opps. An offense that was going mostly empty/dropback is not the right fit for him whereas a play-action concept IS so he doesn’t have to physically press off the line and instead has time to get into his gear. When they had a QB who likes play-action/had to utilize it bc dropback game was not his strength (Mayfield) then Atwell really got going. So the thing will be: Can he stay on the field for non pass downs so you don’t have to sub? Can the offense and the QB blend more concepts that do work for him? It’s about both he and the game plan meeting each other halfway.

Looking like a vet needed at CB, DL and DE. Any names? How does the cap money budget work? Any contract reworks coming?

RODRIGUE: They need to sign this class and have a budget for UDFAs. After that, very little left and you need about $10M in cash flow for roster churn through the year. They love Higbee even though a cut would mean savings. So hard to imagine that one. Restructures always possible too but they are limiting cash spending and what they push into the future. It will come from somewhere but hard to know exactly where.

I assume there has been a deep dive/analysis into the injury crisis that happened last year. An article about THAT and what the rams are doing to avoid a repeat would be a great story.

RODRIGUE: It’s always something I’m digging into but…whether medical privacy or them just not wanting to share their secrets it’s a tough one to truly get a grasp on. But I’m trying! Some of it definitely was workload management – the line between ascending workload into the season while also wanting to get these guys more rest after the longest season ever/surgeries etc.. Plus many other factors I am certain

Assuming equal health, you think Sheldon has jumped Allen at Center? If so, why?

RODRIGUE: I don’t know how Allen has come back from injury nor do I know how durable he could be. They love him at center but I put Shelton here because of the above factors and because Shelton, like Allen, is a great communicator. And I think Avila takes over long term.

I feel like the Rams are in a really good place on offense, but our defense really worries me, so young at every stage of the defense. With how inexperienced a lot of our secondary is and with the size of a lot of our corners, should we expect more of the “soft” coverage with this team like we’ve gotten in years prior?

RODRIGUE: Ideally they would get back to the full version of their match zone, which looks “soft” pre snap but asks the CBS to come down from depth and match over the top of routes so a zone look really becomes a man play. That’s what the overall covg ethos of this defense was always supposed to be. Now, they don’t have the length to play man at the line of scrimmage. But what interests me is a couple players – Tomlinson and Durant – very apparently have the speed and ball skills to get really aggressive over the top of those routes. To me if they’ve already decided defense is gonna have a tough year there should be no reason not to get those guys jumping routes out of that zone.

Mitchell Schwartz@MitchSchwartz71
All GMs have to do these days to get draft acclaim is trade down and draft the top guy on the consensus board at their pick. Draft analysis is getting boring and trite. Everyone has the same talking points about what positions you can/can’t draft 1st round, trading up, etc.

I get it. I agree with some of it since it’s coming from a place of understanding value and what brings the most to the table for teams. But the “picking guys who dropped on the consensus board” part has been driving me nuts the last few years. I know wisdom of the crowd theory.

But: I don’t think it’s a complete view we get. The consensus boards are not team driven, they’re media/independent analysts. Some might get insight from teams, but not all. Without full medical + mental evals all these boards show is physical projection. Which is great, except:

By now we kind of all know it’s not that big a piece of the puzzle if there’s a baseline of talent. Work ethic, motivation levels, development, coaching, scheme fit, teammates, mentorship, it all plays as big if not a bigger role than “what can he do on film in college.”

Isn’t that literally the reason we all say the draft is a crapshoot? And that we laud trading back and getting more picks. So if the people with all the info aren’t better than flipping a coin, why do we take as gospel the collective boards of those without all the info?

Elvis

Couple tidbits from Jourdan:

She says Fuller is healthy and the Rams are expecting a lot from him at safety this year.

She has Hunter Long at #2 TE.

Like a lot of people has the OL: Alaric, Avila, Shelton, Bruss, Havs.