I'm a fan of their personnel moves - AND you're putting the best possible spin on many of them.Quote
Rams43
Let’s see...
Don’t really know where to start.
Rams made the tough choices on Gurley, Cooks, Fowler, and Littleton. Those decisions look pretty sound at this point. To me, the only really tough choice here was Fowler. Gurley had to go. 2019 Gurley (and 2020 Gurley and 2021 Gurley, in all likelihood) was easily replaced. Cooks might well rebound, but is going to be high-risk with that concussion history from here on out. Fowler was the one with the hardest-to-replace skillset in the near term, given the money shortage. And they haven't replaced him.
Rams also refrained from drafting OL players early, players that would have never started this year, anyway. Instead, they appear to have gotten excellent value with their picks through at least the 6th round. An amazing haul. A great many of us agreed with the logic of not drafting OL who probably wouldn't displace the young guys they had. For sure, their 2020 draft haul looks very promising.
Extending Blythe for one year for $4M is sure looking good now. It is. Not surprising.
Extending the ageless Whit is looking brilliant so far. It is. And yet while his value extends beyond his play on the field, how/whether he'll hold up thru this year and beyond is a fair question.
Rams resisted rumored trade of Hav for future picks. He’s now looking like the ‘18 version and that’s very good news. I'd need to know the value of the pix offered to assess. But I'm guessing it wasn't much. And if he was injured in 2019, then seeing what he could do with a return to health seems like the obvious move to me given his contract situation. Retaining him was "risky" from the perspective of fans who don't realize how much health might have affected his play. Pretty different from the Cooks injury sitch.
Acquiring Corbett for a 5th is looking like highway robbery. So far, so good.
Jefferson, a late 2nd rounder, is looking like a danged steal right now. Yup.
Wolford as backup QB rather than an expensive vet looks pretty shrewd at this point. All we know is that he looked great in training camp. AND hopefully we never have to see him play meaningful snaps. AND part of making Wolford the backup is the lack of cap space, which the Rams brought on themselves. And they can hope for the best because Jared's ben durable. But until/unless Wolford has to play, what's to assess?
Kiser is now looking like a pure genius 5th round pick. Really? I love Micah Kiser. Been bullish on him for a while. But here's the truth: he's in his third pro season, one of which was lost to injury, and he has ONE really good game to his credit. I think he'll add many more, but *that's* projection (albeit informed projection). As of right now, one really good game in 2+ years does NOT scream "genius pick," even for a 5th rounder.
Don’t look now, but Young in the Peters trade Is definitely exceeding expectations. So far, so good. Word was he was much more than a throw-in. He looked great last game.
Acquiring Ramsey was costly, but Dayum! Who wouldn’t do that trade again? Lol. Honestly, Ramsey's individual, isolated on-the-field performance has been slightly disappointing to me so far. Last game notwithstanding, he has not matched my idea of a "shut down" corner. Course, that's a limited view of his impact. His impact on the D as a whole extends well beyond his individual stats, and it's been a big positive. And his leadership has been a complete surprise. So that's all good. OTOH, we'll never know what those two #1's would have brought. It's easy to discount the value of #1's because the Rams' drafting in subsequent rounds has been so good and because, as long as Ramsey works out, few of us will think about who (hypothetically) we gave up. But, actually, we "gave up" actual players. I look forward to seeing what they can do with actual #1's!
Williams, a UDFA, is now starting CB outside. Talk about value. Yup.
Fuller, a 6th rounder, is now a rookie starting Safety, and a quality one, at that. Whoa! Obviously, he's doing amazing work for a 6th round rookie. But I think we're grading him on a curve precisely because he's a 6th-round rookie who leap-frogged other guys. Lined up against all the other starting safeties in the league, is he really already a "quality" starting safety? I certainly expect him to get there, but it's not clear to me that he's already there.
Gotta include the quality depth on OL, CB, and Safety. Very impressive.
Last, but not least, are the hirings of O’Connell, Staley, and Thomas Brown. Gracious.
Take a bow Les Snead and Sean McVay. You’ve earned it.
Yes, they've earned a bow - but maybe not *quite* to the degree that you've described here, IMO.Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2020 10:25AM by Suh-weet!.
