James Hall re-signs

stltoday.com reports the Rams have re-signed DE James Hall to a two-year contract. The new deal is no doubt less expensive than the contract in effect when he was cut last month. He was due $3.5 million for 2008, well in excess of his value to the team. Hall is a decent run-stopper but a big disappointment as a pass-rusher, with only 2.5 sacks last season.

Sadly, that was still good enough to make Hall the sack LEADER among Rams DEs, a group with about as much promise as the Kucinich for President campaign.

Think about it this way. Osi Umenyiora had a six-sack game for the Giants last season. Rams DT LaRoi Glover on his own had a respectable six sacks in 2007. The Ram DEs, however, totalled 5.5. All season.

Hall rejoins Leonard Little, Victor Adeyanju and Eric Moore, and I'm not sure there is a worse group of DEs in the NFL right now. Adeyanju and Moore are still waiting to get their SECOND career sack! Little turns 34 this season and is coming off an injury-filled, ONE-sack season. And he's the --proven-- commodity. Hall has exceeded five sacks in a season once. Adeyanju has one sack in two seasons; if he's ever going to show he can get to the QB, it better be soon. He's had maybe two or three good games as a Ram, counting preseason. Journeyman Moore has one sack in 22 NFL games.

It would be unconscionable for the Rams to head into 2008 with these four DEs, the same group they ended 2007 with. And looking at frankly how bad the Rams are at this position, I don't know why they bothered to bring Hall back, whether or not he's as good (bad) as any remaining free agent DE. If he's anything more than a camp body on this team, it's not a good sign for next year's pass rush. The Rams are going to have to hit on more than one DE in this year's draft to drag this carcass of a DE corps off the floor of the NFL.

Another note about Hall: the teams he's played on in his career have a won-lost record of 36-92. He's been on a 2-win team and three 3-win teams. Only in his rookie year of 2000 in Detroit did he play on a team with a winning record. His teams' winning percentage of .281 is one of the worst, if not the worst, mark for any NFL player.

Rams moving training camp? To Wisconsin?

After a 3-year run at Rams Park, the Rams are apparently going to move training camp to Wisconsin this year, says Scott Linehan, speaking to the Post-Dispatch as though he has unilateral authority on the subject. Wisconsin's advantages would be cooler weather and better opportunity to scrimmage against other teams. Wherever the Rams set up camp, they'll be close to the Bears, Chiefs and Packers.

Disadvantages would seem to include cost, one reason the team stopped training in Macomb, and facilities, another reason the team stopped training in Macomb. Another disadvantage is that training camp is like three months away and NOBODY IN THE ORGANIZATION KNOWS WHERE THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE IT. That is some awesome damn advance planning right there, isn't it?

I personally dislike the move because it puts a large obstacle in the way of folks who want to see training camp. Macomb's far enough away that I only attended training camp once while the Rams were there (2000). With the Rams practicing in St. Louis, though, it's been easy to see them any weekend. Heck, I played hooky from work to catch a weekday practice last year. A move to Wisconsin - no, it's not Timbuktu - substantially increases the effort and expense required to see the
team. Certainly it would limit me to one visit at most, with zero being very likely.

If most fans are in my situation, there figures to be a mere trickle of fan reports for future training camps, which borders on tragedy, because local media coverage of training camp is completely inadequate. Hell, even when the team's training here, the local radio stations can barely be bothered to report live from camp. I don't see a big media caravan rolling up to Whitewater or Oshkosh or Oconomowoc or wherever. As good as Jim Thomas is, there's not enough of him. The Post-Dispatch is the Cardinals' paper first and foremost. We're going to be limited to the restricted space the paper
gives Jim and to whatever the Rams let Nick Wagoner say on their site.

The tragedy is that you have a fan base craving for info, and a team and media outlet putting little info out. The fans have succeeded greatly at bridging that gap on their own. Where did you first find out about Cliff Ryan kicking butt, or Quinton Culberson making eye-opening plays in camp last year? I know I heard it first from fan reports.

Moving Rams training camp to Wisconsin will have the same effect as closing training camp to the public altogether. The rabid fans the team should be cultivating are going to be starved for information instead. Once again this offseason, the Rams, a franchise that should be doing everything it can to be fan-friendly, have instead chosen another fan-unfriendly move.

Do you people want fans, or not?

Glenn Dorsey

Based on a recent radio interview with Rams VP Billy Devaney, the Rams' pick at #2 overall if the Dolphins take Chris Long will be LSU DT Glenn Dorsey, unless serious questions are raised by his upcoming workout.

From what I currently know, I'd prefer Jake Long or Vernon Gholston, Long for sure, over even a healthy Dorsey. I'm confused that Dorsey weighed in at the Combine at 297 when the NFL lists him as 20 pounds heavier. I'm confused to see scouting reports on last year's LSU defense say you can run right up the middle on them, and that Ali Highsmith is the heart of the defense more than Dorsey is. You can run right at Dorsey? Do the Rams need to add that element to their run defense? I don't need this much confusion with the #2 pick overall.

To his credit, Dorsey won almost every trophy college football had to award last year. He took home the Lombardi Award (best lineman or LB) (not to be confused with the Lombardi Trophy), the Lott Trophy (award for personal character and athletic excellence), the Nagurski Trophy (best defensive player), and the Outland Trophy for best offensive or defensive lineman. He's been a high-quality football player.

And there's a lot to be said for the strategy of just drafting the guy who won the Lombardi Trophy. The last one the Rams drafted was Grant Wistrom. Other past winners: Randy White, Lee Roy Selmon, Cornelius Bennett, Warren Sapp, Julius Peppers, Terrell Suggs, Tommie Harris and AJ Hawk.

The Nagurski Award has a decent history, with Sapp, Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey, Roy Williams, and Suggs among past winners.

And plenty of outstanding pros were Outland Trophy winners, including Merlin Olsen and Orlando Pace. (Pace won the Outland and the Lombardi in 1996.) Other winners: Alex Karras, Tommy Nobis, Ron Yary, White, Selmon, Mark May, Bruce Smith, Will Shields, Jonathan Ogden, Chris Samuels, John Henderson, Jammal Brown and Joe Thomas.

Of course, I've been doing some cherry-picking the last three paragraphs. ZACH WIEGERT won an Outland, too. So did Robert Gallery, Rien Long and Kris Farris. Lombardis have been won by the likes of Jamal Reynolds, Corey Moore and Percy Snow. True, Dorsey has won both awards, just like Orlando Pace, White and Selmon. And Tracy Rocker. And Steve Emtman.

Emtman's case just shows that while awards could be a good measure of a player's pro prospects, they sure can't predict injuries, which have taken down award winners like Emtman, 2005 Outland winner Greg Eslinger, 2004 Lombardi winner David Pollack or 2000 Nagurski winner Dan Morgan.

And injuries are the big issue in Dorsey's draft background. If the Rams are going to make him their first round pick, at a position they arguably don't have a need, he'd better perform and test out physically like the Terminator at his workout.

Spice up the NFL's draft contest

The NFL is currently running a contest that sounds pretty interesting at first: "Announce a pick live at the NFL Draft." Hey, that'd be exciting, right? You get to announce the Rams' pick of Chris Long, Jake Long or whomever?

Then I read the fine print and found out the prize is to announce a pick in the seventh round. Yeah, that's not so exciting, though it would get you in the same room as Suzy Kolber. But, hell, the seventh round? Just announcing the pick wouldn't be enough for me.

For a seventh-rounder, the NFL should give the winning fan the right to make the pick. Now that'd be interesting.

The ongoing joke at WR

The Rams aren't exactly striking gold in their efforts to fill the sizable hole they made for themselves at WR by screwing Isaac Bruce over. stltoday.com reported Reche Caldwell made a free-agent visit today. Caldwell has exactly one pro season with more than 30 catches. His best year was '06 with the Patriots, when he caught 61 passes, or six more than Isaac did last season. He had all of 15 catches in 8 games last year with the Redskins. 40 less than Isaac.

Then there's the rumor the Rams were looking into a trade for Michael Clayton. Assuming the Rams' front office wasn't confusing the Bucs WR with the George Clooney movie, he's not even the first Recent LSU Wide Receiver Who Has Been A Big Disappointment In The Pros I'd want to go after; I'd prefer to go after Josh Reed.

Actually, you know who I would have gone after to keep the Rams' WR situation settled. If they weren't stupid, the Rams would have kept Bruce, instead of unnecessarily creating a hole in the roster. They wouldn't be scrambling around now after other teams' draft busts or scraping the waiver wire barrel to give Marc Bulger enough targets.

They're still $12 million under the cap, by the way. They could have paid up to keep Bruce and Brandon Chillar and still be $10-10.5 million under the cap.

I hear Eddie Kennison is still available.

Chillar to Green Bay

There was little expectation Brandon Chillar would return to the Rams this year, and the team did their level best to make that prediction good by only offering a 1-year, $1 million contract. Chillar went to Green Bay instead, for a 2-year contract worth $2.7 million, if I remembered correctly. That's a curious offer from Green Bay, who already have one of the league's best LB units in AJ Hawk, Nick Barnett and Brady Poppinga. It certainly looks like they'll stay loaded at the position.

Meanwhile, the Rams' offseason of sitting around while the team gets worse continues. Chillar's successor will be either Chris Draft, who didn't beat him out last year, or Quinton Culberson, who's only slightly less raw than sashimi. By failing to make Chillar even a modest offer (in NFL terms), they've created another hole, another need to fill, that they could easily have afforded to avoid.

Good luck to Brandon up north, and good luck to probably Culberson in taking over.

Combine this with the Rams' CB situation, and they're sure counting on some young guys to step up this season.

David Macklin signed

stltoday.com reports the Rams have signed CB David Macklin to a 1-year contract.

With increasing chatter/innuendo/distrust that Fakhir Brown will blow, or has already blown, the league drug test for the third time and be suspended for the season, the Rams at a minimum had to get some veteran insurance. Even if Brown manages to beat the Piss Man, the Rams can use the veteran depth.

Veteran depth, though, is about all Macklin's qualified for. He's not going to set the world on fire. Another 5'10" CB doesn't help a secondary that's already too small. 14 INTs in 8 seasons doesn't make him much of a playmaker. He's 29, so his upside's limited. He went from starting two seasons for the Colts to their bench, then from starting two seasons for the Big Dead to their bench. Oh, and HOORAY, ANOTHER Big Dead alum. He had limited playing time with the Redskins last season.

Macklin's arrival doesn't really change much as I see it. Assuming Brown smokes his way out of the league, what the Rams really need is for the light to come on for Bartell and for Jonathan Wade to make a leap forward in training camp. It's best if the Rams can credibly start Tye Hill with Bartell, and Wade as the nickel. In particular, if Bartell can't beat Macklin out at CB, there's little point keeping him around much longer. Macklin probably doesn't even lessen the Rams' need to draft a CB, though I expect they have lowered the draft priority of that position with his arrival.

David Macklin doesn't figure to have much of an impact here, other than to be a measuring stick of how well or poorly the Rams have performed at drafting defensive backs.

Brett Romberg signed

stltoday.com has reported that the Rams have signed C Brett Romberg.

Signing Romberg eliminates a lot of uncertainty. He gives the Rams starting experience at the center position, which they didn't really have before. The shape of the offensive line at this point:
C: Romberg backed up by Setterstom/Incognito
G: Bell left; Incognito/Setterstrom right; Goldberg additional depth
T: Pace left; Barron right; Gorin and scrubs backing up.

Romberg was only signed to a one-year contract, so they're either going to have to draft a center like I've been projecting, or trust that Dustin Fry will turn into something. Probably depends on how their board stacks up in the 4th round.

Mock draft crunching (3/18)

Mock draft crunching (3/18)
One of these days I'm going to have to work out the RamView AccuDraft, but for now, I'm content to play off the projections of others and offer my alternative draft strategy. Here's where we sit 40 days before the draft.

------------------------------------

NFLDraftcountdown
2 - Chris Long
33 - Mario Manningham

Scott Wright makes my decision easy by changing his mock to have Miami select Jake Long first. I am not at this point a Manningham fan; you can get better size for the same speed at the 2nd round pick. Wright isn't projecting the third round yet, but since I doubt Miami would take a second OT, I'll go after someone who can step in at third tackle and be groomed to become a starter in the near-term. An All-America, super pass blocker at #65? Sold.

I'd go: 2 - Chris Long, 33 - James Hardy, 65 - Anthony Collins

The Hardy pick is complicated by Antoine Cason still being on the board then, combined with what appears to be a growing need at Rams Park for another CB. Certainly worth considering.

Also, I want some of what Wright must be smoking to have Jeff Otah going at #5 overall.

------------------------------------

Draftdaddy
2 - Vernon Gholston

They still have Chris Long going first, and right now, I'm inclined to agree that Gholston is the player to pick if Miami takes Chris Long. Unless you think the Rams are better off with Adeyanju at RDE than Barron at RT. They really screw me up for the 2nd round pick, though, because they take Hardy, Limas Sweed, Cason, Gosder Cherilus and Sam Baker off the board in the first round. With the selection left, I'd almost rather trade down out of #33.

But for now I'd go 2 - Gholston, 33 - Tracy Porter, given the selections left. Devin Thomas is the
top WR left, but he has "workout wonder" all over him.
Alternatively, one could go 2 - Jake Long, 33 - Lawrence Jackson.

-------------------------------------

Walterfootball
2 - Gholston
33 - Cherilus
65 - Eddie Royal
97 - Steve Justice
128 - Wesley Woodyard

I would pretty much jump up and down if the Rams get the players Walterfootball projects.
If I can get Cherilus in round 2, I'm taking him. That doesn't leave a great selection at CB
in the third round, though, unless you want to get another raw Jonathan Wade-type like
Justin King or Charles Godfrey.

My call:
2 - Gholston, 33 - Cherilus, 65 - Andre Caldwell, 97 - Steve Justice, 128 - Chevis Jackson.


-------------------------------------

Drafttek
2 - Chris Long
34 - James Hardy
66 - Erin Henderson
98 - John Sullivan
130 - Wesley Woodyard
162 - Jo-Lonn Dunbar
174 - Jack Ikegwuonu
202 - Michael Grant

One one hand, the Drafttek mock plays out great: Hardy AND Cherilus are available at 33.
On the other hand, I can't see drafting Ikegwuonu, who blew out his knee in January.


My call:
2 - Chris Long, 34 - Hardy, 66 - DaJuan Morgan, 98 - Sullivan, 130 - Patrick Lee,
162 - Drew Radovich, 174 - Taj Smith, 202 - Terrence Wheatley

Alternately, Cherilus at 34 and a WR like Royal or Jordy Nelson at 66. I'm really
starting to like the idea of drafting Morgan, though.

I'll want to do a lot more defensive back research to see why Patrick Lee is one
man's 2nd-rounder and another's 5th-rounder. Same for Wheatley, who was 3rd round
in Walterfootball and 7th on Drafttek.

I'll try to keep up more quickly with mocks as they come out.

Rams sign Green, Gorin, Carter

Catching up with some of the recent signings...

The Rams did in fact sign Trent Green to back up and apparently light a fire under Marc Bulger. I think it was a pretty ridiculous contract, three years for a 38-year-old QB coming off two major concussions, and for what Green's getting, the Rams could easily have resigned a certain 35-year-old WR who would be much more valuable to the team.

Ok, that horse is not only dead now, it's glue; I'll try to stop kicking it.

Jerome Carter was re-signed to a veteran minimum contract, though if I were in charge I'd be drafting a safety next month, possibly as early as round 3, and I don't expect Carter to make the team this summer without really surprising us with his play.

Finally, Brandon Gorin was re-signed, and I fear he's the intended third tackle. Steve Loney the Crony recommended him to Scott Linehan last year, and is here to coach him this year, so that pipeline of awesome offensive line talent between here and Phoenix stays open. Gorin doesn't do much for me in addressing the Rams' weak offensive line depth. He's the 3rd-best tackle on -this- roster, but that's saying very little.

Tackles: Pace, Barron, Gorin, Pettitti, LeVoir
Guards: Bell, Incognito, Goldberg, Leckey
Centers: Setterstrom, Raiola, Fry

I would prefer:
Tackles: Pace, Barron, rookie, Gorin
Guards: Bell, Incognito, Setterstrom, Goldberg
Centers: a real one (even a rookie), Setterstrom
plus a veteran guard/center type.

Keep your fall schedule cleared, Andy McCollum.

Gee, how did the Rams get so thin at WR?

From stltoday.com:

Rams say Holt is staying put

By Jim Thomas

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

03/09/2008

Once the question was posed, the Rams official laughed for a good 20 seconds, then told a reporter: "If that were the case, we might have to line you up at wide receiver."

Comment:
Hilarious. The Rams ARE one Torry Holt injury away from having nothing at the WR position. Somebody tell Mr. Front Office Funny Guy that if the Rams dumped Torry, besides having to line up no-names at WR, they'd have to line up 10,000 fans every week to fill all the rapidly-emptying seats.

Rumors swirl like March wind this time of year. But the Torry Holt trade rumors — to Philadelphia or Cincinnati, take your pick — are simply hot air, according to coach Scott Linehan. Linehan says the Rams aren't shopping their star wide receiver.

"There's no interest, no discussions about trading Torry Holt," Linehan said. "He's on our team, we want him on our team, and I hope he feels the same way."

Besides, it simply makes no sense to move Holt. The release of Isaac Bruce leaves Holt, Drew Bennett and Dante Hall as the Rams' top three wide receivers. The team needs to add another quality body at receiver, not subtract one.

Comment:
Jim Thomas is just stating the facts here, and I absolutely agree with him. And naturally, I would like to point out that the Rams HAD a "quality body" at receiver.

You know, the guy who's third all-time in receiving yardage?

Rams sign Goldberg, Becht

The Rams made a couple of decent depth moves today. I just mentioned yesterday that their offensive line is perilously short of depth, and they have taken one step toward addressing that by re-signing Adam Goldberg. Goldberg can play tackle, but his main role should be as guard depth.

In the middle now, that gives the Rams Bell / Incognito / Setterstrom backed up by Goldberg and various scrubs. They still need to add a center - either a bonafide starter or a guard/center backup - and a third tackle. Right now, the third tackle appears to be either Goldberg or Bell. Bell may have the quickness to survive out at RT. We've already seen Goldberg at RT, though, and know he's not a guy we want to see forced to start there again. The Rams need to add a starter-quality RT. The draft could very easily provide that player.

I can't explain why I missed Anthony Becht when I was scoping out FA blocking TE prospects. Dumb oversight on my part. The Rams needed a good blocking TE, and Becht fills that bill. He probably replaces Aaron Walker, and who knows what happens to Joe Klopfenstein now. I won't be surprised in the least to see Becht at #2 on the Rams' TE depth chart.

It looks like the team is trying to learn its lessons from last year - you have to have quality offensive line depth and you have to have TEs and FBs who can block in short-yardage situations.

Their homework is not done, though.

Footnote: I've seen more than one joke out there about Becht being a FOMB, meaning Friend of Marc Bulger, since the two played together at West Virginia. My guess is that Becht amounts to a FOAV, Friend of Art Vandelay, since he's coming from the Tampa Bay running game, where Vandelay coached the RBs.

Yes, I know it's Valero.

Trent Freaking Green?!?!?

Let me get this straight. At 35 years of age, Isaac Bruce is too old to keep around, and Rams coaches like Scott Linehan and Al Saunders won't fight very hard to keep him on the team.

But these same people are hot after THIRTY-EIGHT-year-old Trent Green? A guy, who, the next time he gets hit, is going to get up thinking he's Batman? I pass completely on this idea. It's a stupid idea. Health-wise, talent-wise and age-wise, there are MANY better options out there.

Don't get me wrong, I like Trent Green. I like him enough to wish he would retire while he can still remember his kids' names, the way to drive home or how to feed himself. He has taken way too much damage TO HIS BRAIN the last two seasons for it to be smart to continue to play. Whether Green goes into broadcasting, coaching/teaching, starts his own business, plays golf or just sits around the house all day watching NFL Network, all are better choices for the rest of his life than it is to risk the health OF HIS BRAIN by sticking around too long as an NFL QB.

By encouraging him to play by actively courting him, the Rams are complicit in any career-ending or quality-of-life-threatening injury inflicted on Trent here, moreso than with any other player because Green's concussion history is obvious, and an obvious reason for him to stay the hell off the field. If Green rejoins the Rams, and takes another blow to the head, it'll be a far dumber, far less necessary mistake even than the Rams made by cutting Isaac Bruce. And it would be tragic idiocy from an organization that has already gone through it with Chris Miller, and to lesser extents, Kurt Warner and Marc Bulger.

There are lots of options for the Rams at backup QB. Trent Green shouldn't be one of them.

Jacob Bell signed

If I had ever finished my free agency rundown, Jacob Bell would have been high on my list of potential acquisitions for the Rams. He can play at either tackle or guard position (some reports say he can play center, too), and is a lot younger and a lot cheaper than Alan Faneca would have been. I'd rather have signed Bell than Faneca, and I really like this signing.

The Rams are set on the left side of the offensive line now with Bell and Orlando Pace, and Bell plausibly gives them a little tackle depth. Mark Setterstrom and Richie Incognito will apparently line up in some combination at RG and C. This line is in serious need of quality depth right now, though, and needs to draft a couple of players and add a couple of FAs in order to avoid another 2007-style disaster. Those four starters, plus Alex Barron, backed up right now by the likes of Rob Petitti, Nick Leckey, Mark LeVoir, Dustin Fry and Donovan Raiola, is quite simply not going to cut it, which should be clear to even the least knowledgeable of observers. The simple acts of resigning Adam Goldberg and even Milf Brown would do a lot to shore up the Rams' o-line depth, but it shouldn't stop there.

The Bell signing is very good, but the Rams' front office had better have the sense to see their work on the offensive line is far from done.

What the hell are the Rams doing at DE?

The Rams cleared $7 million or so under the cap by re-structuring Leonard Little and cutting James Hall. Though a capable run-defender, Hall was due to make too much money for a defensive end who never gets to the quarterback. Hall is also what TV viewers would call a "show-killer". Among current players, the winning percentage of the teams James has played on is one of the NFL's worst, if not the worst. Hall's most important tackle last year was when he took Leonard Little down at the beginning of the "Romo Rumble" in Dallas.

That said, Hall's good enough to bring back at a minimum contract. The Rams better do something. Right now, they have three defensive ends - Little, Victor Adeyanju and Eric Moore, who combined for TWO sacks last season. (UFA Trevor Johnson would jack that total up to three if re-signed.) Little's the only proven starter. The Rams did nothing in free agency despite all that cap room, while solid young DEs like Antwan Odom and Travis LaBoy were picked up by other teams. (And yes, I'd wonder what the hell the Titans are doing if I were a Tennessee fan.)

Whether or not the Rams are done dawdling, the FA cupboard at DE is pretty much bare now. The best pass-rusher left is probably 32-year-old Mike Rucker, and since 2003, he hasn't even averaged five sacks a season. That he's pretty clearly the best DE left tells you the quality of the market. The Rams would be just as well off re-signing Hall, or asking Adam Carriker to lose a few pounds and move outside, an idea I'm not real enamored with. Adam doesn't have the speed off the edge.

Ultimately, the Rams' apparent plan to upgrade the DE position is gambling that the Dolphins don't take Chris Long with the first pick of the draft. A risky plan, to be sure; if it doesn't work, the Rams may have to draft Vernon Gholston at #2. Short of that, defensive end looks like it will be the diciest position on a team that will be dicey at a lot of positions next season.

Josh Brown signed

Josh Brown was signed to replace Jeff Wilkins. In the current market, this was certainly the best the Rams could do. Otherwise, you're relying on a street free agent like Kevin Lovell (nice kicker for the Rams last preseason) or (inexplicably) current Ram Justin Medlock (who lasted exactly one game with the Chiefs last year). Or you put yourself in the position where you have to draft a kicker, and we all know how I feel about that idea.

Brown's a good kicker, and a clutch kicker. By getting younger at the position, the Rams have strengthened themselves at the position. (Though I hope Josh works on his tackling technique in the offseason - he'll need to know how.) And they've also weakened a division rival, Seattle, instead of strengthening one, San Francisco, like they did when they cut Isaac Bruce.

All the same, it is very hard to swallow a $14.2 MILLION, FIVE YEAR contract to make Brown the HIGHEST PAID KICKER IN THE NFL (seriously? higher than Adam Vinatieri? Brown didn't even go to the Pro Bowl this year, you know - Nick Folk did) when they won't even put $4 million out for Isaac.

I like that the Rams acted quickly and effectively in the wake of Jeff Wilkins' retirement. I hope Josh Brown can keep the Curse of the St. Louis Kicker in the history books they way Jeff did.

I just don't know about going balls-out for a kicker when this team has so many holes, including the one they dug for themselves on offense by letting Isaac go for much less money than they spent on Brown.

Isaac to San Francisco

Well. Quite a bit has happened since the last entry.

I'll start with Mike Martz and San Francisco's shrewd move to capitalize on the craven idiocy of the Rams' "brain trust" by signing Isaac Bruce to a two-year contract. The same contract he was after here, was willing to sign here, was promised here and had richly earned here. Instead, he was unceremoniously dumped instead by an organization he clearly outclasses right now anyway.


Rams Nation has to be fired up that we are free of the best receiver in the history of the franchise, easily the second-best receiver on the team, and the man who is the face of St. Louis Ram football, while we've still been able to hang on to bungling head coach Scott Linehan and the notion that Drew Bennett will ever be able to do anything on a football field besides underachieve.


Two people in particular did not impress me in this process, a shame, because it was their first chance to make a good impression. #1 is Al Saunders, who Bernie Miklasz repeatedly said didn't put up much of a fight to keep Isaac. #2 is new personnel chief Billy Devaney. These are two guys I'm counting on to evaluate talent well if this team is going to have any kind of future. And their first decision is to decide it's better to dump Isaac Bruce and keep Drew Bennett. (And who's the #3 WR in this offense supposed to be? Dante Hall? Marques Hagans?) Yeah, that's not the high-quality decision-making I was hoping for when these guys signed on.

Among free agent WRs, Isaac trailed only Randy Moss and Bernard Berrian in catches last year. The Rams won't replace Isaac's productivity through free agency, nor does it appear they plan to. They won't replace him quickly through the draft, and they sure as HELL won't replace him from their current roster. We hope the Rams can draft a WR who will one day approach Isaac's abilities. Would have been nice to have Isaac around to mentor in the meantime, but no. The Rams made the classless and clueless move of a classless and clueless organization, and made it even more distasteful by making themselves worse on the field in the process.

And isn't that the whole point? I'm really sick of the smartass sports pundits around here who proclaim this was a good/necessary move, "football is a business", and that fans who wouldn't have cut Isaac need to "get real" or "grow up" or that we're too sentimental to be knowledgeable. Fellas, in what universe do you improve your team by releasing your second-best receiver, especially when there is no one remotely close to his abilities waiting in the wings? Particularly when it's easy to keep him and he wants to stay here?

And don't tell me about all the legends who ended their career on other teams. Isaac Bruce isn't Joe Namath with the Rams, Franco Harris with the Seahawks, Tony Dorsett with the Broncos, ad nauseum... making those comparisons just shows me that you can't tell a player with a lot of game left in him from a player desperately trying to hang on to glory. Isaac's not like Joe Montana with the Chiefs, because Joe's old team was wise enough to have a decent replacement on hand. I'd say he's more like (classless) Junior Seau with the Patriots. Good coaches know when a player still has something left, and how much. The Rams tell those players to hit the bricks.

If the Rams are lucky, Isaac's departure will resemble Emmitt Smith's from Dallas. After they cut Emmitt in 2002, without a decent backup plan at RB, Dallas went from 5-11 to 10-6 and the playoffs. (With Quincy Carter handing off to Troy Hambrick, and Richie Anderson leading the team in receptions. Then again, the Rams don't exactly have Bill Parcells patrolling their sidelines, either.)

Cutting Isaac wasn't even a necessary cap move. The Ram defense could EASILY afford to lose any combination of low-hanging-fruit cap targets like James Hall, Corey Chavous, and LaRoi Glover more than the offense could afford to lose Isaac Bruce. (And let's not forget the D has already lost Brandon Chillar.) Isaac's cap room ended up going to a kicker the Rams didn't even know they were going to need when they cut Isaac.

Furthermore, it was transparent that Isaac would go to the rival 49ers if the Rams did cut him. He'll be nicely productive there, while Rams fans will have to hope Bennett can stop letting passes soap through his hands for interceptions long enough to help the Rams get into field goal range every now and then. Right now, I don't see much reason to believe the 49ers won't spank the Rams twice next season, which will make it awful hard for the Rams to turn around their 3-13 mark of last year.

Linehan, Zygmunt, Saunders, Devaney, ad nauseum aren't using enough of their brains if they can't see that the bitter taste in the fans' mouths from last year isn't exactly placated by deciding it's better to have Isaac Bruce on the 49ers than it is to have him here.

To Isaac, thanks for being simply the best. To the Rams, good luck to those of you who made this decision working long enough for Rams fans to ever forget it or play it down.