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2021 off-season discussion


BStanRamFan

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2 hours ago, MDY10 said:

I kind of feel like the Rochell pick was because they didn’t feel confident about Long and how he has developed. I could definitely be wrong though. They seemed to really want to grab a CB since the pre draft process started. Would be awesome to have 4 guys they can trust. 

 

Maybe tutu or Djax if he’s still an option there? All I know is that it needs to be better than last year lol it was hard to watch. Maybe Xavier Jones can battle for return duties with Funk? Not sure if he has that return experience or not. 

 

I’m not upset he’s gone. He’s made some big plays but I feel like had horrible drops. He was great after the catch. Doesn’t stafford like throwing to TEs a lot? How do we feel about Higbee going into this season? Also, Hopkins better get his S*** together or someone’s taking his job. 

I agree with most of this except for brockers. I think he will be a bigger loss than people think. I’m very curious about the guys we picked up in the draft like Bobby brown. Hoping they can fill in nicely for where he was. I guess Ashawn is still around too. 
As for JJ, I agree it’s a big loss.. however I think we’ve lucked out with Fuller and Burgess in the last draft. Burgess was playing pretty well before the injury. We know what Fuller did. Hopefully Rapp can get something going because that would be a massive help. I’m very curious about Paris Ford as well. 
 

i know I’m probably in the minority here but I actually liked the rams off season. Would have been pretty sweet if they picked up someone like Trent Williams and kicked Whit to guard.

Middle backer and the edge across Floyd are others to watch out for. If Terrell Lewis can stay healthy he could still be a huge steal. Obo will have one last chance to prove himself imo. Also needs to stay healthy. We will finally see how Howard does as well. 
 

Anyone have any idea when Tristan Jackson will get a shot? Seems like they’ve been holding on to him for a while and won’t place him on PS or else he will be gone quick. 

 

I loved this off-season. JJ was always going to leave, and we did what we could to prep for that - having three safeties that can play.

I appreciate what Brockers did as a glue/locker room guy, but we had very poor to mediocre run defenses with him in 2017 and 2018 (and all through the Fisher era too) - and he doesn't offer much rushing the passer. He was good last year but I think his play is easily replaceable. Biggest concern is that AD liked him.

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I mean we are still a Super Bowl favorite in the league, but as much as you are calling out people for being doom & gloom, you seem to be swinging the pendulum as far the other way, if not even further

On 5/10/2021 at 6:59 AM, FrantikRam said:

We have the best CB duo - by far - in the NFL. That allows us to have a little more uncertainty at that third CB position.

We do? I mean Ramsey is probably the best CB (Top 3 for sure) in the league, so sure that would make our "duo" high up there automatically. And Im a DWill fan, but I dont think that makes them the best duo. If Williams is paird with just some other Top 25 CB in the league you would never make that claim.

On 5/10/2021 at 6:59 AM, FrantikRam said:

Long has more talent than Hill did - and Rams fans wanted Hill cut every year - that he had a good year last year seems more of a product of the secondary. Long could end up being an upgrade there, but like when we went from Fowler to Floyd, I doubt it'll be a downgrade.

Not sure we can claim that about Long vs Hill. If you would have said that at the start of each's rookie campaign sure, but Hill is a proven commodity, and a pretty good one. We still have no idea what Long is in the league. Hill was playing well before Ramsey got here, and I dont know anyone who wanted Hill cut. Thats just revisionist history to fit your narrative. I dont think weve seen anything from Long that says we can pencil him as not a downgrade. Its nothing like going from Fowler to Floyd.

On 5/10/2021 at 6:59 AM, FrantikRam said:

I'm not sure what you want in a returner? Kick returns are negligible these days, and the only thing we want in a pint returner is to secure the ball. That is an unknown for now, but I imagine McVay will get it fixed. When he focused on the defense last year he helped turn it into the best unit in the league - special teams are likely to get some of that focus this year.

Did you just wipe the return game debacle of last season from your mind? No one is asking for Dante Hall here, but we were severely kneecapping our offense with a horrid return game all year, So to go from that to average, would be significant, and if we could get slightly above average would be a massive bump to the offense as a whole. Downplaying the return game issues (and the special teams issues as a whole) is just glossing over a massive problem because you seem to want to pretend its not there

On 5/10/2021 at 6:59 AM, FrantikRam said:

Everett had the highest drop percentage last year. This one shows that you just have an issue with the Rams right now in general - replacing Everett from 2018/2019 would be a concern - replacing Everett from 2020 will be easy.

I am hopeful for Hopkins, but Everett had more TALENT than all the other TEs on this roster put together. Yes he had his drops this year, but he was a weapon that teams had to worry about. Im sure McVay can scheme up something different, to create the same type of threat, but this hand waiving of losing talent and not replacing it seems to be a theme here. Ive been saying Everett was gone since before 2020 (I wanted to trade him) but with the idea that we make some attempt to upgrade there. Its not "easy" to replace him when the only thing you brought in was later round picks/guys who will be switching positions.

On 5/10/2021 at 6:59 AM, FrantikRam said:

JJ is the big issue - really the only issue. Hill, Everett, Blythe, Ebukam, Fox, even Brockers - are all just average players, some elevated by their situation. Replacing average players with unknowns is what good teams do.

Again, more hand waiving. Brockers is going to be missed, and those who pretend he wont are just lying to themselves. Im not getting into that long debate agiain, but no one on the roster is what Brockers was for us at this point in their career. I hope Bobby Brown will be very good one day, but to expect that from a 4th Round Rookie is asking alot. 

 

When you look at this 2021 team as a whole, there are still plenty of worries to have. But so many seem to be turning a blind eye to it all because we got the one shiny new thing. So lets actually look at it broken down;

QB - Yes we upgraded, but no matter how much anyone wants to bash Goff, he want a complete bum at the position. Its not like we went from Keith Null to Aaron Rodgers.

RB - Sure, you can make the claim that "its another year under their belt" and call that an improvement. But realistically, we lost a veteran back, and we expect so much out of the young RBs because its the easiest position to transition into the NFL. Akers/Henderson may be better this year than last, but we may have seen their level already last year, and we might just get more of that. Which granted is plenty good, but to count that as an upgrade from last year is a bit of a stretch.

WR - Yep, got better with Djax and Tutu. We've added some dynamic components to that WR corps. Thats something most agreed we needed

TE - Not sure how you can possibly say we upgraded here. While a "downgrade" may feel minimal (depending on how you feel about Everett) but its not a plus here.

OL - While I agree Corbett should be a better Center than Blythe, I dont think he is some massive game changer either. He would be Average at best to me, but that is also assuming that his replacement at Guard is as good or better as well. Not to mention we actually lost depth along the line, Whit is another year older, and so on. So maybe this will be better? Maybe it will be more of the same? Or if we have on serious injury, we are in some major trouble.

DL - Got worse. No way around it, losing Brockers makes this a worse DL. Now hopefully with the Best Player in the league, we can still make it work, and the new pieces can fill in to make it a dominant unit based upon one man, but that is asking for even more of Donanld that we ever have before.

LB - Didnt get any worse, but cant say that we can expect it to be better. Maybe Jones can be better than some of what we already have? Maybe Lewis can stay healthy? But again, I dont think any rational fan expects it to be all that much different unless its Lewis breaking out of his shell AND staying healthy.

DB - We lost TWO starters. In no way are we going to be better. Heres hoping that the Draft picks from the past 2 years can really step up to just patch the holes. Thats not even expecting them to be better, but hoping that they can be good enough that we dont see a major regression.

 

Again, to recap, we got noticeably better at one position (granted the moat important) but the actual jump has been greatly exaggerated by most. And then marginally better at another position to compliment that upgrade (WR). You cant confidently say we got Better at any other spot on this roster. While I can point to a few pretty significant regression points, with out even getting into losing Staley on the Defensive side as well. We have some high level talent, but we are walking on a razors edge to be a contender come January.

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38 minutes ago, StLunatic88 said:

When you look at this 2021 team as a whole, there are still plenty of worries to have. But so many seem to be turning a blind eye to it all because we got the one shiny new thing. So lets actually look at it broken down;

QB - Yes we upgraded, but no matter how much anyone wants to bash Goff, he want a complete bum at the position. Its not like we went from Keith Null to Aaron Rodgers.

RB - Sure, you can make the claim that "its another year under their belt" and call that an improvement. But realistically, we lost a veteran back, and we expect so much out of the young RBs because its the easiest position to transition into the NFL. Akers/Henderson may be better this year than last, but we may have seen their level already last year, and we might just get more of that. Which granted is plenty good, but to count that as an upgrade from last year is a bit of a stretch.

WR - Yep, got better with Djax and Tutu. We've added some dynamic components to that WR corps. Thats something most agreed we needed

TE - Not sure how you can possibly say we upgraded here. While a "downgrade" may feel minimal (depending on how you feel about Everett) but its not a plus here.

OL - While I agree Corbett should be a better Center than Blythe, I dont think he is some massive game changer either. He would be Average at best to me, but that is also assuming that his replacement at Guard is as good or better as well. Not to mention we actually lost depth along the line, Whit is another year older, and so on. So maybe this will be better? Maybe it will be more of the same? Or if we have on serious injury, we are in some major trouble.

DL - Got worse. No way around it, losing Brockers makes this a worse DL. Now hopefully with the Best Player in the league, we can still make it work, and the new pieces can fill in to make it a dominant unit based upon one man, but that is asking for even more of Donanld that we ever have before.

LB - Didnt get any worse, but cant say that we can expect it to be better. Maybe Jones can be better than some of what we already have? Maybe Lewis can stay healthy? But again, I dont think any rational fan expects it to be all that much different unless its Lewis breaking out of his shell AND staying healthy.

DB - We lost TWO starters. In no way are we going to be better. Heres hoping that the Draft picks from the past 2 years can really step up to just patch the holes. Thats not even expecting them to be better, but hoping that they can be good enough that we dont see a major regression.

 

Again, to recap, we got noticeably better at one position (granted the moat important) but the actual jump has been greatly exaggerated by most. And then marginally better at another position to compliment that upgrade (WR). You cant confidently say we got Better at any other spot on this roster. While I can point to a few pretty significant regression points, with out even getting into losing Staley on the Defensive side as well. We have some high level talent, but we are walking on a razors edge to be a contender come January.

QB - Goff wasnt a bum but McVay thought we have seen the best of Goff already so why keep him HOPING for either him to get back to what he was in 2017-2018 or even better. Stafford we have seen him play at a very high level but not nearly what we could be. What he could be is Matt Ryan in 2016 when he won the MVP with his offensive coach Kyle was running the show. You pair Stafford with McVay and all the weapons on offense you get a truly strong MVP caliber play. Not just for half a season like Goff did in 2018 but for the entire season. Ryan had the Falcons up big in the Superbowl that same season as well so the Falcons shouldve won the Superbowl with Ryan more than likely winning Superbowl MVP.

HB - I disagree with you on Akers/Henderson not improving. I especially think Akers is going to take another step forward. He has stud and superstar written all over him. Teams are going to respect Stafford way more than they respected Goff. They are going to respect DJax ability to got deep and McVay is going to open up the playbook more because it was clear he was holding back last season and possibly the season before last. With all the being said it will only help with lighter boxed for Akers/Henderson to run in and I believe McVay will get back to using the screens like he did when Gurley was catching 50+ passes.

WR- We both agree huge upgrade just in terms of speed and explosiveness at this position. Kupp, Woods, and Jefferson can do their thing underneath while DJax and Tutu can go deep. Occasionally Kupp, Woods, and Jefferson can go deep but their bread and butter will be short to intermediate. Teams wont be able to creep up at the line of scrimmage to defend Kupp and Woods closely because if they do Stafford is going to kill them over the top with DJax and Tutu.

TE - Again I disagree. Hibgee best season came when there was no Everett due to injury. Higbee finished with like 4 or 5 straight 100yd receiving games and was one shy of either tying or breaking the record for consecutive 100yd receiving games for a tight end in a season. Have we forgotten just how great Higbee can be? We wont miss Everett. Higbee need to be the main guy anyways in the offseason at tight end in the same was Kittle, Kelce, and Waller are for their respected teams. Im not saying Higbee are as talented as they are but he is really good. Coming out of college he was being compared to Greg Olsen. We know the capability he has to produce when given opportunities. Stafford will definitely get him opportunities in the same way Stafford was looking for Hockenson in Detroit. So its not like the Rams dont have a quality tight end. Then we havent seen truly what Hopkins can develop into and if Harris can develop he has 1st round traits. 

OL - Its going to be interesting to see the starting five. The Rams organization must feel great about what they have in the building already for them not to go into the draft and select someone on the OL. I dont think the Rams got worse but if you want to say stayed the same I can agree. Losing Blythe doesnt make the Rams worst btw because he wasnt a pro bowler or an all-pro. Its just like losing NRC two offseasons ago. It didnt make the Rams secondary worse. You can say stayed the same until you saw how Hill slotting into that position and how well Williams played then we said the secondary was better. I think Blythe is the NRC of the OL this offseason. Didnt make it worse because he is gone. Stayed the same and if any of the young guys show great improvement especially replacing Blythe at center we could actually say its better.

DL - As much as I love Brockers, I dont think the DL got worse. Im high on Brown. 1st team All-SEC and Jimbo Fisher raved about him in the draft process. He has similar traits to Brockers. He is a force in stopping the run and he has some pass rush abilities. Donald is going to make him better and we forget that Robinson is still there with a full offseason now and we all was raving about his potential when the Rams signed him. If the Rams are going to continue to run the same defense Staley ran while he was the DC then Robinson is going to be critical.

 LB - I agree that it didnt get worse. I will say that if Lewis stays relatively healthy this position has the most potential to be alot better. Floyd had a career season, if Lewis stays healthy I think he can take the leap from year 1 to year 2 and put together a nice season. Jones and Kizer in the middle provide nice tacklers who fly all over the field. The Rams had the 3rd ranked run defense. It just going to come down to health for some guys because I didnt even mention Obo. So again didnt get worse but has potential to be really good as a unit.

DB - Least of my worries. Ramsey makes everyone better. Williams and Fuller both will only get better. Rapp had a down season last year. You can say sophomore slump. Hopefully he can have a bounce back season and Burgess coming back from injury and he looked good in the time he played last season before injury. Rochell could be what Fuller was for the Rams last season as a rookie where he just make plays and seemingly all around the football. I also want to see Long because he will probably start the season off replacing Hill and he has talent he just truly never been given real opportunity.

SPT - Hekker is a stud. We finally have our kicker. We dont have to come into the season wondering who is going to replace Zeurlein. We no longer have to feel uneasy in games that our kicker is going to cost us games because of all the missed kicks and xp's like we for the better part of the beginning of the year. We upgraded in the return game in Harris who the draft experts say he will make an impact on special teams immediately. I think Daniel Jeremiah said Harris is one of if not the best special teams guys in the draft. Not to mention I want to see if the Rams are going to use DJax some on specials as well as Tutu. Then in terms of coverage, the draft pick of Funk is intriguing. Ive heard he could be our version of what the Patriots have in Matthew Slater and we know he is a special teams stud. 

Obviously the loss of Staley hurts the most. Hopefully Morris can come in and do a nice job. I dont expect the Rams to have the top ranked defense again. I do think the Rams will still have a top 10 defense though. The Rams most importantly will improve on offense which will take the pressure off the defense. Regardless of what people might think of the Rams offseason they are currently tied for 3rd in the NFL to win the Superbowl. It actually increased after the poor draft that most people think the Rams had. Before the draft the Rams were 4th in the NFL to win the Superbowl. Its going to come down to health and Stafford. If Stafford is truly the upgrade at QB which most people, including myself, think he is over Goff and the Rams can stay relatively healthy I think the Rams have a great chance to come out of the NFC even over the Bucs. 

 

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1 hour ago, StLunatic88 said:

Again, to recap, we got noticeably better at one position (granted the moat important) but the actual jump has been greatly exaggerated by most. And then marginally better at another position to compliment that upgrade (WR). You cant confidently say we got Better at any other spot on this roster. While I can point to a few pretty significant regression points, with out even getting into losing Staley on the Defensive side as well. We have some high level talent, but we are walking on a razors edge to be a contender come January.

Sometimes keeping what you have in place should be viewed as a success. We all thought Floyd was gone and him re-signing is being grossly overlooked. His 2nd year in this defense should not be scoffed at. 

We have high level talent at KEY positions (IDL, QB, CB, WR); it holds a little more water and has a ripple effect on the players around them as we've seen. 

I will agree in one aspect we are razor thin at O-Line behind Whit and that still scares the life out of me, but if you have a healthy Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey, Matt Stafford, and Sean Mcvay we will be in playoffs. There are fan bases that would KILL to have what we have and instead we're bickering over losing players in FA which is common from top tier organizations. I think fans need to get used to players and coaches leaving every year and the team still having success. This happens to the Patriots, Steelers, Packers, and Saints of the world and they are competitive every year. Guarantee you no one in the Chiefs forum is crying over Sammy Watkins leaving lol

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21 minutes ago, BStanRamFan said:

 

 FYI Number Changes

Woods will be cool in 2. Don’t like D Williams as 11. I’d imagine he was vying for 1 but Desean out ranked him with seniority, which is a shame because D Jax will definitely only be with the team this year. But even if Williams lost out on 1, he should have just stuck with 31. Fuller is one of the few I’ve seen where I like it equally as much between his old and new number. 
I know Wolford already switched from 9 to 3 for Stafford, but Akers rocking 3 would have been awesome. So much better than 23

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1 hour ago, BStanRamFan said:

Sometimes keeping what you have in place should be viewed as a success. We all thought Floyd was gone and him re-signing is being grossly overlooked. His 2nd year in this defense should not be scoffed at. 

I didnt say there was anything wrong with that, but that feels like all we did. I havent seen a single person really believe that Jones changes this LB corps, feels like more of the same. And I will continue to push back, this is NOT going to be the same defense. Its someone else running it. I thing Morris will be solid, but he has never been touted as the defensive mind that Staley showed us last year. The biggest advantage we had was his adjustments at halftime. I dont expect that Morris, or whoever we brought in was going to be replicating that.

1 hour ago, BStanRamFan said:

We have high level talent at KEY positions (IDL, QB, CB, WR); it holds a little more water and has a ripple effect on the players around them as we've seen. 

We have high level talent at VISABLE positions. Id say that LT, Center, MLB, EDGE, FS are all also Key positions, we are lacking High Level talent, or have deteriorating talent. 

1 hour ago, BStanRamFan said:

I will agree in one aspect we are razor thin at O-Line behind Whit and that still scares the life out of me, but if you have a healthy Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey, Matt Stafford, and Sean Mcvay we will be in playoffs. There are fan bases that would KILL to have what we have and instead we're bickering over losing players in FA which is common from top tier organizations. I think fans need to get used to players and coaches leaving every year and the team still having success. This happens to the Patriots, Steelers, Packers, and Saints of the world and they are competitive every year. Guarantee you no one in the Chiefs forum is crying over Sammy Watkins leaving lol

Every team laments the players they lose, Chiefs fans were rationalizing losing both OTs but were also freaking out. Its just the best organizations plan to replace those spots, or use their gained assets (money/picks) to improve elsewhere. We didnt really do that, this year. We have before, and planned a bit to replace guys like JJ and HIll. But because we bolstered two positions that were already playoff level, we couldnt do that elsewhere (OL) and we had to make sacrifices at previous positions of strength (DL). 

Ive said we are a Super Bowl contender, but we are that with some major caveats, mainly Whit staying Healthy. And the other is hoping we can go Stars & Scrubs on the roster. That may work in a very sort term, but it all has to go right. That isnt usually the case in the NFL

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1 hour ago, BEASToftheEAST4 said:

Woods will be cool in 2. Don’t like D Williams as 11. I’d imagine he was vying for 1 but Desean out ranked him with seniority, which is a shame because D Jax will definitely only be with the team this year. But even if Williams lost out on 1, he should have just stuck with 31. Fuller is one of the few I’ve seen where I like it equally as much between his old and new number. 
I know Wolford already switched from 9 to 3 for Stafford, but Akers rocking 3 would have been awesome. So much better than 23

I’m going to miss seeing Kupp and woods have the 10-17 duo. I thought it looked awesome and it’s also my two favorite numbers lol but I guess I prefer that’s woods switches to 2 than Ramsey. 
 

its going to take time to adjust seeing single digits or even a backers wearing 30’s.  

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2 minutes ago, StLunatic88 said:

I didnt say there was anything wrong with that, but that feels like all we did. I havent seen a single person really believe that Jones changes this LB corps, feels like more of the same. And I will continue to push back, this is NOT going to be the same defense. Its someone else running it. I thing Morris will be solid, but he has never been touted as the defensive mind that Staley showed us last year. The biggest advantage we had was his adjustments at halftime. I dont expect that Morris, or whoever we brought in was going to be replicating that.

I agree the half time adjustments were HUGE from Staley, but think we will run the same style of defense. Because why bring someone in that's going to make changes schematically to the number 1 defense in the league? Doesn't make any sense. 

 

3 minutes ago, StLunatic88 said:

We have high level talent at VISABLE positions. Id say that LT, Center, MLB, EDGE, FS are all also Key positions, we are lacking High Level talent, or have deteriorating talent. 

LT is a big concern for me as well. Center I'm OK with Corbett sliding over. MLB couldn't be less valued in this defense as you can tell by who we trot out there. EDGE we just locked up this offseason and anyone playing behind Donald will feast. And safeties are interchangeable in our defense as Fuller and JJIII moved around pre-snap quite a bit. Burgess was touted for his ability to play multiple positions in the secondary.

 

5 minutes ago, StLunatic88 said:

 Every team laments the players they lose, Chiefs fans were rationalizing losing both OTs but were also freaking out. Its just the best organizations plan to replace those spots, or use their gained assets (money/picks) to improve elsewhere. We didnt really do that, this year. We have before, and planned a bit to replace guys like JJ and HIll. But because we bolstered two positions that were already playoff level, we couldnt do that elsewhere (OL) and we had to make sacrifices at previous positions of strength (DL). 

Ive said we are a Super Bowl contender, but we are that with some major caveats, mainly Whit staying Healthy. And the other is hoping we can go Stars & Scrubs on the roster. That may work in a very sort term, but it all has to go right. That isnt usually the case in the NFL

O-Line I agree with you on. I also think we'll see a vet brought in before camp with what little cap we have left. Whit's health is a paramount concern of mine so I agree him going down would be troublesome.

I think we will miss Brockers in the lockerrom more than anything else. A'Shawn getting a full offseason + SJD becoming a starter solidifies our starting D-Line. The rotational guys are just that and I liked the rookies we picked up. We also do not know what they think of the guys they stashed last year on the practice squad. Injuries are a concern every year, but if Stafford/Donald/Ramsey stay healthy, we should be able to make it work. 

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2 hours ago, BEASToftheEAST4 said:

Woods will be cool in 2. Don’t like D Williams as 11. I’d imagine he was vying for 1 but Desean out ranked him with seniority, which is a shame because D Jax will definitely only be with the team this year. But even if Williams lost out on 1, he should have just stuck with 31. Fuller is one of the few I’ve seen where I like it equally as much between his old and new number. 
I know Wolford already switched from 9 to 3 for Stafford, but Akers rocking 3 would have been awesome. So much better than 23

Williams should get dibs over Jackson if it’s about seniority. He’s been with the Rams longer.

Had a feeling when Garrett took 48 he’d go back to 32 he wore at TCU and Fuller would take 4.

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10 hours ago, StLunatic88 said:

I mean we are still a Super Bowl favorite in the league, but as much as you are calling out people for being doom & gloom, you seem to be swinging the pendulum as far the other way, if not even further

We do? I mean Ramsey is probably the best CB (Top 3 for sure) in the league, so sure that would make our "duo" high up there automatically. And Im a DWill fan, but I dont think that makes them the best duo. If Williams is paird with just some other Top 25 CB in the league you would never make that claim.

Not sure we can claim that about Long vs Hill. If you would have said that at the start of each's rookie campaign sure, but Hill is a proven commodity, and a pretty good one. We still have no idea what Long is in the league. Hill was playing well before Ramsey got here, and I dont know anyone who wanted Hill cut. Thats just revisionist history to fit your narrative. I dont think weve seen anything from Long that says we can pencil him as not a downgrade. Its nothing like going from Fowler to Floyd.

Did you just wipe the return game debacle of last season from your mind? No one is asking for Dante Hall here, but we were severely kneecapping our offense with a horrid return game all year, So to go from that to average, would be significant, and if we could get slightly above average would be a massive bump to the offense as a whole. Downplaying the return game issues (and the special teams issues as a whole) is just glossing over a massive problem because you seem to want to pretend its not there

I am hopeful for Hopkins, but Everett had more TALENT than all the other TEs on this roster put together. Yes he had his drops this year, but he was a weapon that teams had to worry about. Im sure McVay can scheme up something different, to create the same type of threat, but this hand waiving of losing talent and not replacing it seems to be a theme here. Ive been saying Everett was gone since before 2020 (I wanted to trade him) but with the idea that we make some attempt to upgrade there. Its not "easy" to replace him when the only thing you brought in was later round picks/guys who will be switching positions.

Again, more hand waiving. Brockers is going to be missed, and those who pretend he wont are just lying to themselves. Im not getting into that long debate agiain, but no one on the roster is what Brockers was for us at this point in their career. I hope Bobby Brown will be very good one day, but to expect that from a 4th Round Rookie is asking alot. 

 

When you look at this 2021 team as a whole, there are still plenty of worries to have. But so many seem to be turning a blind eye to it all because we got the one shiny new thing. So lets actually look at it broken down;

QB - Yes we upgraded, but no matter how much anyone wants to bash Goff, he want a complete bum at the position. Its not like we went from Keith Null to Aaron Rodgers.

RB - Sure, you can make the claim that "its another year under their belt" and call that an improvement. But realistically, we lost a veteran back, and we expect so much out of the young RBs because its the easiest position to transition into the NFL. Akers/Henderson may be better this year than last, but we may have seen their level already last year, and we might just get more of that. Which granted is plenty good, but to count that as an upgrade from last year is a bit of a stretch.

WR - Yep, got better with Djax and Tutu. We've added some dynamic components to that WR corps. Thats something most agreed we needed

TE - Not sure how you can possibly say we upgraded here. While a "downgrade" may feel minimal (depending on how you feel about Everett) but its not a plus here.

OL - While I agree Corbett should be a better Center than Blythe, I dont think he is some massive game changer either. He would be Average at best to me, but that is also assuming that his replacement at Guard is as good or better as well. Not to mention we actually lost depth along the line, Whit is another year older, and so on. So maybe this will be better? Maybe it will be more of the same? Or if we have on serious injury, we are in some major trouble.

DL - Got worse. No way around it, losing Brockers makes this a worse DL. Now hopefully with the Best Player in the league, we can still make it work, and the new pieces can fill in to make it a dominant unit based upon one man, but that is asking for even more of Donanld that we ever have before.

LB - Didnt get any worse, but cant say that we can expect it to be better. Maybe Jones can be better than some of what we already have? Maybe Lewis can stay healthy? But again, I dont think any rational fan expects it to be all that much different unless its Lewis breaking out of his shell AND staying healthy.

DB - We lost TWO starters. In no way are we going to be better. Heres hoping that the Draft picks from the past 2 years can really step up to just patch the holes. Thats not even expecting them to be better, but hoping that they can be good enough that we dont see a major regression.

 

Again, to recap, we got noticeably better at one position (granted the moat important) but the actual jump has been greatly exaggerated by most. And then marginally better at another position to compliment that upgrade (WR). You cant confidently say we got Better at any other spot on this roster. While I can point to a few pretty significant regression points, with out even getting into losing Staley on the Defensive side as well. We have some high level talent, but we are walking on a razors edge to be a contender come January.

 

 

Williams was a top 10 CB last year.

What other team has as good a CB as Ramsey AND a top 10 CB? Hence best CB duo by far 

I probably do swing the pendulum too much the other way, but that's how I see it. What bothers me about a lot of Rams fans is that the same ones concerned about Troy Hill leaving wanted to cut him every year prior to last year. Dude was a role player who benefitted from playing with the best CB duo in the league. Going from him to Long or whoever is not going to be much of a drop off.

I also push back on the Brockers hype - he doesn't rush the passer and has been on below average run defenses more often than not throughout his career. Going from him to A'Shawn will be fine.

Your hesitancy to admit that the RB position will be in much better shape in week one of 2021 than it was in week one of 2020 is strange. 

I was a big Everett fan but an argument could be made that when you combine his drops and below average blocking, he may have been one of the worst TEs in the NFL last year.

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18 hours ago, MDY10 said:

I’m going to miss seeing Kupp and woods have the 10-17 duo. I thought it looked awesome and it’s also my two favorite numbers lol but I guess I prefer that’s woods switches to 2 than Ramsey. 
 

its going to take time to adjust seeing single digits or even a backers wearing 30’s.  

I loved it when Woods and Kupp were 17-18. Once Kupp went to 10 it all changed it anyway so I’m cool with Woods as 2. And I agree with you in saying I’d rather Woods be 2 than Ramsey 

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9 minutes ago, BEASToftheEAST4 said:

I loved it when Woods and Kupp were 17-18. Once Kupp went to 10 it all changed it anyway so I’m cool with Woods as 2. And I agree with you in saying I’d rather Woods be 2 than Ramsey 

I actually got nervous that he would switch to number 5 after he didn’t get number 2 lol 

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11 hours ago, FrantikRam said:

Williams was a top 10 CB last year.

What other team has as good a CB as Ramsey AND a top 10 CB? Hence best CB duo by far 

I probably do swing the pendulum too much the other way, but that's how I see it. What bothers me about a lot of Rams fans is that the same ones concerned about Troy Hill leaving wanted to cut him every year prior to last year. Dude was a role player who benefitted from playing with the best CB duo in the league. Going from him to Long or whoever is not going to be much of a drop off.

I also push back on the Brockers hype - he doesn't rush the passer and has been on below average run defenses more often than not throughout his career. Going from him to A'Shawn will be fine.

Your hesitancy to admit that the RB position will be in much better shape in week one of 2021 than it was in week one of 2020 is strange. 

I was a big Everett fan but an argument could be made that when you combine his drops and below average blocking, he may have been one of the worst TEs in the NFL last year.

Darious Williams was not a Top 10 CB last year, or any year. Its laughable that you are trying to pedal this nonsense. I like DWill, he is good. They are a very good duo, but you are not only claiming they are the BEST in the league, but that they are "BY FAR" and thats just not anywhere close to factual.

And then Hill is only good because he got to play with Ramsey and Williams, but that doesnt apply to Williams playing with Ramsy? Seems like a double standard. Once agiain, no one was calling for Hill to be cut. No one. Did we say he was some All Pro? No, but claiming no one wanted him is just wrong.

Not going to argue this Brockers thing again, but the fact that your first knock on him is the pass rush, tells me you are missing the point of what he does for this defense. AD know is, which is why he doesnt like him leaving, but sure hes just easily replaceable.

And who is comparing Week 1 2020 to Week 1 2021? Doesnt seem like a good comparison point. Its about where we ended last year, to where we are staring this year. My point is that there is a decent chance that how good Akers was in the second half of the season, is the best he will ever be. Thats still very good, but not every player continues to climb, especially at the RB position. Most of them are what they are from the min they step into the league till they start to decline. Thats why its the easiest position for a college player to transition to the NFL. Maybe he makes a jump, but I think he is a very good RB, but doesnt have much more projection that what we saw last year. Thats not a bad thing, its just what I see out of him. We never went "wheres that part of his game we all saw in college?"

And now youre claiming Everett was one of the WORST Tight Ends in the entire league? This is that embarrassing garbage you see from fans as they try to trash guys who left to make themselves feel better about losing them. I mean thats just an absurd comment that completely proves my point. 

 

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