Jefferson traded

IMO:

1. Poor return for a 2nd round pick, but trading him made sense.
2. Dealing him tells us the (2020) pick itself was botched.
3. The Rams have had too many of those in recent years.
4. Doing this too often catches up with teams.
5. Oh, and get off my lawn!

;>)

zn wrote:

Billy_T wrote:

. Two Seconds and two Thirds. Gone. It’s really difficult to team-build when that keeps happening.

Interestingly, the only player still on the Eagles roster from their 2020 draft is Hurts.

ZN, I responded to this earlier, but it was lost in the filter. Probably due to a link.

Will see if this gets through without it.

I don’t follow the Iggles, but when I checked, it looked like three players from the 2020 draft are on the active roster, and one is on injured reserve. So four made it through, total.

To me, though, the point is that the Rams, at least recently, seem to give up on their draft picks early on, even before their first contract expires. And, typically, they either cut them outright or get very little in trade.

In short, I think they need to do a bit better on team-building, drafting, maximizing trade value, etc. I like their coaching, and think it’s an area of strength overall. But I also think McVay can get impatient, and make impetuous decisions about this or that player. Jourdan has mentioned that they reflect at times on this and admit some errors . . . which is a good sign.

Hoping for the best, as always.

zn wrote:

Well the Rams would be better if they hit on all their 2s and 3s in 2019 and 2020 and had at least 2 or 3 of those 8 who were still with the team. 2019 2 Taylor Rapp 61 2019 3 Darrell Henderson 70 2019 3 David Long 79 2019 3 Bobby Evans 97 2020 2 Cam Akers 52 2020 2 Van Jefferson 57 2020 3 Terrell Lewis 84 2020 3 Terrell Burgess 104 Yet in their defense, if you look at those draft years, they were not great ones in those rounds.

Agreed. Too many misses in both those draft classes. I didn’t like the Rapp pick when it happened. Thought he lacked athleticism. I did see him as a try-hard player with heart, and he played that way for the Rams. I also think the Rams chose the wrong guy, Akers over Henderson. From my (limited) vantage point, always thought Henderson was the better back, but he did have injury issues. Long was a disappointment. Solid athleticism, but just didn’t seem to fit. Evans was a reach. Lewis was a gamble, but had elite size and athleticism, with major injury history. He’s another player I think the Rams cut long before his time, and they didn’t have to cut him. His cap hit was low, still on a rookie contract, etc. Almost the same with Burgess, but with less athleticism. Didn’t understand that cut, either.

Good point about relative options across the board.

In general, though, I think teams need to hit on at least the first three rounds. If a team isn’t in the top tier, those first three rounds should yield starters — as rookies or soon thereafter. If they’re middle to bad teams, the first four rounds. Even the best tier teams should be able to find depth upgrades or key specialists.

The Rams have played well enough this season to confuse the heck out of me. I really don’t know where to place them. I don’t see them as top tier, or the next up, but they’ve played much better than I had anticipated going into the year. If this continues, I think they’re in the middle. A good draft would then mean hitting on the first four.**

**Caveat being later round hits can compensate for early misses, but not entirely. In my view, the best teams do both now and then, and they usually hit on early picks. Of course, no team ever consistently does that. I haven’t done the legwork, but I’d guess it’s never happened in the NFL, year over year, for any team. So, basically, I’m talking aspirationally, etc.

On Goff. I agree it was a bad marriage, and I am not the least bit surprised to see him faring well in Detroit.

I still think it was the right move because the Rams were ready to win immediately, and Stafford was ready to win immediately, and Goff wasn’t.

Zooey wrote:

On Goff. I agree it was a bad marriage, and I am not the least bit surprised to see him faring well in Detroit. I still think it was the right move because the Rams were ready to win immediately, and Stafford was ready to win immediately, and Goff wasn’t.

I’m not so sure Goff wasn’t ready. He helped take the Rams to a Super Bowl just two years before that trade, right? What happened to him in the meantime?

Of course, that’s likely what you and ZN mean by “bad marriage.” Takes two to tango, etc. But I lean toward most of the blame going to McVay on that one, but am still glad he’s the Rams’ coach. Both/and.

Stubbornly, I think Goff was fixable, and thought so at the time of the trade. His success in Detroit just confirms that for me.

Oh, well. C’est la vie!