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znModeratorHi. You have a pm.
You have some ideas on how that 6 or so could be used. Practice squad, room for injury replacements, and maybe some other things. What are the other possibilities? I just think it would be nice if they were out there again.
znModeratorRams’ Tavon Austin aiming to shed bust label in 2015
Nick Wagoner
EARTH CITY, Mo. — Two years into a thus-far disappointing NFL career, St. Louis Rams receiver Tavon Austin has heard the whispers. For Austin, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft, one word rises above the rest: bust.
Entering his third season, Austin says he has made it a point to block out what others have to say but he hasn’t been able to completely avoid the criticism. It’s part of why Austin views this season as critically important to his NFL future.
“I think it’s real big to be honest just because of how the media say I’m a bust and all of that stuff,” Austin said. “I really don’t pay too much attention to it but I know one thing about it is when I’m focused, I’m focused. It’s going to be a different story this year and we’ll see what happens when we get to the end of the year.”
For both Austin and the Rams’ sake, the hope is that in 2015 Austin will drastically change the narrative of his career to this point. When the Rams traded up to take him at No. 8, they envisioned him becoming the type of dangerous Swiss Army Knife capable of dissecting opponents as a receiver, running back and punt returner.
As it’s turned out, the bulk of Austin’s production has mainly come as a returner, which makes trading up and spending the No. 8 overall pick a costly proposition for a special-teamer. As a receiver, Austin has 71 catches for 660 yards and four touchdowns in his first two seasons. Those numbers dipped to 31 receptions for 242 yards and zero touchdowns last season.
In the meantime, the Rams converted Austin into more of a running back under then offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer. He had 36 carries for 224 yards and two touchdowns on the ground in 2014, though Schottenheimer’s insistence on running him between the tackles on a consistent basis left many scratching their heads.
Which is why some view Schottenheimer’s departure and the subsequent promotion of Frank Cignetti Jr. to coordinator as a glimmer of hope that Austin can deliver on his pre-draft promise.
Cignetti said Tuesday that Austin looks poised for a breakthrough.
“Tavon Austin’s had a great offseason,” Cignetti said. “Tremendous. It starts in the classroom. He’s learning, he’s paying attention. He’s bringing it to the practice field. You can just see it from his route running. What a difference. His effort, his attention to details. Every day out here, the guy’s made plays. Tavon’s had a great offseason and he’ll continue that into training camp.”
In a Rams offense that figures to be power-run heavy, the obvious question is where Austin fits into the scheme.
Skeptics might say that a 5-foot-8, 176-pound receiver in a run-heavy offense is the football equivalent of forcing a square peg in a round hole. Optimists might view Austin as the ideal complement to that offensive approach, capable of taking jet sweeps and short passes the distance to give the offense another look.
Cignetti wants to get Austin back to basics.
“Tavon Austin’s a wide receiver,” Cignetti said. “I wouldn’t say he’s a change-of-pace guy. He’s a guy you can put out there every down and the defense has to recognize, ‘Hey, Tavon’s on the field.’ So, whether it’s running down-the-field routes, intermediate routes, short routes or manipulating his touches, the defense always has to be aware of where is Tavon Austin.”
Austin’s lack of production to this point doesn’t solely fall on lack of creativity, either. By his own admission, he’s struggled to pick up the playbook and the nuances of route running. During organized team activities, Austin has been sharper than in the past, showing a newfound knack for making plays in traffic. Of course, he’s flashed in practice in the past and it hasn’t translated to the field.
Much like the rest of the offense, the proof will be in the production.
“Coach Cignetti has got a good scheme, good plan for me, going to try to get the ball in my hands as much as possible,” Austin said. “But in this league, you have got to be patient. Even if it comes to me blocking somebody or catching a deep ball, I’m definitely up for the challenge and hopefully I can touch the ball a little more this year.”
znModeratorYes. With a stipend for living expenses.
znModeratorJune 17, 2015 at 11:38 pm in reply to: the 2015 D: articles & vids on McCleod, Ogletree, Ayers, Gaines, Hayes, Fairley #26525znModeratorAyers calls Rams a good fit for him
By Jim Thomas
Akeem Ayers spent half of his 2014 season with the Tennessee Titans, a team that would finish 2-14.
Following a late October trade, he spent the rest of the season with a team that went on to win the Super Bowl — the New England Patriots.
“So I’ve been from the bottom to the top,” said Ayers, the Rams’ new starting outside linebacker. “I really have a good view on how a team does it right. How it looks, how they prepare, and how they work.”
He plans to bring some of that understanding and advice to St. Louis — not to mention the Patriots’ gaudy Super Bowl XLIX championship ring he picked up Sunday at festivities in Foxborough, Mass.
“I think that’s some good motivation, somebody who you’re playing with who just recently won a Super Bowl and a young guy,” said Ayers, who turns 26 next month. “I think everybody would love to see (the ring) and just get some motivation.”
As coach Jeff Fisher sees it, all that will come in time. Right now, Fisher’s more interested in seeing sacks and tackles from Ayers than Super Bowl bling.
“I don’t think he’s gonna stand up and say anything about it now,” Fisher said. “But we’re all happy for anyone that comes in the building that’s had that (Super Bowl) experience. I think in time it would be beneficial, but we’ll let him choose that time.”
If nothing else, Ayers’ experience in 2014, when he went from being unwanted and unused by one of the league’s worst teams to being a valuable role player with the eventual NFL champions, showed how small the margin is between winning and losing at this level.
“Everybody has the talent,” Ayers said. “It’s just the teams who put the extra work in. I think it’s more of the film study and just having a smart team. When you have a smart team and you have a team that plays with a lot of confidence, that’s the biggest thing.”
Drafted in the second round (No. 39 overall) by the Titans out of UCLA in 2011, Ayers played in all 48 games with 43 starts during his first three seasons in Tennessee. But a coaching staff change after the ’13 season and patellar tendon operations on both knees doomed him in Tennessee last season.
Ayers wasn’t able to participate in practice until the start of training camp, so new coach Ken Whisenhunt and his staff really didn’t know first-hand what Ayers could do.
“New defensive coaching staff,” Ayers said. “New scheme — we switched to a 3-4 that year. I pretty much had a late start, and I guess they didn’t have time to wait. But it ended up working out.”
Ayers played in only two of the Titans’ first seven games before the trade last Oct. 21 that sent him to New England.
“I was excited just to get out of there period, honestly,” Ayers said. “I’d seen where it was going early on, and I requested a trade early on in the season.”
At the time he was traded to New England, Ayers was not only back to full health but back in football shape. He clicked almost immediately with the Patriots, registering sacks in three of his first four games there. He appeared in all nine regular-season games for New England, including four starts, and finished with four sacks and an interception.
Ayers became expendable this offseason when the Patriots signed Jaball Sheard in free agency, but he’s thankful for the opportunity that revived his career in New England.
“It was great,” Ayers said. “I learned a lot in my short time there.”
St. Louis was his one and only visit in free agency, and he ended up signing a two-year deal that includes $2.75 million in guaranteed money and can max out at $9.2 million if all incentives are met.
“After I came here, it really was a no-brainer for me,” Ayers said. “I feel like this defense is something I can thrive in.”
His position coach with the Rams, Frank Bush, was his linebackers coach in Tennessee in 2011 and ’12. And Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was a senior defensive assistant for the Titans in 2013. That familiarity helped Ayers make his decision.
“(Bush) really helped me make that jump from my first year to my second year,” Ayers said.
In that 2012 season, Bush registered career highs in tackles (104) and sacks (six), while also coming up with an interception and eight pass breakups.
Ayers is expected to start ahead of Jo-Lonn Dunbar at strong side linebacker, adding yet another talented pass-rusher to the group.
“Akeem in Tennessee played behind the (line) and he rushed and he did everything,” Fisher said. “Then at New England he primarily was a rusher. Did some dropping (in coverage) but was primarily a rusher.
“He’s got the ability, and as you know, in our defense our linebackers are blitzers and they rush. So he’s got the ability to do both. He’s a big man and he runs well. He’s smart and he strong, so I think he fits.”
And he’s got the ring to show he’s won at the highest level.
June 17, 2015 at 11:12 pm in reply to: "Why the Rams can't build an offense around Todd Gurley" #26523znModeratorWell. OK, so I don’t think the Rams are planning on building a team around Gurley with bad quarterback play.
Also, no mention of defense
NO mention of Seattle winning the superbowl building a team around Lynch and a great defense.
But, he did metrics. You’re using logic and a knowledge of the game. That was your first mistake.
znModeratorI will use this example as a counter for those positing that folks can self-assign. Young African-American males absolutely can NOT self-assign as young white men. If “race” were TRULY something that could be self-assigned, young black males in poor neighborhoods all across this country could avoid profiling from police departments by self-assigning as white if they chose. They could improve their credit (the racist polices of the banking industry is pretty well known. My wife has a higher credit score than I do because I check “other” for my race and she checks “white” even though she has no income), they could make it easier to obtain housing and to get into college.
NONE of these things are options. Moreover, when the police looks at a young heavily melanin enriched American male… he’s likely profiled as being black, dangerous and a criminal. Thus, the farther this discussion goes from being academic and enters into the real world… to getting a home loan (a bank could sue you for checking the wrong box…try making that self-assignation argument in court. I wouldn’t), to dealing with law enforcement (the police department sure doesn’t seem to take much stock in self-assigning), to dealing with the job market… we see that self-assigning is ONLY about the meaningless gesture of checking the box. If it weren’t, a person could just say, “I’m white! Don’t shoot!” and as blatantly racist as that is, they could probably save their life in certain situations where especially black men are killed without a second thought. Buying a toy gun comes to mind…
Well, Mack, and this should come as no surprise, that was as good as any of the essays I posted.
It is a powerful and complex topic.
Race is not biologically real. But it is historically and culturally real. And yes the experience of someone who cannot pass as white is far, far different from someone who is white passing as black.
You captured all that very well IMO. I have nothing to add but appreciation. It’s like a great post from 2004-5, back in the heyday.
…
znModeratorDon’t overlook Demetrius Rhaney in Rams’ center competition
Nick Wagoner
EARTH CITY, Mo. — From the outside, it would be easy to overlook Demetrius Rhaney’s candidacy to win the St. Louis Rams’ starting center job.
After all, Rhaney is one of three candidates for the gig along with Tim Barnes, who has actually started NFL games, and Barrett Jones, who came to the NFL with one of the most impressive college resumes of any lineman in more than a decade. Rhaney hasn’t so much as been on an active NFL roster for a game, let alone played in one.
So when Rams coach Jeff Fisher mentions Rhaney as a real option to claim the job, it’d be easy to dismiss that part of the conversation as mere lip service. That would be a mistake. At the March owners meetings in Phoenix, Fisher declared that the Rams have confidence in Rhaney, and Fisher has since reiterated that on multiple occasions.
It’s been backed up by actions, too, as Rhaney has joined Barnes and Jones in taking turns working with the first-team offense during organized team activities. Rhaney is also confident in his ability to claim the position.
“It’s going to be a nice fight,” Rhaney said. “The position is open, but right now we are just focused on learning the plays, learning what (offensive line) coach (Paul) Boudreau likes, what coach Fisher likes, cheering each other on and getting through OTAs.”
That Rhaney is getting through OTAs at all is a good sign after his rookie season came to an abrupt end last preseason. Rhaney suffered a knee injury during a training camp practice and landed on injured reserve. He spent the season learning the system and trying to get stronger.
“It was tough,” Rhaney said. “I had never been injured to where I couldn’t play through it, so that was my first time ever sitting out. It doesn’t feel good to sit on the sideline, but I had to be there to cheer my teammates on. They were focused on me learning the plays and getting stronger and banking on me coming back this year and competing for a spot.”
Rhaney is doing just that, and though he doesn’t have the experience or time in the system of Barnes and Jones, he does bring a few intriguing elements that have him firmly in the mix for the job. Rhaney said he’s fully healthy and added five pounds of muscle in the offseason. The team now lists him at 6-foot-2, 301 pounds.
Rhaney is also considered the most athletic of the three contenders and could prove the best fit in a tweaked offensive scheme that calls for more zone blocking concepts.
“I’m playing fast like I was in college, so I feel great,” Rhaney said. “I’m excited about what’s coming up. The stuff we are running now is similar to what I ran in college, so that’s probably why I’m so happy about it. Once I get the plays completely all the way down, I’ll feel real good. It’s exactly what I did in college. My quickness and stuff, that’s what made me stand out more.”
znModeratori was reading about the kaepernick contract. and due to the language, it’s more like a 2 year contract with an out after that.
i’d do something along these lines. 5 year contract. with maybe an out after 3 years or so.
http://deadspin.com/colin-kaepernicks-126-million-contract-is-remarkably-1586520353
Yeah, all those deals in different cohorts — like starter up for contract 2 — have roughly the same avg. amount per year, give or take. But they are all structured very differently.
I actually bet that Foles, if they get an extension done, will come in under the avg. The range was until recently 16-20 M, with an avg. of 18, but it seems to now be going up (cause they go up). It’s now more like 17-21 M with an avg. around 19. And I bet Foles will come in under that.
And I agree it will probably have team protecting structures built in, as you say.
znModeratorI hope for people like yourself that Warren has her ancestry traced by DNA analysis to justify your support.
It wouldn’t make any difference to me one way or another. To me that’s just political smear campaign stuff by the other side. It rallies them, to us it;s meaningless. Efforts to make it sound meaningful just sound more meaningless.
Again, IMO, none of this is about “facts,” in the end. Your beliefs will not be shaken by facts, nor will Mack’s. It has to do with principles, ideas, convictions, beliefs. If this issue died with Warren, her opponents would just try and find a new one, whether fabricated or real. That;s just the nature of the soccer fan brawl that is politics.
znModeratorhow many years are qbs getting these days? would you give him a 5 year contract? more?
That’s an interesting question. So I tried to look. I break these down into different types of qb. Obviously a back-up gets a different contract than an established veteran starter, but then also another way to divide it is that experienced starting qbs in their 3rd and 4th years get different deals (with their old team or with a new team) from starting-caliber qbs up for their 2nd contract.
So just looking at starting-caliber up for a 2nd contract, these are the more recent ones (and it seems to be, yes, 5-6 years).
Cam Newton signed a five year, $103.8 million contract extension with the Panthers on June 2, 2015 containing $31 million fully guaranteed.
Ryan Tannehill signed a four year contract extension (making his a six year deal) with the Miami Dolphins worth $77 million in new money.
Colin Kaepernick signed a six year, $114 million extension with the San Francisco 49ers on June 4, 2014.
znModeratorTo get there, the Rams will have to eliminate the big plays they had a knack for giving up in 2014. More often than not, those came as a result of a miscommunication or blown coverage on the back end.
This could be a result of blitzing too much.
Yeah sometimes their blitzes bothered me. But I also really do buy the miscommunication theory, along with the misread the play (or screw up the defensive play call) theory, along with the JJ needs to be smacked into discipline theory.
znModeratorIt is always best though to use as little of a future budget as possible.
Well I agree with that, except I also don’t see the “year 2 maneuver” as really using future budget in the way that can be detrimental. It’s not like a Zygmunt death sentence backload. So I agree with your principle, BUT I exempt using just year 2 from that. To me it gives them flexibility in a lot of different ways. And notice it prevents them from having to over do the thing where you turn present hard money (salary, roster bonus) into a pro-rated bonus, because unless a deal is only 2 years, it does backload more in general. So let’s say they want to sign Foles now. Rather than backload a few different years by converting someone’s hard money in pro-rated bonus money, they just park a one-time frontload in the 2016 cap. Anyway that’s my thinking on this.
I would think of 2016 as being the first year of his extension. Is this now sematics?
Yeah, semantics, a bit. Cause the alternative, if you don’t use the extension, is to wait for 2016 to sign him.
But also…they have used new contracts that way, too. Like Long and even Saffold.
So in my mind the 2 actions overlap (ie. extensions and new contracts with bigger hits in year 2).
BUT I won’t be able to make a case until the next time they have a big FA signing, I guess.
Which is fine.
You know what they say. Working out the details on an interesting discussion regarding the intricacies of cap policy is a dish best served cold.
June 17, 2015 at 3:18 pm in reply to: Fisher, Cignetti, Foles 6/16 transcripts, + articles that repeat the transcripts #26487znModerator5 Takeaways from Day 8 of OTAs
Myles Simmons
Aside from announcing the schedule for the Rams’ Bud Light Training Camp presented by Dr Pepper, St. Louis had head coach Jeff Fisher, offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti, and quarterback Nick Foles address the media on Tuesday afternoon. Here are five takeaways from the Rams’ eighth OTA practice.
1) The new offensive coordinator
While Fisher promoted Cignetti from quarterbacks coach to offensive coordinator early in the offseason, the new OC said he hasn’t shifted his coaching style.
“I think if you’d ask the players, I haven’t changed,” Cignetti said. “Every day is a blessing. I come to work trying to have fun, trying to do the best job I can of teaching, come out on the field and enjoy the game of football. I’ve been around it my whole life. I’m a coach’s kid. I’ve been on this field ever since I was five, six years old. I’m comfortable on the field, in the locker room. I just love it. Can’t get enough of it.”
What Cignetti has done, according to tight end Jared Cook, is foster an environment that makes the offense a collective effort.
“Football isn’t a one-man sport. It’s a team sport. So you want to hear feedback,” he said. “It’s a collective effort by everybody, and it gives everybody a chance to give some type of input and feel like they’re contributing something to the offense.”
For much more on Cignetti, check out our stlouisrams.com feature here.
2) Keeping Foles around
Fisher confirmed a Monday media report that the team was in discussions to sign its starting quarterback to a long-term contract.
“I think what Nick has done early in his career, he’s proven he can get the job done on the field,” Fisher said, adding that Foles’ performance both under Andy Reid and Chip Kelly in Philadelphia was impressive. “He’s carried things on here and so we’re going to continue to talk and see if we can get something that’s good for both sides.”
As for the quarterback himself, Foles said he lets his agent handle those discussions until something definitive develops. But the signal-caller still expressed a strong desire to stick with the club.
“I felt like this was home from when I got here and got to meet the guys and talk to the coaches,” Foles said. “That’s nothing against Philly. I had a great time in Philly and I built strong relationships. But, just how the team was when they brought me in here and how they treated me, and how my teammates have helped me grow and just the relationships that I’ve built — I want to be here. This is where I want to play.”
3) A fit for Ayers
The Rams signed linebacker Akeem Ayers as an unrestricted free agent in March after a successful stint with the Patriots last season. He was traded to New England from Tennessee, where Ayers had played under both defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and linebackers coach Frank Bush. And so far, it appears he’s adjusting well to being with St. Louis.
“Akeem, in Tennessee, played behind the ball and he rushed and he did everything,” Fisher said. “Then at New England he primarily was a rusher. Did some dropping, but was primarily a rusher. He’s got the ability and, as you know in our defense, our linebackers are blitzers and they rush. He’s got the ability to do both. He’s a big man and he runs well. He’s a smart kid and he’s strong and so I think he fits.”
For more on Ayers and how he’s bringing a championship mentality to the Rams, check out our feature on him here.
4) Training camp practices in California
The Rams and Cowboys announced on Tuesday that they’ll be linking up for two practices in Oxnard, Calif. in mid-August following the Rams’ preseason contest against the Raiders. The Rams will have an additional solo practice at the Cowboys’ facility for a total of three open sessions out west.
“Once the preseason schedule came out, it made sense for us to just kind of shoot down after the Friday night game at Oakland down to L.A., and then we move out to the Thousand Oaks area,” Fisher said. “We’ll practice with them at training camp for a couple of days and then we’re also going to use their facility on Wednesday and then come back. It kind of shortens camp up a little bit, but it’s the first time that this group has been through that experience and to have an opportunity to practice against another team — a good football team. I think we would benefit from it.”
For more information on the eight open sessions at Rams Park and three in California, check out our training camp schedule here.
5) End of OTAs
Finally, with OTAs coming to a close at the end of the week, Fisher said the team had accomplished what it set out to do in the third phase of the offseason program.
“I feel like from an installation standpoint, we’ve introduced a lot of situations to them,” Fisher said. “We’re happy to say we’ve got the rookies caught up. They’ve yet to lift with the vets, but they’re caught up on the field. I think the rookie class is doing an outstanding job mentally. We’re very fortunate right now that we haven’t had any setbacks on the practice field — haven’t had a single soft-tissue issue or anything. Had a couple guys that we’re resting, that we’re still kind of rehabbing and bringing along — day-on day-off type of thing — but I think we’re in pretty good shape.”
znModeratorIt is always best though to use as little of a future budget as possible.
Well I agree with that, except I also don’t see the “year 2 maneuver” as really using future budget in the way that can be detrimental. It’s not like a Zygmunt death sentence backload. So I agree with your principle, BUT I exempt using just year 2 from that. To me it gives them flexibility in a lot of different ways. And notice it prevents them from having to over do the thing where you turn present hard money (salary, roster bonus) into a pro-rated bonus, because unless a deal is only 2 years, it does backload more in general. So let’s say they want to sign Foles now. Rather than backload a few different years by converting someone’s hard money in pro-rated bonus money, they just park a one-time frontload in the 2016 cap. Anyway that’s my thinking on this.
znModeratorBut those are older contracts. Is there anything after that?
Well it was back them that I got the idea they did that. Which I held as an idea and talked about for a couple of years.
Since then, they haven’t had any major extensions or signings that went beyond 2 years, except Kendricks, who doesn’t fit the model I describe but then it’s also a lesser overall contract.
So I dunno.
But I would say that extending a guy in year 1 and using year 2 to park the big frontload, is smart policy because the alternative is to not extend him and just wait until you have year 1 cap space.
If so the results are still good, because it means that no matter where you are against the cap in 2015, you can extend someone one the basis of 2016 cap space, and then when you get to 2016, you can do the same with 2017.
So I think it’s a good policy either way. In effect it means they are never really tight against the cap, for that reason and others.
But no we haven’t seen it recently. With Britt and Kendricks there is either not much difference (but then Britt is a 2 year) or (LK) year 1 is about 1 M higher than what follows. Ayers is the same as Britt.
znModeratorUnderstanding both sides of Rams’ desire to sign Nick Foles
Nick Wagoner
EARTH CITY, Mo. — When St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher confirmed Tuesday that the team is already interested in signing quarterback Nick Foles to a long-term contract despite him having never played a snap in a game for the Rams, the reactions were seemingly split down the middle.
On one side, there were many who wondered why the Rams would want to hand over big dollars to a quarterback who has so much to prove in a Rams uniform. On the other, some saw the value in signing Foles now before the season, when he could send his price tag shooting through the roof.
Personally, I can see the arguments on both sides. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at some reasons why it makes sense for the Rams to sign Foles soon and some arguments why it doesn’t.
Why it makes sense:
Signing Foles now could result in the Rams getting a bargain. Let’s say the Philadelphia Eagles had tried to extend Foles before last season when Foles was coming off a 27-touchdown, two-interception performance in 2013. Foles’ price was soaring, though it was still a one-year sample size. But Foles returned, his numbers took a major hit and he suffered an injury that limited him to just eight games. It remains to be seen how Foles will fare in a Rams uniform, and though that also qualifies as a reason not to sign him, the unknown also could keep his price more reasonable. Think Andy Dalton or Alex Smith — something in the $13-17 million-a-year range rather than something closer to $20 million annually or having to use the franchise tag after the season.
The scariest proposition for any NFL team right now is simply not having a starting-caliber quarterback on the roster. The Rams have been a prime example of what below-average quarterback play can yield in the past two seasons. When they traded Sam Bradford, they made it a point to get a quarterback in return. They wanted one who can be a starter, and without Foles involved that deal never gets done. The Rams now have Foles on the roster, and he seems to want to stay with them. Getting a deal done now eliminates any anxiety the Rams might have about having to find a starter in the draft or betting their future on their ability to develop a rookie like third-round pick Sean Mannion.
The Rams have 16 players set to become unrestricted free agents after the season. They also could have that small matter of a possible move to Los Angeles coming after the season. In other words, they have a lot on their plate. Getting a deal done now with Foles or any of the players they want to keep around for the long haul lessens the stress for what could be an incredibly busy offseason.
Why it doesn’t make sense:
As mentioned, Foles hasn’t played in a game for the Rams yet. He’s coming off a season in which he struggled with interceptions and injury. The Rams can’t afford to have either of those become an issue in 2015. The offense isn’t expected to be a high-powered passing attack, which means Foles’ two primary jobs are taking care of the ball and not getting hurt. The 10 interceptions in eight games in 2014 are a red flag, and with the Rams expected to have three new starters on the offensive line, Foles’ durability could be put to the test again. Signing him now only to see him struggle with either or both of those issues in 2015 could be crippling to the salary cap for a couple of years, even if they get him at a reasonable price.
Foles is making a big transition from Chip Kelly’s wide-open offense to the Rams’ more conservative approach. While it’s a change he should be able to handle, there are still a lot of unknowns on how that will go. Something as simple as taking snaps under center hasn’t really been a part of Foles’ repertoire in a long time. Now, he has to get those mechanics down and learn a new scheme with new terminology. Signing him without seeing how that translates to games is a tricky proposition.
While it’s understandable that a team would fear not having a quarterback, making a big decision and devoting big money to a player who has never played for your team based on emotion isn’t exactly a great way to do business. Fisher said Tuesday the Rams believe in Foles based on what he did in Philadelphia and what he’s showed so far in St. Louis. The Rams don’t figure to ask Foles to carry the load for the offense, which makes re-signing him, even at a so-called discount, an expensive venture
znModeratorSaffold has the second year hit in it, but that is the only one I found.
Jake Long and JL were that way, using ie. the 2nd year frontload hit.
JL had a 4.25 cap hit in 2013 when he signed, and a 9.25 cap hit in year 2. The cap hits go up by 1 M after that but the dead money goes down. This is an example of using guaranteed money upfront in the 1st couple of years to keep the dead money down later.
JamesL signed in 2012. His big cap hit was 2013, at 12.4 M and it went down after that.
CL in contrast was a year 1 front load, with 18.5 M coming out of the first year.
znModerator.
I think the Rams, Demoff are going to do less and less of that.
Well that’s the only thing I really disagree on in a good discussion.
If by “that” you mean frontloading with year 2, to me that not a bandaid. IMO, it’s smart policy. It’s 2 things:
1. frontloading, pay as you go, put more in the early years. It’s obvious what kind of flexibility it gives them later.
2. but they do it by putting the big frontload in year 2, not year one. That means they always have another year ahead to do that with. Every year, there’s more space next year, and when you get to next year, there’s more space the NEXT year. You use some 2016 space to make 2015 signings, but then when you get to 2016, you have 2017 space.
It looks to me like a smart way to frontload.
The other advantage of frontloading, other than the obvious one that it means they don’t suffer the bad of effects of BACKloading, is that you can always tweak it. So they can tweak a bit here or there by turning frontloaded salary into pro-rate bonus money. You obviously can’t do this TOO much cause then it erases the entire point of frontloading. But you can tweak here and there, a bit, as need arises.
znModeratorRemember my figure of ~45+ million.
+ there’s also this.
As you know the Rams often park the big front-loading cap hit in year 2 of the contract, not year 1.
That means that any deals they sign in 2016 can take advantage of 2017 cap space.
Right now, figuring 2017 with 2 more rookie classes (2016 & 2017) and with a cap or around 153 M (though it will most likely be more), then, they have about 85 M in cap space.
Though of course that will go down. Plus UFAs in 2017 include:
Chris Long
Kenny Britt
Tavon Austin
Akeem Ayers
Michael Brockers
Alec Ogletree
Garrett Reynolds
TJ McDonald
Stedman Bailey
Barrett JonesA lot will be different by 2017. It will include a lot more info on all of those players, plus 2 whole drafts, including (so far) an extra 2nd in 2016. So I can’t see them keeping more than half of those.
BUT no matter who they keep they can use 2018 cap space to do it.
.
June 17, 2015 at 11:27 am in reply to: Fisher, Cignetti, Foles 6/16 transcripts, + articles that repeat the transcripts #26437znModeratorVery good find, Ag. Thanks. On simplifying. If you read up on Kelly’s offense, that’s one of his things.
The issue is getting everyone to remember what the shorthands all mean.
To me this means that Cigz is more new school, was recently a college coach -ish while Schott was doing what he had seen and been around and done since he was a qb coach in 2001.
But having said that, I think they probably would have gone through this whether Schott left or not. And in fact, Schott probably has to go through it in Georgia.
IMO, this is just part of Fisher’s new 2014 emphasis: execution. Less to know and think about, more efficient active execution.
znModeratorTHOMAS:
Demoff has planned for this moment. The Rams are scheduled to have about $60 million of salary cap room for their 2016 payroll, among the most cap space of anyone in the league.
They currently have $9.24 million of 2015 cap space, a figure that doesn’t include the Rams’ 2015 draft class. When those draft class numbers come in, the Rams should still have over $6 million in room this year, which should give them a little flexibility over the coming months when it comes to all those players they want to re-sign.
Hard to tell if he’s right about that 60 M.
znModeratorRams want to extend Foles’ contract
By Jim Thomas
The Rams have engaged in preliminary discussions with the agent for quarterback Nick Foles about a contract extension. Where they lead, who knows.
After all, it was last year at about this time that the Rams talked about extending Sam Bradford, and you saw where that ended up — in Philadelphia for Bradford. But apparently the Rams are confident enough in Foles to at least broach the subject of an extension before he has played a single game for the team.
“We’ve had some discussions,” coach Jeff Fisher said following Tuesday’s practice at Rams Park. “I think what Nick has done early in his career, he’s proven that he can get the job done on the field.
“With the numbers that he put at the end with Andy (Reid) … it was very impressive. He’s carried things on here, and so we’re going to continue to talk and see if we can get something that’s good for both sides.”
Be that as it may, it’s a pretty small sample size in terms of judging Foles’ worth. He has 24 career starts in three NFL seasons with 893 career attempts. In games started and attempts, that’s the equivalent of about 1½ seasons of NFL experience.
Is Foles the player who made the Pro Bowl after the 2013 season with a 119.2 passer rating based on 27 touchdown passes and just two interceptions? The guy who dropped to an 81.4 passer rating last season on just 13 TDs with 10 INTs while missing eight games due to injury? Or somewhere in between?
“This is where I want to play,” Foles said Tuesday. “As a player, you want to be somewhere and you want to play there the rest of your career. So this is where I want to be, but that’s why we have agents.”
As many have said before him, Foles will let his agent (David Dunn) take care of the negotiating. Foles has a lot of other things on his plate at the moment.
“My most important thing right now is just to continue to work with my teammates and continue to be the best player and person I can be,” Foles said. “We’ll see what happens. I love Coach Fisher and the staff and everybody in this building. I’m very fortunate to be here.”
In a trade that also involved an exchange of draft picks, Foles was traded to St. Louis from Philadelphia for Bradford last March. The trade was a telling example of how fast the landscape can shift in the NFL. Instead of a contract extension for Bradford, he was shipped off because he refused to take what would have been a severe pay cut.
As is the case in NFL trades, the Rams inherited Foles’ Philadelphia contract — a contract that expires after the 2015 season. In such situations, players frequently choose to play out the season before agreeing on a new contract, gambling that they can increase their market value with a big season.
Apparently Foles doesn’t feel that way.
“Whatever happens with that, happens,” Foles said. “I’m gonna be the same person no matter what it is. The number sign is not going to change the way I play the game. … I want to be here and that’s the most important thing.”
A Foles extension may be a priority for the Rams, but it’s only the top of a very long list for executive vice president Kevin Demoff. Partly as a byproduct of amassing picks in the so-called RGIII trade in 2012 (and several spinoff moves), the Rams have a ton of players whose contracts expire following the 2015 season.
The list of prospective free agents includes six players who are projected starters this season. On offense: Foles, fullback/tight end Cory Harkey, and wide receiver Brian Quick. On defense: cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson, and free safety Rodney McLeod. (Although Johnson could be pushed by E.J. Gaines for a starting job.)
There’s lots of key rotation players scheduled for unrestricted free agency after this season as well, including defensive ends William Hayes and Eugene Sims, defensive tackle Nick Fairley, and linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar.
Place-kicker Greg Zuerlein is scheduled to hit the market after 2015, as well as safety Mark Barron, backup quarterbacks Case Keenum and Austin Davis, and wide receiver Chris Givens.
Despite exercising the fifth-year option on defensive tackle Michael Brockers for 2016, the Rams are exploring the possibility of extending his deal long term like they did with defensive end Robert Quinn early in the 2014 season.
“I’m definitely hopeful I get a long-term deal,” Brockers said. “Being here with Fisher, I love the team. Everybody wants to stay with their one team for their whole career. I know it’s a business, but at the same time I would love to stay here in St. Louis and be with the guys.”
All in all, it’s a much, much larger group of prospective free agents than Demoff has had to deal with in the past. If the Rams can’t sign the bulk of those players, it will be a setback to the rebuilding task undertaken by Fisher and general manager Les Snead in 2012.
But Demoff has planned for this moment. The Rams are scheduled to have about $60 million of salary cap room for their 2016 payroll, among the most cap space of anyone in the league.
They currently have $9.24 million of 2015 cap space, a figure that doesn’t include the Rams’ 2015 draft class. When those draft class numbers come in, the Rams should still have over $6 million in room this year, which should give them a little flexibility over the coming months when it comes to all those players they want to re-sign.
znModeratorafter Barnes looked around for potential options, including a visit with the Kansas City Chiefs, he came to the conclusion that the place that offered him his best chance to stick around was the same place that’s offered him all of his previous NFL playing experience.
“I have been a backup for a few years now, and I know I’m getting older and it’s time,” Barnes said. “It could be do or die, you never know. So this was a great opportunity, and that was our goal to find a place to give me an opportunity to start and play.”
This answers the question, why did Barnes choose the Rams even though he had at minimum at least one visit, and who knows what other interest? Because the Rams gave him a shot to start.
.
June 17, 2015 at 12:59 am in reply to: Fisher, Cignetti, Foles 6/16 transcripts, + articles that repeat the transcripts #26420znModeratorRams’ Fisher says rookies are up to speed and ready to roll
Elisabeth Meinecke
FOX Sports MidwestST. LOUIS — The Rams are wrapping up their final week of OTAs, and the coaching staff has a warning for the group.
Don’t be an accident waiting to happen.
That’s right, Rams players are currently getting the lecture about activities that may prove injurious to their physical health this summer. Things like Wave Runners. Four-wheelers. Water skiing. Heck, maybe even family picnics.
In other words, the lecture a cliff-jumping Tom Brady never got — or maybe ignored.
“We basically throw the stats up. We have statistics by position groups,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher explained. “I have statistics based on months of incidents, and years of experience in the league.”
He coyly declined to divulge which position group his research has labeled the biggest culprit.
“I’ll just say that (defensive) Coach (Gregg) Williams has his hands full,” Fisher said.
On more football-related topics, Fisher says he’s pleased with how OTAs have progressed.
“We’ve introduced a lot of situations to (the players), and we’re happy to say we got the rookies caught up,” Fisher said. “They’ve yet to lift with the vets but they’re caught up on the field, and the rookie class is doing an outstanding job mentally.”
He complimented the work rookie offensive linemen Rob Havenstein and Jamon Brown have been doing at right tackle and guard, respectively.
“They’re not making mistakes,” he said. “I think they could probably improve significantly when the pads go on because it stalemates a little bit with the defense. Defense wins right now. That’s just how OTAs are.”
Still, that doesn’t mean the Rams are opposed to adding more experience to the position group this summer — Fisher confirmed Tuesday the team was at least keeping an eye on the market for veteran offensive linemen. The Rams invested heavily in that area during the draft, using four of their nine picks to bulk up the line, which needed a right tackle, right guard, and lacked a clear-cut starter at center. Right now, the main competitors for the starting center position, while veterans, are lighter on experience — of Tim Barnes, Demetrius Rhaney and Barrett Jones, Barnes is the only one who’s actually started an NFL game at center. All things considered, more than half the line in front of Nick Foles may be fairly green this September if the roster stays as is.
Training camp schedule released
The Rams released their training camp schedule Tuesday, and in addition to scrimmaging at Lindenwood on Aug. 7, the team will hold eight open practices at Rams Park. Rookies will report to St. Louis on July 27 and veterans on July 29.
According to Fisher, it’s unclear whether first-round pick Todd Gurley, who tore his ACL last season while playing for the University of Georgia, will start training camp. Fisher said the running back will continue rehabbing in St. Louis between OTAs and training camp, although he’ll take some time off to visit family.
As part of their lead-up to the regular season, the Rams will also hold three practices in Oxnard, California, after their first preseason game against Oakland. Two of those practices will be with the Dallas Cowboys. Fisher said he and Cowboys coach Jason Garrett visited several months ago, and that once the preseason schedule came out, it made sense for the Rams to slip in the joint practices after the Oakland game.
“It’s the first time that this (Rams) group has been through that experience, and to have an opportunity to practice against another team, a good football team, I think we would benefit from it,” Fisher said. “Depending on the play time for the starters in the first preseason game, this creates another opportunity for them to compete.”
He added that the decision to hold practices on the West Coast had nothing to do with any potential relocation of the franchise next year.
“The two are not related,” Fisher said. “The Cowboys have practiced against somebody just about every year there. The facility is such that it welcomes another team. We talked (to) a number of teams besides the Cowboys about working together with them, and the Cowboys is really the only one that worked out.”
June 17, 2015 at 12:52 am in reply to: Fisher, Cignetti, Foles 6/16 transcripts, + articles that repeat the transcripts #26419znModeratorCignetti Bringing Tweaks to Offense
By Myles Simmons
By now, it’s well known that the Rams have turned over control of the offense to coordinator Frank Cignetti. And while it’s still OTAs and the team has yet to take a snap in even a preseason game, the coach and players seem to be adapting to their new situations well.
“I love it. I always have,” Cignetti said after Tuesday’s OTA session. “I love trying to put people in position to be successful. I love the schematics of the game, the organization of being a coordinator, the ability to come out here and try to motivate the group. It’s just something I’ve always enjoyed doing.”
“He’s always enthusiastic. He’s always full of energy,” quarterback Nick Foles said of his offensive coordinator. “He loves football, so it’s fun for all of us quarterbacks to be around him and gain that knowledge.”
Cignetti’s fondness for leading the unit is clear from how he describes formulating the offense as a collective effort. Being in St. Louis as the team’s quarterbacks coach the last three years has helped in the process of acclimating to coordinator because the coaching staff was already familiar with one another.
“We were very comfortable with each other,” Cignetti said. “We knew the players and the players knew us, so the transition was very smooth for all of us. It’s been exciting.”
And from what the players have said so far, the team effort of adjusting the offense extends to them as well.
“It’s a collective effort by everybody, and it gives everybody a chance to give some type of input, and feel like they’re contributing something to the offense,” tight end Jared Cook said. “He trusts you as vets, and he trusts you as his players to tell you how you like certain things. And that way, he can tweak it according to how you like it, or according to how you like to run a route.”
“But he might not tweak it,” Cook continued. “He might just say, ‘This is how it is.’ But he will take your suggestions and hear you out.”
The tight end added that more ownership has translated to expanded understanding and communication on the field.
“We’re a collective. We’re here to accomplish one goal, and that’s to get that Lombardi Trophy,” Cook said. “So the more pieces that you have that can understand what’s going on and can spit it back out to you in case there is a problem, the easier it is.”
As for what the offensive changes will look like, Cignetti didn’t divulge too much in terms of what his plans are for the offense — which is to be expected on June 16. But the OC did liken what he’s brought to the unit to purchasing a new home, saying his predecessor, Brian Schottenheimer, did a good job of setting up the foundation.
“You go buy a house, what do you do? ‘Let’s remodel a couple of rooms,’” Cignetti said. “Really, that’s what we’ve done. The foundation of the system hasn’t changed. All we’ve done is put our personal touches in the different areas. And frankly, if coach Schottenheimer were still here, that’s what you’d do as a staff every year. You look at it and you continually look for ways to improve.”
Still, head coach Jeff Fisher said one of the changes Cignetti’s made is cutting down on the verbiage of the offensive playbook.
“I think the players would tell you that he’s shortened the play calls from a terminology standpoint,” Fisher said. “We have some flexibility to do some things, I think, that match up better with our personnel and we’re just going to continue to work with it.”
“A good mark of where you are offensively is when someone like Sean Mannion comes in, and he’s been here for a month, and he has a good feel for it,” Fisher added. “So that kind of gives you a sense that what they’re teaching is easily absorbed and translated to the field.”
Cignetti said while the playbook is likely never fully learned, most of the concepts in terms of protection, the run game, and passing game have been installed. That was reflected in Foles’ comment that quarterbacks seem to have a good amount of leeway on the field.
“He’s a guy who gives us a lot of options out there,” Foles said. “I feel really comfortable with this offense.”
So while the Rams have made the adjustment to Cignetti as an offensive coordinator, that doesn’t necessarily mean the coach has shifted his style.
“I think if you’d ask the players, I haven’t changed,” Cignetti said. “Every day is a blessing. I come to work trying to have fun, trying to do the best job I can of teaching, [then] come out on the field and enjoy the game of football.”
June 17, 2015 at 12:51 am in reply to: Fisher, Cignetti, Foles 6/16 transcripts, + articles that repeat the transcripts #26418znModeratorRams’ Fisher says rookies are up to speed and ready to roll
Elisabeth Meinecke
FOX Sports MidwestST. LOUIS — The Rams are wrapping up their final week of OTAs, and the coaching staff has a warning for the group.
Don’t be an accident waiting to happen.
That’s right, Rams players are currently getting the lecture about activities that may prove injurious to their physical health this summer. Things like Wave Runners. Four-wheelers. Water skiing. Heck, maybe even family picnics.
In other words, the lecture a cliff-jumping Tom Brady never got — or maybe ignored.
“We basically throw the stats up. We have statistics by position groups,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher explained. “I have statistics based on months of incidents, and years of experience in the league.”
He coyly declined to divulge which position group his research has labeled the biggest culprit.
“I’ll just say that (defensive) Coach (Gregg) Williams has his hands full,” Fisher said.
On more football-related topics, Fisher says he’s pleased with how OTAs have progressed.
“We’ve introduced a lot of situations to (the players), and we’re happy to say we got the rookies caught up,” Fisher said. “They’ve yet to lift with the vets but they’re caught up on the field, and the rookie class is doing an outstanding job mentally.”
He complimented the work rookie offensive linemen Rob Havenstein and Jamon Brown have been doing at right tackle and guard, respectively.
“They’re not making mistakes,” he said. “I think they could probably improve significantly when the pads go on because it stalemates a little bit with the defense. Defense wins right now. That’s just how OTAs are.”
Still, that doesn’t mean the Rams are opposed to adding more experience to the position group this summer — Fisher confirmed Tuesday the team was at least keeping an eye on the market for veteran offensive linemen. The Rams invested heavily in that area during the draft, using four of their nine picks to bulk up the line, which needed a right tackle, right guard, and lacked a clear-cut starter at center. Right now, the main competitors for the starting center position, while veterans, are lighter on experience — of Tim Barnes, Demetrius Rhaney and Barrett Jones, Barnes is the only one who’s actually started an NFL game at center. All things considered, more than half the line in front of Nick Foles may be fairly green this September if the roster stays as is.
Training camp schedule released
The Rams released their training camp schedule Tuesday, and in addition to scrimmaging at Lindenwood on Aug. 7, the team will hold eight open practices at Rams Park. Rookies will report to St. Louis on July 27 and veterans on July 29.
According to Fisher, it’s unclear whether first-round pick Todd Gurley, who tore his ACL last season while playing for the University of Georgia, will start training camp. Fisher said the running back will continue rehabbing in St. Louis between OTAs and training camp, although he’ll take some time off to visit family.
As part of their lead-up to the regular season, the Rams will also hold three practices in Oxnard, California, after their first preseason game against Oakland. Two of those practices will be with the Dallas Cowboys. Fisher said he and Cowboys coach Jason Garrett visited several months ago, and that once the preseason schedule came out, it made sense for the Rams to slip in the joint practices after the Oakland game.
“It’s the first time that this (Rams) group has been through that experience, and to have an opportunity to practice against another team, a good football team, I think we would benefit from it,” Fisher said. “Depending on the play time for the starters in the first preseason game, this creates another opportunity for them to compete.”
He added that the decision to hold practices on the West Coast had nothing to do with any potential relocation of the franchise next year.
“The two are not related,” Fisher said. “The Cowboys have practiced against somebody just about every year there. The facility is such that it welcomes another team. We talked (to) a number of teams besides the Cowboys about working together with them, and the Cowboys is really the only one that worked out.”
znModerator
White Womanhood RevisedBrigitte Fielder
http://avidly.lareviewofbooks.org/2015/06/15/white-womanhood-revised/
Whatever else we might say about it, let’s not forget this: Rachel Dolezal’s story is a decidedly American one. Here, I refer not only to story of Dolezal’s racial passing, but also to how Dolezal’s story triggers and reveals America’s racial fascinations. Whatever Dolezal’s motives or ethics, our scrutiny of Dolezal’s race echoes a long history of parsing race in the United States more generally.
Much of the conversation about Dolezal proceeds within long-standing US assumptions about how race “works”: if her biological parents are “really” white people, then so is she, and therefore she cannot be black. While Dolezal is a member of an interracial family, she seems to have no mixed-race African American genealogy, and this is the single deciding factor about her own race. In effect, these assumptions tell us that there is no way for a woman who was born white (i.e., to white parents) to become black. For her to claim blackness, then, is a conscious act of deception.
But for all the clarity these assumptions provide, they are not the only American story about race and womanhood. Even as Americans want race to be simple and essentialist, American racial ideologies rarely allows it to be. Race, Dolezal’s story reminds us, is connected to the history of racial justice work and interracial collaboration, and complicated by relations of power and privilege. Her story also reminds us how race is connected to not only biological relationships, but also to social relationships. For a scholar of race and nineteenth-century literature like myself, Dolezal’s complex (and confusing) story calls to mind other stories of white womanhood revised.
Consider how Dolezal’s American Story aligns with this fictional one: Kate Chopin’s 1893 short story, “Désirée’s Baby.” In the story, Désirée, a woman of unknown parentage, is adopted into a respectable white family and marries the wealthy son of slaveholders, Armand Aubigny. When Désirée and Armand’’s baby begins to show signs of being mixed-race, Armand argues that, because the baby does not look white, it is not white. The appearance of Désirée’s baby calls Désirée’s race into question.
The story teases out the complicated ways “evidence” works in regard to the supposedly objective fact of race. Désirée’s argument (like many of the arguments about Rachel Dolezal’s younger appearance) is that she looks white, so therefore she must be white (and so must her baby). Armand counters with some common knowledge about mixed-race people: although Désirée may look white, some mixed-race people also look white and therefore this fact cannot prove her whiteness. Stipulating the whiteness of the baby’s father (Armand himself) because his family origins are known, he concludes that Désirée must not be white. Of course, the reader is meant to understand another fact about Désirée’s race: when Armand, a wealthy white man, believed her to be white, she was; if he starts believing her race to be otherwise, her whiteness will slip away.
And, predictably, this is what happens: convinced that Désirée (and her baby) have black heritage, Armand disowns them, throwing them out of his home. But the story does not end there: in its final paragraph, Armand discovers correspondence between his parents that reveals his own mother’s African ancestry, proving that, by his own logic, he is the one who is not white, and one possible explanation for his baby’s mixed-race appearance.
This story reminds me of Rachel Dolezal’s because both stories present questions about what we can know about race when race is simultaneously complicated by matters of genealogy, appearance, and social relationship.
Interestingly, Chopin’s story never gives us any “evidence” to prove Désirée’s race. Instead, what we see is that Désirée — because of changing social relationships —effectively becomes a mixed-race woman over the course of this story, as a result of her baby’s racial presentation and her husband’s response to it. Désirée’s body never changes, we learn nothing about her genealogy, but her child’s body and, more importantly, the changing ideas of her white husband and white adoptive parents, changes what her own body means. Chopin’s story shows how US race is, among other things, relational.
Rachel Dolezal’s racialization, too, is determined by her relationships to other people. Her story would not be half as interesting if she did not have black siblings, a black ex-husband, or a black child, if she did not attend a historically black university, teach African American Studies, or work for the NAACP. The assumptions that these are the relations of a black woman, rather than a white one, contribute to Dolezal’s ability to “pass” as black as much as her appearance does (knowing that the appearance of mixed-race people varies widely.) In a world in which it is possible for a white woman to engage in racial justice work, teach African Americans studies, identify with nonwhite siblings, marry a black man, and bear a nonwhite child, but these relations nevertheless worked to frame Dolezal’s supposed blackness, with a similar logic to that which would exclude white women from participating in them. In light of these relationships, Dolezal’s identification as black raises more questions about “whiteness” — about what white supremacy allows whiteness to be.
Importantly, people have been asking why Dolezal could not just participate in these various relationships to black people from her position as a white woman. While biological relationships between white and black people have a prominent history of racism, there is also a long history of precedent for white people’s antiracist participation in interracial family relationships in the United States. As the NAACP notes in its official statement on Dolezal, “One’s racial identity is not a qualifying criteria or disqualifying standard for NAACP leadership.” Nor have white people been categorically excluded from racial justice work in other realms.
Dolezal’s apparent need to claim, then, seems rooted in white supremacist beliefs that have historically framed whiteness as exclusionary of these antiracist relations to black people. Not like Désirée, but Armand, whose own whiteness necessitates a rejection or concealing of black relations, Dolezal’s claim to blackness is also a rejection of whiteness, according to customs of hypodescent which generally categorize mixed-race people as nonwhite.
The idea that Dolezal’s relations to black people inspired her own racial identification sparks questions about the limitations and definitions of whiteness available. While Désirée’s relationship to her black baby results in a reverberating loop of genealogy that revises her own assumed whiteness, Dolezal’s taking up blackness frames whiteness as unable to contain the relationships she desires.
One might argue, of course, that this inability is not true, that there are ways for white people to participate in interracial family and community. But dealing with white privilege in interracial familial relationships and allyship is difficult. What difficulties, exactly, might Dolezal avoid through this privileged self-racialzation?
Racism creates a definition of whiteness that is, itself exclusionary. Under white supremacy, white people are those who not only meet a biological definition of whiteness, but also those who exclude nonwhite people from their racial genealogies in all directions. How do Dolezal’s nonwhite family members factor into the stakes of her own whiteness?
White supremacy has, historically, excluded white women in interracial kinship relationships from the category of whiteness, making assumptions about white women’s racial relations much like the assumptions that re-racialize Désirée via her baby. These assumptions frame white women as women who belong to exclusively white families, whose sexual desire is oriented only toward white men, who only reproduce white children. Dolezal’s interracial relations – her black siblings, husband, child – remove her from this particular, racist vision of white womanhood.
This does not, of course, mean that Dolezal is not white. She is not like the mixed-race heroines of nineteenth-century literature by writers like Lydia Maria Child, William Wells Brown, and Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who discover their African American ancestry while also finding themselves legally enslaved and fully subject to the effects of racism. Nor is she like the countless mixed-race black people who have “passed” as white for their own benefit or safety in a dangerously racist nation. She is not launched into blackness like Désirée, a woman whose race cannot be definitively known but only inferred from her inability to reproduce a white-looking child.
However, Dolezal’s racialization (whether this self-racialization is ethical or not) suggests an inability to shake the white supremacist vision of white womanhood that Dolezal herself did not invent, but has absorbed from a long American history of white womanhood.
In the midst of the inevitable continued parsing of Rachel Dolezal’s motives and those of her parents, the implications of Dolezal’s whiteness for her racial justice and educational work, and discussions of the unethical nature of this type of deception and its possible effects on African American people and racial relations, the fact of Dolezal’s relation to white parents will be prioritized. We might also take into account the relations beyond these that have worked to racialize and re-racialize Rachel Dolezal and how these relations to African Americans echo a history of complex, relational racialization, like that enacted by Désirée’s baby.
June 16, 2015 at 8:40 pm in reply to: Rams training camp schedule/Rams spend part of 2015 training camp in LA #26413znModerator@nwagoner: Quick search shows #Rams had 14 open practices in St. Louis last year. There are nine this year.
===============
Rams will spend part of 2015 training camp in LA
By Jim Thomas
As expected, the Rams are indeed spending a few days in the Los Angeles area this August as part of the 2015 training camp schedule released by the team Tuesday.
As part of what could be the Rams’ last training camp in St. Louis, they will train in the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks area of California, just northwest of Los Angeles. Coming off their Aug. 14 preseason opener at Oakland, the team will practice Aug. 17 and 18 with the Dallas Cowboys in Oxnard, practice Wednesday Aug. 19 there by themselves, and then head back to St. Louis.
“We visited with the Cowboys months ago; I visited with Jason (Garrett),” coach Jeff Fisher said, referring to his Dallas counterpart. “Once the preseason schedule came out it made sense for us to just kind of shoot down after the Friday night game with Oakland to LA.
“It kind of shortens up camp a little bit, but it’s the first time that this group has been through that experience, and to have the opportunity to practice against another team. A good football team. I think we will benefit from it.”
This is the first time a Fisher-coached Rams team has had camp workouts with another squad. But Fisher did so frequently during his long tenure with the Tennessee Titans, including practices against the Rams in 2000 in Macomb, Ill., and in Nashville against the Rams in 2008.
“Hopefully, I think big picture it’ll help us,” Fisher said. “We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t think it was gonna be beneficial. What it does for you, depending on the play time for the starters in the first preseason game, it creates another opportunity for them to compete and get better aside from preseason games. You’re in a full-padded practice against another opponent.”
But with thousands of Rams fans in the St. Louis area worried about the potential relocation of their team to LA, why train in the Los Angeles area of all places for a few days?
“The two are not related,” Fisher said. “The Cowboys have practiced against somebody just about every year. The facility is such that it welcomes another team. We talked to a number of teams besides the Cowboys about working together with them and the Cowboys was really the only one that worked out.”
All of that may be true, but the appearance in LA seems less than coincidental for a Rams franchise that may be wanting to stimulate fan support on the West Coast for 2016. That’s the earliest the team could play at the Inglewood, Calif., site where club owner Stan Kroenke plans to build a stadium.
As for the part of training camp held in St. Louis, rookies report July 27 with veterans reporting July 29. The first full-scale practice open to the public is Friday, July 31 at 3:30 p.m. at the Rams’ facility in Earth City.
The Rams will hold a scrimmage Friday, Aug. 7 at Lindenwood University.
Here is the schedule of practices at Rams Park (and Lindenwood) open to the public:
DATE—————TIME
Friday, July 31——–Practice 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 1—–Practice 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, Aug. 2——-Practice 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 4——Practice 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 6—–Practice 5:30 p.m.
Friday, Aug. 7———Scrimmage 5 p.m. (Lindenwood)
Sunday, Aug. 9——-Practice 3:30 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 10—–Practice 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 11—- Practice 5:30 p.m.
For more information visit the Rams’ website at http://www.stlouisrams.com.
znModeratorCignetti on Austin, solving (for me anyway) one mystery:
You can just see it from his route running. What a difference
IE. I take that as saying he’s working on his route running.
http://theramshuddle.com/topic/fisher-cignetti-foles-616-transcripts/
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