RamView's Top 5: 1 - Byron Leftwich 2 - Kurt Warner 3 - Kyle Boller 4 - Jeff Garcia 5 - Kerry Collins
Sleeper: Charlie Batch
Gawd No: Ken Dorsey
Rams FAs: none, Brock Berlin was signed to a 1-year contract January 27
Rams analysis: Marc Bulger's coming off his second poor season in a row. Since the beginning of 2007, he has 28 INTs vs. 22 TDs, is completing only 57.7% of his passes and has a passer rating of roughly 70, putting him down at the bottom of the league. Ever since signing a long-term, $60-million-plus contract two years ago, the guy who was once good enough to drive Kurt Warner out of town has looked mostly shot. Bulger had one - ONE! - 300-yard passing game last year, versus eight full games below 200. Bulger was a lot better player with Steven Jackson in the backfield, though, especially the last month of last season, by which time he could be said to have improved all the way "up" to solid-but-not-spectacular. Bulger's contract currently makes him too expensive to cut in any event. The Rams exacerbate the QB situation by, honestly, having very little behind him. 38-year-old Trent Green threw a pick every 12 attempts in 2008. Um, that's not good. Brock Berlin developed into a modestly successful preseason QB last year, but as he turns 28 in July, can hardly be considered a rising prospect. The new Rams QB mentor, Coach Curl, has his work cut out for him.
Viewing the field: Leftwich is still young at 29 and is coming off a good season in relief for the Steelers. He's very tough and strong-armed, and David Gerrard's flameout in Jacksonville makes him look better in the wake of his shocking cut right before the 2007 season there. Warner is obviously the best QB of the potential free agent pool; he's not #1 here because of his age and possible desire to retire. Boller has been a bust in Baltimore, but he's only 27, would probably be cheap, and has the physical tools and occasional bursts of competence of a QB that fools guys like me into thinking he'll be a solid QB for the right coach. Jeff Garcia's mobility and familiarity with the West Coast offense give him a slight edge over the similarly-grizzled Collins. With the Rams moving to the WCO this season, there's talk in Rams Nation of bringing Garcia in. At 38, though, he's not an upgrade in age over Trent Green. There are a mess of FA QBs the Rams, or any other team, would be best to avoid, including Rex Grossman, Joey Harrington, J.P. Losman, J.T. O'Sullivan and Patrick Ramsey. It is a tribute to how truly awful Ken Dorsey has been for the Browns that he beat all of those suspect QBs for the "Gawd No" distinction. The Steelers will probably let Leftwich go and get Batch re-signed to back up Ben Roethlisberger, but a savvy team might be able to sneak Charlie away. He played well for Pittsburgh in 2007 (missing 2008 with a blown knee) and is just 34. (Matt Cassel was already franchised when this was written and therefore was not considered.)
RamView's move: With Brett Freaking Favre possibly retiring for real, this, the 1,500th time, the folks at ESPN are depicting the Jets not only as a leading player for FA QBs, one of their draft analysts, Todd McShay, has them taking Mark Sanchez of USC with the #17 pick. If they do that, RamView would be on the phone with them immediately, asking what they want for, no, not Kellen Clemens, but third-string QB Brett Ratliff, who I believe is the next Kurt Warner in the making. I'm serious. All last preseason the guy was doing nothing but firing missiles and hitting receivers perfectly in stride, from any distance. I was disappointed Clemens, who is awful, maintained the #2 role ahead of him, and I wondered if the Jets knew what they had there. Short of realizing that pipe-dream of a move, Bulger's contract leaves the Rams merely rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic at QB for a year. And with the team chockablock with other needs, spending additional bushels of money on the position wouldn't be wise. I would like a younger, more mobile alternative for Green at QB2. Laugh if you will, but Ryan Fitzpatrick would come cheap and would be at least as good as Green, more than likely better, while also making the Rams 12 years younger at the position. I'd never consider him a long-term solution for starting QB, but I'd go after him, and also do something the Rams desperately need to do, draft someone this year to develop as a QB of the future. The Rams' many needs probably prevent them from using a 2nd-rounder on Josh Freeman (Kansas State), but the 4th would likely offer candidates such as Graham Harrell (Texas Tech), who sounds like an ideal WCO QB to me, or Curtis Painter (Purdue).
What the Rams could do: If the Rams make any move at all, I'm guessing it would be for Garcia, who Pat Shurmur would have coached at Philadelphia. But again, I can't see making any move for anything costing more than the veteran minimum, even though in this scenario, I'd bet Garcia, even at the age of 38, would get an opportunity to start. (Best of all, it gives me an opportunity to run a photo of Garcia's wife, Carmela DeCesare.)
Prediction: Coach Curl worked with Trent Green in Kansas City, and RamView's bet is that Trent stays aboard one more year as the primary backup to Bulger. I'm also betting the franchise finally realizes it needs to draft a young QB of the future and does so in April, with that player expected to supplant Berlin.
More FA QB previews: Nick Wagoner
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