Myles Simmons@MylesASimmons
An announcement about an announcement: The complete 2019 NFL schedule will be released tomorrow at 5 pm PT. We know the #LARams opponents. Now we’ll know dates and times.

nittany ram wrote:

All the key players are gravitating to Winterfell.

I tivo-ed it. Haven’t watched anything yet.

From Brugler’s draft guide: http://theramshuddle.com/topic/link-to-bruglers-pdf-2019-draft-guide/

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9. CHASE WINOVICH | Michigan 6026 | 256 lbs. | rSR. Jefferson Hills, Pa. (Thomas Jefferson) 4/19/1995 (age 24.03) #15

BACKGROUND: A four-star linebacker recruit out of high school, Chase Winovich (WIN-o-vich) was a three-year starting linebacker at Thomas Jefferson in Jefferson Hills, which is a southern suburb of Pittsburgh. He posted 57 tackles, 13.0 sacks and three forced fumbles as a senior, finishing his prep career with 149 tackles, 22.0 sacks and one interception. Winovich also saw time at running back and added starting quarterback duties to his resume as a senior, recording 210 passing yards, 981 rushing yards and 20 total touchdowns. He also played basketball all four years at Thomas Jefferson. Winovich was the No. 24 rated linebacker in the 2014 recruiting class and committed to Michigan over Ohio State and Pittsburgh. He signed as a SAM linebacker, but was moved to tight end before moving back to defense and the defensive line as a junior. Winovich’s father (Peter) played basketball at Bethany College (1977-81); his mother (Nina) received the presidential fitness award; his older brother (Peter) played tight end at Bowling Green. Winovich accepted his invitation to the 2019 Senior Bowl, but was unable to participate due to a foot injury.

YEAR (GP/GS) TKLS TFL SACK FF PD INT NOTES
2014: Redshirted
2015: (6/0) 2 0.0 0.0 0 0 0
2016: (13/2) 35 9.5 5.0 1 0 0
2017: (13/13) 77 18.0 8.0 2 0 0 Second Team All-Big Ten
2018: (13/13) 69 17.0 5.0 0 1 0 Second Team All-American; First Team All-Big Ten
Total: (45/28) 183 44.5 18.0 3 1 0

HT WT ARM HAND WING 40-YD 20-YD 10-YD VJ BJ SS 3C BP
COMBINE 6026 256 32 3/4 10 78 1/2 4.59 2.69 1.57 30 1/2 09’08” 4.11 6.94 18

PRO DAY N/A (stood on Combine numbers; positional drills only)

STRENGTHS: Times the snap well and finishes with closing burst…arc speed and flexibility to win the corner…violent swipe and effort allow him to stay unattached mid-rush…his tape is a clinic of chasing down plays from the backside…competes with consistent play speed through the whistle…matured play recognition and nose for the ball…balanced in space…drops his pads and drives through his target as a tackler…toughness isn’t a question mark and plays through pain…crazy competitive drive and won’t take a snap off, playing with a touch of insanity to him…consistent production as a starter.

WEAKNESSES: Doesn’t have ideal size or length by NFL standards…relies more on timing than natural explosiveness as a rusher…inconsistent edge-setter and can be knocked off-balance…tunnel vision in pursuit and doesn’t anticipate speed bumps…lacks ideal range and redirection skills at linebacker and inexperienced dropping in coverage…will attract flags in the NFL with his propensity to arrive at the quarterback out of control, diving below the knees or hitting late…wasn’t voted a senior captain and it isn’t in his nature to dial things back (NFL scout: “he’s an attention grabber and that act wears thin on some teammates and coaches”)…suffered foot injuries against Ohio State (November 2018) and Florida (December 2018) and underwent thumb surgery (March 2019).

SUMMARY: A two-year starter at Michigan, Winovich grinded his teeth on the scout team for three years (including some reps at tight end) before becoming a fulltime starting defensive end the past two seasons, standing up and putting his hand on the ground. He finished his career ranked No. 8 in Michigan history with 44.5 tackles for loss. Winovich’s ability to rush with angled bend while fending off blockers is the key to his game, crediting his training in ballet, jiu-jitsu and boxing to his growth as an edge rusher. His extroverted personality will rub some the wrong way, but his competitive drive also fuels his disruptive effort. Overall, Winovich doesn’t have the size, length or explosive traits that NFL teams desire on the edge, but he finds ways to detach from blockers with his flexibility, active hands and relentless play style, projecting as a stand-up rusher in a 3-4 scheme.

GRADE: 2nd-3rd Round (#60 overall)

#LARams LIVE: Michael Brockers offseason program press conference https://t.co/ZOR8sHsINu

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) April 15, 2019

Agamemnon wrote:

I am still getting it from the local cable company.

Yeah my title is wrong so I will change it.

Here’s a post about it:

MamaRAMa

AT&T’s Uverse just now dropped NFL Network

RAMbeau and I were watching the NFL Network earlier today and everything was hunky-dorey. Then this afternoon we turned it to NFL Network only to see this:

This channel is no longer available.
We regret any inconvenience.
Please visit tvpromise.com for more information.

I don’t know if it’s coming back or not. I’m not gonna worry about it too much until training camps start. If I don’t have it then, that’s when I’m gonna start sweating. There’s no way I want to try and get through a football season without the NFL Network. This sucks!!

InvaderRam wrote:

well. like i’ve said before. he may very well regress at some point in the next 2 seasons. but that would actually be normal for a lot of qbs.

i don’t think it means you give up on him. and i think mcvay and snead are too smart to do that.

My own opinion? He already regressed in the games at the end of the season (and that was largely circumstantial)—and will come back from it. He already done had his regression.

What do I mean by it was largely circumstances? The OL regressed. They played some defenses that could take it to them. In the superbowl add that cagey old BB was just going to have the advantage over a comparatively much younger McVay.

Rams RB Gurley says knee ‘feeling pretty good’

Lindsey Thiry

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/26532400/rams-rb-gurley-says-knee-feeling-pretty-good

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Running back Todd Gurley reported Monday for the first day of the Los Angeles Rams’ voluntary workout program prepared to answer numerous questions about the status of his left knee.

“It’s feeling pretty good,” Gurley said. “Taking it day by day.”

Gurley said there was “not really” any discussion about the possibility of an offseason procedure on his knee, and that his immediate focus was on the present when asked if a long-term management plan was in place.

“All I need to worry about is how I’m feeling right now,” Gurley said. “I don’t know how I’m going to be feeling six months from now. So like I said, just kind of keep working hard, doing what I’ve been doing these past couple of years.”

When asked if he was able to confirm reports that he had a degenerative knee or arthritis, Gurley avoided any such label.

“I mean, all I can focus on is how I’m doing right now,” Gurley said. “Feeling pretty good, like I said, taking it day by day and just trying to get better, get ready for the next season.”

Gurley’s left knee, which was surgically repaired in 2014, kept him sidelined for Weeks 16 and 17, after he rushed for 1,251 yards and scored a league-best 21 touchdowns in 14 games.

Gurley returned for the playoffs and rushed for 115 yards and a touchdown in a divisional-round win over the Dallas Cowboys.

However, his performances in the NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl LIII led to continued speculation that his knee continued to cause discomfort.

Against the New Orleans Saints in the conference title game, he gained only 13 total yards on five touches. And in a loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LIII, he rushed for 35 yards on 10 carries.

Rams coach Sean McVay said Monday that Gurley, who last July signed a four-year, $60 million extension, would remain a central part of the offense.

“Todd has shown that he is capable of carrying the workload,” McVay said of Gurley, who has rushed for more than 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons. “Todd is a guy that’s been a focal point of this offense. He’s going to continue to be.”

Should the Rams trade out of the first round of the NFL draft?

Trading down in the draft has proved valuable, and the depth at a certain position could suit the Rams well

RYAN KARTJE

link: https://www.ocregister.com/2019/04/13/kartje-should-the-rams-trade-out-of-the-first-round-of-the-nfl-draft/

Fourteen years ago, in a paper first published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, two economists posited that NFL teams had failed to understand the value of their top draft picks. Thousands of hours of work spent by scouting departments had made them overconfident in their own judgment.

As such, these teams routinely overvalued their highest selections – and even made irrational deals to accumulate even higher picks, when it made far more sense to do the opposite. The NFL draft’s best value, the economists found, always came from trading down.

Several NFL analytics departments took notice at the time. The Patriots, as one might expect, became masters of such draft manipulation. But most teams continued to ignore this logic entirely. In an interview, one of the paper’s authors, Richard Thaler, spoke of his experience working with Washington owner Dan Snyder, who heard Thaler out, before promptly ignoring all of his advice during the draft. Years later, in a fitting twist, Thaler would go on to win the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in predicting irrational behavior.

“Market forces have not been strong enough to overcome these human failings,” the authors concluded.

Even smart franchises have fallen victim to these failings during draft season. Last year, the Saints traded away a future first-round pick, along with their No. 27 overall pick and fifth-rounder, to move up 13 spots to 14th overall. That pick became pass rusher Marcus Davenport, who finished with five sacks and showed some promise as a rookie. But was it enough promise to match the value of two first-round picks? Unless Davenport becomes a perennial Pro Bowler, how could it be?

It almost never is. The smartest NFL teams, instead, take advantage of their overconfident peers’ worst instincts and use them to exploit inefficiencies in the market. They trick other teams into trading up, pile up future picks, and then choose a player with an almost identical chance of success as the one they would’ve drafted.

Take the Colts, for example. Last season, they moved down three spots, from third overall to sixth, netting two second-round picks in 2018 and a future second-rounder in 2019 from the Jets, who coveted USC quarterback Sam Darnold.

The jury is still out on Darnold, but there’s no denying the historic haul the Colts received in return for his draft rights. The Colts used the sixth overall pick to draft All-Pro rookie guard Quenton Nelson. Then, with back-to-back picks early in the second round, one from the Jets and the other their own, the Colts took another All-Pro – and defensive rookie of the year – linebacker Darius Leonard, followed by their starting right tackle, Braden Smith.

Had they stayed put, the Colts could’ve added a Pro Bowl corner in Denzel Ward or a talented pass rusher like Bradley Chubb. But by trading down just three spots, the Colts added two additional high-level starters, and in less than two weeks, they’ll add yet another. Thanks to the Jets, they also own the 34th overall pick in the upcoming draft.

The Rams are slated to pick just three slots before that. But unless one of the top prospects on their board tumbles to the end of the first, they should explore every possible option to trade down, out of the round.

The Rams haven’t picked in the first round since trading up to take Jared Goff with the top overall pick in 2016. They could definitely use another first-round talent on either the defensive or offensive lines.

But by trading down a few picks, the Rams could potentially address both lines. When the Eagles traded the 32nd overall pick last season to the Ravens, they selected tight end Dallas Goedert 17 picks later, moved up seven spots in the fourth to choose a starting corner and, for good measure, added a second-round pick (53rd overall) in the 2019 draft.

The Rams don’t even have to trade down that far to add serious value. In 2017, the Seahawks moved down just four spots from No. 31 and got a fourth-round pick out of the deal.

There’s no reason to think the Rams couldn’t see at least that value – and perhaps even more. Considering the team’s recent success rate with third- and fourth-round picks – receiver Cooper Kupp, safety John Johnson, linebacker Samson Ebukam, etc. – that additional selection could make a significant difference.

The difference between the 31st and 35th pick in this draft, meanwhile, could prove negligible. The draft is deep with defensive talent into the second round, and the Rams’ needs happen to correspond to where the draft is deepest – most notably, on the defensive line. It’s not unreasonable to think Clemson’s Dexter Lawrence could be available with the 34th overall pick or that DeAndre Baker, the Georgia cornerback, could keep sliding all the way to 37.

It’s impossible to predict just how the draft will unfold, but the only true formula for drafting better players is to have more draft picks. Unless there are compensatory selections Les Snead has somehow failed to already unearth, trading down from the first round is the Rams’ most economical path to piling up those picks.

https://www.rotoworld.com/football/nfl/player-news/headlines/8980151

Rams coach Sean McVay said the goal for Cooper Kupp is to have him ready for Week 1.

Kupp has been setback-free in his rehab from ACL surgery thus far and is currently considered questionable for training camp. If the goal is to have him ready to play in Week 1, though, it’s likely the team holds him out for their four preseason contests against the Raiders, Cowboys, Broncos, and Texans. Jared Goff stands to benefit the most with Kupp back as he averaged a breezy 329.6 yards and 2.1 touchdowns in eight games with his stud slot wideout on the field compared to 256.3 and 1.8 in the eight outings Kupp missed last year.

SOURCE: Ryan Kartje on Twitter

Dugar, Michael-Shawn@MikeDugar
The day is April 15, 2019. The #Seahawks are coming off a 10-win season. Russell Wilson, still in his prime, just had one of the best years of his career. And we’re debating whether Seattle should pay him.

Around The NFL@AroundTheNFL
Carson Wentz’s back not yet fully healed: “It’s still getting there”

Year 3 of the Sean McVay era officially gets underway today as the players get back to work for the first time since the Super Bowl.

A chance to see some new recruits in action as well as some familiar faces! And by action, we mean probably doing some stretching.

— Los Angeles Rams UK (@LARams_UK) April 15, 2019

Los Angeles Rams Head Coach Sean McVay continues to confuse with answers on RB Todd Gurley on Rich Eisen Show

Confusing. Interesting, but confusing.

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/4/12/18308437/los-angeles-rams-head-coach-sean-mcvay-todd-gurley-rich-eisen-show

Los Angeles Rams Head Coach Sean McVay went on the Rich Eisen Show today and spoke about a variety of topics.

Of course, one of the major lines of questioning pertained to RB Todd Gurley, the status of his knee and how much it impacted the Rams’ postseason.

McVay’s responses were…confusing.

Eisen: Was that kid hurt during the playoffs?

McVay: He was obviously banged up at the end of the year. And I think to his credit, he did everything to get himself ready to go. Had a great game against Dallas in the playoffs where you see the explosiveness for the 35-yard touchdown run. The New Orleans game really was more of a result of how the game played out, kind of the flow of the game. We weren’t able to get the run game going much and didn’t start out great. Couldn’t have been more impressed with what a stud and what a pro he was and how he handled that.

And then in the Super Bowl, he made some big time runs. Really when you look at the way that that second half started, Rich, he made a couple big time runs. Pops a wide zone that he levels it off, and then he breaks one out on the left sideline where [New England Patriots S Patrick] Chung ended up hurting his arm. There’s a couple plays here and there where it’s 3-3 in the fourth quarter. He breaks a run that ends up getting called back on holding that you just never know.

Really offensively as a whole because Todd has been so successful and done such a great job, people have the tendency to think something was wrong. Really it was more of I didn’t give ourselves a chance to get anything going. So, our offense didn’t produce. It wasn’t really Todd, and the opportunities were so limited. That’s where I’ve gotta do a better job of putting our players in situations to make those plays.

Eisen: Because this could be coming from a fantasy football lens of the world. He was so integral, it just seemed he touched the ball way much more in the first 13, 14 weeks and I know he got hurt toward the end of the year. And in the playoffs, he’s on a bike. He’s standing and his helmet underneath his arm.

It was just strange, to be very honest with you.

McVay: It was. And it was a weird deal where he’s so tough. He’s pushing through different things.

Eisen: Is he trying to get through…is he in your ear?

McVay: Oh no, Todd is a pro’s pro. And really, he is such a mentally and physically tough guy that he would never be like that at all.

It was unique, because C.J. [Anderson] comes in. Did such a good job those last couple weeks. And really, it’s, “Ok. How can we find a way to make sure that we’re smartly putting together gameplans and utilizing the guys?” Because he did miss those last couple of games. In an ideal scenario, it plays out like Dallas.

You can expect Todd to be the focal part of our offense again as we move forward. He’s feeling good. He’s in a good place. I just think the natural ebbs and flows when you play 19 games, and I know he missed a couple with the amount of work that he got, it just worked out that way at the end of the year.

He got a very similar workload in ‘17. The anticipation for us is he’s in a good place. He’s feeling good. He’s going to continue to be a central part of our offense going into the ‘19 season, and I don’t see that changing.

Eisen: Is there a possibility you put him on a little bit more of a limit in the first 12 weeks of the season?

McVay: You know, I wouldn’t say that.

I think we’ve just got to do a good job of monitoring how he’s feeling throughout the season. And again, it’s football. And things can occur in a game that maybe make you wake up more sore than you were before.

He’s always been so good about being able to communicate to us. I think what you really saw was a warrior pushing through the Philadelphia [Eagles] game, and then that led to missing a couple of games.

He’s the only one that can tell you exactly how he was feeling, but I know the way that guy goes about his business and I have all the confidence in the world that he’s gonna do a great job physically, mentally getting himself ready to go so that he’s peaking at the right time when our first game opens up.

Look. A lot of that simply doesn’t make sense. But it’s not necessarily new. It’s just strange to claim Todd Gurley had four carries against the Saints because the Rams “weren’t able to get the run game going much” in the same game that C.J. Anderson had 16 carries. And it’s confusing to now acknowledge that Gurley was “banged up at the end of the year” when back on February 1, McVay claimed Gurley was “100%.”

I totally understand the impetus to try to not play up the injury throughout the playoffs. There’s a professionalism to putting your head down and doing your job even with nagging injuries that won’t prevent you from playing regardless of whether you’re the highest-paid running back in the league or if you’re the 46th guy on the 46-man gameday active roster. And I certainly appreciate the gamesmanship that goes on with not disclosing the variety of issues guys are carrying physically throughout the season that don’t get reported until we learn they had surgery in the offseason.

But this was an injury that (a) clearly affected the Rams’ gameplay and (b) clearly affected Gurley’s availability. I don’t think it’s unfair to ask if either are going to continue to be the case even though the Rams opted not to bring back the guy that was so crucial to their plans that it left Gurley, as Eisen put it, standing on the sidelines holding his helmet in his hands. Instead, they decided to bring back a complement for Gurley that has never been anywhere near that crucial to their gameplans. Maybe Malcolm Brown will have a huge year. But it sure sounds like McVay’s not necessarily planning on it. And that’s just confusing if we’re taking him at his word.

As a fan, I understand the adherence to the competitive nature of the story.

I don’t understand why the Rams, McVay and Gurley himself opted to mislead instead of simply avoid the issue at all.

Aaron Donald teaching a technique that the Rams call ‘Power Pop’. Sell the Power Move outside and Pop back inside, also shows the move working inside and poping outside. He uses this move extremely effectively against the NFL’s best. pic.twitter.com/DM3N7PYgGc

— Matt Garfield (@CoachGarfield1) April 12, 2019