[Hacksaw]

With all this cap hell gloom and doom talk, we should be overlooked and left for dead. We'll sneak up on the league all over again..

[CanuckRightWinger]

There's an old line in business....
If you cannot measure it,
You cannot manage it.

In the hyper-competitive NFL, "Measurement" is all about how your team stacks up against the other 31 NFL Teams, especially in the WINS column.

Sean McVay's arrival in 2017 has yeilded good WINS bounty for Los Ramos with 11, 13, and 9 = 33 Regular Season Victories, and 2-2 in PostSeason, with a SB appearance. He and Snead have certainly collaborated more efficiently than Fisher and Snead.....that's just obvious from the W's achieved. I think probably ALL Rams fans appreciate McSnead pulling us out of the Wilderness Decade Deux 2005-2016. I am certainly one of those!

My point is this....appreciative NFL fans can still question certain aspects of their team......WITHOUT BEING MADE OUT TO BE DISLOYAL!!

To wit, right now I see our Salary Cap as the sloppiest in the NFL. That's not optics....the numbers are there, and we had to jettison expensive guys like Fowler & Littleton and even cheaper guys like Robey-Coleman, Christian....even Morgan CheapLikeBorscht! Fox. Not good!

In the past, I had issues with Wade Phillips Soft Zone D, and advocated for his dismissal. Did that make me a disloyal Rams fan? I don't think so....
and apparently neither did Sean McVay.

I still have issues with a Whit-Hav-Blythe & Yutes OL. I think it's too soft in the middle for our tough NFC West Division....and that's even with me making the hopeful assumption that Havenstein returns to his stellar 2017-18 form.

Should I apologize because I don't drink Aaron Kromer KoolAid? No.

Should I apologize because I pointed out that our 2020 Salary Cap is the worst out of 32 NFL Salary Caps right now? No......and neither should any other Rams fan who cares about how sloppy Cap management can affect our personnel options.

Channeling great USAF General (but so-so 1964 Presidential Candidate) Barry Goldwater:

"Concerned questioning of your NFL Team's affairs is NO VICE!!!"

I bring this up because there seem to be some guys who jump all over those of us who question and raise concerns. I guess they don't like negativity. Maybe they view the concerned questioning OR EVEN CRITICISM OF SOME RAMS AFFAIRS as "pessimism". As I have written many times before.....we are all wired differently, so let's discuss, debate and challenge each other.......all good stuff.........but let's leave out the judgemental stuff, eh!

Let us not bring into doubt a Rams fan's loyalty, character, or integrity just because he questions or even disses some aspect of how the team is run.....because that questioning is not a crime, nor is it a character flaw, nor an act of disloyalty.

At the present time, I am looking forward to the Draft next week. Les Snead is gonna have to have his A Game, given our holes, and coupled with our financial inability to fill said holes via expensive (for us) Free Agency.

Do I think Los Ramos can make the Playoffs in 2020? Why not? We're playing the moribund NFC/AFC East mooks....

....and who knows what JJ, Kupp, SJD Day 2 and Day 3 gems McSnead will net next weekend.....nor how many magic nobodies such as Cory Littleton, Touchdown Johnny Mundt UDFAs pan out.....let's not forget those under-the-radar guys, eh!!

I am pulling for Los Ramos to win the SB in 2020.....like I have every season since 1967....but the way our Salary Cap looks does not put us into an advantageous place to accomplish that victory in Tampa Bay next February....
.....but we'll see!!

As always, JMO.

[CanuckRightWinger]

You are talking about one line item....Dead Money.

Hey Jimmy Olson.....check out that red number at the bottom of your forwarded site. That red number means we cannot re-sign even an inexpensive guy like Marqui Christian right now.

BTW.....calling all Rams fans....has anybody seen anything official from Rams Head Office saying that we actually have signed Leonard Floyd??

I've looked and cannot find anything. Additionally, neither spotrac.com and overthecap.com have Floyd on our signed roster.

[ramsman34]

That chart is interesting. A few teams with more dead money. No one ii worse cap space. But that part is changeable with restructures and even proper cuts of players. It will push money forward but it could be easier to mange then.

The salary cap may make it harder on personnel decisions. But money don’t play ball. The players we put on the field and the coaches will decide how good we are. As long as injuries don’t kill us, we should be a very good team next season. Whenever that is.

[ramsman34]

You are talking about one line item....Dead Money.

Hey Jimmy Olson.....check out that red number at the bottom of your forwarded site. That red number means we cannot re-sign even an inexpensive guy like Marqui Christian right now.

BTW.....calling all Rams fans....has anybody seen anything official from Rams Head Office saying that we actually have signed Leonard Floyd??

I've looked and cannot find anything. Additionally, neither spotrac.com and overthecap.com have Floyd on our signed roster.

Probably have a deal in principle but because they are over the cap now, can’t execute. Once Goff restructures they will get it done. I am certain they are massaging the cap for 20 and a bit of 21 now. They need room to sign/extend Ramsey, sing draft picks, get some cheap vet and UDFAs, and have injury signing money. Gonna take some creativity but it will get done.

[PARAM]

I don't agree. Eight in the box opens a lot more passing lanes than a nickle defense does.

Malcoln Brown AND the O-line is going to have to be so good that teams need to stack 8 in the box. Otherwise, there will be no passing game.

Bob, seriously, you're saying Goff in McVay's offense can only have a good passing game with 8 in the box? The O line only has to be good enough to make play action effective and protect good enough on deeper plays. If they are good enough to draw 8 in the box consistently, we'll be 14-2.

[mike schad 1st rd]

That has baffled me. For a guy who was sooo good in the passing game to suddenly become completely unproductive is truly baffling. He wasn't just unproductive, he was terrible. For a RB to have a catch percentage of 63%, it's ridiculous. It's not like he was running routes 15 - 20 yards downfield and Sage Rosenfels was throwing him the ball. That's got to be a between the ears issue.

And btw, great post. You're right. It's nowhere near as bad as it's being made out to be.

Great points, PARAM, it's like I've been telling everybody, Gurley is a piece-of-shit who stopped trying, and DELIBERATELY fucked up. SINGLEHANDEDLY tried to lose our NFC Championship Game. Good Riddance you cocksucker.

[mike schad 1st rd]

It looks to have backfired on 2...Cooks and Gurley....

Everyone else was a poor decision?

Goff? His cap hit in 2020 is 36 mil.....and it goes down every year after that. His cap hit in 2024 is $26 mil, going into this 9th year, 8th with McVay. While the current phenom QB due a new contract in 2024 will probably be making 45 mil per. That's bad cap management?

They signed Higbee to an extension before he had his breakout year. That's bad cap management?

Come on, we can nitpik the mistakes but let's not ignore the credit that should be given in other areas. They will have close to $50 mil in cap space next year. Will we all be whining and crying about bad cap management then? Oh I suppose if we go 8-8 or 6-10 this year. I'm betting we won't.

Come on PARAM, you're RUINING things for the reflexive chronic conplainers.

[ramsman34]

They made 2 bad deals based on unforeseeable events, health. Then they made 2 hard decisions to mitigate damage from those earlier decisions and gained a 2nd round pick, who could turn out to make the loss of one those players moot - and for a lot less money. The AD deal, not bad cap mgmt. the Goff deal, not bad cap mgmt. as PA said, signed early so his late money will be under market value. And there are restructuring opportunities with both contracts. Higs, looking like a smart move. Time will tell.

The dead money is dead. The team is not. The future is not.

[BobCarl]

Bob, seriously, you're saying Goff in McVay's offense can only have a good passing game with 8 in the box?

It was a bit of a hyperbole.

Basically I'm saying that a with good blocking the QB has better chances in the passing game facing a defense playing 8 in the box than against 6

With Gurley there was good reason for defenses to stack the box. Will Brown do the same?