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.