Here's the list of undrafted rookie free agents the Rams are bringing to camp:
(corrected 5/16)
Todd Anderson, FB, Michigan State
Sammy Brown, LB, Houston
Jeremy Caldwell, CB, Eastern Kentucky (left team July 23, own decision)
Jamie Childers, TE, Coastal Carolina (cut August 15)
Derrick Choice, LB, Stephen F. Austin (left team, own decision)
Matt Conrath, DL, Virginia
Matt Daniels, S, Duke
Austin Davis, QB, Southern Mississippi
Cory Harkey, TE, UCLA
Michael Hay, OT, Syracuse (cut July 23)
T-Bob Hebert, OL, LSU
Johnny Hekker, P, Oregon State
Alex Hoffman-Ellis, LB, Washington State
Jamaar Jarrett, DE, Arizona State
Nick Johnson, WR, Henderson State
Noah Keller, LB, Ohio
Joe Long, OT, Wayne State
Rodney McLeod, S, Virginia
Calvin Middleton, RB, Jacksonville State
DeAngelo Peterson, TE, LSU
Quinton Pointer, S, UNLV
Nick Schweiger, RB, Dartmouth
Scott Smith, DE, Texas Tech
Travis Tripucka, LS, Massachusetts
My goal this year is to get every player's profile up before they get cut. Seems modest, I know, but it'd be a first for me. Should start getting them written this week. I'll start with Davis and Harkey, the two whose prospects I've already been enthusiastic about for a while.
You can track the rookie free agent bios here or at the ramview.com draft index page. The Rams' draft class bios are already up there and won't be re-posted here.
-$-
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Rookie free agent profile: Matt Daniels, SS, Duke
SS, Duke
Rankings: 23rd-ranked strong safety by Pro Football Weekly. Graded originally as a player who should make an NFL training camp but has been upgraded to better-than-average chance to make an NFL roster. Free-agent grade.
NFLDraftScout: 9th-ranked SS, #263 player overall (right behind Austin Davis), 7th-round/free-agent grade.
Biography/honors:
2011: Second team Walter Camp Foundation all-American. First team all-ACC. Started all 12 games at strong safety. Team captain and MVP. 126 tackles, 14 passes defended, 2 interceptions. Played in East-West Shrine Game.
2010: Started all 12 games at strong safety. 93 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, 7 passes defended, 1 interception, 3 forced fumbles.
2009: Started all 12 games at strong safety. 83 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, one-half sack, 5 passes defended, 3 forced fumbles.
2008: Played in 10 games with one start at strong safety. 22 tackles, one interception.
Major: public policy studies. Three-time ACC all-academic team member.
Injuries:
2008: Missed most of one game and all of the following two due to a knee injury.
Pro day stats: (NFL Combine SS averages in parentheses)
4.48 40 (4.62 average – Daniels would have been the fastest safety at the Combine)
1.50 10-yard split
35.5” vertical jump (34 3/4”)
10'4” broad jump (10'1”)
6.90 3-cone drill (6.99)
4.31 20-yard shuttle (4.27)
15 bench press (18)
Positives: Strong in-the-box safety and run supporter. Anticipates plays and finds the ball well. Takes good angles and closes to the ball with burst. Excellent all-around speed and closing speed. Textbook form tackler, strong and sure. Shows good feel for zone defense, good ball awareness, keeps his head up. Outstanding character, leadership and work ethic. Excellent production. High football IQ, can call signals and make adjustments on the fly. Projects as a traditional strong safety with deep zone responsibility on passing downs.
Negatives: High-hipped and very stiff. Poor hip turn and change of direction with almost robotic movement. Not smooth in his backpedal. Lacks explosiveness. Liability in man coverage. Poor hands - should have a lot more interceptions compared to his number of passes defended. Has some trouble getting off of blocks. Not suited to succeed on special teams. Weird tendency to flop to the ground when an opponent with the ball comes near him. No, wait a minute, that's the Duke basketball team.
Compares to: Gerald Sensabaugh.
Fun Facts: Among Matt's many academic awards: three ACC all-academic team honors, National Football Foundation/College Hall of Fame University Scholar-Athlete Award, Duke Student-Athlete of the Year, and the Watkins Award, which goes to the top African-American high school student-athlete in the nation. Besides collecting academic awards, Matt also enjoys fishing and skeet shooting.
RamView: RamView mentioned during free agent previews that good in-the-box safeties fall out of the draft every year. Meet Matt Daniels. Faster than any safety in the draft? Rang up a ton of tackles and pass defenses against top college competition? Excellent tackler and run supporter? I can't be the first person to wonder why Daniels wasn't drafted. As it is, the Rams find a player who has a very good chance to walk directly on to the 53-man roster in the open backup safety position. If Daniels can affirmatively answer questions about his coverage skills and special teams ability in camp, he should have this nailed.
Chance of making roster: 55%.
Sources: Pro Football Weekly 2012 Draft Guide, CBS Sports, Wikipedia, Duke University athletics, The Duke Chronicle
Photo: Pro Football Weekly
Kroenke wants to raise the roof?
Details are beginning to leak out about the Rams' stadium demands to the St. Louis CVC. As we know, the terms of the city's stadium lease with the Rams require the Edward Jones Dome to be a "top-tier" facility. The CVC presented a $124 million upgrade plan earlier this year to fulfill that requirement; the Rams' counteroffer, which has been kept secret so far, was submitted May 1st. If the two parties don't have an agreement by June 1st, the matter goes into arbitration, where it will likely be tied up the rest of 2012.
The Rams and the CVC have agreed to keep the Rams' counteroffer under wraps, but because the state of Missouri is still paying part of the bill for the construction of the Dome, the state Attorney General says the negotiation falls under the state's sunshine laws and is going to make the Rams' demands public on Monday.
If the current leak is representative, the two sides are very, very far apart. Stan Kroenke reportedly wants a new, retractable roof on the Dome. This is despite the fact that engineers have already said it can't be done. The current structure won't support the weight of a retractable roof, and if any rain gets in, there's no way to drain the place. It could take as much as $300 million to retrofit the Dome into a convertible.
(Stan's a little old for a midlife crisis - why should the taxpayers have to buy him a $300M convertible? He can get a Lamborghini Aventador for under $400K!)
Joking aside, like everything else the Rams are doing these days, Kroenke's lifting a page from the Atlanta Falcons' playbook. Despite a recent renovation to the Georgia Dome, Arthur Blank's still not happy with its revenue-generating ability and wants a new stadium, even though the Georgia Dome's barely older than the Ed. The joint proposal with the city of Atlanta started out as a new open-air stadium next to the Georgia Dome, but when everyone decided that was ridiculous economically and every other way, it changed to a plan to tear the Georgia Dome down and replace it with a retractable-dome stadium. Finances, you ask? Atlanta's planning to put in $300 million that would come from hotel taxes, and are hoping Blank puts down the other $650 mil. Yeah, good luck with that.
We're heading toward the same scenario in St. Louis. Kroenke's request to convert the Ed into a retractable-roofed stadium is going to prove so unfeasible economically and architecturally, that it'll be agreed the only feasible way to keep the team beyond 2015 will be a completely new stadium. The region is probably eventually going to be tasked with putting up at least a half-billion dollars to keep the Rams in town, and I just don't see the economic ability or civic and political will here to make something like that happen. Which is wildly different than Atlanta, where Blank and the Falcons are highly popular and the hurdles toward their stadium deal don't appear to be too high at the moment.
What I'll be interested to see Monday, assuming it's in there somewhere, is how much Kroenke says he's willing to put up as he escalates the price of the "first-tier" requirement. If he plays it like the pure businessman everyone always says he is, don't look for the Rams' first home game in their next new stadium to be here in St. Louis.
I guess the arbitrator could always pick the CVC's plan with the new scoreboard and the beer garden, though.
-$-
Associated Press photo
Rookie free agent profile: Matt Conrath, DL, Virginia
DL, Virginia
Rankings: 23rd-ranked defensive end by Pro Football Weekly. Graded as slightly better than 50-50 to make an NFL roster. Late draftable grade.
NFLDraftScout: 26th-ranked at defensive tackle. #349 player overall, free-agent grade.
Biography/honors:
2011: Started all 13 games, 12 at defensive tackle and defensive end in Virginia's bowl game. 66 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 3 pass knockdowns and 3 blocked kicks.
2010: Started 11 of 12 games. Moved to defensive tackle in 4-3 alignment. 36 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble, one pass knockdown.
2009: Started 10 games. 3-4 defensive end. 45 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 3 pass knockdowns and a blocked extra point.
2008: Started all 12 games. 3-4 defensive end. 35 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 4 sacks, a forced fumble, 4 pass knockdowns and a blocked FG.
2007: Medical redshirt.
Major: adapted physical education.
Injuries:
2009: Missed two games due to a high ankle sprain.
2006: (HS) Tore labrum in shoulder, requiring surgery, but played a full football season afterward.
Pro day stats: (NFL Combine DL averages in parentheses)
5.18 40 (4.98 average – 5.18 would have been bottom ten time)
1.71 10-yard split (1.67)
28.5” vertical jump (31”)
9'3” broad jump (9'2”)
7.29 3-cone drill (7.35)
4.60 20-yard shuttle (4.47)
17 bench press (27 average – worst DL bench count at Combine was 19)
Positives: Quick off the snap and quick to locate the ball. Good vision, instincts, effort and work ethic. Has a mean streak and fights well through trash. Athletic for his size, with good bend and fluid hips. Has good double moves and spin moves in pass rush. Often got good penetration pass rushing from tackle, and showed some pass-rush ability off the edge as well. Has excellent "length". Long-armed and terrific at blocking kicks and knocking down passes.
Negatives: Height really works against him. Hard to win at being the low man when you're as tall and lean-framed as he is. Struggles to get power and leverage. Plays too upright. Struggles to anchor. Relies too much on his upper body and needs to get stronger there anyway. Gets hung up on blocks, plays out of control. On the ground too often. Uses his hands well but needs to improve. Frame not at all suited for interior defensive line in the NFL; his center of gravity is just too high. Will have to be a 3-4 DE or a 4-3 strong-side DE, but may lack the agility needed to succeed on the outside. Needs to improve his pass-rush moves in any event.
Compares to: Calais Campbell.
Fun Facts: A torn labrum cut Matt's baseball career short in high school (St. Rita - Chicago), but didn't keep him away from football. He played with the injury his whole senior season, in which he made 16 sacks and St. Rita won the Illinois state championship.
RamView: It's an understatement to say there are a lot of openings on the Rams' 2012 roster; there's definitely one for Matt Conrath. There's little reason he can't stay even in camp with players like Darell Dorell Scott, Jermelle Cudjo, or Eugene Sims, at which point his ability to block kicks and knock down passes gives him a unique edge. (Which is why I'm happy to echo the Calais Campbell comparisons. Campbell ruined a game for the Rams last year; the Rams need their own guy like that.) If he can hold up against NFL offensive linemen, which is the big question, his job prospects here could be surprisingly upbeat.
Chance of making roster: 55%.
Sources: Pro Football Weekly 2012 Draft Guide, CBS Sports, University of Virginia athletics, Roanoke (Va.) Times
Photo: Pro Football Weekly
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Rookie free agent profile: Johnny Hekker, P, Oregon State
P, Oregon State
Rankings: 9th-ranked punter by Pro Football Weekly. Graded as a player with a chance to be in an NFL training camp. Free-agent grade.
NFLDraftScout: 9th-ranked punter, #598 player overall, free-agent grade.
Biography/honors:
2011: Four-year starter. Finished 15th in the nation in punting yards and Oregon State was 16th in net yards. 50 punts for a 44.0-yard average with a long of 65. 17 kicks over 50 yards. Had at least one 60-yard punt in six different games. 20 kicks downed inside the 20 vs. 6 touchbacks. None blocked. Outkicked third-round pick Bryan Anger in November OSU-Cal game.
2010: 61 punts for a 41.7-yard average with a long of 74. 14 kicks over 50 yards. 25 kicks downed inside the 20 vs. 5 touchbacks. One kick blocked.
2009: Ray Guy Award semifinalist. Second team all-Pac-10. 51 punts for a 40.1-yard average with a long of 64. 12 kicks over 50 yards. 19 kicks downed inside the 20 vs. 7 touchbacks. None blocked.
2008: 59 punts for a 39.7-yard average with a long of 59. 9 kicks over 50 yards. 23 kicks downed inside the 20 vs. 7 touchbacks. One kick blocked.
Major: general science. Two-time Pac-10 all-academic team member.
Injuries: none reported.
Workout results: There is little-to-no reporting on Hekker's pro day results or his performance at the NFL Super Regional Combine in New York. He reportedly only punted a few times at pro day and hit the ceiling of OSU's indoor training facility once. At a specialists combine in Arizona in February, his non-situational punts ranged from 46 to 61 yards and averaged 4.5 seconds of hang time. He only downed one of three pooch punts inside the 10.
Positives: Four-year starter. Excellent all-around athlete who improved in every area every year. Kicks nice, deep spirals. Gets great hang time and doesn't often outkick his coverage. Can kick on the run rugby-style and has an Australian-style flip kick that dies when it hits the ground. Shows ability to get off a big punt quickly and to make big kicks with his back to the end zone. Has three years experience holding on placekicks. Was a high school quarterback, making him a legitimate threat on fakes. Has worked on kickoffs and could take over there in an emergency. His special teams coach at OSU, Bruce Read, coached special teams for three different NFL teams.
Negatives: Mishits some of his kicks because he gets too amped up trying to crush one. Had several nasty shanks in his college career and has had punts of 13, 10, and minus-4 yards. Needs improvement at pooch punting. Getoff time is a little slower than pro special teams coaches appear to prefer (1.35 vs. 1.3 seconds). His height may not help him there - if he officially measures over 6'5", he'll be the tallest punter in NFL history. Does not have the consistency needed of an NFL punter.
Compares to: Chas Henry.
Fun Facts: Johnny lost a full yard off his 2011 average thanks to this punt against Wisconsin, which traveled minus-4 yards. He lost 1.3 yards off his 2009 average thanks to two 6-yard punts attempted into 50-mph winds at the Las Vegas Bowl. He's a two-time Pac-10 All-Academic team member, is active in community service with Boys and Girls Club and Read Across America, and has helped build homes in Guatemala.
RamView: Good find by the Rams - Hekker improved every year in college, has a bigger leg than his statistics show, and they didn't need to use a draft pick to get him. He was reportedly new special teams coach John Fassel's choice all along, so it's time now for Fassel to prove his coaching chops. Hekker has potential to be a top 10 punter in the league if he develops consistency and avoids the shanks, which have the power to drive him out of the league quickly. Maybe Fassel, too. But the Rams have a promising starter here if everything goes well.
Chance of making roster: 90%.
Sources: Pro Football Weekly 2012 Draft Guide, CBS Sports, Oregon State athletics website, The Oregonian, Wikipedia, Corvallis (Ore.) Gazette-Times
Photo: Corvallis Gazette-Times
(Ex)Rams news, 5/9: Bell retires
Jim Thomas interviewed Bell for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch shortly after his announcement. Bell doesn't indicate what his next move will be, but being just 31 years old, he should have plenty of time to figure it out. Best of luck.
-$-
Photo: St. Louis Rams
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Rookie free agent profile: Deangelo Peterson, TE, LSU
Deangelo Peterson 6'3" 243
TE, LSU
Rankings: 12th-ranked tight end by Pro Football Weekly. Graded as a player with a better-than-average chance to make an NFL roster. 5th- to 6th-round grade.
NFLDraftScout: 9th-ranked TE, #191 player overall, 6th-round grade.
Biography/honors:
2011: Played in 14 games, starting 3. 18 catches for 179 yards (9.9 ypc) and a TD.2010: Played in 10 games, starting 3. 16 catches for 198 yards (12.4 ypc).
2009: Converted to tight end full-time before the season and started 2 games, playing in all 13. 5 catches for 82 yards and 2 TDs.
2008: Appeared in all 13 games, mostly on special teams. 6 tackles.
Major: sports administration.
Injuries:
2010: missed three games due to an ankle injury.
NFL Combine stats: (position averages in parentheses)
4.76 40 (4.74)
1.59 10-yard split (1.63)
36” vertical jump (34” - Peterson tied for best jump)
10'1” broad jump (9'10”)
7.19 3-cone drill (7.08 – 3rd-worst time)
DNP 20-yard shuttle
18 bench press (21)
Positives: Athletic build, looks like a very big wide receiver. Good bulk. Worked hard in the weight room and added 40 lbs while at LSU. Good burst off the line and good speed downfield to create mismatches with linebackers. Smooth footwork, smooth movement skills, excellent change-of-direction. Tracks the ball well. Big-handed. Handles the ball securely and has some ability to create after the catch. Try-hard blocker best on the move. Durable player who lined up all over the field and can be a big-play threat.
Negatives: Undersized. Poor hands. Lets too many throws into his body, doesn't catch cleanly, has too many drops due to loss of concentration. This was apparent at the Combine, where he had multiple drops in the gauntlet runs and didn't catch balls cleanly in other drills. Needs work as a route-runner - rounds off his routes. Does not compete well for the ball in traffic. Does not have elite power and is probably as strong as he's going to get. Marginal in-line blocker who struggles to sustain blocks. Much more a receiver than a blocker. Needs to be prodded.
Compares to: Daniel Fells.
Fun Facts: It will do Mike Martz's heart good to know that Peterson's only carry at LSU was a 23-yard end-around on 4th-and-1. Not only that, it was the key play in LSU's 2010 upset over Alabama.
RamView: This is only RamView's third rookie free agent preview this year, but I doubt anyone will be as easy to root for in training camp as Deangelo Peterson. Like Marshall Faulk, he grew up in New Orleans' Ninth Ward. He carried some of his family to safety when Hurricane Katrina took their home. He'll be the first member of his family to receive a college degree. He played three years at LSU as a receiving tight end in a run-oriented offense. Now Peterson's tasked with making an NFL team as a street free agent. I just wish his skillset was as good as the road he's traveled has been difficult. There's 3 or 4 TEs in camp already who are better blockers, so the shaky-handed receiving TE is going to have to steal a job as a downfield threat. Then again, who do the Rams have in that role other than (also shaky-handed) Lance Kendricks? Some scouting reports say Peterson has Fred Davis-like potential, and he's beaten worse odds in his life than it'd take to become a backup TE on a 2-14 team. Somebody call HBO's Hard Knocks before it's too late - they could be missing a great story here.
Chance of making roster: 45%.
Sources: Pro Football Weekly 2012 Draft Guide, CBS Sports, LSU athletics website, New Orleans Times-Picayune
Photo: Pro Football Weekly
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