Friday, February 24, 2012

Rams report, 2/24: Combine off to good start for Rams


* The 2012 Combine is going well for the Rams so far, even before players take the field for drills.

Both coin tosses to break ties for first-round draft position went the Rams' way. Miami won a tie with Carolina for pick #8, giving them just a little better trade-up ammo. Kansas City won a tie with Seattle for pick #11. Maybe they'll take a cornerback Seattle badly wants and leave the Seahawks with this year's equivalent of Jimmy Kennedy.

Robert Griffin III's weigh-in also went well for the Rams. He's officially six-two-and-three-eighths and 223 pounds. Given the amount of lying college programs do about the sizes of their players, it was vitally important for Griffin to clear the size hurdle with flying colors. The Rams' second pick overall is building in value already.

My compliments to Baylor University for NOT lying about Griffin's measurements. They listed him at 6'2" 220. Let's see if Oklahoma State will be as honest with Justin Blackmon.

* More on #2. Pro Football Talk reports mixed messages from the Browns. On one hand, they're reportedly interested in Matt Flynn. On the other, head coach Pat Shurmur says Cleveland will be willing to use their first-round picks (#s 4 and 22) to "move around" in the draft.

The Redskins are said not to be interested in Flynn. Analysts right now say the have two options at QB, RGIII or Peyton Manning.

An ESPN SportsNation poll right now asks what the Rams should do with the #2 pick:
48% say trade it; 23% say take Griffin or Andrew Luck (really?); 29% say take another player.

* Lineman down. Stanford tackle Jonathan Martin will not participate in Combine drills due to food poisoning. That's a bit of bad news for the Rams, because Martin would be in the picture if they trade down to #6 (Washington) or #8 (Miami).

* More Browns news, because I can't help myself. Pat Shurmur called plays last year for Cleveland's colossally-bad offense, doubling as the Browns' offensive coordinator, a frequent hubristic failing of rookie head coaches. So the Browns hired veteran offensive mind Brad Childress to be their OC this season.

Except, Shurmur says he's still calling the plays. It sounds like the plan is for Childress to develop the game plan during the week and stay in the booth on game day, with Shurmur calling plays in a "collaborative" effort. I assume Childress would have plentiful input into in-game adjustments.

Does this smell like the Scott Linehan - Greg Olsen situation to anybody else? Do these head coaches never learn? I'll continue to expect little out of the Browns next season until Shurmur relinquishes the gameday play-calling to Childress. I'd say that even if Shurmur had looked like a genius OC here. A head coach just has too many other things going on.

* Dodgers update, because Stan Kroenke forces me to. A fairly big development in the ongoing saga of the sale of the L.A. Dodgers is that the team led by former manager Joe Torre has dropped out of the bidding. This at first sounds concerning because it would seem to strengthen Kroenke's hand, (and those of the remaining bidders) and Kroenke getting closer to making a big play in the Los Angeles sports market doesn't exactly bode well for Rams fans in St. Louis.

However, the Torre group dropped out of the bidding because McCourt doesn't want to let go of the parking lots around Dodger Stadium. He'll sell the team, and the stadium, but won't sell the parking lots. Hard to see Kroenke making a deal where he wouldn't have the parking lots, either. And this article analyzing the situation also doesn't list Kroenke as one of the favorites to land the team.

Not that I'm resting easy until the Dodgers are officially sold to someone else...

-$-

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