Good post, very good questions. My thoughts in red.
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The other thing that bothers me is that this does nothing to solve the offensive woes. Goff is off, Gurley is not vintage Gurley anymore and the line has been slowly deteriorating. Most of this is on the OL. I know Rampage says a good D will help a struggling O, but it just gives them more opportunities to shoot themselves in the foot. But, I am assuming there was no real route to solving the OL issues. And since the Rams are allergic to using a 1st round pick on offensive lineman,. all the picks they gave up won't stop the Rams from drafting one in the middle rounds. I think they go this route because they're looking at improving the team any way they can. One of the shows said that a Rams source told them that they would have made the trade if the record was 0-6 or 6-0 which leads me to believe that they are making a more serious commitment of building the D the way wants it done. The zone stuff was just an accommodation for Peters. That's over now. Ramsey is intended to be the 2nd elite piece with Donald. IOW, this is a long term move so we can't only react to what's happening now with the OL. Snead did allude to that in his press conference. I also agree that there may have been no real path to solving the OL. In fact, I got the sense from Snead's presser that they believe in their young guys and are committed to giving them time develop even through the growing pains. Let's hope they're right.
I have no issues with this trade as long as 2 conditions are met. First, if JJ and Kupp get re-signed. Beyond the core of AD, Goff, Gurley and Ramsey, those are the only 2 I am concerned about. Second, as long as Ramsey helps get the defense back to a top 10 unit. Anything less is a fail, because they are middle of the pack as it stood. Agreed here. And if it becomes a consistent top 10 D, I think we're a consistent SB contender with the talent on offense despite the bad OL.
I have a few questions that are still bothering me. Feel free to answer at will:
1. Everyone (almost) is so excited about how the Rams are making football exciting by making all these trades. But lets looks at what they've gotten out of these trades:
a) Sammy Watkins and a 6th for Gaines and a 2nd. That fizzled out and Watkins was gone in a year. They recouped a comp 3rd rounder. So it was basically a swap of a 2nd for a 3rd and a year of Watkins.No big deal because we were told it was Cooks the Rams wanted all along. So: I call this trade a win. At the very least a push. We made the playoffs with him being a big contributor to the offense and while we can speculate that we would have made them without him, we don't know that for sure. And since we recouped that 3rd rounder we honestly didn't give up that much. If they had to do this one all over again, I'd be for this trade every single time.
b) Rams trade a 1st and 6th for Cooks and a 4th. He was the guy that is going to make it all go. Signed him to a contract extension 5 years and 81 mil. Last year was good, but this year (not all his fault) has him on pace for about 60 900 and 3. Or basically stat wise the #3 WR on the team. This is the trade that I was 2nd guessing a few weeks ago. Wouldn't it have been better to just pay Sammy the same money and keep our 1st round pick?
c) Marcus Peters for 2nd a 4th and 6th. He was ok here. But too inconsistent and was never a fit, because he was a zone cb that loved to bait. He never had the chops of skillset for press man. Which begs the question: if he was such a poor fit, why bother. Save the picks and go get a press man corner. or OL depth or a edge rusher. Don't make a trade just because or because maybe he will fit...so now you trade him for a 5th. Its not a good look IMO. This is the trade that I have the most issues with. Normally the Rams do their due diligence. I don't quite understand how they didn't know that Peters doesn't play man coverage well. Maybe he did in college and it hadn't been tested in the NFL? Or my second theory is they knew that and Wade decided that, since he was so talented at playing zone and creating turnovers, he could easily adjust his scheme and make it work. And after trying it for a year and a half, Wade realized he was wrong and wants to get back to what he does well. For me it's just a head scratcher; I don't mind that they went for it because ultimately a 2nd isn't that costly if it works. But I'm a lot more comfortable with the second theory than the first. I've never known Snead and his staff not to do due diligence so that one is kinda scary.
So while I get the excitement and Cooks might work out (concussions are scary and they are piling up) the Rams are 1 for 3 in the trade department and the Ramsey trade will seemingly make of break this version of the Rams IMO. And for the question in all of this: Should we really trust that the Rams brass actually knows what its doing as far as making trades or just spending draft capital to throw darts at a dartboard, and hope they hit a bullseye?
2. I wonder if Chris Harris Jr, who played under Wade, and has made comments about wanting to play for him again was any consideration. This year, or as a FA next year instead of Ramsey for half the cost? I get the age and skill differences, just wondering if he was in any conversations. Harris doesn't play a lot of outside CB does he? I thought he lined up mostly in the slot so I don't think it's an apples to apples comparison. And if he does play outside CB, then he won't be obtainable for half the cost. He's got a rep as one of the top 5 CBs in the league over the last few years. So if he's an outside corner, he won't be far behind Ramsey in salary.
3. I have to think Brockers is gone as they will have no cap for him, which leads me to my next question. Where is Donalds DL and Edge rushing help coming from next year? 2nd, 3rd and 4th round picks are not going to cut it for every hole this team will have next year. And basement bargain FAs isn't really a fix. I think Brokers is gone too. I was trying to push him out the door before this season started. But if they don't resign Fowler, which is looking doubtful to me, edge rushing jumps to the top of the list of needs. Those 2nd through 4th picks might not address every hole but they sure can address edge rushing. This is linked to what I wrote above regarding the OL. I think they may be committed to letting the young Olinemen develop. If so, maybe there is a mid round pick they use for that position but it's possible they don't. Right now, if I had to guess, I'm seeing DL and edge rushing as primary on the needs list followed by OL. If you notice, they generally haven't given up after one year on anyone (besides JFM).
