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  • June 24, 2021 at 12:57 pm in reply to: Rams tweets …. 6/23 thru 6/27 #130609
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    June 24, 2021 at 11:30 am in reply to: Rams tweets …. 6/23 thru 6/27 #130605
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    June 24, 2021 at 11:27 am in reply to: Rams tweets …. 6/23 thru 6/27 #130604
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    June 24, 2021 at 10:17 am in reply to: Rams tweets …. 6/23 thru 6/27 #130603
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    June 24, 2021 at 10:15 am in reply to: Rams tweets …. 6/23 thru 6/27 #130602
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    June 23, 2021 at 9:17 pm in reply to: Stafford in McVay’s offense #130600
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    Greg Cossell on Stafford:

    June 23, 2021 at 9:07 pm in reply to: Rams tweets …. 6/23 thru 6/27 #130599
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    ==

    from the above link:

    A good way to put the Rams’ success into perspective is looking at this list from Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Stats. He ranked every team in the NFL based on how many weeks they’ve had with a winning record since the end of the 2016 season. The Rams are No. 2 with 62 such weeks, one behind the Chiefs and eight ahead of the third-ranked Saints.

    June 23, 2021 at 7:08 pm in reply to: league, union agree on vaccination protocols for players #130598
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    June 23, 2021 at 5:21 pm in reply to: Stafford in McVay’s offense #130597
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    Rams’ Matthew Stafford taking it slow, but making progress with new team

    https://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/42751/rams-matthew-stafford-taking-it-slow-but-making-progress-with-new-team

    THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Matthew Stafford took snap after snap, dropping back each time to scan the field.

    And that was the extent of the 11-on-11 action for the new Los Angeles Rams quarterback, who did not throw the ball during full-team periods at mandatory minicamp.

    Entering his 13th NFL season, but his first with a team outside of the Detroit Lions, the plan for the offseason program was to familiarize Stafford and other newcomers with teammates and Rams coach Sean McVay’s scheme.

    “We’re not moving extremely fast, not really trying to get open or make great throws in that period,” Stafford explained. “It’s more, let’s get the protections adjusted, let’s get the runs going off in the right direction and get all the above-the-neck stuff going.”

    How the Rams’ offense will appear with Stafford when the season opens Sept. 12 against the Chicago Bears remains mostly a mystery after an offseason program dominated by one-on-one work and some 7-on-7 action.

    It could also remain something of a mystery through training camp after McVay acknowledged that he is likely to keep in step with his past approaches to preseason games and not play starters.

    But if McVay’s good mood this offseason is any indication, his once-prolific offense that struggled to find consistency the past two seasons with quarterback Jared Goff is trending positive with Stafford.

    “He’s done outstanding,” McVay said about Stafford, whom the Rams acquired from Detroit in exchange for Goff, two first-round picks and a third-round pick in January. “He’s only going to continue to grow and we’re going to continue to get better.”

    McVay raved about Stafford’s leadership, ability as a natural thrower and his football savvy — including his knack to recognize and manipulate a defense.

    Stafford underwent surgery on his right thumb in March. He described it as “a quick little fix” and said that he felt “way better.” The procedure did not affect his participation in voluntary workouts or mandatory minicamp.

    The goal of the offseason program for the 33-year-old Stafford was to stress himself mentally as he integrates into McVay’s system.

    “I’m just trying to learn as much as I possibly can about not only our playbook and the way we want to operate as an offense,” said Stafford, who departed Detroit as the all-time leader in every passing category but never won a playoff game in three attempts. “But also [learn] my teammates as well.”

    The Rams return eight offensive starters from last season’s 10-6 team, including four linemen, receivers Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp, tight end Tyler Higbee and running back Cam Akers.

    Woods and Kupp spent the past four seasons with Goff, but have quickly began to adapt to their new signal caller after numerous one-on-one drills and time spent between action communicating nuances.

    “He’s a vet quarterback [who’s] really honing in on picking up this offense very fast because we all got plans, we need him to learn it and be ready to go right away,” said Woods, who fell 64 yards shy in 2020 of a third-consecutive 1,000-receiving yard season. “I would say his attention to listen to receivers, wanting to still get better at his level and at his year is super big.”

    Rams general manager Les Snead also added firepower for Stafford over the offseason, signing veteran receiver DeSean Jackson in free agency and selecting Louisville receiver Tutu Atwell in the second round of the NFL draft. Both are considered speedy receivers who can provide deep targets and stretch the field.

    “It’s been awesome with Matt, having a veteran quarterback that’s played a lot of ball in this league,” said Jackson, who has been slowed because of injuries the past two seasons but has recorded the most 60-plus-yard touchdowns (24) in NFL history. “It’s definitely going to be a scary group for defenses and defenders ’cause Sean McVay, one thing about it, he’s going to figure out how to get you open, so we just look forward to having a lot of fun doing it.”

    Stafford said each receiver brings a unique skillset. He described Woods as smooth in and out of his breaks, Kupp as one of the smartest he’s played with, Jackson and Atwell for their long speed, and second-year pro Van Jefferson as good separator.

    “It’s a really talented group, top to bottom,” Stafford said.

    Stafford also is expected to have support in the backfield from Akers, who emerged late in his rookie season as a feature back after playing in a committee most of the year.

    “It’s been fun getting to know Matt,” said Akers, who rushed for 625 yards in five starts and 13 games last season. “Gaining chemistry, catching balls, getting handoffs from him. Feeling the way he likes to lead, just learning each other. That’s what this time that we’ve been spending together has been, we’ve been learning each other and just getting comfortable.”

    There’s no exact science, Stafford and teammates said, as to when they will jell and establish an exact chemistry. But Stafford expressed confidence about his progress before the Rams broke for the offseason.

    “I definitely have learned quite a bit,” Stafford said. “I feel like my knowledge is a lot broader now than it was when we started that’s for sure. I’ve been exposed to a lot both from Sean and our offense and our defense as well, so it’s been a good learning experience for me.”

    Quarterbacks report to training camp on July 25th.

    June 23, 2021 at 3:53 pm in reply to: Rams tweets …. 6/23 thru 6/27 #130596
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    from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2021/06/22/rams-rob-havenstein-contract-best-nfl-rankings/?taid=60d2ea167dda3e0001b6b204&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=twitter

    Pro Football Focus ranked the 32 best contracts in football and at No. 24 was Havenstein.

    PFF points out that Havenstein has been a top-10 right tackle in terms of WAR (wins above replacement) since signing the deal in 2018, a show of his value to Los Angeles.

    The Rams smartly inked Havenstein — their second-round selection in 2015 — to an early extension following his third season, and his $8.125 million per year average was the highest among all right tackle signings that offseason. The following offseason in 2019, five right tackles signed for $10 million or more per year, including Trent Brown and Lane Johnson signing for more than double Havenstein’s figure in terms of per-year average.

    June 23, 2021 at 1:45 pm in reply to: Rams receiving corps (WRs & TEs) #130590
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    How has Rams QB Matthew Stafford established timing, rapport with top WRs in Sean McVay’s offense?

    Jourdan Rodrigue

    https://theathletic.com/2660685/2021/06/22/how-has-rams-qb-matthew-stafford-established-timing-rapport-with-top-wrs-in-sean-mcvays-offense/?source=emp_shared_article

    THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — For new Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, timing has lately been everything.

    Seizing upon opportune timing is a big part of the reason Stafford is in Los Angeles in the first place, after 12 years in Detroit — he requested a trade around the same time the Rams were deeply assessing their options at quarterback, then he and Rams coach Sean McVay happened to be at the same resort in Cabo, and the rest is history.

    Now, Stafford’s timing will need to apply to how he runs the offense — especially one that depends on the quarterback and receivers falling into total rhythm with each other before, during and after every snap.

    “The only way a guy in my position can play ‘on time’ and ‘in rhythm’ is understanding exactly what’s going on around him at all times and feeling comfortable with it,” Stafford said. “To get that, in my opinion, you can definitely look at it on a screen, look at it on a piece of paper and take your notes, but until you get out there and watch Cooper Kupp run this route or Robert Woods run that route, that’s something that takes time and in-person repetition.”

    The details that need to be accounted for within a single passing play — between just the quarterback and the receiver — can feel endless, but must become automatic. Further, all of the little things the quarterback does between the snap and the moment the ball leaves his hand happen essentially as the receiver’s back is toward him.

    “Within a drop, a quarterback has a lot of tools in terms of his eyes, his shoulders — where he’s trying to move guys,” Kupp said. “I think that’s the big thing, is understanding on plays: You might have two windows, you have the tight first window or you can hang on for the second window. And you have the conversation, ‘Would you rather hold this hook player away and try to zip this into the first window — or are you thinking you’re going to take him to me and hit this thing behind him?’

    “So it’s kind of understanding just things like that. When am I really trying to get my eyes down? When can I anticipate the ball to get out versus certain looks? How (is he) manipulating coverages and what he feels comfortable with? Even within his drops, just seeing the nuance of using his shoulders and eyes to move guys and anticipate throws — that helps us out at receiver because now we’re really able to anticipate when that ball is coming and also get into those windows — or (move with tempo) into the windows he’s really trying to get to.”

    Stafford and the Rams receivers were quite apparently stacking the building blocks of this process throughout the spring — not only increasing the amount of processing required between the two groups but also shifting at times from an emphasis on the live reps to focus on the communication between plays and how the various elements of the passing game complement each other when the rhythm is correct.

    For example, veteran receivers Woods and Kupp were present for the voluntary OTAs sessions in May — which was notable because it was the first opportunity for Stafford to work in-depth with teammates after offseason thumb surgery and his cross-country move with his family. These practices were half-speed and could be stopped halfway through a play so that McVay and Stafford, and Stafford and his receivers and offensive line, could talk through the concepts. Though the sessions were not mandatory and many players trickled in and out through the two-week period, Kupp was active each day in order to build the necessary on-field rapport with Stafford, while Woods added that he often sat next to Stafford during film sessions to whisper live notes about certain throws as they watched. Rotating through the practices and reps also meant that when they weren’t working into the live action, receivers were able to watch Stafford’s movements more closely.

    “Invaluable reps, really,” Kupp said. “Obviously as an offense, having a new signal caller out there — just being able to see the field with him, trying to understand the things that he’s seeing and how he’s analyzing things on the go. … Everyone has a different nuance to how (he) wants to play certain concepts, the throws that (he) leans on, the throws (he) wants to make, things you want to see and how you want to dictate certain things. (We were) able to have great conversations, (able) to see the field through his lens and understand what Matthew wants us to do at receiver and how he wants us to run our routes, the holes he wants us to find.”

    In some seven-on-sevens and 11-on-11s, Stafford didn’t throw the ball as the route concepts unfolded before him and he mentally worked through his progressions and then workshopped the scenarios with Kupp, Woods, Desean Jackson, Van Jefferson and others. Where do his feet need to be in his dropback at a specific point in the receiver’s route? How about when they turn to present a target? What about boot action, play-action, the motions that McVay uses so often and more — how does the quarterback match his timing and movement with the receivers’ own as they progress through their route?

    While the live reps are certainly the most valuable tool for both a quarterback and a receiver during this process, the required level of collaboration, communication and sharing of techniques and ideas can’t be understated.

    “We’re collaborating to put the most efficient offense on the field,” Kupp said. “Whatever it takes for me, however he wants (us) to run routes … however he wants to throw the ball and manipulate coverage, whatever it’s going to look like to be the best offense we can possibly be when we step onto the field, that’s what we want to do. … It’s collaboration and being able to make sure that we’re on the same page with each other, that we’re working in tandem with each other — and that I’m doing the things that I need to do so that he’s seeing the field exactly how I’m seeing it, and we’re in those spots together.”

    From Stafford’s lens, figuring out receivers’ preferences within their route tree is a part of that collaboration. Kupp, for example, has several “choice” routes built into his tree, so his decision-making in tandem with Stafford on those particular plays becomes not only crucial to Kupp’s own route run but also to the various leverage possibilities and assignments for the rest of the receivers in turn.

    “We’re just trying to have dialogue,” Stafford said. “As we’re watching other guys (take second- and third-team reps), (we talk) about what we might have done in that situation — what he would expect from me, what I would expect from him. Just constantly trying to make sure that we’re on the same page and able to execute.”

    Tiny details and tweaks made for the comfort of both the receiver and quarterback as they establish a feel for one another can turn into major moments in live action. At one point in the spring, Woods said Stafford approached him because he was feeling a little off about the steps in a passing concept and felt as if he might look to throw a little bit earlier than what they had practiced. Woods told him that he could adjust accordingly and would get his eyes back around for the ball without a problem. Conversely, throughout the offseason, Woods would record pieces of his own film study and send little cut-ups to Stafford that communicated Woods’ preferred catch window in which to specifically maximize yards after the catch.

    “(Stafford’s) intention to listen to his receivers, wanting to still get better at his level and at his year is super big,” Woods said. “I think, from a receiver standpoint, your quarterback asking you ‘What do you want from this?’ or ‘What do you see in this route’ is super big. He’s come into our offense with some receivers who have made plays — but (is) really just trying to make us feel comfortable.”

    In June, as the Rams held their minicamp — the last series of practices before breaking for the summer — Kupp and Woods especially orbited around Stafford at alternating times and in between his reps in seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 drills, play cards in their hands.

    They were not practicing live but were in near-constant communication with Stafford — troubleshooting plays and concepts, pointing out different preferences and alignments and getting feedback from the quarterback on what he felt and saw as the plays unfolded.

    “The dialogue amongst one another — there’s so many things that go on in the absence of coaches and in between those white lines that is so beneficial,” McVay said. “The best teams that I’ve been a part of is where the players lead it. That’s where you have a chance to be great. We’ve got the guys in this building to be able to do those things. … I think Matthew’s natural ability to communicate with everybody … that’s a valuable thing. That’s sometimes where (my) best is to give a little bit of guidelines and then get the hell out of their way.”

    June 23, 2021 at 10:25 am in reply to: Critical Race Theory #130589
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    What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is It Under Attack?

    https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-under-attack/2021/05

    Is “critical race theory” a way of understanding how American racism has shaped public policy, or a divisive discourse that pits people of color against white people? Liberals and conservatives are in sharp disagreement.

    The topic has exploded in the public arena this spring—especially in K-12, where numerous state legislatures are debating bills seeking to ban its use in the classroom.

    In truth, the divides are not nearly as neat as they may seem. The events of the last decade have increased public awareness about things like housing segregation, the impacts of criminal justice policy in the 1990s, and the legacy of enslavement on Black Americans. But there is much less consensus on what the government’s role should be in righting these past wrongs. Add children and schooling into the mix and the debate becomes especially volatile.

    Does ‘Academic Freedom’ Shield Teachers as States Take Aim at Critical Race Theory?

    School boards, superintendents, even principals and teachers are already facing questions about critical race theory, and there are significant disagreements even among experts about its precise definition as well as how its tenets should inform K-12 policy and practice. This explainer is meant only as a starting point to help educators grasp core aspects of the current debate.

    Just what is critical race theory anyway?

    Critical race theory is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. The core idea is that racism is a social construct, and that it is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies.

    The basic tenets of critical race theory, or CRT, emerged out of a framework for legal analysis in the late 1970s and early 1980s created by legal scholars Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, among others.

    A good example is when, in the 1930s, government officials literally drew lines around areas deemed poor financial risks, often explicitly due to the racial composition of inhabitants. Banks subsequently refused to offer mortgages to Black people in those areas.

    Today, those same patterns of discrimination live on through facially race-blind policies, like single-family zoning that prevents the building of affordable housing in advantaged, majority-white neighborhoods and, thus, stymies racial desegregation efforts.

    CRT also has ties to other intellectual currents, including the work of sociologists and literary theorists who studied links between political power, social organization, and language. And its ideas have since informed other fields, like the humanities, the social sciences, and teacher education.

    This academic understanding of critical race theory differs from representation in recent popular books and, especially, from its portrayal by critics—often, though not exclusively, conservative Republicans. Critics charge that the theory leads to negative dynamics, such as a focus on group identity over universal, shared traits; divides people into “oppressed” and “oppressor” groups; and urges intolerance.

    Thus, there is a good deal of confusion over what CRT means, as well as its relationship to other terms, like “anti-racism” and “social justice,” with which it is often conflated.

    To an extent, the term “critical race theory” is now cited as the basis of all diversity and inclusion efforts regardless of how much it’s actually informed those programs.

    One conservative organization, the Heritage Foundation, recently attributed a whole host of issues to CRT, including the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, LGBTQ clubs in schools, diversity training in federal agencies and organizations, California’s recent ethnic studies model curriculum, the free-speech debate on college campuses, and alternatives to exclusionary discipline—such as the Promise program in Broward County, Fla., that some parents blame for the Parkland school shootings. “When followed to its logical conclusion, CRT is destructive and rejects the fundamental ideas on which our constitutional republic is based,” the organization claimed.

    (A good parallel here is how popular ideas of the common core learning standards grew to encompass far more than what those standards said on paper.)

    Does critical race theory say all white people are racist? Isn’t that racist, too?

    The theory says that racism is part of everyday life, so people—white or nonwhite—who don’t intend to be racist can nevertheless make choices that fuel racism.

    Some critics claim that the theory advocates discriminating against white people in order to achieve equity. They mainly aim those accusations at theorists who advocate for policies that explicitly take race into account. (The writer Ibram X. Kendi, whose recent popular book How to Be An Antiracist suggests that discrimination that creates equity can be considered anti-racist, is often cited in this context.)

    Fundamentally, though, the disagreement springs from different conceptions of racism. CRT thus puts an emphasis on outcomes, not merely on individuals’ own beliefs, and it calls on these outcomes to be examined and rectified. Among lawyers, teachers, policymakers, and the general public, there are many disagreements about how precisely to do those things, and to what extent race should be explicitly appealed to or referred to in the process.

    Here’s a helpful illustration to keep in mind in understanding this complex idea. In a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court school-assignment case on whether race could be a factor in maintaining diversity in K-12 schools, Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion famously concluded: “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” But during oral arguments, then-justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said: “It’s very hard for me to see how you can have a racial objective but a nonracial means to get there.”

    All these different ideas grow out of longstanding, tenacious intellectual debates. Critical race theory emerged out of postmodernist thought, which tends to be skeptical of the idea of universal values, objective knowledge, individual merit, Enlightenment rationalism, and liberalism—tenets that conservatives tend to hold dear.

    What does any of this have to do with K-12 education?

    Scholars who study critical race theory in education look at how policies and practices in K-12 education contribute to persistent racial inequalities in education, and advocate for ways to change them. Among the topics they’ve studied: racially segregated schools, the underfunding of majority-Black and Latino school districts, disproportionate disciplining of Black students, barriers to gifted programs and selective-admission high schools, and curricula that reinforce racist ideas.

    Critical race theory is not a synonym for culturally relevant teaching, which emerged in the 1990s. This teaching approach seeks to affirm students’ ethnic and racial backgrounds and is intellectually rigorous. But it’s related in that one of its aims is to help students identify and critique the causes of social inequality in their own lives.

    Many educators support, to one degree or another, culturally relevant teaching and other strategies to make schools feel safe and supportive for Black students and other underserved populations. (Students of color make up the majority of school-aged children.) But they don’t necessarily identify these activities as CRT-related.

    As one teacher-educator put it: “The way we usually see any of this in a classroom is: ‘Have I thought about how my Black kids feel? And made a space for them, so that they can be successful?’ That is the level I think it stays at, for most teachers.” Like others interviewed for this explainer, the teacher-educator did not want to be named out of fear of online harassment.

    An emerging subtext among some critics is that curricular excellence can’t coexist alongside culturally responsive teaching or anti-racist work. Their argument goes that efforts to change grading practices or make the curriculum less Eurocentric will ultimately harm Black students, or hold them to a less high standard.

    As with CRT in general, its popular representation in schools has been far less nuanced. A recent poll by the advocacy group Parents Defending Education claimed some schools were teaching that “white people are inherently privileged, while Black and other people of color are inherently oppressed and victimized”; that “achieving racial justice and equality between racial groups requires discriminating against people based on their whiteness”; and that “the United States was founded on racism.”

    Thus much of the current debate appears to spring not from the academic texts, but from fear among critics that students—especially white students—will be exposed to supposedly damaging or self-demoralizing ideas.

    While some district officials have issued mission statements, resolutions, or spoken about changes in their policies using some of the discourse of CRT, it’s not clear to what degree educators are explicitly teaching the concepts, or even using curriculum materials or other methods that implicitly draw on them. For one thing, scholars say, much scholarship on CRT is written in academic language or published in journals not easily accessible to K-12 teachers.

    What is going on with these proposals to ban critical race theory in schools?

    As of mid-May, legislation purporting to outlaw CRT in schools has passed in Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Tennessee and have been proposed in various other statehouses.

    The bills are so vaguely written that it’s unclear what they will affirmatively cover.

    Could a teacher who wants to talk about a factual instance of state-sponsored racism—like the establishment of Jim Crow, the series of laws that prevented Black Americans from voting or holding office and separated them from white people in public spaces—be considered in violation of these laws?

    It’s also unclear whether these new bills are constitutional, or whether they impermissibly restrict free speech.

    It would be extremely difficult, in any case, to police what goes on inside hundreds of thousands of classrooms. But social studies educators fear that such laws could have a chilling effect on teachers who might self-censor their own lessons out of concern for parent or administrator complaints.

    As English teacher Mike Stein told Chalkbeat Tennessee about the new law: “History teachers can not adequately teach about the Trail of Tears, the Civil War, and the civil rights movement. English teachers will have to avoid teaching almost any text by an African American author because many of them mention racism to various extents.”

    The laws could also become a tool to attack other pieces of the curriculum, including ethnic studies and “action civics”—an approach to civics education that asks students to research local civic problems and propose solutions.

    How is this related to other debates over what’s taught in the classroom amid K-12 culture wars?
    The charge that schools are indoctrinating students in a harmful theory or political mindset is a longstanding one, historians note. CRT appears to be the latest salvo in this ongoing debate.

    In the early and mid-20th century, the concern was about socialism or Marxism. The conservative American Legion, beginning in the 1930s, sought to rid schools of progressive-minded textbooks that encouraged students to consider economic inequality; two decades later the John Birch Society raised similar criticisms about school materials. As with CRT criticisms, the fear was that students would be somehow harmed by exposure to these ideas.

    As the school-aged population became more diverse, these debates have been inflected through the lens of race and ethnic representation, including disagreements over multiculturalism and ethnic studies, the ongoing “canon wars” over which texts should make up the English curriculum, and the so-called “ebonics” debates over the status of Black vernacular English in schools.

    In history, the debates have focused on the balance among patriotism and American exceptionalism, on one hand, and the country’s history of exclusion and violence towards Indigenous people and the enslavement of African Americans on the other—between its ideals and its practices. Those tensions led to the implosion of a 1994 attempt to set national history standards.

    A current example that has fueled much of the recent round of CRT criticism is the New York Times’ 1619 Project, which sought to put the history and effects of enslavement—as well as Black Americans’ contributions to democratic reforms—at the center of American history.

    The culture wars are always, at some level, battled out within schools, historians say.

    “It’s because they’re nervous about broad social things, but they’re talking in the language of school and school curriculum,” said one historian of education. “That’s the vocabulary, but the actual grammar is anxiety about shifting social power relations.”

    June 23, 2021 at 9:57 am in reply to: Critical Race Theory #130588
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    June 23, 2021 at 9:46 am in reply to: Goff in Detroit #130587
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    from https://sports.yahoo.com/2021-nfl-preview-lions-finally-move-on-from-matt-patricia-hope-that-dan-campbell-is-better-120037512.html

    –
    The Lions’ offseason can’t be viewed simply by what they added or lost. New GM Brad Holmes wanted to get a rebuild started, and the moves he made were about the future. The Lions traded quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Rams for quarterback Jared Goff, first-round draft picks in 2022 and 2023 and a third-round selection this year. It was a downgrade at quarterback, but Goff is a reasonable starter and Detroit got a lot of draft ammunition for the future. It was a smart move for a rebuilding team. Letting receiver Kenny Golladay walk without a sign-and-trade with the franchise tag was curious, but the Lions will get a good compensatory draft pick. They added vets like running back Jamaal Williams, and receivers Tyrell Williams and Breshad Perriman on low-cost deals. Detroit had a solid draft, with offensive tackle Penei Sewell in the first round, a couple defensive tackles and then a pair of intriguing prospects in defensive back Ifeatu Melifonwu and receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown in the middle rounds. It wasn’t a banner offseason, but a necessary one to start over.

    June 22, 2021 at 5:41 pm in reply to: Raiders DL Carl Nassib comes out as gay #130580
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    June 22, 2021 at 5:39 pm in reply to: Rams tweets … 6/18 thru 6/22 #130579
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    June 22, 2021 at 2:51 pm in reply to: Rams tweets … 6/18 thru 6/22 #130578
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    June 22, 2021 at 2:33 pm in reply to: Rams tweets … 6/18 thru 6/22 #130577
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    June 22, 2021 at 1:47 pm in reply to: Raiders DL Carl Nassib comes out as gay #130576
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    from the wiki:

    On June 21, 2021, Nassib released a statement on his Instagram account stating that he is gay, becoming the first active NFL player to come out publicly. In the statement, he pledged to donate $100,000 to The Trevor Project, an organization dedicated to crisis intervention and suicide prevention among LGBTQ youth, and to continue to champion their work. He received public support from the NFL, Raiders, Penn State, and current and former athletes. Nassib is entering his sixth NFL season and the second year of his three-year contract with the Raiders. No openly gay player has played an NFL regular-season game.

    –

    June 22, 2021 at 12:52 pm in reply to: Rams tweets … 6/18 thru 6/22 #130575
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    from https://www.therams.com/news/nfl-com-s-gil-brandt-stafford-kupp-among-10-most-exciting-new-quarterback-wide-r

    NFL.com senior analyst Gil Brandt went about ranking the top 10 new quarterback-wide receiver combos heading into the 2021 season.

    Coming in at No. 10: Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and wide receiver Cooper Kupp.

    “Of the two of (Robert Woods and Kupp), I have an especially positive inkling about Kupp to thrive as the passing attack bounces back from a relatively down year; just take a gander at this nifty practice-field connection between the two,” Brandt wrote as part of his analysis.

    June 22, 2021 at 12:22 pm in reply to: Stafford in McVay’s offense #130574
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    from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2021/06/22/rams-matthew-stafford-isaac-bruce-nfc-west/

    Count Hall of Fame receiver Isaac Bruce among those who feel confident in the Rams’ chances to make a deep run.

    On the Jim Rome Show this week, Bruce talked about the Rams’ acquisition of Stafford and what it means for the offense. He loves the move, going as far as saying he believes Stafford would get Hall of Fame votes if he retired today.

    “I was really excited about it,” Bruce said of the Rams acquiring Stafford. “You talk about a guy who will get some votes as far as the Pro Football Hall of Fame when his career is over. I believe if he were to retire right now today, he would probably get some votes. I mean, the guy’s got 45,000 career passing yards.”

    The connection between Stafford and Sean McVay is a critical one, and one that Bruce believes will lead to a lot of great things offensively. He doesn’t think Stafford has had a coach like McVay before, being so offensive-minded and creative with his play calling.

    “I feel like he’s never had a coach that’s on the caliber of Coach McVay, a guy that can really mix it up as far as pre-snap reads are concerned, can really keep a defense on its heels,” Bruce continued. “Just to be in a connection with Coach McVay, I think he’s really going to blossom this year. Adding that mix to what we did defensively last year, I think we can really, really win this NFC West once again, which I believe is the best division in football considering the quarterback play, the head coaches that are calling the offensive plays. I just think we’re that team that’s going to come out of the NFC West and I’m excited about what we brought in.”

    June 22, 2021 at 12:22 pm in reply to: Stafford in McVay’s offense #130573
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    from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2021/06/22/rams-matthew-stafford-isaac-bruce-nfc-west/

    Count Hall of Fame receiver Isaac Bruce among those who feel confident in the Rams’ chances to make a deep run.

    On the Jim Rome Show this week, Bruce talked about the Rams’ acquisition of Stafford and what it means for the offense. He loves the move, going as far as saying he believes Stafford would get Hall of Fame votes if he retired today.

    “I was really excited about it,” Bruce said of the Rams acquiring Stafford. “You talk about a guy who will get some votes as far as the Pro Football Hall of Fame when his career is over. I believe if he were to retire right now today, he would probably get some votes. I mean, the guy’s got 45,000 career passing yards.”

    The connection between Stafford and Sean McVay is a critical one, and one that Bruce believes will lead to a lot of great things offensively. He doesn’t think Stafford has had a coach like McVay before, being so offensive-minded and creative with his play calling.

    “I feel like he’s never had a coach that’s on the caliber of Coach McVay, a guy that can really mix it up as far as pre-snap reads are concerned, can really keep a defense on its heels,” Bruce continued. “Just to be in a connection with Coach McVay, I think he’s really going to blossom this year. Adding that mix to what we did defensively last year, I think we can really, really win this NFC West once again, which I believe is the best division in football considering the quarterback play, the head coaches that are calling the offensive plays. I just think we’re that team that’s going to come out of the NFC West and I’m excited about what we brought in.”

    June 22, 2021 at 10:19 am in reply to: Raiders DL Carl Nassib comes out as gay #130572
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    June 22, 2021 at 9:26 am in reply to: Rams tweets … 6/18 thru 6/22 #130570
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    June 22, 2021 at 2:23 am in reply to: around the league (starting 6/6) #130566
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    June 22, 2021 at 2:15 am in reply to: Capitol riots: aftermaths #130565
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    June 21, 2021 at 6:04 pm in reply to: Rams tweets … 6/18 thru 6/22 #130560
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    June 21, 2021 at 3:21 pm in reply to: around the league (starting 6/6) #130559
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    June 21, 2021 at 3:19 pm in reply to: Rams tweets … 6/18 thru 6/22 #130558
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    from espn, Surprise players you should know from NFL minicamps for all 32 teams: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31660640/surprise-players-know-nfl-minicamps-all-32-teams#LAR

    Los Angeles Rams

    TE Jacob Harris

    Tyler Higbee was sidelined for the offseason program, which allowed Harris, a fourth-round pick from Central Florida, to take significant reps throughout voluntary and minicamp practices. “Jacob Harris is a guy who has definitely stood out,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “Just his overall speed, athleticism, you kind of feel him on the field.” McVay cautioned that Harris, who is 6-foot-5, 211 pounds and played receiver in college, must be evaluated outside of 7-on-7 play, but also commended his improvement since arriving in L.A. Harris will compete with second-year pro Brycen Hopkins and Johnny Mundt for playing time behind Higbee. — Lindsey Thiry

    June 21, 2021 at 3:11 pm in reply to: Rams tweets … 6/18 thru 6/22 #130557
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