Good points AlbaNY. I see the similarities from 21

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AlbaNY_Ram

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Ramsdude
Was it really worth letting Gaines go for that little bit of money? Of course not, unless...winning games isn't the number one priority. And IMO, it isn't.

I'd say the jury is still out on that.

In 2021 the Rams let these guys go in FA: Morgan Fox, Austin Blythe, Michael Brockers, Troy Hill, and John Johnson III.

Blythe, Hill, and Johnson started all 16 games in 2020, Brockers started 15, Fox got 2 starts but played in all 16 as a key DL rotational player. So ... were the Rams trying to win in 2021 or not?

You bet they were trying to win. The Rams won the SB that year. And they also got 4 comp picks in 2022. Letting good players walk in return for comp picks and trying to win are not mutually exclusive objectives.

Replacing Gaines with Brown has nothing to do with whether the team is trying to win or not and everything to do with the Rams draft strategy, particularly as it relates to comp picks.

The Rams tend to draft guys in preparation for FA departures. I believe they drafted Brown III in anticipation of Gaines leaving (much like they drafted Durant, Lake, Kendrick, Yeast, in anticipation of Scott, Rapp, Long, and Hill leaving).

For what it's worth, Gaines didn't start a game his first 2 years with the team. Then he started 25 out of 33 games the net 2 years.

Bobby Brown III is entering his 3rd season with one start under his belt. Is he on track to replicate Gaines' success? I guess we'll see ...

but I think there is a different "mind set" this year AlbaNY. We let go 2 HOF'ers this year. We didn't do that in '21. Yes, we let some guys go but it was a little different situation.

Do you think if we weren't as bad as we last year that we would still have let that much talent go?

If we were a legit contender I bet we would've kept at least of few of the guys we let walk. IMO, the disaster of a season we had last year not only had McVay thinking about retirement but once he made up his mind to come back, he know something had to change to continue contending.

Having no high draft picks and still paying some higher priced vets, something had to change. Was it possible to keep most of those guys this year and still contend? Yes, but that would only have delayed the eventual rebuild that apparently McVay thought needed to be done to sustain it even longer.

IMO, McVay and the Rams are looking at the bigger picture which is rebuilding another winner knowing that it will take a least a year or two with new players and draft picks needed to make that happen...and I think that they are ok with that.

As you said, I guess we'll see.

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#HelmetHornsMatter

“Well, the color is good, I like the metallic blue,” Youngblood recently said while laughing, via NFL Journal. “The horn is terrible. It looks like a ‘C.’ When I first saw it on the logo I honestly thought it was a Charger logo.

“Now when I see it on the helmet, it just isn’t a ram horn. There is no distinct curl like a mature ram horn. I don’t know how the Rams could get that wrong. That is your symbol and it has been for what? Seventy years or more? Longer than I have been alive? It’s just not us, it’s not the Rams.”---Mr. Ram Jack Youngblood