Catching up

Thought I'd better get the blog back in gear before the arrival of the NFL Combine on Wednesday.

Besides hiring Al Saunders as offensive coordinator, the Rams' biggest move this offseason was the decision to bring Billy Devaney aboard, apparently in the role of authentic personnel chief, a position the Rams' front office has officially, and sorely, lacked for some time. Devaney was previously Atlanta's assistant GM - no, that's not a big feather in the old cap, but his years working with NFL legend Bobby Beathard in Washington and San Diego make up for that. (Although Beathard DID draft Ryan Leaf.)

Not to damn Mr. Devaney with faint praise, but the fact that anyone besides Scott Linehan and/or Jay Zygmunt is making the calls now, on draft day and beyond, by itself is a major step forward for the Rams. Much as Linehan admitted his limits with the good Saunders hire, Zygmunt has admitted his with a good hire. Score it a B+.

(If you're wondering what happened to Tony Softli, I imagine he's wondering the same thing.)

At secondary coach, Linehan promoted the former assistant coach, Ron Milus, into the lead role. Milus is another FOSL, Linehan crony via the U-of-Washington, but has a good record as a secondary coach, especially where interceptions are concerned. It's probably no coincidence that OJ Atogwe picked off so many passes last year. The Ram secondaries this decade have not been good at ball-hawking, with the brief exception of Aeneas Williams; Milus may well represent a positive change in aggression. Grade: C

At tight ends coach, Judd Garrett is on a year's leave from the team and assistant coach Jim Chaney was moved to the position. The intent seems to be to have Garrett come back. Linehan certainly didn't recruit for a bona fide NFL TE coach; Chaney's never done it. Then again, the Rams throw so little to the TEs, it's probably enough for Chaney to work on blocking with Joe Klopfenstein. It's a positive that the team has given Garrett the time he needs to work out his family issues, but it's a coaching step down at a position that's already bad. Grade: D+

Finally, at QB coach, Terry Shea will replace Doug Nussmeier, who moves on to Fresno State as offensive coordinator. That's arguably a step up for Nussmeier, who I'm guessing got lucky to have that nice offer available when Saunders stepped in and the writing on the wall said that he'd be out of there pronto in favor of Saunders' guy. Which would be Shea, who coached QBs under Saunders at Kansas City. We'll have to ignore the more unsavory lines of Shea's resume, which include last year at - UGH - Miami, and a 2004 season as Chicago's OC in which the Bears finished 32nd in the NFL in points and yards (Granted, their QB situation was a hellish mess).

I'll credit Shea for having unsuitable material in Miami and Chicago, though, and have faith that he can turn Marc Bulger around after having made Trent Green a Pro Bowl QB. Grade: B-

That's still working out pretty much to a solid C for the Rams' offseason moves. Then again, they probably should get a full letter grade on the curve because of how poor the previous situation was, especially at OC and in the front office. Let's give them a B overall.