from off the net

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Rampage2K-

Just heard on Sirius that jaws is pretty convinced that TB is set on MM…. Is JW gonna free fall into us???

zn wrote:

Mike Garafolo @MikeGarafolo

C Stefen Wisniewski’s deal with the Jaguars is one year at $2.5 million, source says.

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from off the net

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PaulButcher59

Although admirable to play through injuries, sometimes its worse to play through an injury all season and it could definitely be a game killer going forward.

I also found out that Wisniewski also played with a torn labrum during his rookie season in 2011 and had surgery on it after that season. So this is his 2nd shoulder surgery.

A one year deal is a prove it deal to me from a player coming off a 2nd shoulder surgery. I`d be very leery about signing him as well.

InvaderRam wrote:

rfl wrote:

What I can’t figure out:

If the Rams can’t find enough value for the #10 …

How can some other team find enough value to offer us value for a trade up?

I guess I am skeptical.

i think it depends on position. rams need an offensive lineman but the value might not be worth it at #10. there might, however, be a receiver there who is worth it to some other team. or perhaps a randy gregory. or maybe a guy like waynes. the rams could trade down with someone looking to add a wr, de, or cb. and then draft the lineman lower in the draft.

Yeah trading down doesn’t mean “can’t find value.” It means balancing out different players. So let’s say they list 7 players worthy of the 10th pick, and when it’s their time to pick, the 7 are there. If they trade back 6 slots they still get one of the 7.

It’s a matter of one team coveting a guy while you can see 5-6 different guys you would want who will be there later on.

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter

Jaguars agreed on a 1-year deal with former Raiders C Stefan Wisnewski, per league source.

The Benefits of Rams Trading Back on No. 10 Pick

Anthony Stalter

http://www.101sports.com/2015/04/15/the-benefits-of-rams-trading-back-on-no-10-pick/

What to do with draft pick number ten? That’s the question.

Last week I discussed seven options for the Rams’ first round selection. Now, let’s expound on the strategy that could be most beneficial to the team.

Coach Jeff Fisher has acknowledged the Rams have holes to fill on the O-line.

Like most NFL draftniks, I’m addicted to mocks. Be it Peter King’s or Larry King’s, I’ll consume it all the same. And no matter which mock I look at in relation to this year’s draft, I don’t like how things play out in front of the Rams.

There’s a case to be made that Alabama receiver Amari Cooper is the best prospect in this year’s class. He’s a tremendous route-runner, has excellent hands, and plays under control. He tracks the ball perfectly on deep throws, can lineup outside the numbers and win there, or inside in the slot and beat defenders that can’t match up with him in space. Cooper uses his hands well to beat jams, plays with great technique, and has a superb feel for the game.

The guy is good.

He’s polished, pro-ready, and would look great in a Rams uniform. He’s also unlikely to be available when Jeff Fisher and Les Snead make their first selection.

The same can be said for the other top prospects, which include USC’s Leonard Williams (popularly mocked to Tennessee at No. 2), Florida’s Dante Fowler Jr. (No. 3 to Jacksonville), Clemson’s Vic Beasley (anywhere from No. 5 to Washington to No. 8 Atlanta), West Virginia’s Kevin White (No. 4 Oakland to No. 7 Chicago) and Florida State’s Jameis Winston (No. 1 to the Bucs).

Besides the unlikely scenario of the top prospects falling to No. 10, the Rams face a self-imposed dilemma regarding their offensive line. With holes at right tackle, left guard and center, the Rams might not be able to afford bypassing an offensive lineman with their first pick, even with veterans Joe Barksdale, Justin Blalock and Stefen Wisniewski still available in free agency. Had they addressed more needs in free agency, they could have allowed the top nine picks to play out and then simply chosen the best player on their draft board.
Robinson is important in helping the Rams establish the run.

Greg Robinson eliminates the need to address the left tackle position in the draft.

But this is where need may intersect with value and opportunity.

The Rams need offensive linemen – multiple offensive linemen, in fact. The good news is they don’t need a cornerstone left tackle, having selected Greg Robinson with the No. 2 overall pick a year ago. This year’s draft class is flooded with tackles that could potentially start on the right side for the Rams in year one.

Stanford’s Andrus Peat headlines the list. Peat’s best attributes are his size and playing technique. He’s polished and is one of the safer prospects in this year’s class, even if he’s not dynamic. Oregon’s Jake Fisher is technically sound as well, is athletic and has an excellent grasp of angles, an underrated part of playing tackle at any level. Florida’s D.J. Humphries, Pitt’s T.J. Clemmings, Texas’ Cedric Ogbuehi and Miami’s Ereck Flowers don’t come without limitations, but none are considered massive projects either.

If the Rams have Peat listed atop their draft board now or when they’re on the clock in a few weeks, then he’s likely to be their pick.

But unless the drop-off between Peat and the other offensive line prospects (including potential guards Brandon Scherff of Iowa and La’el Collins of LSU) is significant, then here’s hoping they have an opportunity to trade back.

Being able to address a need with one of the top prospects on their board while also nabbing an extra draft pick or two would be the epitome of value. Maybe the Rams miss out on Peat or Scherff, but landing Fisher, Humphries or Clemmings in the back half of the first round, plus acquiring another second or third-round pick (depending on how far they trade back), would still be a success. Maybe that extra pick turns into another starter along the offensive line.

There have been previous drafts where I’ve argued the Rams should just sit and pick in order to secure the best quality (i.e. talent) over adding quantity (i.e. more selections). But every draft is different and if things play out in front of the Rams like most are assuming, trading back could benefit the team in more ways than one.

Good job. Thanks for posting it. However, I have one nitpick: Max Garcia C, Florida at 215. That’s a little high for him. I think they could get him at 218. Maybe even 219. Taking him at 215? That’s the kind of soul-crushing mistake that ruins a franchise for decades. It would be almost as bad as reaching for Donald last year at 13.

But what do I know, right?

canadaram wrote:

Hearing that the visit (4/14) between the Rams & Benardrick McKinney went very well, and that the Rams are willing to go very high with him.

Bernardrick McKinney

Benardrick McKinney, ILB
School: Mississippi State | Conference: SEC
College Experience: Junior | Hometown: Tunica, MS
Height/Weight: 6-4 / 246 lbs.

Player Lowdown

Combine Results
40 Yd 4.66 20 Yd 2.73 10 Yd 1.63 225 Bench 16 Vertical jump 40 1/2 Broad 10’1″ Shuttle 4.27 3-Cone Drill 7.21

Strengths Weaknesses

STRENGTHS: Raw, versatile athlete. Lined up at middle linebacker and rushed off both edges. Runs in the 4.5s with a 34-inch vertical. At his best with the ballcarrier in front of him. Physical taking on blocks with long arms and physical punch. Fluid athlete for his size, showing good lateral agility and very impressive acceleration to track down ballcarriers from behind. Long arms and good hand-eye coordination to trip up ballcarriers.

At his best with the ballcarrier in front of him, where he can use his physical demeanor and battle the big bodies, taking on blocks with active hands and long arms to control the point of attack.

WEAKNESSES: Limited hand technique. Attempts to slip past blockers, rather than showing the aggression and strength to truly stack and shed. Not a sudden mover. Lacks ideal range. While intelligent, he can be late to recognize plays and ends up a step late to the action. Slow to recover from missteps. Loses sight of the quarterback to turn and run with receivers.

Compares To: Aaron Curry, retired: Like the No. 4 overall pick in 2009, McKinney possesses remarkable size, explosiveness and general athleticism. There are concerns about McKinney’s awareness, especially in coverage. He’s athletic enough to project to any linebacker role but may never become a star.

Player Overview

A redshirt making the transition from high school quarterback to linebacker, McKinney led all SEC players and was second among freshmen nationally with 102 tackles. McKinney led the Bulldogs in tackles (71), tackles for loss (seven) and sacks (3.5) in 2013 and nearly duplicated those numbers in 2014 (71-8-3), earning All-American honors.

McKinney statistics are impressive. His combination of size and athleticism has the NFL more intrigued. McKinney is an impressive athlete for his size, but while he’s a stout run defender, he isn’t as consistent in space. There are some concerns that his ineffectiveness defending in coverage could limit him to a two-down thumper role in the NFL.

Albert Breer @AlbertBreer

A Rams contingent of Jeff Fisher, Les Snead, Kevin Demoff, Frank Cignetti & Chris Weinke will be in Eugene today to work out Marcus Mariota.

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How Marcus Mariota might fit the Rams

By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/17672/how-marcus-mariota-might-be-a-good-fit-for-the-rams

EARTH CITY, Mo. — We’ve spent plenty of time in this space exploring the possibility of the St. Louis Rams landing Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota. The Rams are known to have interest in Mariota and are spending Thursday in Eugene working him out.

But let’s put aside the question of whether he could slip to the Rams at No. 10 or if they might trade up to land him (for what it’s worth, I believe the latter is more likely than the former). Instead, let’s consider how Mariota might fit in St. Louis from a scheme perspective.

Looking at it from the outside, Mariota seems like he might not be the right guy for the Rams. His athleticism and playmaking ability automatically calls into question whether the Rams’ ground-and-pound approach would best utilize his skills. But that might not be fair to either Mariota or the Rams.

The Rams don’t ask their quarterbacks to do a ton when it comes to the passing game. In fact, one of Mariota’s greatest skills fits right in with the first thing the Rams look for in a quarterback: play-action passes.

Mariota not only threw plenty of play-action passes for the Ducks, he excelled at them. According to Pro Football Focus, Mariota led the nation in play-action pass attempts, faking the handoff and throwing on 51 percent of his dropbacks. By way of comparison, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith had the highest percentage in the NFL last year at 31 percent.

When using play-action, Mariota was 133-of-195 for 2,361 yards with 24 touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Rams didn’t use play-action as much as they’d like last year, opting for such calls on 97 dropbacks for the season (tied with the Jets and Falcons for 22nd in the NFL). But that easily could be a product of not having an offensive line that was capable of protecting the quarterback or a running game operating at a high level on a consistent basis.

In play-action, Rams quarterbacks were 63-of-90 for 732 yards with seven touchdowns and three interceptions for a passer rating of 108.7, which ranked seventh best in the league on such plays. Given that success, it’s something they’d like to do more of in 2015.

“I don’t think it’s any different than anybody else,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said of his offense at February’s NFL combine. “It’s a run game. Need to run the football. And you need to complement your play-action game to the run game, and you know, play good defense and play good special teams. That’s the very basic theory.”

Of course, a big part of Mariota’s appeal is that he can make things happen when on the move. He made a big leap in that regard in 2014, when he completed 61 percent of his passes with an average of 8.2 yards per attempt and six touchdowns against only one interception while on the move.

The numbers are even more impressive when Mariota had time to set his feet, which apparently was a regular occurrence. According to ESPN Stats & Information research, he completed 70 percent of his passes with an average of 10.4 yards per attempt with 36 touchdowns and three interceptions with his feet set in 2014.

In other words, Mariota might be able to transition to the NFL better than many (yours truly included) initially thought. It also doesn’t hurt that Fisher once worked with a mobile quarterback with big college production and watched him develop into one of the better quarterbacks in the league.

That was Steve McNair, who is a different player than Mariota but came with some similar traits. Maybe the thought of bringing Mariota along in St. Louis isn’t as big of a project as it might seem on the surface.

“I still think it’s an individual thing,” Fisher said at last month’s NFL owners meetings. “The progression is related to the individual player. Some players come in and should and will play sooner than others. We stuck to our plan with Steve. We got him experience the first couple of years. He started his third year and fourth, but I think it’s on the player. So much of it has to do with the individual player and philosophy.”

Agamemnon wrote:

** disclaimer*** If somebody else does the math and/or the method differently and gets a different number. I don’t care. If someone doesn’t follow my stuff. I don’t care. If I am wrong. I don’t care.

You forgot to carry the 2.

Kidding. It’s interesting stuff. Helps see things more clearly.

Hey ag. Some ordinary housekeeping led to an odd thing, where I had to re-do your Thomas tweet post myself. It got lost in some kind of conundrum when I tried to move it AND delete my version of the “Rams continue to look at O-line prospects” post at the same time. Apparently that created a rift in space-time. I had to fix it by just re-doing the Thomas tweet myself.

I am still scarred by the whole experience, both emotionally and metaphysically.

bnw wrote:

zn wrote:

Guys let’s keep relocation stuff in relocation threads and try not to sink into city bashing.

Thanks.

Yours, sincerely, the mods.

City bashing? Moi? Just my midwestern perspective on personal hydration via municipal means. Didn’t need to call out the smurfs.

Really. Let’s keep that kind of thing out of discussion. Even hints of it.

Guys let’s keep relocation stuff in relocation threads and try not to sink into city bashing.

Thanks.

Yours, sincerely, the mods.