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.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
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?
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.
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.
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.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
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.
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.
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.
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.
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