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?

wv wrote:

The height bothers me more than the number of starts, actually.

Brock Purdy is also 6’1″.

Brock Purdy isn’t Matthew Stafford, but he’s good enough. And if the Rams got Brock Purdy for close to Free, then that’s a W.

The question is: can McVay develop a QB? I would think he will be more patient because he doesn’t want to make the same mistake he already made with Goff, so maybe.

zn wrote:

Yet I fall back on knowing that there has never been a Rams story, ever, where we did not hear fairly quickly what was going on behind the scenes.

I never saw anything explaining Ernest Jones. That may be one exception.

InvaderRam wrote:

Herzog wrote:

I think McVay was kind of a dick to Ty on the phone. He gave me”I’m gonna run you out of town” vibes. One of the few times I was really disappointed in him. Like him or not, he’s got him now…. Coach him the Fuq up now

that’s what i thought initially. but i am not so sure.

maybe aloof? i think he’s trying to tread a line between bringing in a new qb and making sure the old qb knows that he’s still the guy.

i don’t even know if that came from stafford or maybe mcvay just had it in his head. or he didn’t want the media to manufacture some kind of drama?

the media did end up creating drama anyway which they tried to clear up. i don’t think snead or the organization would want to upset mcvay by forcing a pick on him unless they know something we don’t. which is that mcvay and stafford do not plan on coming back. but i don’t see any reason to think that.

I simply don’t know, but I am somewhat concerned that McVay and Stafford are secretly “married,” and that McVay is going to leave when Stafford retires. He’s got little kids, and the amount of money some network offered him a while back was unbelievable. It could be that McVay has been open about all that with Snead, and this is Snead preparing for that post-Stafford/McVay world, and McVay had no choice but to accept it. I’m totally making that up, though. I just find the “McVay was acting for Stafford’s benefit” storyline more farfetched than the one I just presented. I don’t know, but something felt off.

wv wrote:

Questions about the strategy itself. And questions about Ty Simpson as a player.

But again, i get why they went with this approach.

At any rate, we got High-Hopes for this season. When’s the last time there was a consensus around the country that the Rams were favorites to win it all?

Maybe…the year Martz took over? Its been a while.

w
v

Yeah, I think it’s been that long. And before that, it was the 70s where they were a favorite, and we know how that went. And that’s the reason to go all out this year. 2 Lombardi trophies in nearly 60 years of following the team is not enough. Get another one, goddam it. Right now.

CBS:

• This reply was modified 2 months, 2 weeks ago by Zooey.

CBS:

• This reply was modified 2 months, 2 weeks ago by Zooey.

wv wrote:

15 starts. Has any QB with that type of college history ever turned out to be a top NFL QB? I dunno. I cant think of one offhand.

Cam Newton. 14 college starts.

zn wrote:

InvaderRam wrote:

after watching him speak i don’t see how mcvay doesn’t love this guy.

i think him acting the way he was on tv really was him not wanting to upset stafford. or at least trying to balance excitement with making sure stafford knew he was still wanted.

wv wrote:

o. I’m hoping that McVay has not already told the Rams that when Stafford retires, McVay will leave. ….maybe Snead chose Ty Simpson because he knows HE is the one who has to take the long view, cause McVay wont be there to pick up the pieces.

I am with Invader on McVay wanting him, and not WV on the more dire possible futures.

I buy the Rams reasonining. They treated pick 13 as a luxury after using pick 29 to get what they really wanted for the season, a corner.

So I am out of the “did McVay want him” debate. I don’t think there’s a real “there” there.

Well, I’m not convinced of anything yet. I haven’t seen the entire press conference, just a bit where he was looking unenthusiastic.

But I think that lack of enthusiasm is not necessarily disagreement. I think it’s also possible to see his lack of enthusiasm as being like a guy who gets a $50,000 bonus at work, and decides to put it all in Treasury bonds instead of buying a sports car. It’s the wise thing to do for the long term, but it doesn’t release dopamine.