Downtown Rams@DowntownRams
Goff and Woods are hooking up often this afternoon. Their connection looks as sharp as it did when they played the Falcons in January #RamsCamp

Cooper Kupp’s adjustment to the ball on film is near elite. He just does an excellent job of tracking, being aware of his surroundings, staying in bounds and bracing to bounce off contact and create more yards after the catch. Very impressive WR.

On 2nd and 6 Robey-Coleman nearly came away with the pick as the 1st team offense and defense go at it #RamsCamp

Mike Thomas caught a deep ball down the middle from Goff. Tight window and Thomas made a great adjustment for the score #RamsCamp

On final play of today’s practice, 1st team offense and defense came out for 1 goal line play. Goff threw it over the middle to Gurley on the edge of the end zone for the score #RamsCamp

Vincent Bonsignore@DailyNewsVinny
Rams Jared Goff heating up in 11 on 11 drills – a 30 yard completion to Robert Woods followed by dropping a 50 yard pass to Michael Thomas for a TD. Strong session for Woods who also had another 30 yard reception from Goff

Nice little wheel route hook up between #Rams Jared Goff and Todd Gurley for a 70 yard TD

#Rams TE Gerald Everett getting a shoulder injury checked out according to Sean McVay. Rams hoping for more clarity later tonight/tomorrow

==

Rich Hammond@Rich_Hammond
McVay said Gerald Everett has a shoulder injury, severity TBD. Joyner has Achilles soreness. Longacre has biceps injury.

nittany ram wrote:

“Kkkken’s coming to kkkill me.”

Rams COO Kevin Demoff: ‘We just don’t agree’ on Aaron Donald’s value

Cameron DaSilva

Rams COO Kevin Demoff: 'We just don't agree' on Aaron Donald's value

The Los Angeles Rams and Aaron Donald have been discussing a long-term extension for more than a year now, and despite the lengthy and ongoing negotiations, the two sides can’t seem to come close to an agreement. With Week 1 rapidly approaching and Aaron Donald still not in Los Angeles, it’s almost inevitable that his holdout will continue for the foreseeable future.

Through all of this, the Rams have played it very close to the chest. Sean McVay gets asked about updates on Donald’s situation daily after practice and Les Snead has addressed it ad nauseam since the holdout began. Yet, no one discussing the topic seems to be giving any meaningful answers.

On Wednesday, Rams COO Kevin Demoff, who’s at the center of the negotiations, shared his thoughts on the situation Wednesday. Surprisingly, it’s the most honest update we’ve gotten thus far. Demoff joined Mighty 1090AM in San Diego – the Rams’ newest radio partner – to explain that the two sides simply don’t agree on Donald’s value.

“I don’t think they’re unrealistic,” Demoff said of Donald’s representatives. “I think they see their client at a certain point that they value at, we see it at a different point. To me, that doesn’t mean one side is right or wrong. I think that’s the worst thing you can say in negotiations. We don’t agree, but that doesn’t make us right and them wrong. It doesn’t make them right and us wrong. We just don’t agree. And hopefully we can find that magic bullet to go get there and agre

Demoff said “it is truly a spirited conversation” and one that he thinks will “ultimately wind up in a productive place.” Where exactly that “productive place” is has yet to be determined, but there’s no question about what Donald wants out of this. He wants to be paid what he deserves, which is the highest-paid defender in the NFL.

As someone who won Defensive Player of the Year in just 14 games with no preseason or training camp under his belt last season, he’s clearly established himself as a premier player in the NFL today. Put simply, $6.9 million for his services is downright ludicrous.

The Rams know he deserves more than that, it’s just a matter of how much more and for how long.

“We’ll keep working at it, but I enjoy talking to them,” Demoff said. “This isn’t contentious, this isn’t personal. We just have to find the right deal to reward Aaron for the special player he is.”

It’s easy to see why the Rams are taking the stance that they are. It’s also clear why Donald and his reps are pushing for the team to pay him significantly more than what he’s slated to earn in 2018. Like Demoff said, that doesn’t make either side right or wrong and he and the Rams “enjoy working with them” and have “done other deals with them.”

However, the Rams have quite a bit of leverage in this situation, as teams often do. If Donald doesn’t show up by Aug. 7, he becomes a restricted free agent after the season, further improving the Rams’ position in this. Even if he reports by then, the Rams are almost certain to franchise tag him in 2019 and possibly 2020 if no deal is reached beforehand.

There’s nothing Donald can do about that other than holding out again and again, but he’ll obviously lose game checks if that were to happen. In turn, the Rams will also be losing the best defender in the NFL. That’s not something either side wants.

As for the financial figures, there have been very few leaks out of either camp. Demoff debunked any reports about the money Donald is seeking or what the Rams have possibly offered, saying “whatever gets reported in the media is always slanted or blown out of proportion.”

“I’ve seen numbers. None of them are accurate. None of the postures are accurate,” Demoff said. “Most importantly, we’ve had a great relationship with their agents to date. That doesn’t mean we see eye-to-eye.”

A short-term pay raise as a bridge to a lucrative long-term extension doesn’t seem to be on the table, especially with the Rams right up against the cap in 2018 already. That’s something Julio Jones got out of the Falcons for this season, but that’s likely not something Donald or his camp wants.

And in the near future, the Rams have plenty of young core players to pay, which further complicates things.

“What’s important right now is to continue to make sure we try to find a way to get Aaron in the fold, but also preserve – because that’s what we need,” Demoff continued. “We’re gonna have Marcus Peters on a contract expiring. You have Jared [Goff] coming up. You know, next year we’re going to have four picks in the top 100. You want to make sure that what we’re building is not just short-term. It’s sustainable. There’s a balance there.”

This standoff could go on for quite a while, but neither side wants to see it last into the regular season. They just seem too far apart right now to get a deal done fairly quickly.

I will always respect former @Bills / @ChicagoBears HC Dick Jauron for teaching me this as a player for the @Jaguars when he was the DC. He encouraged me to try new techniques (press, bail and off) in practice to figure out which ones work best for me in games. It was liberating https://t.co/6suKoLAJSd

— Bucky Brooks (@BuckyBrooks) August 2, 2018

69RamFan 8/1

Hi RAM Nation…. It was a nice warm day about 88degrees… had a nice little breeze today…

I was paying more attention to the O-line….
The ones O vs the twos D, then vice versa for the 2nd unit….

The starting O-line looks really good and in sync….. Brown’s two game suspension might put this team out of sync a little bit… but most likely Austin Blythe will be starting there until Brown gets back…
But from what I can see,,, when Brown gets back,,,, he will be starting again….

Both Noteboom and Demby are two small in the upper body IMO… I believe they need at least a couple of years in the weight training room to get stronger on their upper body….

They seem to have the technique down…. But against NFL starters… could be a different story especially against strong bull rushers……..
Noteboom was playing RT and Demby RG and LT…

Cornelius Lucas was playing on the second unit LT and some RT…. So far he looks better than last year…
I have a feeling Lucas will be kept until both Noteboom and Demby build up strength… so I can see the RAMs keeping ten linemen on the 53 man roster…

Please forgive me but I’m doing this off of memory…. I took videos,,, but one problem, I can’t find the cable to download into my PC…

Gurley looks great,,, he took one to the house,, on a 80 yard run I believe it was 80…. He could of stopped the play, but he just kept running… Got the crowd going and cheering for him, just for the extra effort…

Goff looked sharp as usual, he hit Cooks on a crossing pattern, and Man, Cooks is fast… ran up the side line…. For about 30 yards total….

Then Goff hit Woods on a deep route…
Higbee, Kupp and Everett had receptions too…
Our starting unit offense looked sharp….

The RAMs were doing a two min drill… then came in The Leg…

Greg the Leg is back in form… he hit a 63 yarder with ease…
He was hitting it from I believe from 35 to 55 yardline and not a problem…

One player I notice was Justin Davis, He plans on making this team and getting playing time…
He is very shifty and hits the hole fast… and this was against the 1st unit Defense….

JF-M was playing the left DE/OLB position, and looked good…

Ok now for the bad news…

I didn’t notice TE Hemingway the whole day, until practice was over
He got on the jug machine, the kid cannot catch a cold if he tried really hard.
He has hands of stone…. He was dropping balls from the jug machine, gosh he looked pitiful…..

I can see Coach McVay asking Snead to get him a Vet TE once they make cuts in the league…

I’m upset, cause I wanted to review my videos I took on my pc so I can in-large it for viewing, so I can see what was happening on the 1st unit D side of the ball… Sorry folks

Lindsey Thiry@LindseyThiry
Rams player you haven’t heard of, but maybe you should keep an eye on: Ryan Davis. They signed the sixth-year pro as a free agent. He’s played in Jax, Buffalo and Dallas and Sean McVay said Wednesday that he’s really “shown up” at OLB.

Ryan Davis
Position: DE originally, LB
6-2, 260lb
College: Bethune-Cookman

from the wiki

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

2012

Davis signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars following the 2012 NFL Draft as an undrafted free agent. He was signed to the team’s practice squad at the end of the preseason.
He was promoted from the practice squad to the active roster on October 5. He was released on October 23 and re-signed to the practice squad the next day. He was again released from the practice squad on November 21 and re-signed to the practice squad four days later. He was signed to the active roster at the conclusion of the season.

2013

Davis was released on August 30, 2013 and signed to the team’s practice squad on September 1. He was promoted to the active roster on November 15.

During the season, Davis had two game ending plays against the Houston Texans. When the Jaguars played the Texans in Houston in November, Davis made a game ending interception. In a December victory in Jacksonville, Davis sacked Houston quarterback Matt Schaub while the Texans did not have any timeouts remaining and the clock ran out.

2014

Davis was active for all 16 games as part of the defensive line rotation and had a career high 6.5 sacks on the year.

2015

He played in 14 games as a backup at defensive end and finished with 3.5 sacks.
2016

On September 3, 2016, he was released by the Jaguars, who were going younger at the defensive end position with the additions of Dante Fowler Jr. and Yannick Ngakoue.

Dallas Cowboys

On September 13, 2016, Davis was signed as a free agent by the Dallas Cowboys, who were looking to improve their depth at the defensive end position with the suspensions to DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory.

He was declared inactive for the second game of the season and missed two additional contests with a strained hamstring. Against the Cincinnati Bengals, his role in the defensive line rotation increased after passing defensive end Benson Mayowa on the depth chart, but because he didn’t have an impact pressuring the quarterback, Mayowa regained his spot against the Minnesota Vikings. Davis was declared inactive in three games, before being activated against the Detroit Lions, but suffered a knee injury and did not play many snaps. He was placed on the injured reserve list on December 28. He finished the season with 3 tackles and 6 quarterback pressures.

Buffalo Bills

On March 13, 2017, Davis signed with the Buffalo Bills, who were changing to a 4-3 defense under new head coach Sean McDermott.

On March 26, 2018, Davis was released by the Bills.

Los Angeles Rams

On July 24, 2018, Davis signed with the Los Angeles Rams.

10 Observations from Day 6 of Training Camp

Myles Simmons

https://www.therams.com/news/10-observations-from-day-6-of-training-camp

1) The offense began Wednesday’s session running through a few screen plays as a group. Los Angeles performed them against air, and head coach Sean McVay wanted the pace to be quick as the offense got through each play. McVay seems pretty demanding when it comes to how quickly he wants to get each snap off in practice.
2) Back before practice started, Los Angeles’ quarterbacks were working on throws into the end zone. Once the offensive unit went into individual drills, the QBs threw those same routes to wide receivers in preparation for the one-on-one matchups with the cornerbacks.
3) Meanwhile, run game coordinator Aaron Kromer had the offensive line and tight ends practicing half-line drills. From the center over, Los Angeles’ line would have to run block different defensive fronts for particular plays — many of which they’d use during 11-on-11 drills later in practice.
4) One way Los Angeles maximizes the time available in practice is to have three quarterbacks throw to three receivers who are in on the same play. This only works during offense-only periods, as the offense is performing against air. But it allows each receiver to experience the rhythm and timing of the play and where they would catch a pass.
5) Notably during one-on-one passing drills with quarterbacks, wideouts, and cornerbacks…
Wide receiver Josh Reynolds made a nice snag over cornerback Troy Hill in the back left corner of the end zone.
Wide receiver Cooper Kupp used a move off the line to beat cornerback Nickell Robby-Coleman on the right side, then stretched to catch a pass before going out of bounds in the back of the end zone.
6) Kicker Greg Zuerlein had a banner day, nailing all of his attempted field goals during practice. During a special teams period, he sent 6-of-6 attempts through the uprights — including a long of 52 yards. That bested his previous long of 50 yards during open practice at training camp.
7) Zuerlein, however, wasn’t done. McVay set up a scenario where the offense needed to drive down the field at the end of the game for three points with just 57 seconds left and only one timeout. The first-team offense executed to get Zuerlein in position for a 52-yard field goal, which he hit perfectly. The second-team offense didn’t fare quite as well, ending up on the opponent’s 45-yard line. But Zuerlein came on and nevertheless nailed a 63-yard field goal.

It was a great moment for the kicker, in many ways signaling that he’s truly recovered from the back injury that sidelined him at the end of 2017.
8) Cornerback Marcus Peters has made his share of impressive plays throughout training camp, but sometimes even the plays he doesn’t make still turn heads. In 11-on-11 drills with the offense backed up, the cornerback was very close to making an interception and taking it back for six. But likely because it was practice, Peters pulled up just a bit so as to not make contact with the intended receiver. As McVay often says, the offense definitely feels Peters’ presence.

9) Following practice, quarterback Jared Goff joked that running back Todd Gurley has been happier since signing his contract extension and that the Georgia product has maybe looked a little faster, too. Gurley downplayed the notion he’s faster, but he’s still clearly putting a lot of effort into practice. During an 11-on-11 period on Wednesday, Gurley ripped off a run to the left side and kept running all the way to the end zone — despite the whistle blowing to signal the end of the play. Throughout his career, Gurley has stressed the importance of finishing runs in practice. As what was probably a 90-yard run illustrated, he feels no different now.
10) Finally, once again, McVay had an extra period at the end of practice for some of the younger players to get more reps. Many of those third- and fourth-string players will be featured in preseason games. This was an opportunity for all of them to get more comfortable with the playbook, since many do not get to take snaps with the first and second string.

Urban Meyer must be fired if he did in fact know about the domestic violence by a member of his staff. Jim Tressel got fired for concealing tattoos, Meyer potentially concealed assault. https://t.co/7WstCqzwH0

— Emmanuel Acho (@thEMANacho) August 1, 2018

SUMMARY.

Breer on Donald as a leader. To expand, his lead in to Donald was to focus on how there were a lot of big personalities in that locker room. Who leads if there’s adversity? One reason Miami let Suh go was because he wasn’t that guy. That puts a lot on McVay. But you have to have strong guys in the locker room. So Breer goes, who is that guy for the Rams? And to him it’s Donald.

On contracts. There’s 3 years of inflation at every position (that’s true) except the top defender market is represent by a 3 year old contract (Von Miller). The market correction is looked for because top defender numbers slipped from 86% in 2016 to 63% now (while EVERYONE ELSE went up since Von Miller signed). Plus of course Gurley’s deal represents a market correction so why not Donald. If you make it 80% now for the top defender (this applies to Mack and Donald) that would be 24 M.

Eisen askes, why wouldn’t the Rams say go win a superbowl like Von Miller did? (Actually I don’t think Eisen was making a case, he was posing a good question as an interviewer). Breer goes, you could turn around to Les Snead if he says that and say you gave Todd Gurley a market correction.

They then go off on the August 7th thing. If Donald becomes an RFA, then, the Rams have less control over it and someone’s going to give up a 1st round pick for Donald under those circumstances.

He says in both cases, Mack and Donald, the sides are far apart and they’re having trouble finding a middle ground (me: but then different people are saying different things about this so I don’t know where Breer’s info comes from, he could be as right or wrong as anyone else on that at this point).

Breer also said that you don”t want to mess up team morale and locker room dynamics by not coming through with guys like Donald. Breer says it can mess with your chemistry if there’s that guy out there and you;re not taking care of him. That can screw up the message a little bit.

Says Breer, a market correction (for both Mack and AD) is a fair point. The team could say, we’re not responsible for the market (me: naw they follow the market in every other case, corrected it with Gurley, and will follow it with Goff).

Breer predicts that of the 2, Donald is more likely to be there when games start. He also thinks that the Rams front office is creative enough with deals to get this done.

New Cowboys wide receiver Tavon Austin recently joined The Hardline on 1310 KCTK-AM The Ticket recently to talk all things Cowboys. Here are some of the highlights.

link: https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas-cowboys/cowboys/2018/07/29/cowboys-tavon-austin-reflects-hardest-year-life-didnt-get-fair-opportunity-st-louis

On what happened last season with Los Angeles

Tavon Austin: That was the question about with me why I didn’t play last year. I’m the type of person, you know, I don’t throw nobody under the bus for nothing.
I had gotten injured, that’s what happened to me, I got injured. I had surgery on my wrist on May 2… That happened to me May 2.

I fought my way back to camp. Third day of camp, I popped my hamstring. I was out another four weeks. So I never got a chance to do OTAs, I never got a chance to do training camp. That’s the whole–basically, everything that you need. We got a new coach, I didn’t know the system. I mean, I know it from sitting in the chair looking at it, but I didn’t get a chance to experience it.
Then from there, I couldn’t catch the ball. It was hard for me to catch a ball, I had to reprogram my wrist, so it was messing with me mentally. That was the first time I hit rock bottom in my life. It was the hardest year of my life. I learned a lot from it. It made me more mentally tough.
I hold no grudges against what happened. The only thing I was mad about was that I didn’t get the fair opportunity. That was my only thing. I didn’t get the fair opportunity but, you know, it is what it is. God got me over here. Jerry Jones and everybody brought me here for a reason and I’m happy.
…

If you go over there and you ask Sean McVay, Les Snead, any of them. You ask them ‘How did I come to practice every day, they’re going to say ‘Like a champion.’ I was the biggest cheerleader on the team. Even though I wasn’t playing, I still was me. Every day, day in and day out, I’m still the same person. Motivating [Todd] Gurley, motivating [Jared] Goff. I’m the same person. They’ll tell you. I’ll be the same person over here if I play or if I don’t play, ’cause that’s just the passion I’ve got for this sport and that’s the passion I’ve got for my boys.

On how he sees himself fitting in with the Cowboys

TA:: To be honest, coach’s been figuring out some ways to get me the ball. I’m going back to receiver again, so that’s the good thing.
As far as the backfield stuff, that stuff comes easy too. So I ain’t really worrying about that thing. It’s just me working with Coach Sanjay [Lal], he’s making me a better receiver around the board. So I’m excited.

In reference to Donald, Long says at 3:16 in that “I can say with some authority that some of the numbers you may have encountered publicly are not predicated on any fact….they’re kind of just pure speculation….I can take from that that what we know about the ongoing negotiation is still very very limited …the more private these conversations are kept and the less hostile and media driven they are I generally take as a positive sign that they’re going to find an amicable resolution…we don’t know from Donald’s standpoint what his camp has in terms of goals and whether or not they’re reasonable within the framework of where the Rams are trying to go this season and for many years to come”

At 4:21 in the interviewer says, we had Les Snead on, we asked him about the 21 M/25 M story, and Snead said “no.”

Long says “I will go along with Snead. …” …thinks the Rams and Donald will make this happen. Sort of hints that guarantees and offsets and that kind of thing might be the key things being worked out.

YESTERDAY! I was at a Panera bread in a USA basketball t-shirt, nike shorts & sunglasses on and throwing my trash away

Guy walks up to me and says “do you guys clean the tables or should we?”

Me: “I don’t work here”

Guy: “you don’t?” https://t.co/Tr5NZkYF9m

— Chillin in my Bacta (@DarthAmin) July 31, 2018

Zooey wrote:

I liked Schwab’s piece, but did he need to attack Fisher 3x in there? Sheesh.

You can list a lot of things that went wrong in 2016. Gurley was not the same back and you can’t blame that on the offense because of 2015, when he was effective (McGinnis said TG was hurt in 2016). There was the move…and in the last 50 years, with 1 exception teams don’t win after moves. There was a rookie qb from an Air Raid offense (and those don’t start fast in the NFL when they even make it as a pro at all). And of course, to compound things, there was that rookie qb without a running game. But there was also Boras, who was an ineffective 1st year OC, which you can put on Fisher. I think it’s realistically hard to say one thing alone caused it all. It was things compounding other things.

But it’s easier to put it all on Fisher.

I know some will disagree.

…