As a fan I find it really difficult to be able to gauge how well these young guys are developing since we don't get to see them on the field. It is great to get a tidbit about Sebastian Joseph-Day and hearing that he looks incredible. If he is ready and able to slide into the rotation on the DL this year and play productively that will be huge for the team.
We have a little bit of information on JMF, Noteboom and Allen as they have played and all show promise. But we have little information on Kiser, OBO, SJD, Young and Lawler. If a couple of those guys in the group we have little exposure and knowledge about become useful players it will be huge for the team. The fact that we are drafting players with brains with a dedicated work ethic and have a coaching staff focused on player development gives me hope that we will be able to fill holes with good players that we find in rounds 3-5.
Anyway a year of physical development under the Rams strength and conditioning experts can do wonders for these young guys and with a year of experience they come into camp know what to expect, knowing the scheme and in top physical shape. We should expect some good things to happen with these guys.
I have to think that OBO dropped in the draft as teams knew about his foot. On a talent level he was more like a 2nd round grade. Expectation for him right now are very low but I think he could be a guy that comes out and blows things up in camp. He could be the edge rusher we all have been hoping for. I remember how excited everyone was when we picked in and lots of guys on the board thought he was a huge steal. Now we know why he dropped it was the foot not his football skills. If he was another 2" taller and totally healthy he would have been talked about in round 1. He could be a huge surprise to us all.
We all tend to have a recency bias regarding young players and therefore fail understand the process of player development regarding young players. I remember all the naysayers on Goff after his first year. Many were convinced that he was a bust and a total loss and were really made about the trade. Well he wasn't ready mentally, physically and did not have enough experience his first year and he sucked. He comes back in year 2 and does great. He comes back in year 3 and does even better.
Everett and Reynolds didn't do much in year 1 but came back in year 2 and player pretty good. I expect another leap in year 3 from those 2. I think it is more the exception that you get a guy like Kupp in round 3 or JJ in round 4 and they become impact starters in year one. Both of the still improved significantly in year 2 however.
Some of these young guys will show up this year maybe as many as 5 or 6 and they will show themselves to be good football players. In past years I would not have this optimism but with Snead and McVay I do and think we will see that lasts years draft was a much bigger hit than any of us thought.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2019 02:28AM by David Deacon.
