St. Louis Rams offseason roster review: A revamped quarterback room
By Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/18722/st-louis-rams-offseason-roster-review-a-revamped-quarterback-room
EARTH CITY, Mo. — The St. Louis Rams don’t start organized team activities until June 3, but with most of the offseason heavy lifting complete, the current roster likely will make up the vast majority of players come the start of the regular season.
With that in mind, we’ll spend the next week or so delving into each position group with some thoughts on who will start, who might be on the bubble and how the depth chart could shake out.
Position: QB
Returning: Austin Davis
Newcomers: Nick Foles, Case Keenum, Sean Mannion
Departures: Sam Bradford, Shaun Hill
Projected starter: Foles
Battle to watch: Rams coach Jeff Fisher has already declared Foles his starter and there’s probably nothing short of an injury or off the field issue that can change that. After spending a third-round pick on Mannion, he also is pretty much a lock to make the roster. So the real battle here is to be the third quarterback on the roster and the likely backup for Foles. That means a battle of two players who spent time with the Rams in 2014: Davis and Keenum. Since Mannion will take some time to develop, the winner of that battle will probably be the No. 2 signal caller to start the season and the loser will be in the strange position of being out of a job entirely.
Outlook: The Rams are hoping that the drastic changes they’ve made to the quarterback room will finally be enough to get them over the hump and into playoff contention. They even made a change with the coaching staff here, hiring Chris Weinke as quarterbacks coach and bringing Jeff Garcia on as an offensive assistant. Foles isn’t as physically gifted as Bradford as a passer but the simple act of being healthy and cheap represents a potential upgrade. In the Rams’ offense, Foles doesn’t need to be the 27-touchdown, two-interception guy he was in 2013 but he also can’t be the guy who missed time with injuries and struggled with turnovers in 2014. Instead, the Rams need a quarterback who can not make the critical mistakes that Davis had a knack for last year and take advantage when downfield opportunities arise. To reacquire Keenum, the Rams dealt a seventh-round pick in next year’s draft to Houston and he should get a better look this time around. Davis signed a tender offer as a restricted free agent and has at least flashed the ability to spot start when needed. Mannion is a project but not as much of one as some of the spread-system quarterbacks now entering the league. In an ideal world, Foles emerges as a top choice both short and long term but barring that, the hope is that Mannion can develop into a potential long-term fit capable of giving the Rams options moving forward.
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Agamemnon
