Maddy wrote:

Zooey wrote:

You let Collins sign as an UDFA and you’ve just killed the draft. What’s to stop any other player from doing the same thing?

I may not understand what you are saying. Collins had to go through the draft without being selected. High quality players would have to do the same, wouldn’t they? The precedent is already in place, isn’t it?

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh. I guess he did technically pass through the draft. But it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t have been taken in the 6th or 7th if he hadn’t threatened not to sign. I guess if I’m the NFL, I don’t want players threatening not to sign if drafted lower than they value themselves, only to be signed as a FA. You don’t want to turn the NFL draft into a game of chicken.

wv wrote:

Well who knows how the future will unfold,
but they picked a bunch of seemingly-solid,
big, fat, mauling, road-grading
Hog-Mollies.

About as unsexy a draft as you will ever
see. An injured RB and big fat Hogs.

But i like it. They had a good plan
it seems to me.

This was a “Madden” draft.
Madden players. Old-schoolers.
The Fisher identity finally emerges
on offense.

My only head=tilt is with Mannion.
I might have picked one more
Hog, myself.

w
v

No qb taken outside the first round is ever going to excite fans. Some of them develop, obviously. I think the Rams need to draft another one next year, too. Even if Foles does well and is resigned. The Rams need to be developing Foles successor now.

I think my favorite pick has to be the drafting of Mannion because he cost so little. The pick was close to free, so there is little to lose.

Had the Rams not traded with Carolina, taking Mannion would presumably have cost them Brown.

So they missed out on Mike Morse and Jake Fisher because they moved down to 57 (Haverstein), but got the extra pick. They weren’t going to take Funchess (Carolina’s pick with the Rams’ original #41) anyway, so he is irrelevant.

To put it another way, the Rams traded Morse or Fisher for Haverstein and Mannion.

They got a developmental QB in a draft where they HAD to take one, but the pickings were slim, and it didn’t cost them a starter somewhere else. I like it.

InvaderRam wrote:

i really do think gurley is the risk.

i had posted about it a couple months ago. hoping that it would happen but telling myself that the smart play was drafting an olineman. but when scherff went off the board. and with what la’el collins is going through. it suddenly looked like a real possibility.

i think he’s got the potential to be better than steven jackson was. i really do. and i loved steven. he’s got to learn pass pro from what i’ve read. but he’s got everything else. he can run for power. he can get the tough yards. but then he can bust the big plays. he can catch the ball. he’s potentially a guy that defenses have to scheme against. and the rams did not have that before this draft. i think tre mason can be a very good back. but i don’t see him as a guy who can make his teammates look better. i know that phrase is tossed around a lot. but i believe it to be true about gurley. he’ll make that offensive line look better. he’ll make his qb and wrs look better. imagine this guy as a safety valve. with his speed and his power?

and most importantly with a dominant running game. that defense is gonna be fresh and rested. the dline is gonna get after those qbs. williams will be coming up with schemes to get turnovers.

well. that’s the idea anyway.

Yep . That’s the idea, and that’s the kool-aid I’m drinking, too.

I like this draft. My optimism for the season went up.

That was interesting. Thanks.

Fun Fact:

Carolina GM said they traded up because they identified 6 teams in front of them who needed a receiver.

Not one was drafted between 41 and 57.

snowman wrote:

It makes sense to me. Fisher has said he wants to build a power running team so this move fits that plan very well. He also does not draft offensive linemen this high because he believes they can be drafted later and developed. Outside of picking Robinson to be the LOT, he has been consistent in doing that going back to his years in Tennessee. I would not be surprise to see the Rams draft two or three offensive linemen in this draft. I would almost bet on them taking an OL in the third round, maybe fourth as well.

They need some people who can start this year. They do not have 5 starters on the roster right now. They have two, one of whom spends a lot of time in rehab. Maybe they have a starter in Jones or Rainey. Maybe even both, one at center, one at guard. That prospect doesn’t fill me with confidence, but they know more about it than I do. And maybe Barksdale comes back.

There’s no depth.

Now, I am not worried about it YET because I have thought all along that it looked like a good opportunity to take a playmaker in the first, and harvest from the OL depth later in the draft. But if they don’t draft OL until the third day of the draft, I worry. The third day of the draft is for development. Guys that may emerge as role players down the road, but aren’t going to start this year.I will sleep easier tonight if I have a big, ugly OL to snuggle up to.

Yeah, I thought the same thing.

All the guys I had some hope for were already gone. You look at the board, and to me, it was Gurley or Waynes, and Gurley was the better value.

Like Bernie said (I am weirdly finding myself agreeing with Bernie a lot the past 6 or 8 weeks), the Rams need something to get them in the end zone more often. With Cooper and White gone, and Scherff gone, the other prospects just didn’t represent value at #10.

But I’m not wild about the mocks showing the Rams going two more rounds today without taking OL. I think it’s vital that the Rams have 5 OL on the field at all times.

bnw wrote:

Dak wrote:

The sad part is that St. Louis has a really good plan with a vision … and could have no team to make it happen.

I’m telling you, my friends, that my excitement for NFL football is at an all-time low. Just don’t have much interest in this year’s draft, and it’s hard to get excited for a team that’s got one leg out of here.

I feel the same way. None of it matters to me if the Rams move and that is Kroenke’s plan by design.

I cannot think of an example the equal of it. While teams have left strong fan loyalty before, and have done so brutally, there is no equivalent in terms of stadium issues. When the Rams left LA, they were playing in a baseball stadium. The Raiders were playing in a stadium built in 1923. The Browns had a dismal stadium situation. And so on.

No team has left a city with a brand new stadium in the works.

I am as attentive as ever, but I don’t think I will be excited about the start of a season again until the season after they break out of mediocrity. I guess I am part of he Show Me state of mind.

Moving to Foles does not excite me. I’m hopeful, but not expectant. I guess I should be more hopeful about the Rams because I was thinking playoffs last year. Of course, they lost Bradford, and that ended the hope. But it just seems like it’s something every year. They were just a middling team last year, and they’ve got the same playmakers, and same…everything. And where is the OL? They may retain Barksdale, and maybe the center is on the roster, and they start only one rookie – best case scenario, right? That isn’t a great line no matter what. And Ayers and Fairley are nice, I guess. But I’m just not, you know…excited.

I’ll get excited when they win.

What would need to happen for the Rams to stay in St. Louis?

“I think at the end you need to see what the gameplan looks like, what the economics look like and what the outcomes in Los Angeles are.”

That is pretty darned close to saying it’s about the money.

Which, of course, is a huge part of it, but he’s not supposed to admit that.

Jenna M. Prosceno · Top Commenter · Author/Vlogger at Liveyourpositivelife.com
“Union Shills” the same people that brought you the 40 hour work week, OSHA, the Labor Board, and made making 6 year olds working hard labor illegal. Yep, got it.
Reply · Like · 119 · 23 hours ago

Tony Schipani · Top Commenter
Jenna M. Prosceno The 40 hour work week is dead, I’ve never only worked 40 hours in my life. If unions are supposed to help worker’s rights, they are doing a terrible job. The only thing that unions are good for is to shovel millions of member’s dollars into politicians pockets.
Reply · Like · 253 · 23 hours ago

Hunh. Weird how that rise in the expectation that the labor force will work more than 40 hours corresponds with the weakening of unions across the board.

But Tony can’t connect those dots.

You’re right, PA. It’s just truly depressing. The whole situation. We have millions of people who are hard-hearted against their OWN interests. It is truly weird.

I just want everyone to know that I haven’t sent any PMs to you.

A losing season in 2016.

IMO, SK considered Fisher’s experience with the Houston/Tennessee transition as part of his value when he hired him.