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RockRam
Snead has said lots of stuff. Of course some is to mislead.
But a good GM knows that you have to say some true stuff and some false stuff because if all you ever said was one or the other you'd be easy to figure out. Snead is NOT easy to figure out.
Saying he had Center candidates and what order he said them, probably doesn't reveal much. He certainly wouldn't say we don't have one and are looking for one. So of course he's going to have a ready answer to the questions about Center..... even if he has other plans, which I suspect he does.
The Rams are as tight lipped as it gets. And they make surprising moves. If anyone saw the Jackson signing coming, raise your hand. Even the Stafford block buster was pretty surprising and no one knew until it was a done deal.
Anybody pick Akers and Jefferson as our top 2 picks last year?
There are more moves to come, and I doubt any mock draft gets it right for the Rams. They're just too darn tough to figure out.
You have to play close attention to what they're saying and what they're not saying. They never said Blythe was "a keeper." They talked him up and said he was awesome and all that but they never went so far as to even say we're going to do all we can to retain him. The biggest take away I got from the big speech on Blythe was that they prefer someone who already knows the scheme. A lot of people ASSUMED that meant they want to keep Blythe but that was never stated.
Nuance matters! If one was surprised that Goff was traded for Stafford then they weren't listening for nuance. Their language on Goff gave away that they were looking to move on.
I've tracked everything Snead has said and actions they've taken - such as who they bring in for free agent visits, draft visits, senior bowl meetings, etc - since he became GM. I track how closely they have followed what they say versus what they do. This hasn't been casual for me. I can say without bragging that I doubt many people have followed it closer than I.
Every year I do a prediction thread for fun right before the draft. I think I've done a pretty good job. I've been pretty accurate on the positions they will target and usually at what point in the draft they will target them. I haven't been so great on the specific players; Deadpool has been really good with that.
Point is, Snead is not easy to figure out if you're just listening in a vacuum to what he's saying or doing now. But if you've been watching his patterns for the last 8 years, he's not a complete mystery. EVERY year he gives massive clues. And in this case, I strongly suspect that the order he listed the center options is a major clue.
So to your question on Akers and Jefferson. No, those weren't shockers. In my prediction thread last year, I got all the trading around predictions wrong and that they would target OT early but I was pretty on point on the other positions.
Link Here...I had WR in the 2nd. That was accurate. I projected RB in the 3rd and specifically said it could be their first pick. I had safety in the 4th which is very near where Burgess was drafted. I specifically predicted a safety late Day 2 or early Day 3. I was off a round on edge which I had in the 4th instead of the 3rd. I projected a LB late and one was selected in round 7.
Earlier I mentioned tracking how closely they follow what they say versus what they do. My observation after 8 years is that they have a decent amount of smokescreen sprinkled into their words but even then they almost always follow their big picture words. E.g. "We want to add playmakers," or "we want more explosive plays". Those big concept words have almost never been smokescreens. As an example, drafting playmakers is almost all Snead and Fisher talked about when they drafted Tavon Austin. It's when they're talking about specific players or plans where you get the smokescreens. So when listening to their words, disregard the specifics and listen for the big picture concept.
Timing on WHEN they speak also matters. E.g. This entire offseason I've been adamant that they would bring back Floyd. I didn't post one plan this offseason that didn't have Floyd in it. Why? Because during the season Staley and McVay said he was the 3rd most important piece to the defense. They said this when it wasn't smokescreen season. Snead parroted his value to the defense in the offseason and because of Staley's previous words, I knew it was genuine.
But even if one feels they should dismiss their words, my observation after years tracking them is to definitely pay attention to their actions. Which positions have they been visiting most with? What do their past actions and patterns tell us? Who was a standout at the Senior Bowl? All of that stuff is very informative and they almost always make moves in keeping with those clues.
