Undrafted Free Agents – Rams

http://www.ohiobobcats.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/042917aab.html

ATHENS, Ohio – Ohio football defensive lineman Casey Sayles (Omaha, Neb.) signed a free agent contract with the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams Saturday. Sayles is the third Bobcat who will get his shot in the NFL this season as Tarell Basham and Blair Brown were taken in the NFL draft earlier this week.

Sayles served as team captain for Ohio the past two seasons and was a second-team All-Mid-American Conference selection this past season.

Sayles started in all 14 games last season and recorded 33 tackles including 18 solo stops. He also recorded 7.5 tackles for loss and six sacks. Sayles also recorded three pass breakups, two quarterback hurries, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick.

Following the season, Sayles participated in the College Gridiron Showcase in Bedford, Texas.

zn wrote:

Ohio football defensive lineman Casey Sayles (Omaha, Neb.) signed a free agent contract with the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams Saturday.

Draft Analyst’s Tony Pauline called Ohio DT Casey Sayles “one of [his] favorite no-name prospects.”
“He’s a blue collar player who gets the most from his ability,” Pauline writes, adding, “I’m told his quickness and explosion stood out in [pro day] drills.” The 6-foot-2, 288-pounder registered 32 tackles (6.5 for loss), five sacks and three passes defended in 14 games played during the past season. For this solid output, he was named third-team All-MAC at the end of the 2016 campaign. He is unlikely to find a home during the draft proper unless a team takes a flier on him late on Day 3, but could land on a roster as an undrafted free agent
Source: Draft Analyst
http://www.rotoworld.com/recent/cfb/138121/casey-sayles

Kevin Davis – LB Colorado State (Rams sign a Ram)

zn wrote:

MAYBE New Mexico OC Anthony McMeans

Name: Anthony McMeans
College: New Mexico State Number: 62
Height: 6-1 Weight: 316
Position: C Pos2: OG
Class/Draft Year: Sr/2017
40 Low: 5.62 40 Time: 5.74 40 High: 5.80
Projected Round: Stock: High: HPFA Low: FA
Rated number 20 out of 71 C’s
Height: 6013

Dates: 03/10/17

40 Yrd Dash: 5.74
20 Yrd Dash: 3.24
10 Yrd Dash: 1.95 225 Lb. Bench Reps: 15
Vertical Jump: 23
Broad Jump: 07’11”
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.80
3-Cone Drill: 8.59

===

Anthony McMeans (C)
HT: 6’2″ WT: 313LBS.
POSITION: C
SCHOOL: New Mexico St.

ANALYSIS

Strengths

Good natural upper body strength. Appears to have good strength in his hands. When he’s able to latch onto opponent’s frame, he can match strength with strength. Flashed some power in his down blocks against Ole Miss in 2015. Shows ability to bend and cut his man.

Weaknesses

Squatty frame carrying some excess baggage in his core. Hand placement can be very poor at times. Will get out-tussled in heads-up matchups and is unable to control the reps with balance and footwork. Doesn’t gain ground quickly enough when asked to move laterally, causing inconsistencies with play-side cutoff blocks. Needs to take better angles on second-level blocks.

Draft Projection
UDFA

Bottom Line

Went to New Mexico State from a junior college and immediately fit into the Lobos’ plans, becoming a two-year starter. Squatty frame puts him at a disadvantage when matched against bigger, longer opposition, and he doesn’t have the athletic ability to counter his physical limitations. Game is based on power more than movement. A one-position player who won’t offer traits that most teams look for in a draftable center.

http://www.nfl.com/m/draft/2017/profiles/anthony-mcmeans?id=2557951

Agamemnon wrote:

Justin Davis/RB/USC

JUSTIN DAVIS
RB
USC PAC-12

6’1″
208LBS

OVERVIEW

It was supposed to be Davis’ big year in 2016, and it started out that way until a high ankle sprain in the midst of what would have been his third straight 100-yard game caused him to miss three games. His statistics turned out to be ordinary because of the injury (564 rushing yards, two TD) and the rising star of Ronald Jones II. Davis graduated from high school a semester early so he could contribute as a true freshman (361 rushing yards, 6 TD) before an ankle injury ended his season. He contributed as a reserve in 2014 (595 yards, four TD rushing; 13-92, 2 TD receiving) and then became an honorable mention All-Pac-12 pick as a junior by starting the final eight games (902 yards, seven TD rushing; 18-189 receiving).

ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS Former high school sprinter and long-jumper with desired speed and athleticism at the position. Will hide behind blockers while he probes for points of entry along the line of scrimmage. Benefits from nimble feet. Quick to gather and cut downhill as zone runner and has the agility to stop on a dime and shake traffic in the backfield to keep runs moving. Good open field vision and elusiveness. Consistent and reliable.

WEAKNESSES Needs more weight to be an early-down running back. Allows back-side tacklers to run him down. Will need to play with more consistent suddenness on the next level. Lacks authority as a runner. Gives into tackle rather than imposing his will and making a statement. Missing tackle-breaking power in hips. Ball security issues with three fumbles in 109 carries this year. Below average third down option as blocker and pass catcher.

DRAFT PROJECTION PFA

SOURCES TELL US “I put a fifth-round grade on him. They didn’t ask much of him as a pass-catcher in that offense but I think he can do it. He can play heavier than he is right now so he carries third running back value. He also returned kicks last year so that helps him too.” – NFC West regional scout

BOTTOM LINE Solid college running back who lacks the physicality to be a consistent interior runner and the blocking ability teams expect from their third down backs. Davis has decent vision and elusiveness once he gets up to the second level, but he lacks early creativity and typically gets what is blocked for him on the first level. He could get drafted on the third day but appears to be a garden-variety, replaceable runner.

Agamemnon wrote:

Jake Eldrenkamp – OL – Washington

Listed as guard but could go to center.

6’5″
297LBS

ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS Good athlete. Plays with good bend and has easy, smooth movement skills. Shows off good lateral agility and quickness off the snap. Built for zone scheme. Has the feet to get to difficult reach blocks and work hips into place to seal his block. Able to stick defensive tackles on his inside shoulder and run his feet to keep them there. Takes quality angles up to second level. Hands are big and strong helping him sustain his blocks. Capable long- or short-pull blocker. Plays with good balance in pass sets and stays mirrored to defender. Pass punch lands inside and once he gets extension he keeps arms locked out.

WEAKNESSES Possesses relatively narrow frame and may have issues adding and maintaining desired mass for interior. Needs to play on the move. Struggles to generate quality push at the point of attack as base blocker. Hands can swing a little too wide in run game. Tends to lean and push rather than roll hips into his blocks. Will chase twisters too deep and run himself out of position to catch the looper.

DRAFT PROJECTION Round 7-PFA

BOTTOM LINE An athletic zone-scheme fit at guard or potentially center if he proves he can snap it. Eldrenkamp is technically sound in both the running and passing games and he’s got desired body control and balance that zone teams like. The biggest question for him will be whether or not he can carry more mass, but the tape looks like that of a backup or possibly eventual starter if he can find the right scheme fit.

-Lance Zierlein

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2017/profiles/jake-eldrenkamp?id=2558713

JackPMiller wrote:

I know Rhaney is happy that he has no competition for his backup spot.

Chances are they are converting a guard. If Kromer didnt think that would work, based on the time he just recently spent with them, chances are they would have drafted a center. Remember people were disappointed that Buffalo matched on Groy. Well…Groy is a Kromer guard convert.

Rams’ undrafted free agents include 2 OL, 4 DBs

Alden Gonzalez
ESPN Staff Writer

http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/33706/rams-undrafted-free-agents-include-2-ol-4-dbs

Shortly after selecting eight players, the Los Angeles Rams scrambled for undrafted free agents. They wound up with 11 of them. Below is a look at each.

Ishmael Adams, DB, UCLA: Adams, 5-foot-8, switched from cornerback to receiver for his senior year with the Bruins, finishing with 20 catches for 178 yards while also returning punts and kickoffs. As a redshirt freshman in 2013, he intercepted a team-leading four passes. From 2014 to 2015, he returned three of those interceptions for touchdowns. The Rams will use him as a defensive back.

Jared Collins, DB, Arkansas: Listed at 5-11, 173 pounds, Collins was a starter in his last three years with the Razorbacks and finished his collegiate career with two interceptions and four forced fumbles. He had 34 pass breakups in 38 games from 2014 to 2016.

Kevin Davis, ILB, Colorado State: From the Rams in college to the Rams in the pros. Davis (6-2, 235) really came into his own in his last two years at Colorado State, totaling 24 1/2 tackles for loss. He picked up three sacks and four forced fumbles in 2016.

Justin Davis, RB, USC: Davis split carries over his last three years with the Trojans, running for a combined 2,104 yards and 13 touchdowns on 408 carries. He missed three games as a senior because of a high-ankle sprain and, at 6-1 and 208 pounds, doesn’t necessarily possess the strength and physicality to be an effective interior runner.

Jake Eldrenkamp, OL, Washington: Eldrenkamp is considered an athletic, technically sound lineman who can be a natural fit in a zone scheme. Listed at 6-5, 297 pounds, Eldrenkamp would benefit from some added weight. He’s naturally a guard, but the Rams will also give him a shot at center.

Anthony McMeans, OL, New Mexico State: A true center, McMeans, 6-2 and 320 pounds, was an honorable mention on All-Sun Belt Conference teams as a junior and senior. He received a fair amount of interest from other teams as an undrafted free agent and should get a decent chance to stick with the Rams.

Johnny Mundt, TE, Oregon: Mundt entered his senior year with 23 career catches for 349 yards, then suffered a knee injury in the opener. At that point, he figured he would eventually just return home and help his family run its farming business. But Mundt played well late, with 19 catches for 265 yards and three touchdowns over the last six games, and will give this football thing another shot.

Folarin Orimolade, OLB, Dartmouth: The Bushnell Cup winner for best Ivy League defensive player, Orimolade (6-0, 235) finished his senior year with nine sacks, 14 1/2 tackles for loss and five forced fumbles. He compiled 23 1/2 sacks throughout his collegiate career.

Aarion Penton, DB, Missouri: Penton was the 242nd-ranked player on Mel Kiper Jr.’s Big Board. He is a bit undersized, at 5-9 and 177 pounds, and doesn’t necessarily boast great speed. But he does have solid ball skills. Penton finished his senior year with a career-high five interceptions.

Casey Sayles, DT, Ohio University: Listed at 6-3, 288 pounds, Sayles totaled 12 1/2 tackles for loss and 7 1/2 sacks as a junior and senior for the Bobcats. The Rams are pretty set at defensive line right now, but have several veterans that are headed towards free agency next offseason.

Dravious Wright, DB, NC State: Wright didn’t intercept any passes in college, but did break up five of them as a senior, while also forcing four fumbles. He’s listed at 5-10, 208 pounds and has experience as a corner and safety.

wv wrote:

Finally got our Center.

w
v

sanbagger wrote:

Alright….at least they addressed the Center position somewhat…whew.

They’ve said both OL signed in UDFAs would be tried at center.

But they did address the center position. Along with signing Sullivan, basically they are trying all the guards at center (Donnal, Brown, Wichmann) plus they have 2 guys on the roster with center experience (Rhaney, Arkin). Add the 2 UDFAs to that, and it’s at least 7 guys.

And remember, we wanted Groy. Groy is a Kromer product–a converted guard, and originally a UDFA. So using Groy as an example, it looks like Kromer has reason to be confident in his ability to do that.

They had a veteran minicamp before the draft. Kromer had a chance to see how his young center prospects are looking. That was apparently enough of an indication for them to take OL off the board when the draft came up.

In their post-draft press conference, both Snead and McVay directly addressed this. Their line was that they and Kromer agreed that they had enough OL prospects on hand they liked to develop that they did not consider it an issue. In fact they say that Kromer told them that it was unlikely this draft would produce OL players who were upgrades over what they already had.

Now of course having said all that…it better work.

sanbagger wrote:

zn wrote:

They had a veteran minicamp before the draft. Kromer had a chance to see how his young center prospects are looking. That was apparently enough of an indication for them to take OL off the board when the draft came up.

That’s the key for me…and I don’t think they were sold on the depth of the O-line in this draft.

All that said….I agree, it has to work and hope the curse of the O-line has been wiped out by McV and Kromer.

About that. My view:

1. The Rams had decent OLs and good OL coaching from 2012-2015, but what hurt them was injuries. I mean massive, extensive injuries. Sometimes this gets responded to with people saying “well all teams have injuries”—and no, not all teams have unit killing multiple extensive simultaneous injuries to their OLs. And the ones that do generally suffer (unless they have a qb who can still excel in those conditions, like Brady or Wilson).

2. In fact when the Rams OLs were relatively healthy from the 2nd half of 2012 through 2013, they did fine. When they were multiply injured and/or very inexperienced (2015) they predictably did not do as well.

3. They were awful in 2016 but that came from a lot of causes. To me 2016 was a perfect cluster storm of multiple things all going wrong at once. I think 2016 was unique.

4. 2016 is over, Kromer has a nice history, and he has indicated that in fact in Buffalo he was looking at some of the guys the Rams drafted in 2015. So he thinks there’s guys to work with. We agree they better be right, but still. Plus of course they added Whitworth and Sullivan (I am one of those who believes Sullivan has already shown he can still play). SO it is possible that they could get back to being decent. I absolutely would not rule that out, though of course, I ain’t committing to full optimism on this until we have visible on the field evidence.

sanbagger wrote:

I’m not sold on Boo as since the injuries so decimated them they didn’t really have the next guy up….

SB, to be clear, this is my view: no one–no team–has the next guy up when OLs get THAT injured. In fact I consider it a myth that it’s even possible.

As a rule thoughtout the NFL if your OL gets injured past the critical mass point, then, no one can repair it in season. That’s just the nature of NFL OL play. You whack the OL with extensive multiple simultaneous injuries and it has a direct bad effect. The rare exceptions, as I said, are teams with qbs who can still play under those conditions (I named Brady and Wilson…some add Roethlisberger).

It’;s not just a matter of having bodies. After a while if the injuries are extensive enough, you lose cohesion and communication no matter what.

And since the cap/free agency era, it looks to be virtually impossible to have the kind of OL depth that lets teams handle multiple OL injuries. For example, like in the 1st half of 2012, when the positions from center to left OT played 9 different guys.

Predictably they were better in the 2nd half of 2012 when they got most of their starters back and really had to cope with only 1 injury (Dahl).

I have never seen an argument anywhere on the net that led me to doubt any of the above.

That’s just where I stand.

And Boudreau had some great lines in his past. Sometimes manufactured out of nothing.

He wasn’t much help in 2016, but then in 2016 so much went wrong that it just plain does not reduce to 1 or 2 things.

The Rams have signed UDFA guard Jake Eldrenkamp, whose college grades compare favorable to the top guards in the 2017 draft.

Los Angeles Rams will love Washington Huskies Jake Eldrenkamp

link: http://thehuskyhaul.com/2017/04/30/los-angeles-rams-will-love-washington-huskies-jake-eldrenkamp/

The University of Washington Huskies are an NFL player assembly line under head coach Chris Petersen. The team simply does not look to the stars: either in recruits or in production on the field. What Coach Petersen insists upon is contribution. And offensive guard Jake Eldrenkamp is a solid offensive lineman.

The Rams need offensive line help. The 2017 NFL Draft did not yield many offensive linemen, and so teams like the Indianapolis Colts have made it a point to augment their ranks with undrafted free agents.

It’s so tough to judge the potential of offensive linemen. While I have no scientific data to back up my instincts, it seems as though the future of the player can evolve to NFL starter regardless of the initial scouting reports. Top ranked OL fall out of favor, and undrafted prospects can land as perennial starters.

The Washington Huskies offensive lineman is not raw. In fact, he’s the opposite. He’s a polished offensive lineman who understands the techniques of both run and pass blocking. You can form your own opinion (check out # 52 at about the 7:00 mark). It’s a 13:00 minute or so video, so be sure to pop the popcorn!

On one hand, Eldrenkamp loves to engage and finish his blocks. As such, he’s a solid prospect. In the vacuum of a team in need of offensive linemen, Eldrenkamp appears to be a gift of the draft. Ranked as high as round 5 on some mocks, the fact the Rams landed him as a UDFA is good for the team.

On the other hand, Eldrenkamp is solid enough in fundamentals to make this roster. However, if the team feels he needs more time, he will likely make the practice squad for a year before coming back to play next year.

What the Los Angeles will need to work on with Jake Eldrenkamp

On one hand, mo NFL rookie is foolproof. On the other hand, the synchronization of an NFL offensive line takes a great deal of time with even the most gifted of athletes.

The narrative of his scouting report hinges upon his adding mass to his body to play interior lineman for the NFL. Listed at 297 pounds on a 6-foot-5 body does not appear to be a pencil thin player. But his frame is somewhat narrow, so adding more muscle may not be a guarantee solution long term.

He is a solid, but not all-star, offensive lineman. Even so, he will need to compete and learn from, training in the NFL.

Why this pick is such a good fit

In the end, this is an excellent fit. The Los Angeles Rams failed to address positions at the offensive line in the NFL Draft, an area of need. So the team signed the Washington Huskies offensive guard with the intent of developing him into a solid performer.

By all accounts, it should prove to be successful. In summary, Eldrenkamp has a solid foundation of instincts and techniques, and merely needs to add muscle and refine his natural skillsets.