Corbin sez

N.M. State fan.

WOW can’t believe we landed Rose. Never thought Rose would land with us. I will say this, that 3rd running back spot is going to be a hell of a warzone area. There is a potential that Brown might be cut with our RB from Tenn. joining the team.

Rose:

49 TD’s and 3k yards as a senior in HS

2017 Season Stats: 187 rushing attempts, 949 yards (5 ypc), 10 TDs; 55 receptions, 522 yards, 2 TDs

College career stats:
Att 770 Rush yds 4558 avg. 5.9 td’s 37
rec 133 Yds. 1157 avg. 8.7 td’s 5

Rose is shifty, fast, very good hands he’s smaller so not the best blocker but as a 3rd down back more than likely he’ll be coming out the backfield.

Helped lead us to first first bowl game in 57 years in 2017.

Rams becoming a destination team even for undrafted free agents

Joe Curley

https://www.vcstar.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2018/05/15/rams-destination-team-even-undrafted-free-agents/613933002/

The call never came for Tegray Scales.

But that doesn’t mean the Indiana linebacker’s phone didn’t ring during last month’s NFL Draft.

“Midway through the sixth round, I started to get calls from everybody saying, ‘I thought you would have been picked up by now,’ ” Scales said.

By the time the seventh round ended, it was clear the scenario had flipped. Rather than Scales waiting to be picked by an NFL team, the second-team All-Big Ten selection was going to be able to choose his own NFL destination as an undrafted free agent.

“I definitely talked to more than half the teams,” Scales said. “Calls start coming in and I was missing calls because I was talking to one team and another team was calling. My agent was talking to them, as well.”

With more than half the NFL to choose from, including his hometown Cincinnati Bengals, Scales decided to join the Los Angeles Rams.

“I just felt like it was the best fit,” Scales said on Tuesday, when the Rams unveiled their 2018 draft class at Cal Lutheran. “I like what’s going on here. They’re contenders for a championship, building up as a top team and I just want to be a part of it.”

“I was expecting to get drafted. … (But I’m) still blessed with this opportunity. I’m here. I can make the most of it.”

That he chose the Rams is another sign that he franchise, just two years after moving to the Conejo Valley, is becoming a destination for NFL players, whether it is at the top or bottom of the roster.

“We got a lot of the guys that we targeted,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said. “That goes back to just being able to have those guys targeted from the beginning, when you’re able to start making calls and have that communication, that contact occur. They felt good about the situation they were coming into.”

It was easier for the Rams to attract a free agent at a position like linebacker, considering the Rams had turned over three of their four starters at the position in the offseason and haven’t brought in any big-name free agents to fill the holes.

“I would say you do have a better chance to acquiring some top-level free agents at some of those spots where maybe you don’t have as much depth, based on a way that an agent perceives it,” McVay said. “It’s smart for these agents to look at it and be realistic about it.

“If you are a spot where there’s a lot of depth … it’s probably not going to be the most ideal place to go and try to make a football team.”

Although Scales said he didn’t necessarily look at the depth chart before making his decision.

“I didn’t really get into all that stuff,” Scales said. “I just knew they had some good players here, some veterans on the defense that I would like to learn from.”

At 6-foot, 230 pounds with a 4.77-second 40-yard dash time, Scales wasn’t quite big or fast enough to be drafted.

But his instinctive playmaking ability, which he used to pile up 13 sacks and 36 tackles for loss over his final two years at Indiana, made him a sought-after free agent.

“I’m not the biggest or strongest, but I’m instinctive, I’m scrappy and I make plays,” Scales said.

Scales is just one interesting undrafted free agent on a 90-man roster that now has an influx of 28 rookies, 11 draft picks and 17 free agents.

Others included 6-6, 225-pound tight end Cody McElroy, who played baseball at Texas and in the Atlanta Braves system and basketball for Oklahoma State before picking up football for the first time since middle school at Southeast Oklahoma State.

McVay called him a “a priority free agent.”

“I think you look at just the athleticism and you just see him in person, the size is impressive,” McVay said. “Not a lot of football experience, but a lot of upside that you’ve seen.”

The Rams also added former USC receiver Steven Mitchell, who was healthy as a senior after a series of knee injuries as a Trojan.

“Anytime you’re looking at a receiver, you want to see guys that have the ability to separate, aggressive hands attacking the football,” McVay said. “You look at the production that he’s had. He’s a guy that does have some of those traits and those characteristics that you’re looking for, that we feel like will translate.”

Texas A&M-Commerce quarterback Luis Perez, who, like McElroy, did not play varsity football in high school, earned a spot on the team over the weekend at the Rams’ tryout camp.

“Everybody that I’ve talked to really can’t say enough about the human being,” McVay said. “But then when you just watch him in terms of natural base, balance, body position to deliver the ball, he earned the right to be able to be on this team.”

While Scales is walking into a good situation at linebacker, Weber State defensive lineman McKay Murphy turned down three other teams to join a depth chart that includes perhaps the two best players in NFL at his position, in Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh.

“I actually just got off the phone with my buddy and he asked me the exact same question,” Murphy said. “Some people could look at it as a huge obstacle, but I look at it as an amazing opportunity to learn from two of the best, to see how they operate.

“Some people could back down from the opportunity. But I see it as an opportunity to learn.”

Murphy is the third son of former major League baseball star Dale Murphy to sign with an NFL team. His brother Shawn, a guard, was drafted by Miami in 2008. His brother Jake, a tight end, was an undrafted free agent who played for four teams.

“I stopped playing baseball after eighth grade,” he said. “Basketball had too much running. Baseball wasn’t enough. So football was a happy medium in between. I was just always drawn more to the physicality of football.”

Watch This Palestinian-American Woman Crush Every Media Trope About the Gaza Protests
Noura Erakat delivers a much-needed corrective to dehumanizing U.S. media spin.

SARAH LAZARE

http://inthesetimes.com/article/21144/Gaza-Protests-Israel-Great-Return-March-Noura-Erakat-CBS-Media

“This is a decades-long siege of Gaza, 50-year occupation and 70-year exile, and the only time Palestinians matter is when they’re being killed or appearing as a threat to Israel.”
Since Palestinians in Gaza launched the Great Return March on March 30, Israel has killed at least 109 Palestinian protesters and wounded 12,300 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Instead of probing the Israeli government and its U.S. backers about this mass atrocity, American media outlets far-too-often implying that Palestinian protesters are responsible for their own deaths—falsely portraying the massacre, in which zero Israelis have died, as “clashes,” and painting Palestinian protesters as pawns of Hamas, rather than legitimate civil society activists.

Noura Erakat, a Palestinian-American human rights attorney, activist and assistant professor at George Mason University, tells In These Times that widespread dehumanization in the U.S. media stems from the fact that “we don’t turn our gaze to Palestinians unless there’s something happening to Israelis or in regard to U.S. relations. Palestinians appear as shadows. This is a decades-long siege of Gaza, 50-year occupation and 70-year exile, and the only time Palestinians matter is when they’re being killed or appearing as a threat to Israel.”

Erakat is in a position to know. Amid the constant stream of misinformation, she was featured on CBS on May 14 to give the “Palestinian” reaction to the ongoing protests in Gaza and the Trump administration’s inauguration of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. During the interview, Erakat was hit with nearly every trope about the conflict currently circulating in the U.S. media—and she crushed them on by one:

“They had me on their program and literally asked me about Hamas amid civil mass protests. On March 30 when at least 14 Palestinians were gunned down, Israel explicitly said it would not investigate itself nor allow for an international probe, meaning that they defend their lethal use of force. Six weeks later, when they escalated, the questions should be about Israel’s violation of international law. The fact that they asked me about Hamas shows that they are either willfully misleading their audience, or they just aren’t doing the work. Both are horribly irresponsible.”

Tens of thousands of protesters in Gaza are calling for an end to Israel’s military siege, which has led to severe gas and water shortages, as well as economic devastation, for the roughly 2 million people living in the strip. Demonstrators are also demanding the right to return to the land Israel evicted them from 70 years ago during the mass-expulsion known to Palestinians as the “Nakba,” or catastrophe.

Amid these protests, Erakat says, American journalists are missing critical opportunities to ask hard questions. “Journalists should be asking Israel, ‘Do you think Palestinians are a people with the right to exist and to self-determination?’ They should be asking Israel, ‘What is the problem with allowing Palestinian refugees to return?’ They should be asking U.S. senators why they are not enforcing the Arms Export Control Act, [which conditions arms exports on human rights standards].”

Instead, U.S. press coverage of these protests is so dismal that, according to Erakat, “By the time they bring me on, I’m having to serve as a corrective.”

Thousands Of Israelis Take To The Streets Calling For Palestinian Genocide
A reporter at the scene remarked that it seemed “more like a celebration of murder than anything.”

link: https://www.mintpressnews.com/thousands-israelis-take-streets-calling-palestinian-genocide/221168/

Massive rallies and Facebook campaigns calling for Palestinian genocide are ignored by Western mainstream media and Facebook despite concerns and collaborations aimed at stopping “calls to violence”.

Since last October, the Israeli government has accused Palestinians and their allies of “inciting violence” against Israelis, despite the fact that only 34 Israelis have died in that time frame compared to 230 Palestinians. The uptick in violence has been attributed to an internationally condemned Israeli encroachment of Palestinian lands in the contested West Bank.

Since last October, the Israeli government has accused Palestinians and their allies of “inciting violence” against Israelis, despite the fact that only 34 Israelis have died in that time frame compared to 230 Palestinians. The uptick in violence has been attributed to an internationally condemned Israeli encroachment of Palestinian lands in the contested West Bank.

Israeli government concern over recent violence has led them to arrest Palestinians for social media content that could potentially lead to crimes. So far, 145 Palestinians have been arrested this year for “pre-crime” via social media “incitement.” This practice eventually led to a collaboration between Facebook and the Israeli government, whose joint effort to curb social media “incitement” has led to the banning of several Facebook accounts of Palestinian journalists and news agencies.

However, social media, as well as mainstream Western media, have failed to condemn Israeli “incitement” against Palestinians, a practice that is surprisingly common considering the little to no attention it receives. Often these anti-Palestinian posts, pictures, and rallies are rife with calls for genocide, with cries of “Death to the whole Arab nation” and “Kill them all” surprisingly common.

Even the Times of Israel ran an op-ed article about “When Genocide is Permissible” in reference to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Though the post was eventually taken down, it points to an all-too-common and dangerous mentality that social media, the Israeli government, and Western media “conveniently” ignore.

An Israeli news agency even put the then-suspected preferential treatment to the test and found that Facebook and the Israeli authorities treated calls for revenge from Palestinians and Israelis very differently.

Even massive rallies calling for Palestinian genocide have been ignored entirely by social media and the corporate press. Earlier this year in April, a massive anti-Palestinian rally took place in Tel Aviv where thousands called for the death of all Arabs. The rally was organized to support an Israeli soldier who killed an already-wounded Palestinian by shooting him execution-style in the head.

The soldier, Elor Azaria, was charged with manslaughter for the killing, which occurred deep within Palestinian sovereign territory in the city of Hebron. Hebron contains an illegal Jewish settlement, but despite its illegality is protected by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) all the same. This has led to frequent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in the area.

The Tel-Aviv rally was attended by an estimated 2,000 people and several Israeli pop icons entertained attendees including singer Maor Edri, Moshik Afia, and Amos Elgali, along with rapper Subliminal. Chants of “Elor [the soldier] is a hero” and calls to release the soldier were common. One woman was photographed holding a sign reading “Kill them all.”

A Jewish reporter at the scene remarked that it seemed “more like a celebration of murder than anything.” Despite the obvious animosity and incitement made evident at the rally, it isn’t difficult to imagine what the response would have been if this has been a pro-Palestinian rally calling for the deaths of Jews. The stark divide between what is permissible for Palestinians and what is permissible for Israelis should concern us all as the widespread bias of social media, the press, and many governments threaten to blind us from the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Rams optimistic on reaching deal with Aaron Donald

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000932977/article/rams-optimistic-on-reaching-deal-with-aaron-donald

The Los Angeles Rams have expressed optimism throughout the offseason that a deal would eventually get done with defensive lineman Aaron Donald.

General manager Les Snead told reporters on April 5 that the team has Donald “budgeted in the budget.”

During a media session on April 16, coach Sean McVay complimented what he categorized as “really good dialogue” with Donald, who enters the final year of his rookie contract on a fifth-year option.

Less than a month later, the Rams head coach once again highlighted the open lines of communication as a reason for hope that both sides will eventually come to an agreement.

“He’s responding more than he was at this time last year, so that’s what I feel good about,” McVay said Tuesday.

The 6-foot, 280-pound Donald comes off a 2017 season where he totaled 41 tackles (32 solo), 11 sacks, five forced fumbles and a pass defensed en route to being named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Since entering the league as a 2014 first-round pick (13th overall) out of Pittsburgh, Donald has established himself as one of the league’s elite defensive linemen, totaling 205 tackles (148 solo), 57 sacks, nine forced fumbles and eight passes defensed in four seasons.

Given his production and what he means to one of the league’s top defensive units, the Rams would be wise to lock up Donald sooner than later or risk letting him reach free agency in 2019.

The Rams have made an effort this offseason to put together what they hope becomes a championship-caliber team. While taking care of Donald remains on the radar, the Rams have also added defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, cornerback Marcus Peters, cornerback Aqib Talib and wide receiver Brandin Cooks.

CROMWELL21 sez

Bizarre story on Rams roster

Rams signed Nick Holley, a QB with two knee injuries as a RB, to a UDFA contract out of Kent State University.

His twin brother, a safety at the same college, acquitted of kidnapping charges in the spring of 2017 and a UDFA last year was also in Rams camp and may eventually be signed. (He had a tryout last year with the Vikings and played in the spring league)

I’m told that Whitmer HS Grad Nick Holley will sign with the LA Rams. It’s a typical 3-year deal for an undrafted free agent. Would expect him to be used as a change of pace back. He’s on his way to sign now.

— Jordan Strack (@JordanStrack) May 14, 2018

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/four-downs/2018/four-downs-nfc-west-0

Notable Undrafted Free Agents:

Indiana inside linebacker Tegray Scales is lacking in both size and speed, but he makes up for it with fantastic instincts and a penchant for taking optimal angles to the ballcarrier, resulting in 36 TFLs and 13 sacks over the last two seasons. The Rams are a little thin inside with Alec Ogletree gone and Mark Barron not yet healthy, so Scales has a great shot at making the 53-man roster. So, too, does Colorado safety Afolabi Laguda, a solid tackler who could be an instant contributor on special teams.

Quarterback Luis Perez of Texas A&M-Commerce won the Harlon Hill trophy — the Division II equivalent of the Heisman — and led the Lions to a national championship last season, putting up gaudy numbers against limited competition. USC receiver Steve Mitchell can be a big-play threat with blazing speed, but three knee injuries in college mean he has spent more time in the rehab room than in the lineup. Steven Parker out of Oklahoma has experience at both safety and nickel corner, though he needs to improve his tackling if he wants to stick on special teams.

Rams Signing Rice OLB Brian Womac https://t.co/cW5lQcOc0g pic.twitter.com/lck5KbsMs3

— NFLTradeRumors.co (@nfltrade_rumors) May 14, 2018

Brian Womac from Rice.

OLB/edge

Height: 6020
Weight: 235

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http://draftscout.com/ratings/dsprofile.php?pyid=128489&draftyear=2018&genpos=DE

2017 CONFERENCE USA FOOTBALL FIRST TEAM (COACHES): DL – Brian Womac, Sr., Rice,…Womac set a school record with 22 tackles for loss and leads C-USA in tackles for a loss and sacks heading into bowl action. He recorded at least on tackle for loss in each game and ranks third nationally with 21 solo tackles for losses while his 109 yards lost ranks second. He is tied for fourth nationally with 82 yards lost on sacks while his 10 solo sacks are tied for sixth and his 10 total sacks are tied for eighth. – Rice Football