Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › Wagoner mailbag, 4/2 – 4/3 … parts 1 & 2
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InvaderRam.
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April 2, 2016 at 10:36 am #41323
znModeratorE.J. Gaines’ healthy return critical to Rams in 2016
Nick Wagoner
The offseason is here for the Los Angeles Rams and now that we know where they’ll be playing their home games for the long term, things have settled down enough to spend our weekends answering a few of your Twitter questions.
As always, you can find me on Twitter @nwagoner and fire away with any Rams-related questions you might have. Please use hashtag #RamsMail so I can see them.
On to your questions.
Aaron McCall @STLPhenom
@nwagoner what player do the Rams need to step up most in 2016 with their recent free agent departures?@nwagoner: Well, based on the way the question was phrased, I’m going to go with cornerback E.J. Gaines with an honorable mention for safety Maurice Alexander based on what’s currently on the roster. Obviously, if you asked who would help the team most by having a big season, the answer would be quarterback Case Keenum (or whoever starts at quarterback). But looking at it in terms of who has to step up based on free-agent departures, the answer seems to be in the secondary. The Rams let Janoris Jenkins leave and in doing so, created a trickle-down effect. How does Trumaine Johnson handle taking over the No. 1 corner job? How does Gaines come back from injury, and can he hold off Coty Sensabaugh to retain the starting job opposite Johnson? The secondary seemed to play better, most consistent football last year but now there’s a lot of change there. Coach Jeff Fisher said at the owners meetings that Alexander could potentially play free safety. They also have Cody Davis, Christian Bryant and Lamarcus Joyner. If any of those guys emerged as a capable starter at safety, it would be beneficial for the defense. But we’ll go with Gaines here. He played very well as a rookie and has proved able to handle the job. We just don’t know how he’ll bounce back from injury and a year away from the game. The Rams will likely draft a corner at some point, as well, so if not Gaines, it could be Sensabaugh or a drafted corner that’s the answer to your question. I’d also throw in that Alec Ogletree has a very tough job to step into as well. He’s really talented but will have a lot more to handle from the mental standpoint in the middle.
Nicholas Gabert @gabert_nicholas
@nwagoner What do you think of the Rams getting Roberto Aguayo in round 3?@nwagoner: It’s not often you see a kicker leave early for the NFL draft, but that’s exactly what Aguayo did this year. Aguayo is the most accurate kicker in NCAA history, making 97 percent of his kicks (field goals and extra points combined) in his three seasons. And to your point, there’s a really good chance Aguayo will go somewhere in the first three rounds. Does he make sense for the Rams? Absolutely. The Rams have said they’d like to bring Greg Zuerlein back, but so far it hasn’t happened and even if it does, they also want to bring in competition for him. One of the issues with Zuerlein has been his accuracy, something Aguayo certainly doesn’t lack. So it makes sense from a fit and need standpoint. The question for the Rams is the value. The Rams’ roster isn’t exactly loaded. There are plenty of needs at other, perhaps more important positions. But the argument can be made that a top-tier kicker would be worth a third-round pick. After all, the Rams were a few missed field goals last season from finally having a winning season. So when draft time arrives, if Aguayo is on the board, the Rams would be wise to take a look and see how much of a difference he could make compared to players at another position.
April 3, 2016 at 11:54 am #41399znModeratorWould Rams be better off waiting for a quarterback?
Nick Wagoner
The offseason is here for the Los Angeles Rams and now that we know where they’ll be playing their home games for the long-term, things have settled down enough to spend our weekends answering a few of your Twitter questions.
As always, you can find me on Twitter @nwagoner and fire away with any Rams-related questions you might have. Please use hashtag #RamsMail so I can see them.
On to your questions.
Matt Wroten @Hazmatt415
@nwagoner Do you think the Rams are underwhelm with this year QB class, and are looking at a better prospect of Watson in 2017?@nwagoner This is a good, interesting question because there are so many variables in play when it comes to drafting a quarterback and many of those variables are in effect for the Rams right now. I think they mostly passed on the free-agent options at quarterback because they didn’t believe there was an obvious upgrade to what they have available and certainly not one that would come at a similar cost. It also didn’t help that they would have had to find a taker for Nick Foles to make a deal work financially. As for the draft, the read on this year’s class seems to be that while there are some good prospects, none will be able to help right away. That’s a big deal for the Rams because they need players who can help right now. This is Year 5 of the Jeff Fisher/Les Snead regime. They need to win now. So if they draft a quarterback who might take three years to develop at the expense of an instant impact player elsewhere, is that really going to help that cause? The other piece here is that it’s so difficult to project what a quarterback is going to become a few months out let alone when you add another year to the process. To your point, Clemson’s DeShaun Watson certainly looks great right now, but most teams haven’t even studied him closely at this point to determine how his skills might translate. What if he has a bad season? What if he suffers an unfortunate injury? And the Rams don’t exactly have a history under Fisher of finishing worse than middle of the pack, which means that if Watson turns out great, he might be out of their reach barring a big trade. At this point, I would still be surprised if the Rams don’t draft a quarterback relatively early (first or second round) this year. But even if they do so, there’s still a good chance that player won’t take the starting job from Case Keenum to begin the season.
Nick Carbaugh @CarbaughNation
@nwagoner #ramsmail Can you (or anyone) explain the Rams’ lack of urgency in fixing the passing game these last few years?@nwagoner I can’t really offer you a good explanation, no. But I’d point to Fisher’s history and philosophy for why that hasn’t been a priority. Fisher has long been a proponent of a run-centric offense and after parting ways with Steven Jackson in the 2013 offseason, the Rams actually did look to bolster the passing game. They signed Jared Cook, traded up to land Tavon Austin, etc. But that experiment was based on having a healthy Sam Bradford at quarterback and spreading the ball all over the field. It lasted just four games before Fisher and the Rams gave up on it. Ever since, the Rams have gone back to building the offense behind running the ball. It would seem that the slow trigger on trying to fix the passing game was largely because of the continued belief in Bradford that didn’t work out. You could argue that they showed urgency last year in trading Bradford and completely re-shaping the depth chart at quarterback. They even brought in a new quarterbacks coach in Chris Weinke. So, to be fair, some of this isn’t about a lack of trying to fix things as not coming up with good solutions to get them fixed. It’s a problem not specific to the Rams, but I also think it’s fair to wonder why they didn’t use any of that extra draft capital from the trade with Washington to draft and groom a quarterback who could have potentially been ready to play by now. And it’s not just limited to quarterback. The approach at wide receiver has been puzzling, as well. For example, the 2014 receiver class was the most productive group of rookies in league history. That was the only year under Fisher in which the Rams didn’t draft a wideout. And that’s not hindsight. There were plenty of people who wanted them to take Sammy Watkins at No. 2 or at least grab one somewhere in the early rounds. They didn’t and now it’s again a position of need in a draft that isn’t all that great there.
April 3, 2016 at 10:50 pm #41430
InvaderRamModeratorCoach Jeff Fisher said at the owners meetings that Alexander could potentially play free safety.
interesting. i hadn’t heard that before. i always thought he was strictly a strong safety.
i also don’t think fisher hasn’t shown urgency in the passing game. it’s just that his moves have not worked out. if foles had been average, the passing game would have not been near the concern that it is now.
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