chris98251
Well-known member
Ramfan128":21betui3 said:I'll add another take on the Rams roster, because sometimes the headlines are taken up by the bigger name players:
Goff - above average, looking for improvement
Gurley - superstar
Cooks - all star caliber player
Woods - above average
Kupp - above average, on track to be an all star
Higbee/Everett - below average to average - but McVay was a TE coach and Everett was his first draft pick as HC
Whitworth - all star caliber player
Saffold - all star caliber player
Sullivan - above average last year, expecting regression
Brown - suspended two games - likely replaced by Austin Blythe who is a solid back up center - average player
Havenstein - average to above average player
Weak link on offense: TE? I put a question mark because again, Everett was a high 2nd round pick and McVay is a former TE coach who has shown to be one of the best offensive minds in the NFL. Past that, we had Sullivan play above expectations last year - but Brown and Hav were 2nd and 3rd round picks who had some talent. I expect Sullivan to regress a bit, but our best backup offensive lineman is Blythe, who plays C and played for Sullivan a few games last year, and played well. We also drafted two offensive linemen with our first two picks (3rd and 4th rounds), so I wager McVay and Snead are expecting some worse injury luck with the OL, which is smart.
What could go terribly wrong? The OL. Despite the efforts to beef up the depth, the Rams got a combination of injury luck and performance luck that is unlikely to be repeated. Whitworth is also old and could regress at any time - but I didn't include that in the above because he played so well last year.
What fans may not know: Saffold is one of the best guards in the NFL; Kupp is going to be a monster (quite a few Seahawk fans do know this because he played at Eastern Washington)
Brockers - above average
Suh - all star caliber player
Donald - superstar
Ebukam - unknown but has potential
Barron - above average player to all star caliber player
Littleton - average - with potential - Littleton just makes plays - he blocked several punts and got a sack and interception in his first start last season
Longacre - below average - back injury last season - my guess is that this second OLB position is taken over by a rookie at some point and in general, not used much when the Rams go to the nickel, which they will quite a bit
Peters - all star caliber player
Talib - all star caliber player
Joyner - all star caliber player
Johnson III - above average player, on track to be an all star (he's the one that picked off Russell Wilson in LA last year)
Robey-Coleman - one of the best slot corners in the NFL
As you can see, the defense is loaded - and at CB and DL we have depth. Troy Hill is a guy that started once Kayvon Webster went down and played very well at CB.
The only true weaknesses right now on the roster are TE and OLB - TE has some young ascending players; OLB has some young guys with potential and likely won't be on the field much.
And obviously the Rams had the best kicker/punter combo in the NFL last year - Zuerlein has gotten good reviews in camp coming off his back injury.
So we may as well pack up and wait for 2019, the Rams have a All Star team at almost every position, nobody has a chance.
But then again we know Pro Bowlers in football are spread across the league and voted by fans, All Pro's now those are the core of most teams, Didn't see either of those listed, so we have a bunch of baseball and basketball players that will win the division in L.A.