When a group of schoolboys were marooned on an island in 1965, it turned out very differently from William Golding’s bestseller, writes Rutger Bregman

Rutger Bregman

from the wiki

In January 2019, Bregman took part in a panel debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he criticised the event for its focus on philanthropy rather than tax avoidance and the need for fair taxation. His intervention was widely reported and followed on social media.

According to a February 20, 2019 Guardian article, during a February 2019 interview in Amsterdam Fox News anchor and journalist, Tucker Carlson after Davos, Bregman told Carlson that the United States “could easily crack down on tax paradises” if they wanted to and that Fox News would not cover stories about tax evasion by the wealthy. He said that Carlson himself, had been taking “dirty money” for years from the CATO Institute where he was senior fellow and which is “funded by Koch billionaires”—-Charles Koch and David Koch. He said that Carlson and other Fox News anchors are “millionaires paid by billionaires”—-referring to the Murdochs and, in Carlson’s case, the Koch brothers. Bregman told Carlson that “what the Murdochs want you to do [on Fox News] is scapegoat immigrants instead of talking about tax avoidance”. Carlson was angered by Bregman’s comments. Bregman posted a video of his unaired interview with Carlson on NowThis News on YouTube on February 20, 2019. By July the video had received 2,349,846 views.

"If my mother put on a helmet and shoulder pads, I’d run over her if she was in my way. And I love my mother.” – Bo Jackson

Happy Mother’s Day to every mom out there. They all better get a phone call today. I mean it. pic.twitter.com/bhacgh7MsS

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) May 10, 2020

Since 1990, at least 4 teams every season have qualified for the playoffs after failing to make the prior postseason.

The #49ers, #Packers, #Vikings, #Bills and #Titans all made the playoffs in 2019 after failing to make the postseason in 2018.

20 teams could do so in 2020: pic.twitter.com/ZUekIyjPhv

— NFL Research (@NFLResearch) May 9, 2020

.@JB_Long, @DMarcoFarr1 + @MJD break down the 2020 schedule. pic.twitter.com/f0fag4B5OS

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) May 10, 2020

Rams draft signals confidence in O-Line

J.B. Long

https://www.therams.com/news/draft-signals-confidence-in-offensive-line

Survey a group of Rams fans about which position group was most culpable for the 2019 team missing the postseason and the results would be nearly unanimous.

Offensive line.

After enjoying an improbable run of health and continuity in recent seasons, last year saw a regression to the mean, and with it, some mean regression.

As documented in a previous discussion, nine Rams started along the offensive front in the first 11 weeks, including six who were making their first or second NFL start.

Joe Noteboom and Brian Allen struggled to replace Rodger Saffold and John Sullivan before suffering season-ending injuries.

Right tackle Rob Havenstein was earning a career-low Pro Football Focus grade before a Week 10 injury in Pittsburgh also ended his campaign.

So understandably, even with total personnel retention, the line was considered an area of need going into the NFL Draft.

Instead, the Rams doubled-down on a group that stabilized in December, but in aggregate rated among the NFL’s worst in 2019.

They didn’t choose an offensive lineman until their final pick (guard Tremayne Anchrum at 250 overall) or acquire help through trade or free agency, signaling a readiness to run it back with their existing talent, banking on internal development.

“Last year was beneficial for us, in spite of having some of the injuries and shuffling things around,” Sean McVay said. “You got a chance to really evaluate a lot of guys playing in real games that count and you can see that there’s a lot of upside.”

It will be at least a year – likely two or three – before we can truly evaluate the merits of this approach, and the results will depend on a number of factors. Most notably, can this group of Rams realize that upside McVay referenced, both individually and collectively?

But also, do players like Ezra Cleveland (58th pick, Minnesota) or Josh Jones (72nd pick, Arizona) turn into All-Pro tackles? Or similarly, do several of the interior linemen selected in a Day Two stretch where the Rams had four selections outperform L.A.’s existing options?

In the present, you can understand how general manager Les Snead, offensive line coach Aaron Kromer, and McVay might prefer what they have in house. And it’s not as if they haven’t spent comparable draft capital in recent years on this position group.

2018: Joe Noteboom (3rd round), Brian Allen (4th), Jamil Demby (6th)

2019: Bobby Evans (3rd), David Edwards (5th)

They also traded in a 2021 fifth-round pick to acquire Austin Corbett from the Browns last season.

“You look at Austin,” McVay says of the 33rd overall selection from two years ago. “You say, alright, what does it look like if you give him an opportunity to have a training camp and some guidance under Coach Kromer’s tutelage.”

After solidifying the group late last season by sliding from right guard to center, Austin Blythe agreed to a one-year offer and McVay expects him to maintain control of that position going into 2020.

“I think he did a really nice job stepping in (at center),” the head coach said on the Rams Revealed podcast. “His ability to confidently get out the calls, there was a very similar feel to things that you loved so much about John Sullivan.”

David Edwards bounced from left guard to right, where he’s now the incumbent in 2020 after breaking in with 10 starts to finish his rookie season.

In all likelihood, that leaves Noteboom and Corbett to battle for left guard and Evans and Havenstein to settle the starting right tackle job.

Whoever comes up empty in those battles will join Allen in providing valuable depth, which is all the more meaningful under the new CBA rules allowing for 55-man rosters and 48 dressed on game day, with a requirement for one additional active offensive lineman compared to prior years.

Rounding out the projected starters, at left tackle, 38-year old Andrew Whitworth postponed retirement with a new three-year contract. He, too, saw the Friday night selections at running back, receiver, edge rusher, and safety as affirmation that the Rams already have the right offensive linemen in the facility.

“I really think it is a vote of confidence in that we see there’s a bunch of guys in our room that have an opportunity to help us,” Whitworth said during the Draft. “It’s going to be really the best scenario you can possibly have in this business is you have a whole bunch of guys for very few positions. And hopefully these guys will fight and compete, and we’ll get the best five on the field.”

There’s one more nuance specific to our current global predicament that I think is relevant to the choice the Rams made: Is this the time to be teaching a rookie lineman McVay’s playbook, via Zoom and tablets? With a compromised off-season program (and potentially training camp), how legitimate were the hopes of landing a plug-and-play starter?

Drafting from outside the Top 50, that would have been a risky proposition with limited potential to find an upgrade over the options previously discussed, at least in the near-term.

The Rams & Tank Younger broke racial barriers in 1949 as Tank was the first player from a black college to ever make the pros. Tank was a pro bowl Fullback & linebacker for the Rams during the 1950s. His story is so fascinating. Tank is every much a pioneer of the sport! pic.twitter.com/jM1IWUUKST

— RAMS ON FILM (@RamsOnFilm) May 9, 2020

wales has fallen pic.twitter.com/uQHMZEOiOV

— ↙️↙️↙️ (@2damntrans) May 7, 2020

What's the first thing NFL coaches look at when the schedule comes out?@GregCosell relays what they've told him over the years on today's @RTFPodcast: pic.twitter.com/iOyEaYo44G

— Ross Tucker (@RossTuckerNFL) May 8, 2020

Todd Gurley wants his money from the Rams by June 1. He even told his ex-teammates not to text or call him until that check comes in https://t.co/98zYEVyTXT

— Cameron DaSilva (@camdasilva) May 8, 2020

When NFL Coaches Get Their Schedules pic.twitter.com/YvRwHYJu7C

— Frank Caliendo (@FrankCaliendo) May 8, 2020

Coach Sean McVay reacts to the #LARams schedule, offseason moves & more.

Listen to @AllenSliwa & @kirkmorrison now on 710 AM ESPN https://t.co/Wda75J3NBi pic.twitter.com/tch7fHERKx

— ESPN Los Angeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) May 8, 2020

PARAM

I saw no reason why they should have spent high draft capital on offensive lineman in the 2020 draft.

And no one is saying “because the Rams barely missed the playoffs” they had good O line play. The point is, they weren’t nearly as bad as the overplayed doom and gloom reviewers suggest.

On the other hand, some people have said, it was an immediate improvement when Noteboom went down. I think that improvement was already happening despite the 3 game losing streak. The O line had a lot of issues and IMHO, those issues were the result of injuries, replacements and a lack of continuity. But the offense averaged something like 27 PPG in the first 5 games. If the defense showed up against Tampa and Zeurlein makes a kick against Seattle, we’re 11-5.

Did they play better? Sure. Not against a good D like the Steelers though. Of course two guys go down in that game so before they get to the Chicago game, they’re down two more lineman. Whitworth and Blythe were the only two who started the season and Blythe missed a game early on, a win. So the process started all over again.

Not against stellar competition again but Edwards, Corbett and Evans got better the more they played. We got another reprieve and took advantage of it, going 3-1. But those first two games the OL didn’t look distinctly improved. Chicago where we scored 17 points, then Baltimore where we looked like a bad O line. But facing a quick 28-0 deficit can aid in that. Against Arizona and Seattle they looked better. I thought Evans played better, faster than the other two. And they got better as a unit, playing in 7 straight.

So there was improvement the longer the subs played together and that was over 7 games with a surrounding cast who were playing their 10th to 16th game. Hell, Edwards had 10 games to improve. The opening OL played 5 games and 1 series together with a surrounding cast playing the same.

In 6 of our 7 losses the defense allowed 35.7 PPG. In 3 of our 7 losses the offense scored 31.3 (34, 29 and 31). You can not lose 3 games when your offense is at 30 points. It’s totally unacceptable. So we can point to the O line and they had troubles….injuries, warts, what-have-you. But I can’t in good conscience say “our biggest issue in 2019 was our O line”.

Key point: they improved on the tail end of the season the longer the replacements played together. There is also the opponent factor. In the end, 3 different OL injuries, adjustments by the coaching staff, improvement by the replacements and we finish 9-7. It seems like it could have been much, much worse. Bottom line is this. That line, with 9 different starters played well enough to win 9 games. The line that starts this year hopefully finishes it but if there are problems I don’t think we’ll be in trouble nearly as much as last year. No greenhorns even at the backup positions. We have enough talent to win. Hell we won 9 games with that line discombobulated for at least 6 games. Hopeful? A little. Unreasonable? Absolutely not.

Some cast doubt on Kromer. Yes it would seem everywhere Kromer goes, they do have some excellent lineman already there, but they also immediately acquire good free agent lineman and they draft lineman who are successful under his tutelage. When he got to Chicago, they acquired Bushrod (from New Orleans, Kromer’s former stop) and drafted Long and Mills. In Buffalo they acquired Incognito, who despite being a good lineman, hadn’t played in 2014 after being suspended for the half the season in 2013. I don’t remember how many teams were lined up to sign him but Buffalo ended up with him. They also drafted Miller and acquired Jordan Mills from Chicago (Kromer’s former stop). That was a good OL. Led the league in rushing yards and ypc both years. Had a rookie and a 2nd year guy on those lines. In Los Angeles, they acquired Whitworth and Sullivan. It appears more than fortuitous that Kromer are the teams that make these important OL acquisitions soon after hiring him.