Herzog wrote:

Cooper is short and slow…. Not sure I like this pick. But this is day 3 so…..

People who watched him love him. He’s also quick. And tough. A slot receiver. Kind of a more physical Amendola.

Many good analysts see him as very good value for day 3.

PFF SCOUTING REPORT: PHAROH COOPER, WR, SOUTH CAROLINA

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2016/03/18/draft-pff-scouting-report-pharoh-cooper-wr-south-carolina/

Here is the PFF draft profile for South Carolina’s Pharoh Cooper, which incorporates PFF’s college grades and scouting intel from our team of analysts. To see all of PFF’s 2016 scouting reports, click here.

Position fit:
Slot receiver. 609 of his 764 snaps came from the slot in 2015

Stat to know:
Forced 33 missed tackles on 135 receptions between 2014 and 2015

What he does best:
• Great in space, 16 missed tackles forced on 66 receptions in 2015
• Very quick feet, a big part of the reason he made so many people miss tackles
• Explosive, possibly an impact player as a returner too. Returned 27 punts in 2014 and 2015, with a long of 24 yards in both seasons
• Best fit may be as a vertical slot receiver where his acceleration and speed will play well against slot corners
• Can also be effective if given the ball on screens, slants, and shallow crosses as his acceleration allows him to get to top speed in a hurry

Biggest concern:
• Really struggles against press, poor use of hands to shake free
• Not a typical slot route runner, not as proficient as using the “two-way go” to take advantages of defenders
• Will run some sloppy routes, often lacks the wiggle at the top of his stem
• Not physical at the catch point
• Still fairly raw. Needs to develop all round game if he is going to be more than just good in space

Pro style comparison:
Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks. Baldwin can do some damage in the short game, but he separates himself from other slot receivers by making big plays as a vertical threat as well. Cooper can be productive in a similar role.

Bottom line:
Cooper is far from the finished product, but as a big-play threat from the slot and a player that can be used as a space player and return specialist, he adds value in the middle rounds.

Cooper & Higbee were both on a lot of guys “top players left on day 3” lists

InvaderRam wrote:

it’s not a fisher qb. it’s a fisher philosophy.

as long as gurley is on this team it’s going to be lining up under center and play action. we’re not going to see goff lining up the majority of snaps in shotgun and whipping the ball around like brady.

it’s just not going to happen while gurley is a ram. if it does i’ll admit i’m wrong but i don’t see it.

Don’t get me wrong. Fisher was always a play action guy. That was true with Jackson and Stacy too. BUT what will change is the percentage of pass v. run plays. Last year it tilted toward run heavy, in 2012 it was just short of being pass heavy.

He is also not going to overuse Gurley. I think the goal is around 57% passing, which is a balanced team. The question is whether or not they can do that in 2016 with Keenum and a rookie qb. If the history means anything, once Goff is up to speed, the percentage of pass plays will go up.

I don’t think it’s a Fisher philosophy to be run heavy. He will do that to cover for the qbs. But when he has the qbs, it tilts back toward balanced.

I doubt it will ever be pass heavy.

…

wv wrote:

“I love Carson Wentz,” Fisher said, “but Jared Goff is gonna be my quarterback. The way he gets the ball out — how he knows where to go with it and gets it to the receiver perfectly, in stride, in the tightest of windows — it’s a sight to behold. You look at the way the Patriots play, with Tom (Brady) just zipping the ball to (Julian) Edelman and (Danny) Amendola before you can even think about touching him, and that’s where football is today.
——————

Think about what that sez about Fisher. Doesn’t sound like a guy
who is lost in the past or hasn’t kept up with the changes in offense, etc.

w
v

Yeah I thought the exact same thing when I read that.

I don’t mean to sound like I am “one upping” on this one because people did not mean anything negative by it, but a number of fans and writers thought there was a “Fisher type qb” and that it was more like Wentz. I don’t think there is a “Fisher type qb”…I just think he wants a good qb. The offense will then morph somewhat in the direction of that guy’s strengths. Or will eventually anyway.

Jared Goff’s biggest challenge with Rams? Getting back up

Jarrett Bell

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/rams/2016/04/29/jared-goff-los-angeles-rams/83732988/

LOS ANGELES — He’s the son of a catcher, which is probably as good of a starting point as any when trying to get a handle on whether Jared Goff will hack it in Tinseltown.

Sure, the new quarterback of the Los Angeles Rams will have to deal with the scrutiny, hype, pressure and distractions that will be presented in a city that is so driven by star power.

Not long after Goff was drafted No. 1 overall on Thursday night, he was on Jimmy Kimmel Live via satellite, getting an earful from the host who suggested some potential new nicknames – like The Fresh Prince of Passing – that illustrated the buzz of this new world he’s entered. After all, Kobe Bryant became a legend here as The Black Mamba.

By the time Goff arrived in California and was formally introduced by the team on Friday, one of the town’s sports superstars, Dodgers slugger Yasiel Puig, had invited to show him around. He’ll accept — even as a lifelong San Francisco Giants fan, having grown up in Northern California.

The potential for glamour for the Rams’ new Golden Boy is now in full effect.

Yet handling all of that — and obviously the Rams brass is convinced that Goff has the demeanor to not let the bright lights of Hollywood go to his head – will hardly represent the make-or-break challenge for the kid.

True grit figures to be the ticket.

What will Goff be when someone punches him in the mouth?

No doubt, he was prepped at Cal, where he built on a reputation for being resilient — mentally and physically. He absorbed a lot of punishment along the way, sacked 81 times in 37 games. Now comes the golden opportunity to play in a league with grown men and better athletes who come even faster and hit harder than anything he’s seen before.

At least he can hand the football to one of the NFL’s most dynamic running backs in Todd Gurley, and Goff stands to benefit from the investments the Rams have made in recent years along the O-line.

Still, part of this deal will be the challenge to prove his rep for resiliency all over again.

“He has a real toughness about him,” Rams general manager Les Snead told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s in his DNA.”

Jared’s father, Jerry, played six seasons behind the plate in the major leagues. Jerry Goff was hardly a star, but he was accomplished in his own right that allows him a certain understanding of the less glamorous aspects of his son’s job.

“Behind the plate, we used to get crushed, beat up,” the elder Goff, 52, told USA TODAY Sports. “People slide into you. Foul balls. As a quarterback, you get drilled.”

When Jared was at Marin (Calif.) Catholic High and early during his college career, Jerry would watch football like a lot of fans. Once the football left the quarterback’s hand, he would follow the flight of the ball. At some point, though, he changed his viewing habits and kept his eyes trained on his kid.

“I wanted to see whether he’d get back up,” Jerry said.

He almost always got up. The biggest fear for Jerry came at the end of Jared’s 1-11 freshman year, during which his son was floored by a separated shoulder.

At 6-4, 215, Goff isn’t the most physically imposing kid, but the looks may be a bit deceiving. As much as his accuracy, smooth mobility and deft grasp of the X’s and O’s mark his game, the blue-collar component may ultimately determine his stature in a place where they recognize the luminaries of the entertainment industry by putting a star on the sidewalk.

It certainly takes brainpower, talent and instincts to succeed at quarterback. But it also takes courage, intestinal fortitude and physical resilience to allow all of the elements to flourish.

Snead has a term for it.

“I call it the central nervous system of a quarterback,” he said. “That’s mental, working with the physical. Because you get hit and you’re saying, ‘My ribs are hurting,’ and your brain is saying, ‘I don’t care. You still have to get off the mat.’ “

Goff said Friday that he figures he’ll earn the respect of his new teammates with his work ethic, which is what his father keeps preaching to this day.

On top of that, though, nothing earns stripes in an NFL locker room like toughness.

In the land of glitz, that may be the real foundation for all of the glamour that awaits.

What’s your sense, ag? Any picks out there? Is this draft as deep into the 4th round as we heard it was?

…

Rams draft picks: Analysis for every selection

Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/28837/2016-los-angeles-rams-draft-picks-analysis-for-every-selection

LOS ANGELES — Nick Wagoner breaks down the 2016 Los Angeles Rams draft class.

Round 1, Pick No. 1: Jared Goff, QB, California | Highlights

My take: When the Rams made the deal with the Tennessee Titans to move up for either Goff or North Dakota State’s Carson Wentz, it was one I wouldn’t have made but understood. This team had reached a point of desperation in its need for a franchise quarterback. They did what they had to do to make it happen. Wentz might have been a better fit for what the Rams want to be offensively but that doesn’t mean Goff can’t succeed in the NFL. The biggest question now is what the Rams will do to add receiving weapons and solidify the offensive line. They want to put Goff in position to get them over the hump so the guys who traded up for him — coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead — will still be employed if and when Goff reaches his potential.

Start or sit? Fisher and Snead have repeatedly said they won’t push any quarterback drafted to play until he’s ready. But it’s naive to think they traded all those picks in order to have Goff sit and watch. Don’t be surprised if Goff follows the plan for what Snead and the Atlanta Falcons did with Matt Ryan in 2008 when Ryan worked with Chris Redman through the third preseason game and then took over as the starter for the regular season.

Who’s on the way out? With Goff in the fold, the Rams now have four quarterbacks on the roster. They won’t carry that many during the season, so someone has to go. Who will that be? All signs point to Nick Foles, the player the Rams traded for and signed in 2015 in hopes that he was the franchise signal-caller they needed. The Rams hope that Foles’ deletion will come via trade. According to a league source, “four or five” teams have already reached out about the possibility of a deal. In all likelihood, a deal will have to wait for the next couple of days as teams select quarterbacks and others miss out on some. Those that miss out could find themselves in the market with a late-round pick the likely compensation.

from off the net

—

jrry32

Mike Thomas WR Southern Miss
Pharoh Cooper WR South Carolina
Scooby Wright III LB Arizona
Ronald Blair DL Appalachian State

Cook was not drafted. My guess is it was character.

I read one of those “reporter talks to NFL personnel people” pieces and the thing that came up was CC’s nightlife. The euphemism is that he liked to go out at night and “hunt.” He didn’t mean the kind of hunting Wentz did over weekends, with a rifle etc. He meant “chase,” really.

zn wrote:

We were sitting there going through what we are going to do here and how this is going to work, and Vince Ferragamo and Jim Everett walk into the room.

canadaram wrote:

BTW, I say this every year, but nfl radio’s coverage of the draft is top notch.

Is NFL radio online?

.