I don’t do mocks. Just don’t follow the college game nearly enough. I do enjoy reading the mocks of others, though. They entertain, educate, and provoke strategy thought.
But I do have some 30,000 foot impressions about what we may soon see.
In no particular order:
Watkins is 70%+ to be extended, but not tagged. Probably for more than the $10 million maximum that I would give him, too. I sense that S&M want him, so it will happen.
A LOT prospect that they like that falls to #23 is the only way I see them spending a premium pick on O at any position before the 4th round. So, forget about those C and G picks in the 1st round, fellas. Won’t be a WR or TE that early, either.
This will be a draft to “finish” Wade’s D. He’s gonna get the lion’s share of attention via FA and the draft. Depending on FA, our first 3 picks could be spent on D.
BTW, don’t go to sleep on a trade down possibility. If Snead sees a plateau of more or less equally rated players a bit below at positions of Ram need, I think he would jump on such a trade down opportunity. Maybe pick up an early 2nd and 3rd?
I see a fairly active FA for the Rams. Not necessarily top tier, mostly 2nd tier. They excelled with that strategy last year and I fully expect them to do it again. Don’t laugh, but inexpensive replacements for Watkins and TruJo could come in exactly this way.
I don’t see an incoming TE as a FA, or certainly as an early draft pick. I think they want to develop their in-house corps. Keep an eye on Hemingway, while we’re at it.
I think Quinn is 70% gone, hopefully in a trade of some kind, Barron is 50-50 to go, I think. Both are on cap stressing contracts, so it might come down to what the brain trust thinks our alternatives might yield in terms of bang for the buck. The cap savings by offloading these two would be mighty tempting for use in multiple shrewd 2nd tier FA moves to improve this roster.
I don’t see any way that they don’t extend Joyner for at least 5 years. I’ll even give that a “bank it”.
NRC is in, too. Excellent value with him and leaves one less hole to fill.
I make Sully 90% to be extended for 2 years. Just so effective and so smart. Was a highly underrated signing last year and was a big part of Goff and Gurley’s big years.
Giving Saffold an early extension would be a smart move, too.
I predict a new starting CB via FA and another via draft. Perhaps our #23. Then again, Snead has a superb record of finding quality secondary players after the 1st round and may well choose to try to do so again.
Depending on FA and, more importantly, who falls, I see a pretty evenly divided likelihood of a NT, Edge rusher, CB, or LOT as our 1st rounder. Any would make a ton of sense to me.
In short, anyone expecting many bold moves on O is gonna be disappointed, I’m afraid. I suspect that they’re 90% comfortable with their O situation, pending the Watkins decision. But the D is gonna have a lot of new faces on it this season. Perhaps 6 new starters. Yeah, six. Wade is gonna be heavily involved in many offseason move decisions ranging from TruJo, Quinn, Barron, and Barwin, through maybe the first 3 picks in this draft.
