[PARAM]

Ramsey, Kupp , JJ and Hill will need to be paid in 2021 if they are to stay Rams.

Ramsey is the only one who is going to command huge jack. Kupp? He'll get a good deal that's Kupp and Ram friendly. Maybe even before this season is over. JJ and Hill? Not worried either way there.

[actionjack]

Ramsey is the only one who is going to command huge jack. Kupp? He'll get a good deal that's Kupp and Ram friendly. Maybe even before this season is over. JJ and Hill? Not worried either way there.

I am always concerned about losing established talent. Lose JJ and Hill, need drafts pick to hit to fill those spots. IMO they are both very good players that is unnecessary gamble to not attempt to sign. Kupp and JJ will demand fairly significant money.

[actionjack]

I'm gonna say we have no idea, at this point.

What impact does the pandemic have on the NFL business model for the next few years?
Mahomes could have, reasonably, asked for 40 a year... but is that going to happen now?

Well I disagree, the NFL is probably the one business that is not affected much by the economy. Mahomes is the NFL's best player at the most important position. Some team will pay him whatever he wants. I wouldnt want to sign Dak after Mahomes contract.

[PARAM]

I think it's easy to think that they had the potential to return to form. If they were on the team, there would at least be a chance for that, not to mention defenses still have a certain amount of respect for both of those guys IMO.

It's debatable how likely their return to form would have been but as it stands, it's absolute zero. We're paying $47M to insure that it's impossible to get anything from them.

I hope you're right and somehow we get rid of Gurley, Cooks, Littleton, Fowler, Matthews and Zeurlein yet get better.

Yeah, they had the potential to return to form just like we had the potential to win last year's Superbowl, had we won one more game. I don't think defenses respected Gurley anymore. At least not in the same way they did in 2017 and 2018. Half the time on swing routes he was wide open....and still dropped the ball. I do believe secondaries respected Cooks until his concussion.

We dumped former great players and money. Good.

Gurley / Henderson-Brown (2nd or 3rd round rookie**)
Cooks / Reynolds (2nd or 3rd round rookie****)
Littleton / I think we may miss him unless Kizer and somebody else inside are beasts
Fowler / Obo, Ebukam, Polite (2nd or 3rd round rookie?)
Matthews / Floyd
Z / A reliable PK and it'll be a wash. We don't need 60 yard FGs

**I'll bet they get a RB who can contribute right away. Someone who can team with Henderson/Brown and possibly replace Brown next year.

****They're drafting a WR. I think we could bet the house on that. How high, that is the question. My hope is one of the first 2 picks and the other is a RB.

[PARAM]

Some people were asking me about who's overreacting... lol

Um.. don't shoot this messenger.

In this draft, it's very possible they'll get two players who produce more for them than Gurley and Cooks produced last year.

So... yeah, cap looks bad, but the bottom line is getting talent on your roster.
So... yeah, we'll have to see how the players out vs the players in produce this year, won't we? (rhetorical, yeah)

And by "shat the bed", at least the definition I'm familiar with, means we ain't gonna win shit this year. Otherwise, what does it matter? If we win, who cares how the 2020 cap was managed? Just something else to complain about in this Covid-19, no OTA's, limited training camp, NFL draft from coaches cellars funk we're in.

[moklerman]

Well... the driver of the expectations of a bigger cap is greater revenue. We have absolutely no idea how this will impact gameday revenue for teams.

And the upcoming TV contract will be based on projected Ad revenue.

If you don't think this downturn is going to hit the Ad revenue market in a profound way, I would argue that.

I was thinking about that. The next tv contract may actually benefit from this whole situation. Many things won't but more people than ever will be watching the NFL on tv compared to going to games, don't you think?

[VegasRam]

No, but dumping them insures they'll never return to form for the Rams. And that would be fine if it was actually saving the team something but it's costing them to make those moves.
[color=#0040FF]It will save money eventually for questionable talent.[/color]

Who said they did? But is it better to have a 1st round pick or not have one?
[color=#0040FF]It's also better to have (1/2 of lol) Ramsey[/color]


I don't think there's any way to count all the dead money as an actual positive. One can ferret out a silver lining but these two contracts were disasters.
[color=#0040FF]Granted - but it's spilt milk, and has been beat to death. Come up with something new.[/color]

He's an unknown, at best. I was frustrated with Wade but he's a championship caliber DC. It's too much to assume the new guy is already an improvement.
No it isn't. Championship DCs don't give you Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Dallas and 2-3rd and 16s.


Why? We have most of the same pieces, Whit isn't getting any younger and the others are all still question marks.
The same pieces that gained experience, fixed injuries, and were playing better at the end of last year.


That doesn't make sense to me. Cooks had a down year but he was still a respected starter. Bumping Kupp and Reynolds up has just as much of a chance of exposing them as it does improving the whole unit. Probably more so.
We can agree to disagree. I'd rather develop a more physical 'catch-contester'.

I hate to say too much about Goff but he hasn't proven that he can handle being the focal point of the offense on a regular basis. Hopefully he steps up but '19 doesn't instill in me that confidence.
Me either, but still believe in him, and think last year was a bit of a perfect (shit) storm of other factors.


I don't agree with that. Our depth is very thin right now, more so than other teams. Maybe not every team but in general, we are paper thin in many areas. With no cap and reduced draft picks to fill holes.
You'd have to be more specific. WR band LB maybe. Otherwise disagree.

Look, I will be thrilled if we win 10 games, but bottom line, don't see the glass half-empty.

[moklerman]

Yeah, they had the potential to return to form just like we had the potential to win last year's Superbowl, had we won one more game. I don't think defenses respected Gurley anymore. At least not in the same way they did in 2017 and 2018. Half the time on swing routes he was wide open....and still dropped the ball. I do believe secondaries respected Cooks until his concussion.

We dumped former great players and money. Good.

Gurley / Henderson-Brown (2nd or 3rd round rookie**)
Cooks / Reynolds (2nd or 3rd round rookie****)
Littleton / I think we may miss him unless Kizer and somebody else inside are beasts
Fowler / Obo, Ebukam, Polite (2nd or 3rd round rookie?)
Matthews / Floyd
Z / A reliable PK and it'll be a wash. We don't need 60 yard FGs

**I'll bet they get a RB who can contribute right away. Someone who can team with Henderson/Brown and possibly replace Brown next year.

****They're drafting a WR. I think we could bet the house on that. How high, that is the question. My hope is one of the first 2 picks and the other is a RB.

It's certainly an odd situation and one that leaves us all with questions about what and how it happened.

But, since we can't really know what happened off the field I think the possibility of the Gurley and Cooks returning to form was very reasonable since I believe their struggles were more related to poor o-line play and the slow adjustments to how defenses were attacking our offense. Improving the o-line and the domino effect that would lead to seems more reasonable that cutting those guys outright and choking on the cap hit while trying to replace them.

[actionjack]

Well... the driver of the expectations of a bigger cap is greater revenue. We have absolutely no idea how this will impact gameday revenue for teams.

And the upcoming TV contract will be based on projected Ad revenue.

If you don't think this downturn is going to hit the Ad revenue market in a profound way, I would argue that.

Ad revenue market is most definitely significantly impacted, for how long who knows. The NFL IMO is a different animal. It's the only game in town. Will the cap go up, maybe not, but Mahomes will get paid very well irregardless. JMO

[PARAM]

It's certainly an odd situation and one that leaves us all with questions about what and how it happened.

But, since we can't really know what happened off the field I think the possibility of the Gurley and Cooks returning to form was very reasonable since I believe their struggles were more related to poor o-line play and the slow adjustments to how defenses were attacking our offense. Improving the o-line and the domino effect that would lead to seems more reasonable that cutting those guys outright and choking on the cap hit while trying to replace them.

It had nothing to do with "that knee" or "that noggin"? It was OL struggles and slow adjustments? Sorry, not buying that. Gurley and Cooks could both "return to form" but for how long. A whole season? 12 games? 8 games? 4 games? The bet the front office made was the last two, not the first two.