https://fb.watch/GQsMX3WaAb/

At the end of that vid above they had a chart with Rams draft grades from 24 sports-expert-sites:
Out of the 24 grades, two were F’s, and nine were D’s. Nine were C’s. Four B’s. One A.

Only the Jags got lower grades.

w
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All these analysts keep reciting that the Rams were *this* close to winning the Super Bowl last year, and then they drafted Ty Simpson who won’t help get them over the hump.

But almost all of them neglect to consider that the Rams, with the 29th pick, got McDuffie, and signed Watson as a FA, and they ALREADY made a significant upgrade where they needed to before the draft even started. AND all these aholes are grumbling about the Rams draft while conceding that the Rams are STILL the #1 pick to win it all this year.

They are analyzing the draft as if the McDuffie/Watson thing never happened.

This is the problem with national media. They simply can’t cover it all, and so all of their assessments suffer from that shallowness of understanding and context. We have seen this again, and again, and again, and again over the past 28 years.

We know more about the Rams than the “experts” do. Most of these people don’t know the Rams any better than they know the Bengals or Texans or Dolphins. “Ty Simpson was a ‘reach.’ We had him slotted late first, early second.” That’s all they know. These are people who saw Havenstein retire, and decided the Rams needed to draft OT because they never heard of McClendon.

The Rams didn’t need Lemon to beat the Seahawks. They needed McDuffie and Watson.

Simpson is about beating the Seahawks 3 years from now.

InvaderRam wrote:

i would have chosen sadiq.

I think I was leaning slightly to Sadiq. But part of that was that I was imagining what McVay would do with him. Lemon seemed okay to me, but he said/did something pre-draft that seemed kinda like a red flag problem child thing. I don’t remember what it was, though.

As the draft got closer to #13 and people were talking about Bain, I thought he might be okay, too. Then you have Byron Young’s replacement.

I’ll be interested to see Simpson, though. The first mobile Rams QB since the legendary T.J. Rubley (who mostly ran backwards).

zn wrote:

Syracuse TE Dan Villari
Played TE, QB and RB at Syracuse

Villari was primarily a tight end at Syracuse, but he also took snaps at quarterback. He rushed 84 times for 410 yards and four touchdowns, completed 23 of 33 passes for 177 yards with one touchdown and two picks, and also caught 66 passes for 671 yards and three touchdowns in four years.

The Shohei Ohtani of college football.

zn wrote:

Sigmund Bloom@SigmundBloom
Rams gave up 3 of their 4 remaining picks to get him in the 6th

they did not have a 4th or 5th round pick

im guessing they had him rated higher than a 6th round pick

At first, I thought giving up 3 7th rounders was a lot to move up 10 spots, but I read somewhere that the 6th and 7th rounds were thinner than usual this year due to NIL, and that was one of the things that made it hard for the Rams to trade down in the 1st – the extra late picks did not have the same value as usual.

So they dumped the picks in exchange for a WR they thought had MUCH higher value, and got all the UDFAs anyway.

zn wrote:

“It was just straight football. And it was like a kid in a candy store,” Simpson said. “Me and him are sitting there, and we’re just going back and forth. You can tell the obsession he has for the game, and you can tell the love he has for quarterback play.

“It’s something that I appreciate, and it’s something that I enjoy because I really enjoy playing the position and value the position. So, being with him and then getting to know him and then just seeing a little bit of how I would get coached if I was fortunate enough to go there was something that I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.”

Given the way McVay put together film for Adams and what we know about his compulsiveness (and memory) from Hard Knocks, it’s really kinda inconceivable that McVay wouldn’t have spent hours with a prospective QB to find out if he was going to track mentally or not. It feels silly to have believed them when they said McVay had NEVER MET Simpson. As if he’s going to take a QB in that spot based on film alone. These guys are waaaay too thorough for that kinda shit, and it’s hard to believe I fell for that lie. I believed the Rams when they said that because it goes along with not attending the combine and not having all the visits. Now Snead is confessing they met with 66 potential draft picks. It’s smart that they don’t want anybody to know whom they’re talking to, but I’m never falling for that crap again. These guys KNOW whom they’re drafting.

zn wrote:

My own take? Some things about him point to a “mid-level guy.” But some things point to him being more than that.

Football IQ plus fast processing under fire plus accuracy plus very good feet/movement plus toughness (he had a terrible OL at Alabama)…plus intangibles.

That is where I’m landing, too. I think that all the Positives I’m reading about him are more important that the Negatives.

Size and Experience are important. But not as important as mental processing and ability to make throws, and make plays off script. Plus he seems to be a football nerd who pounds the film room.

And Simpson seems to be stronger on those latter things.

So I’ll take him over Ryan Leaf.

Mid-level seems to me to be a Floor, not a ceiling. But Time Will Tell.

zn wrote:

, traded 3 picks just to move up 10 spots to land this guy in the 6th round.

That’s how much they wanted him.

Yep, that struck me on draft day. They gave up 3 picks to move up ten spots. That is remarkable.

This guy is my favorite pick atm.

zn wrote:

It ended on Thursday, after McVay apprised Stafford of the plan, and the Rams pushed the button on the night’s biggest surprise.

Conspiracy Theory #4: Matthew Stafford was pissed. Especially since Simpson ripped up Georgia. And he raised his voice at McVay.

And that’s what we saw.

BTW, in CBS’ mock draft for 2027, they have this as the Rams’ pick.

So. High Expectations.

However, they have Seattle at pick 31, so I guess they’re also expecting a change in the rules for how the playoffs are seeded.

zn wrote:

OLB Eddle Walls – Houston | Rated at 39th overall on Mel Kiper’s draft board,

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.

Not that Mel Kiper is the best evaluator, just the first and maybe the loudest, but he’s not nobody. WTF is this?

Well, CBS likes the Rams’ draft better than anyone else’s in the division. I’ll put the Rams in the “general draft grades” thread, and the Enemies List here:

Arizona had a clear plan in this draft: Build a running game. The Cardinals went running back–interior lineman with their first two picks. But then they took a quarterback. That’s not a shock, but what is questionable is taking Carson Beck rather than making a move for Ty Simpson in Round 1.

Beck’s arm is a real concern following a senior year at Miami in which he struggled to hit some deep throws. His UCL injury at the end of his Georgia career also clouds his long-term future. That’s not quite the sure thing a team would prefer when taking what it hopes is a franchise signal-caller.

Earlier, the Cardinals were about as aggressive as they could have been at No. 3. They made Jeremiyah Love the first running back selected in the top five since Saquon Barkley went second overall in 2018. They are now heavily invested in the position even though they don’t have a long-term quarterback, which makes this a “C+” pick, according to Renner. That is no knock on Love, though. Many analysts view him as the best player in the draft, and he has superstar potential.

The 49ers fielded calls for the No. 33 pick all day Friday, according to multiple reports, but elected to keep the second round’s first pick when they did not receive an enticing enough offer. They used it to continue reshaping their receiving corps with the selection of De’Zhaun Stribling. The Ole Miss product joins Mike Evans as a newcomer in a new-look group — one that seems certain to lose Brandon Aiyuk and has already said goodbye to Jauan Jennings.

Rounds 3 and 4 are where the 49ers addressed their significant need on the defensive front. Romello Height was one of many disruptors on the dominant Texas Tech line last year and is both a depth addition and an upside pick for a team that could not stay healthy on the edge in 2025. Gracen Halton, meanwhile, bolsters the interior.

The third round is also where they made a less-than-inspiring pick at running back. In a perfect world, Kaelon Black will be nothing more than a backup to Christian McCaffrey for the next few years.

In a vacuum, the first round is probably a bit early to take the No. 2 running back in this class. It works for the Seahawks, however, because they’re in a unique position as the reigning Super Bowl champions with very few needs.

Running back is the most glaring of those deficiencies with Kenneth Walker III out the door and Zach Charbonnet likely to miss a sizable chunk of 2026 as he recovers from a torn ACL. Seattle could afford to reach a bit to round out what it hopes is another championship roster, and Price is such a talented ball carrier that nobody batted an eye at the selection.

The safety and cornerback additions addressed the Seahawks’ two next-biggest deficiencies. That’s textbook drafting.

InvaderRam wrote:

i’m really curious as to what numbers he would have put up if he had participated at the combine.

so he ranks in the 99.6 percentile in on field athleticism score. i had to look that up. it apparently uses computer vision to track player movements on the field. interesting. i think this is what they are referring to. apparently sam laporta and nacua both ranked in the 99th% according to this article.

That sounds like a good thing.

The knock seems to be his blocking, and some say he has a limited upside there. I wondered about that because my impression is that blocking is mostly leverage and angles i.e. technique. Why can’t he improve there?