Ram Tough: Les Snead

[rabueed]

you better watch comments like that around these parts some old guy hiding in the bushes not gona say names "knucks" my job out and grab you!


alright pollo lets hear why you graded this offseason a C

"You had better watch comments like that around these parts. Some old guy hiding in the bushes, not going to say any names (Knuckles), might jump out and grab you!

Alright, Pollo. Let's hear why you graded this offseason a C."

There you go, Knuckles. I did my best. I'm not quite fluent in this form of dialect yet, but I have experience with this language from other posters on PSD. I'm especially confused by the bold portion.

[JoeDirt05]

I will never conform!!!!

its a revolution!! You should be use to it since you lived through the american revolution

[cg_la00]

^^^ wut a jerk

[JoeDirt05]

[PolloLoco]

you better watch comments like that around these parts some old guy hiding in the bushes not gona say names "knucks" my job out and grab you!


alright pollo lets hear why you graded this offseason a C

Doh - I've been away on a 4 day bachelor party for a friend. Hadn't had a chance to post.

Snead's best move - which is undoubtedly good, was to trade our #2 pick for 3 #1's and a #2. That would be an A or A+ easily on it's own, except for Cleveland's assertion that their offer was just as good, and that the trade was done out of friendship with Washington. Since Cleveland's offer included 2 #1's this year, and I'm confident that all of Cleveland's picks will be higher than Washington's - I have to cap my grade on this transaction at a B.

Besides that - going into this offseason I'd say 90% of analyst and fan predictions of our greatest needs were WR, OL, and OLB. After this offseason - you could say we're still the worst in the NFL at all 3 positions. I'd say that it's an almost unarguable position as regards OL, especially after Evan Silva just ranked the league's OL's and we came out as expected even after the offseason.

http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nf...-line-rankings

Wells was a definite improvement, but it's sad when your best upgrade on the league worst offensive line was featured as one of the top 10 overpaid free agents in this free agency period.

WR - I can't really think of any worst WR corps in the league. Maybe Miami post Brandon Marshall? At a position where even first round rookies rarely make a major impact, we relied on a 2nd round WR instead of spending our money on many reasonable veteran options.

At OLB, the changes were even worse, relying on Dunbar - a high motor and upside prospect who nonetheless graded out subpar on profootball focus, and a 7th round draftpick.

I understand upgrading the defense, which they really did at DT and CB depth. But statistically, our corners were already solid barring injury. The problem is that Snead spent almost all of our assets on defense, and gave Bradford next to no one to throw to or defend him. It'll be difficult to envision our offense moving the ball.

In the end, the strength of Snead's offseason will be less dictated by our wins/losses in year 1, than by Bradford's progress or lack thereof. Bradford's our biggest asset and investment - and if he has a season ending injury it would be catastrophic to our future. The good news is that Barkley is available with the top pick. The bad news is that we may get the #1 pick if Bradford gets crippled & we're on the hook for his ~$12 million cap numer regardless.

Finally - I have to question our talent evaluation when Snead claimed no interest in Matt Kalill, rated Michael Floyd a 2nd rounder, and didn't even consider Stephen Hill at all despite his measurables and pedigree out of Georgia Tech.

[JoeDirt05]

alright i understand your reasoning.

The first thing i wanna talk about is the OL imo they will be good this year. Just look at the 2010 season we had one of the top lines in the league this year we sucked because everyone and their dog was injured we had to start guys that got cut off of other teams. We did go out and upgrade the OL by getting one of the top centers in the league and who was called by aaron rogers as the smartest man on the team and only second to him in terms to knowing everything about the offense. Yes we overpaid him but that shouldnt be surprising if we want top free agents to come to the STL we have to overpay look at finnegan he wanted to play for fisher but we still had to pay him 50 mil. Not only did we sign one of the top OL prospects but we also signed the man who many consider to be the top OL coach in paul boudreau and i believe he can make our OL good by himself.

We did add weapons for sam bradford we added brian quick who our own coaches said reminded them of TO you never see coaches make comparisons like that. Sure we didnt get stephen hill but who cares we didnt even have him visit so it wasnt a surprise that we didnt pick him he had a good combine look what happened last time we picked a WR who had a good combine that would be donnie avery and look who we picked him over a guy by the name of d. jackson you cant always look at the flashy combine players there is a reason you dont hear about them until that combine thats because they havent shown up! Many of the analysts that I have read that talk about Brian Quick say he has a very real chance to be the best WR in the whole draft they feel he is more athletic then Justin Blackmon and we all wanted him so i am happy with the Quick pick. Then the Pead and Givens picks were two more that I love. Givens is the vertical threat we have been lacking since avery was injured and later cut and that DX was suppose to be till bless his heart his knees gave out again Pead has the chance to do something special his rookie year he will see the field a bunch and can come right in and be that homerun threat we so desperately need some people have compared him to a darron sporles/leshawn mccoy type of impact back and he is half the player either of them is we will have one hell of a back and bradford will have one hell of a receiving option.

After doing tape study of Rams rookie Brian Quick, NFL Films'
Posted: 1 days 8 hrs 33 mins ago. | Source rotoworld.com

After doing tape study of Rams rookie Brian Quick, NFL Films' Greg Cosell says Quick has a chance to be the best receiver in the 2012 draft class. Cosell says Quick and Justin Blackmon ran similar routes in college, and "you can make the argument" that Quick shows more athleticism than Blackmon on tape. [...]

rotoworld

http://www.turfshowtimes.com/2012/5/...couting-report

and the trade with the redskins id rather have 2 picks for the next 2 years because we could have 2 firsts for the next 10 if we trade down every year with the lowest of the firsts until we finally wanna cash two in and move up for someone really really good and i think RG3 is overrated and will have a horrible year what did he do in his first 2 years in college it wasnt anything special if it wasnt for this good season he would have been a 3 round pick people are saying so i hope he plays like he did his first two years at baylor ray:

[JoeDirt05]

http://nflfilms.nfl.com/2012/05/07/c...content_stream

link to the actual article not through TST

[rabueed]

There is something I want to add to the discussion above.

I want to put a disclaimer first and remind everyone that I don't know much about the NFL world and how it works yet.

So my questions is isn't it possible that maybe Snead and Fisher weren't satisfied with the group of players at our needed positions in this draft? Don't you think that maybe they're waiting on truly filling those positions next year when the likes of Robert Woods and some great O line prospects are available?

Frankly, I think we did pretty well in this draft. We got a lot of value at our picks. If they stay out of trouble, they seem to be great fits. They all have great work ethic, which I like.

I think we're overexaggerating our woes on the offensive line as well. We all know that our O line couldn't stay on the field long enough to protect Bradford. With Wells directing the group and showing his leadership on the line and our team healthy to start the season, I don't see why our line will suffer.

remember, all it takes is for one player for the entire line to collapse. I'm hoping that doesn't happen this year, and I don't think it will.

[PolloLoco]

I hope you guys are right - but I think this will be another offseason where I'll be pointing out the homer grading by the end of the season. I think we'll be lucky to get 5 wins.

As for the O-line, the argument has been made for 2010 - but we were definitely not one of the best lines. Ranked 15 if I remember correctly - and that was with the most OL friendly pass offenses ever. I'm sure you all recall cursing Shurmur - since the ball was out of Bradford's hands so quickly, the OL had no need to sustain blocks. Make Sam wait for his receivers to get open on mid to long range routes and hopefully we won't see last year's results.

As for Brian Quick - it's foolish to expect #1 WR numbers from a rookie. Take a look at this list of best rookie WR seasons ever, I've found a few - but this was the most current.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/7...istory/page/11

Take note at how few of the BEST EVER would qualify for #1 WR stats on a non-Rams team. In the last decade, the top 4 rookie WR's were Anquin Boldin (2003), Michael Clayton (2004), Julio Jones (2011) and AJ Green (2011). That's 4 WR's out of how many taken over that time? Are we really expecting, or requiring Quick to post better numbers than Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald did in ther rookie years? If you look up the numbers, most great WR's blew up in their 2nd or 3rd years.

This holds especially true since Quick is described as a raw rookie, playing at a lower level who struggled with better competition (including the Senior Bowl). Quick looks like a great talent - but he's not the right #1 weapon for a 3rd year quarterback behind a leaky offensive line.

I think you all missed my point about evaluating prospects like Michael Floyd, Matt Kalill and Stephen Hill. It's not that they weren't drafted - it's that they were underrated (Floyd) or not considered at all (Kalill, Hill). It's our GM's job to bring in and evaluate guys at need positions. Floyd especially bothers me, because he wins out head to head against Brian Quick in most every way. He played and excelled against a higher level of competition, he's a smooth route runner and is NFL ready. He's an inch shorter but graded out faster. So I'm amazed that our GM graded him lower than Quick. That's a bad sign.

[rabueed]

I hope you guys are right - but I think this will be another offseason where I'll be pointing out the homer grading by the end of the season. I think we'll be lucky to get 5 wins.

As for the O-line, the argument has been made for 2010 - but we were definitely not one of the best lines. Ranked 15 if I remember correctly - and that was with the most OL friendly pass offenses ever. I'm sure you all recall cursing Shurmur - since the ball was out of Bradford's hands so quickly, the OL had no need to sustain blocks. Make Sam wait for his receivers to get open on mid to long range routes and hopefully we won't see last year's results.

As for Brian Quick - it's foolish to expect #1 WR numbers from a rookie. Take a look at this list of best rookie WR seasons ever, I've found a few - but this was the most current.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/7...istory/page/11

Take note at how few of the BEST EVER would qualify for #1 WR stats on a non-Rams team. In the last decade, the top 4 rookie WR's were Anquin Boldin (2003), Michael Clayton (2004), Julio Jones (2011) and AJ Green (2011). That's 4 WR's out of how many taken over that time? Are we really expecting, or requiring Quick to post better numbers than Calvin Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald did in ther rookie years? If you look up the numbers, most great WR's blew up in their 2nd or 3rd years.

This holds especially true since Quick is described as a raw rookie, playing at a lower level who struggled with better competition (including the Senior Bowl). Quick looks like a great talent - but he's not the right #1 weapon for a 3rd year quarterback behind a leaky offensive line.

I think you all missed my point about evaluating prospects like Michael Floyd, Matt Kalill and Stephen Hill. It's not that they weren't drafted - it's that they were underrated (Floyd) or not considered at all (Kalill, Hill). It's our GM's job to bring in and evaluate guys at need positions. Floyd especially bothers me, because he wins out head to head against Brian Quick in most every way. He played and excelled against a higher level of competition, he's a smooth route runner and is NFL ready. He's an inch shorter but graded out faster. So I'm amazed that our GM graded him lower than Quick. That's a bad sign.

Honestly, I fully believe that the O line will be OK this season. I don't know if you guys have taken a look at our new OL coach this year. Guy has a track record of coming onto teams with crappy O lines and turning them into gold. In fact, he's the reason Steven Jackson had a career year in '06-'07. I think we will be top 10 OL this year. Maybe optimistic, but I have faith.

As for our offensive weapons, I'm not unrealistic. I highly doubt Quick does above average or elite this year. I expect average numbers from him. The reason why I don't expect less is because we have no one else to throw to. I do think Pead was a great grab though. I see him as a Sproles type, which would be a nice versatility to this new offense. I see us running more than passing this year, and Pead as a hybrid offensive player is just what we need - satisfies both Bradford and Jackson.

We grabbed undeveloped offensive players and highly touted defensive players. You think it should have been vice versa. Please Bradford and protect him rather than bulking our defense into possibly one of the top 5 secondaries in the league. I don't necessarily disagree with you. Protecting Bradford should be priority #1, but I think our OL coach was a great acquisition this offseason too that will turn around our line.

Am I unhappy with the way we went though? No, because either way these were positions we needed to address. Every person we drafted, we needed. I'm just glad we got value at those positions. We'll get around to filling every position in time. I'm hoping we contend for a playoff spot or at least a winning record this year, but I'm not banking on it. Baby steps.

We should do a sig bet though Pollo. The Rams get more than 5 wins. Yeah?

[ramfan63074]

I gave it a B just because of the fact we did nothing for a Guard, Tackle and no proven #1 receiver...Even though I do like the improvements we made to the team..I like a couple of the Undfa we picked up now if they can play at an NFL level is a different story..We will find out..

[PolloLoco]

Honestly, I fully believe that the O line will be OK this season. I don't know if you guys have taken a look at our new OL coach this year. Guy has a track record of coming onto teams with crappy O lines and turning them into gold. In fact, he's the reason Steven Jackson had a career year in '06-'07. I think we will be top 10 OL this year. Maybe optimistic, but I have faith.

As for our offensive weapons, I'm not unrealistic. I highly doubt Quick does above average or elite this year. I expect average numbers from him. The reason why I don't expect less is because we have no one else to throw to. I do think Pead was a great grab though. I see him as a Sproles type, which would be a nice versatility to this new offense. I see us running more than passing this year, and Pead as a hybrid offensive player is just what we need - satisfies both Bradford and Jackson.

We grabbed undeveloped offensive players and highly touted defensive players. You think it should have been vice versa. Please Bradford and protect him rather than bulking our defense into possibly one of the top 5 secondaries in the league. I don't necessarily disagree with you. Protecting Bradford should be priority #1, but I think our OL coach was a great acquisition this offseason too that will turn around our line.

Am I unhappy with the way we went though? No, because either way these were positions we needed to address. Every person we drafted, we needed. I'm just glad we got value at those positions. We'll get around to filling every position in time. I'm hoping we contend for a playoff spot or at least a winning record this year, but I'm not banking on it. Baby steps.

We should do a sig bet though Pollo. The Rams get more than 5 wins. Yeah?

Great post! Though we disagree - I feel you got my point completely. Let me think about the sig bet . . . my only hesitation is that I'd never want to be in a position to root against the Rams. However, perhaps I won't care about a sig - and will root for the Rams to win anyway? I'll get back to you.

[rabueed]

Great post! Though we disagree - I feel you got my point completely. Let me think about the sig bet . . . my only hesitation is that I'd never want to be in a position to root against the Rams. However, perhaps I won't care about a sig - and will root for the Rams to win anyway? I'll get back to you.

Haha, good point. I wouldn't want to turn you against us.

[PolloLoco]

Haha, good point. I wouldn't want to turn you against us.

A screw it, if I'm wrong - I'll be the first to happily laugh at myself. You're on.

Though - can I add a clause? If we win as many as 7 games, but Bradford goes down with a serious season ending injury, it's a draw?

[bda28]

Betting against your own team? That's some terrible fandom, Pollo.

But at least you aren't being a chicken about it?

Man, I'm good.