[PARAM]

I already said young players can win. I just don’t think we have those players on D. A few. Not enuff.

That's one opinion. I don't know any of the rookies. I only know what I read and from what I've read, they made some smart selections. As far as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year guys, I like what I see. Jones is a stud. Fuller too. Copeland has been steady. Murchison played well. Durant has received kudos from the staff. Kendricks, now that Rapp is gone, is the new whipping boy but the kid has skills. Hoecht, Bobby Brown, Jonah Williams, etc. all have some experience. Yeast? Lake? I didn't see enough of either to make a judgement. So who are the guys you don't like? The ones who won't be enuff?

[BobCarl]

I'm also resigning myself to the possibility of another losing season. .

SOSAR?

Nah ... they'll be competitive.

[ramsww]

That's one opinion. I don't know any of the rookies. I only know what I read and from what I've read, they made some smart selections. As far as the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year guys, I like what I see. Jones is a stud. Fuller too. Copeland has been steady. Murchison played well. Durant has received kudos from the staff. Kendricks, now that Rapp is gone, is the new whipping boy but the kid has skills. Hoecht, Bobby Brown, Jonah Williams, etc. all have some experience. Yeast? Lake? I didn't see enough of either to make a judgement. So who are the guys you don't like? The ones who won't be enuff?

I don’t dislike any of the new rams and I think they had a great draft but some people are comparing our situ to teams that had 1st & 2nd round picks for the last 3 years. A great draft for what they had to work with. We’re paying the price and I’ll say it again. Worth it but it doesn’t change that the piper must be paid.

[PARAM]

I don’t dislike any of the new rams and I think they had a great draft but some people are comparing our situ to teams that had 1st & 2nd round picks for the last 3 years. A great draft for what they had to work with. We’re paying the price and I’ll say it again. Worth it but it doesn’t change that the piper must be paid.

Fair enough. Who are these teams "some" are comparing the Rams to? I compared them to the Chiefs, who had 29 starts from a 3rd rd pick (8), 4th round pick (4), and two 7th round picks (6 & 11). And they won the SB. The two 7th round picks started every postseason game. What did having 1st and 2nd round picks the previous 3 years have to do with that?

[ramsww]

Fair enough. Who are these teams "some" are comparing the Rams to? I compared them to the Chiefs, who had 29 starts from a 3rd rd pick (8), 4th round pick (4), and two 7th round picks (6 & 11). And they won the SB. The two 7th round picks started every postseason game. What did having 1st and 2nd round picks the previous 3 years have to do with that?

Not only the Chiefs but the reference to the 2001 Rams rebuild as well. We had better draft positions in the 2 yrs post SB XXXIV and no, I haven’t looked it up. As for the Rams rookies and players, read the McVay article on Ramswire. Don’t take my word for how far we have to go, read McVay’s comments:

On Byron Young: “I think he’s doing a good job. Those guys are really young on the edge,” McVay said. “Like I’ve mentioned before, (OLBs coach) Joe Coniglio’s done a really good job with those guys. There’s a lot of stuff going on, there’s a lot of moving parts. You can see the physicality, the athleticism, the turn and run ability, but he’s got a long way to go. Just with this team, we’ve got a real long way to go. Today was not very good overall. I thought we were very sloppy, not sharp on both sides of the football and so if we want to continue to try to do the things that we’re doing and take steps in the right direction, we have to be better than we were today.”

When McVay was asked about top rookie Steve Avila, he pointed out that he seemed tired in practice. Avila wasn’t the only rookie that McVay noticed that from, either. He wants all of his first-year players in better shape so that when the season begins, they’re ready to play a full 60 minutes and stay on the field throughout the year.

[snackdaddy]

SOSAR?

Nah ... they'll be competitive.

To me, its all about the offense. The defense will be young, inexperienced. Probably see some mistakes early on like out of position on big runs. Blown assignments in the secondary. The hope is they get better as they play more.

The offense has to be the catalyst if they're gonna surprise us. A lot more experience on that side of the ball. Akers has to have that breakout year. We know he's capable. Most of all, the line has to stay healthy enough. Those things happen and they can be a top ten offense this year.

[ramsww]

Have to respectfully disagree. It's not a rebuild and yes it's "retooling."

To me, if they actually were rebuilding then it was a bad, bad plan to keep Stafford, Kupp, and Donald. That's not rebuilding. Rebuilding means getting picks for those guys.

This is a new thing we're not used to. We've seen rebuilds before. We've never seen "retooling" before.

This is all deliberately aimed at adding to what they have in 24, with picks and cap space. Meanwhile they hand the baton to a lot of young players, although that's mostly on defense.

On offense it all depends on the OL but then they have a long list of holdover players with experience on that OL. That's the silver thread in the middle of the 2022 OL injury hurricane. They do not lack for OL players (and adding Avila is a big plus, literally and figuratively).

On defense we're mistaking "don't know yet" for "they have nothing." When you don't know yet you don't know yet, and that's not the same thing as authentic pessimism. I think odds are a lot of the guys we don't know about yet will actually work out and stick (eg.--the DL. There's Brown, Copeland, and Williams--they could come through. This is the same team that surprised us when both Sebastian-Day and then Gaines came through as solid. So it's not unreasonable to think they might have a guy or 2 already).

When DV rebuilt starting in 97, by 99 he had 6 starters out of 24 (counting the kickers) who were already there before 97. Just 6.

In 23, they have more than 6 on offense alone. A lot of the new defensive starters are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year guys who were on the team before. In the end they will have a lot more than 6 starters total who were on the team before 23.

...

I forgot about this retort but I found it amusing. The logic is, it’s a retooling not a rebuild because the didn’t trade or cut Stafford, AD, and Kupp. Literally IMPOSSIBLE to trade these contracts at their ages and the dead money would have been Oppenheimer’d if they cut these stars. If they could have, you don’t think they would have?

“To me, if they actually were rebuilding then it was a bad, bad plan to keep Stafford, Kupp, and Donald. That's not rebuilding. Rebuilding means getting picks for those guys. “

[PARAM]

Not only the Chiefs but the reference to the 2001 Rams rebuild as well. We had better draft positions in the 2 yrs post SB XXXIV and no, I haven’t looked it up. As for the Rams rookies and players, read the McVay article on Ramswire. Don’t take my word for how far we have to go, read McVay’s comments:

On Byron Young: “I think he’s doing a good job. Those guys are really young on the edge,” McVay said. “Like I’ve mentioned before, (OLBs coach) Joe Coniglio’s done a really good job with those guys. There’s a lot of stuff going on, there’s a lot of moving parts. You can see the physicality, the athleticism, the turn and run ability, but he’s got a long way to go. Just with this team, we’ve got a real long way to go. Today was not very good overall. I thought we were very sloppy, not sharp on both sides of the football and so if we want to continue to try to do the things that we’re doing and take steps in the right direction, we have to be better than we were today.”

When McVay was asked about top rookie Steve Avila, he pointed out that he seemed tired in practice. Avila wasn’t the only rookie that McVay noticed that from, either. He wants all of his first-year players in better shape so that when the season begins, they’re ready to play a full 60 minutes and stay on the field throughout the year.

Man, you are taking McVay literally.....after a bad, sloppy practice. Sure, there's a long way to go. It's August. So what would get you a little excited? You expected the Rams to make draft picks and McVay say, "oh this Byron Young. He's the shit man! He's got it all figured out already. I pity the guy who has to block him or run around him." Honestly, how long have you been watching football? Nobody here is saying these guys are going to be great in week 1. Nobody is expecting it. That's not how it works. If they're truly talented and receive good coaching, they will be solid players around mid season give or take a couple of weeks. What's funny is, this should be a very exciting time for Rams fans. New blood. Young blood. Possibly with bright futures ahead of them. But instead, the Linehan/Spags/Fisher PTSD resurfaces again (so easily).

[ramsww]

Man, you are taking McVay literally.....after a bad, sloppy practice. Sure, there's a long way to go. It's August. So what would get you a little excited? You expected the Rams to make draft picks and McVay say, "oh this Byron Young. He's the shit man! He's got it all figured out already. I pity the guy who has to block him or run around him." Honestly, how long have you been watching football? Nobody here is saying these guys are going to be great in week 1. Nobody is expecting it. That's not how it works. If they're truly talented and receive good coaching, they will be solid players around mid season give or take a couple of weeks. What's funny is, this should be a very exciting time for Rams fans. New blood. Young blood. Possibly with bright futures ahead of them. But instead, the Linehan/Spags/Fisher PTSD resurfaces again (so easily).

WTF?? PTSD?? I guess this answers my original post. No worries, it’s a minor retooling. All I’ve said is we have a long way to go.

[/zn/]

I forgot about this retort but I found it amusing.

The logic is, it’s a retooling not a rebuild because the didn’t trade or cut Stafford, AD, and Kupp. Literally IMPOSSIBLE to trade these contracts at their ages and the dead money would have been Oppenheimer’d if they cut these stars. If they could have, you don’t think they would have?

“To me, if they actually were rebuilding then it was a bad, bad plan to keep Stafford, Kupp, and Donald. That's not rebuilding. Rebuilding means getting picks for those guys. “

Don't agree. The Rams got offers for Stafford. Since the Rams swallow the prorated bonus in a trade, Donald's cap hits for a trading team in 23 and 24 would be 13.5 M and 21.6 respectively. For Kupp it would be 10 M and 6 M. That's far from prohibitive.

And we can discuss this stuff respectfully.

The offense is intact. It's the same offense with minor changes. There are a lot of 2nd through 4th year new starters on defense, but that's not a team rebuild.