Jackson and Brewer

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Had some down time and was able to catch up with my friend who is a long time Rams scout.  He's mainly focused on college player evals of course (which he can't talk about and I don't bother asking), but we did talk about existing Rams sleepers and here is what he passed on.  Will all these guys make the leap, who knows, but they are ones to watch:

Eric Banks - when this UDFA made the 53 out of training camp, everyone said "who?" (including me).  He's a very powerful kid.  He ended up back and forth from the practice squad, but they view him as a piece to the DL depth equation, particularly if they make a cap cut or trade (i.e. Brockers or Robinson) or don't resign Fox.  He's better against the run right now than the pass, which is not unexpected.

Chandler Brewer - the year before last, he graded out as one of their top OL's in the preseason.  He can play guard or tackle.  His game and build are similar to Edwards, not as powerful but with quicker feet.  If they end up trading Havenstein, in large part its because they have Evans, but you don't make that move if you don't also have swing depth, and that is Brewer.

Triston Jackson - when an UDFA makes the 53 and stays there for the entire season without playing but never gets released to the PS, its obviously a dead giveaway that they really like this kid and other teams do too.  He caught a lot of deep balls at Syracuse.  He's not a straight burner per se, but has good game speed and route talent, and they are not resigning Reynolds.

From a FA perspective, this is not earth shattering news, but he said there will be a few restructures and cuts, potentially more cuts than anticipated, because there will be lots of FA's out there in the middle/end of the free agency period looking for a deals of any kind, so they think they'll be able to fill holes with team friendly contracts.  Also, don't completely rule out a tag on JJ if they can restructure enough existing contracts, although he'll be pissed.

From a draft perspective, again not earth shattering and he can't go into specifics, but they are anticipating much greater variability than normal since its harder to grade prospects with the lack of film, interviews, combine. etc., and they think the other teams' grades and draft boards will be all over the place.  Their strategy will be BPA but centered in the early rounds around certain positions, he mentioned edge in particular - with Floyd likely gone, Ebukam likely gone, Lewis a question mark with injuries, its their number 1 hole by a long shot.  If they had to play tomorrow, they have or could get a center quickly/cheaply, and they have enough at ILB (Howard is back and he also mentioned Rozeboom as a sleeper), but who is going to start at either OLB?

Anyway, not saying I agree with all of the above, just passing on the info.