[actionjack]

The color of the fucking sky can be debated. But I won't debate the talent level of the defense any further than this: This defense we had with Brockers, Littleton, Robey-Coleman, Fowler and Matthews didn't dominate everybody. They did a good job against the lesser offenses, which is what you'd expect from a good defense. Except, they didn't come within a sniff of stopping Tampa Bay (or Seattle first time around). Or Baltimore, Dallas and SF. They allowed the Cardinals who some have said had their golf bags stocked and their clubs shined, 24 points and 396 yards to end the year? Geesh. Are we really going to miss that?

I say let's agitate the drum, shake it all up, get some new guys in here that Staley says he needs and see if we can't at least compete with the 2019 defense. Hell as many have said, if our OL and offense had been better, we would have been 12-4. My gut tells me, McVay is going to have the O cranking on all cylinders, even if they're some lesser names on that side of the ball. If Staley can create an aggressive, unpredictable defense....guess what?

I agree the defense was good def not great last year. The defense absolutely got destroyed in certain games which most likely got Wade fired. You said it yourself "at least compete with the 2019 defense", that doesnt sound encouraging. Anyway, my point is still this, ON PAPER the Rams have lost talent overall, can young talent, underachievers they traded for step up and first time Defensive Coordinator make the defense better??? I freaking hope so, but doesnt give me the warm fuzzies.

As far as the offense. I was pretty disappointed in McVay last year. I love him as our coach, but for him not to prepare better for the types of defense's he was gonna face in 2019 was alarming. I hope he has learned his lesson and I hope the o-line can play better from the outset to give this offense a chance to really succeed.

[PARAM]

I agree the defense was good def not great last year. The defense absolutely got destroyed in certain games which most likely got Wade fired. You said it yourself "at least compete with the 2019 defense", that doesnt sound encouraging. Anyway, my point is still this, ON PAPER the Rams have lost talent overall, can young talent, underachievers they traded for step up and first time Defensive Coordinator make the defense better??? I freaking hope so, but doesnt give me the warm fuzzies.

As far as the offense. I was pretty disappointed in McVay last year. I love him as our coach, but for him not to prepare better for the types of defense's he was gonna face in 2019 was alarming. I hope he has learned his lesson and I hope the o-line can play better from the outset to give this offense a chance to really succeed.

Point taken. But count this Ram fan among the excited for new changes and possibilities. Now if we can get through this corona-wasteland to enjoy it......ah, now that would be even better !!!

[ramsrams]

I'm not impressed with the handling of draft picks/CBs. Peters is gone and now we have another Ramsey who wants huge $$$.. Where are those $$$ coming from? Likely another wasted draft pick. Top $$$ for literal head case Cooks which NE and NO got rid of. Top $$$ for a RB. While we can give the injury a pass, nobody in their right mind drops huge $$$ on RBs these days. Hmmmm.....

On top of that, I think that the monster $$$ to Aaron Donald is lunacy. You give that to QBs and nobody else. As good as he is, he won't change the game so much to compensate that you deplete your roster around him. Ask all of the other teams how well monster deals for defensive players worked for them, Darelle Revis (and every other "great" CB), Suh in his prime, Hayneswortht in his prime, etc. etc. It always screws you because you have no $$$ to field a solid team around them. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

I’ll put you down as “undecided”, then.

[actionjack]

Point taken. But count this Ram fan among the excited for new changes and possibilities. Now if we can get through this corona-wasteland to enjoy it......ah, now that would be even better !!!

I agree, I hope they hell we have an football (on time preferably).

[river]

I've been critical of Snead, but I'll try to be positive and highlight some things in advance of the 2020 season.

1. McVay saw the need to go young with an innovative DC who can hopefully get more imaginative in the defense and game plan more effectively from game-to-game. Rather than give the job to Joe Barry he goes outside the organization and gets Staley. Bold move that hopefully pays huge dividends.

2. We can question the trade of Peters to the Ravens but getting Kenny Young might be a bold move by Snead. Recognizing re-signing Littleton might be a problem, Snead had the foresight to acquire Young who was quite good at UCLA and was picked in the 4th round by the Ravens. Kiser and Young might be our ILB's with this position targeted early in the 2020 NFL draft. I have no idea if Young can develop into a solid LB in the NFL, but none of us saw Littleton developing into anything other than a solid ST player.

3. Acquiring Austin Corbett from the Browns might also pay huge dividends. I'm not a film study guy but I feel Corbett played real well last year and is an ascending player. Can Kroemer develop him? He was drafted as the first player in the 2nd round of the NFL draft and has some upside.

4. I think keeping the OL together is a good move by Snead and McVay. They played well late in the year, once McVay went with the two TE set. Noteboom can continue to recover from the MCL/ACL injury and I can see a starting line-up for the OL being Whit-Corbett-Blythe-Edwards-Havenstein. Evans is the guard reserve, Allen is the back-up OC/OG combo and Noteboom is the swing tackle.

Whitworth was signed for more than I anticipated so I guess the only "hometown discount" was in the way the contract was structured. I was thinking he would sign for $7-8 million annually, but in the NFL it's all about "show me the money."

5. I love Michael Brockers but he was thirty and giving him $10 million a year at that age would not be wise. Getting Robinson who is 25 for $1.5 million less than what Brockers got was a solid move by Snead. Perhaps he can be a run stuffer, push the pocket and clog the middle more effectively than Brock did.

6. While Fowler was very good at times, he always tackled way too high and can easily be replaced by Floyd at a much lower salary expense. Floyd on a one-year deal for $6 million less than what Fowler signed for is a solid move. Will he be motivated to play and produce for a multi-year big $$ contract? Lets hope so. Edge will be a priority in the upcoming NFL draft.

7. I liked NRC but the slot role can be replaced by the likes of Long or Williams. I think we'll see the Rams pick-up a veteran and will draft or sign a couple of UDFA's at the CB position. I like the look of our secondary.

8. Odd musings........ Does Gurly get traded or released today? I think the Rams have grown tired of Todd and his oddball attitude. If it's true he has no longer followed the team on Instagram, as has been mentioned on social media blogs, I think he's already been told he will be traded or released. No way they're paying his roster bonus which is due Friday. The dead money is quite large but it can be spread out over multiple years and the immediate cash savings is somewhere in the range of $5 million. This was an odd contract offered by Snead and Pastoors.

9. Is Cooks a goner also? I would be very surprised if he is also not traded. He has also apparently quit being a Rams follower on social media and can see Josh Reynolds stepping up and the WR position being a draft target in the upcoming NFL draft.

10. I believe this is a "make or break" year for Snead. If it works out and McVay leads the team to the post season, he'll get a new "lease on life." If not, I can see Stan and Demoff looking for a new GM next year.

11. I am worried the COVID-19 virus will effectively eliminate any off season activity with summer camp being emphasized for install. With a new DC this is quite concerning, but we all wait and see.

While I agree with much of this, I disagree about Brockers and whether Snead is in trouble. Brockers certainly has his supporters, but once he dropped all that weight he became less effective inside and his run blocking skills diminished. Wade moving him outside to 5T made sense initially, but Brockers was never a strong pass rusher and this was doomed to failure imo. The 2018 season was Brock's worst statistical year as a Ram, and his stats at 5T for 2018/2019 virtually mirrored those of Morgan Fox, his rotational reserve whose salary is only a fraction. Last year I was quite vocal about retaining Saffold and trading Brockers, the CAP costs would have been a push and we likely would get a decent draft pick out of it. Brockers playing a 3T or even at NT at 325lbs was fine, he was always a good 4-3 interior player, but we should never have tried to remake him as a 5T DE.

Gurley is gone now so it doesn't much matter for him, although my thoughts lean more towards McVay misusing him, the dismissal of Saffold, and an injury riddled OL as cause for both Gurley & Cooks statistical decline. Personally, I'd fix the OL and let Gurley & Cooks fly again, but the team has chosen, in effect, to place blame on them for our underachievement last season.
jmo.

[ramsman34]

I agree with lot of what you wrote except for Littleon took over or Kizer part, that never happened. Kizer was to take Barron's spot but got hurt so Reeder filled in. We have no idea what Kizer is yet. I have hopes for him. But it is a big deal to call the defense, a new one at that. My whole point is TODAY the Rams are not as talented as they were yesterday, that cannot be debated. The could add more talent and change that, but right now they have lost much more then they have gained.

EVERYONE has to learn the new D. What diff does it make if they were here last year, just walked in the building, or haven’t arrived I LA yet? None

I get where you are coming from. But we were 9-7 and that D got WORKED far too often.

I’m gonna chill and place faith in the coaches and front office that they know what they are doing

You think they aren’t highly motivated and ultra competitive and glaringly aware they are opening the greatest stadium ever? And , not making moves with that motivation?

[Ramzheart]

Well said, agree wholeheartedly!!

[PARAM]

As far as the offense. I was pretty disappointed in McVay last year. I love him as our coach, but for him not to prepare better for the types of defense's he was gonna face in 2019 was alarming. I hope he has learned his lesson and I hope the o-line can play better from the outset to give this offense a chance to really succeed.

The guy is half my age and he's forgotten more lessons than I'll ever know about football. I have absolutely NO problem with McVay. Everybody points to the O line and though that's never a complete reality, it's pretty close. Get the line fixed and McVay's offense is going to hum. Todd Gurley...the real Todd Gurley....would have shined in that offense. Hell, he shined AND made money in that offense! He's gone, but as long as McVay's got Goff protected and Woods, Kupp, Higbee (and the rest) to run routes AND / OR BLOCK, this offense will hum. It would be nice to have a good pass receiver at RB, something Gurley was in 2017-18 but not last year. I think they'll do just fine IF the O line is fixed/recovered/tweaked, either way.

Funniest thing about last year related to this year is; we all knew the O line was an issue.....for whatever reasons, one of which was certainly injuries.....but unless they sign somebody else, they've got the same 5.....make that 8 guys back. They all know the playbook. The staff obviously feels they all can play. And so the one guy on offense we'll be missing is Todd Gurley (maybe Cooks). But my belief is they will take a WR and a RB in the draft, not necessarily in that order. Another OL and the rest on D. These guys running the show.....at this point, it ain't their first rodeo.

Snead's record with the Rams just better than .500, 64-63-1. Now that sounds bad. But he's done it with THE RAMS. He joined a team that was 23-73 the previous 6 years. And he's one game over .500. (Something we'd have killed for not too long ago!!). But if you forgive him the move from St. Louis to L.A./fired fucknut head coach year of 2016, he's got a damned good record with the Rams, 60-51-1 (.540). Considering again.....THE RAMS....and their previous head coach who probably hamstrung Snead as much as he helped him. Sure he has McVay to thank being 33-15, but..... You know I'm beginning to think there are some 'rumors' that simply aren't rumors. "The move". "Gurley's knee". "Superbowl hangover". "Snead ain't half bad and certainly doesn't get enough credit."

It looks bad now to some folks? I'm a homer from way back. But I ain't delusional (despite some evidence to the contrary). It always looked bad after Mad Mike left. Now we've got another offensive wiz, except this one is younger. And apparently, we have either a very lucky or very good GM. I ain't worrying about too much.

[safer]

My biggest issues with Les are NOT his ability to spot and sign talent. That he has done very well IMHO. Where he has messed up is as follows: 1) We signed TGIII a year early AND he got, by far the biggest rb contract in history. Why did he offer both? IF Todd wasn't willing to take a lesser priced extension, why not use the team option for that extra year first? 2) Why did Goff get the highest QB contract when he was extended? He is to me, somewhere between the 5-10 best QB in the NFL. Why pay him so much? Would he really leave if he got an upper tier offer to stay in LA? Once again, we overpaid for his performance level. BTW--I DO think he's good enough to get us a SB victory. 3) We traded a 1st rounder for Brandon Cooks, who had been traded from the Saints the year before we traded the Pats for him. I still like him a lot, but why did the Pats and Saints BOTH want to move on from him? 4) WTF--Didn't we just trade three first rounders for Jalen Ramsey? That guy is a true, tough cover stud. BUT, the Lions just traded c/b Darius Slay (who is not quite as elite, but still a top level corner)--for ONLY a 4th round pick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once again, WTF, Les????? Both of these talented guys were unhappy with while still playing on cheap contracts and wanted to be traded----LES, in his infinite wisdom, backed up the Brinks truck in the trade (three firsts) for Ramsey WITHOUT GETTING ANY TYPE OF AGREEMENT ON A CONTRACT EXTENSION--only that he won't hold out!!!!!!!!!!! What if Ramsey wants f'n crazy money? He's got us by the balls. Aaron D was paid accordingly, for me. He IS the best at what he does.

[actionjack]

While I agree with much of this, I disagree about Brockers and whether Snead is in trouble. Brockers certainly has his supporters, but once he dropped all that weight he became less effective inside and his run blocking skills diminished. Wade moving him outside to 5T made sense initially, but Brockers was never a strong pass rusher and this was doomed to failure imo. The 2018 season was Brock's worst statistical year as a Ram, and his stats at 5T for 2018/2019 virtually mirrored those of Morgan Fox, his rotational reserve whose salary is only a fraction. Last year I was quite vocal about retaining Saffold and trading Brockers, the CAP costs would have been a push and we likely would get a decent draft pick out of it. Brockers playing a 3T or even at NT at 325lbs was fine, he was always a good 4-3 interior player, but we should never have tried to remake him as a 5T DE.

Gurley is gone now so it doesn't much matter for him, although my thoughts lean more towards McVay misusing him, the dismissal of Saffold, and an injury riddled OL as cause for both Gurley & Cooks statistical decline. Personally, I'd fix the OL and let Gurley & Cooks fly again, but the team has chosen, in effect, to place blame on them for our underachievement last season.
jmo.

I agree with you that TG decline was more to do with the line, than ability. Does anyone remember TG under Fisher? I do think their is some decline in TG but still
going at about 85%. The fact that he wasn’t an MVP type was enough with our salaries apparently to move on.