There is so much to like about the Rams as it relates to regular football. For FF...?
Bolstered by their historic bounty they received in the RGIII trade, when you look across the roster…it is quite talented. Their defense gets after the QB as good as any in the NFL. With the acquisition of Greg Robinson, their O-Line looks like it has the potential to be dominant if Robinson turns out to be the dominant force he’s projected to be. They were able to find a bellcow RB in Zac Stacy to run behind that line and play ball control football. But for a franchise that birthed the Greatest Show on Turf…it’s the other skill positions; QB/WR/TE where the Rams have struggled to build not only any consistency but foundation.
Whether it was a smokescreen or not, teams with established QB’s, didn’t feel the need to genuinely or falsely pursue Johnny Manziel. And yet coming into Year 5 of his career, Sam Bradford may be the biggest enigma at the QB position in the NFL. No doubt that bad luck and a roster that when he arrived was the least talent laden in the NFL have been contributing factors. But usually by a QB’s 5th season, you know what you have. And right now, the Rams still don’t. This lack of knowledge has also led to a WR corps that has failed to distinguish itself in any capacity despite some very high draft selections being spent on the position. Couple that with being in the toughest division in the NFL, and the Rams are simply one of those teams that are difficult to forecast. You feel like that if everything comes together, they have the ability to do some real damage. At the same time, there are enough gaps and the continuity is so tenuous that if things don’t break the Rams way, it could fall apart. Very interesting team to watch either way in 2014.
Sam Bradford – As mentioned above, the pieces seem to be in place for Bradford to finally ascend to the status of real franchise QB, not just one who is because of his pre-new CBA rookie contract that forces this marriage. Did Bradford show signs prior to his ACL injury that he might be becoming THE guy for STL? Perhaps, but counting his senior season at Oklahoma, Bradford has suffered season ending or at least season debilitating injuries 3 of his last 6 seasons. And while some people like to prorate his 2013 numbers out for a full 16 games which indicate he would have finished fairly high up on the QB rankings, even those people have to feel like that potential ranking has an Andy Dalton, lack of real faith to it.
For one, Bradford only played three games with Zac Stacy as the bellcow. In the 4 games where Bradford had Daryl Richardson has his RB1, he averaged:
45.5 pass attempts/game
6.00 YPA
58.8% Completion Rate
In the 3 games with Stacy and a ground attack?
26.7 pass attempts/game
7.4 YPA
65% Completion Rate
Granted he got to play the teams in those three games that wound up drafting 1st & 3rd…but he also played CAR. At the end of the day though, Bradford seemed to show that when complimented with a run game, he had the ability to be an efficient QB. Certainly this isn’t a huge sample size, but with the STL defense being what it is and the Rams having found at least some semblance of a run game, I think the days of Bradford chucking the ball 40 times/game are most likely done. It doesn’t fit with how Fisher likes to run a team and now, Fisher finally has the pieces to avoid having to do so. So while I don’t think Bradford will earn a new contract with the Rams based on a huge jump in productivity and an ascension into the Cam Newton/Matt Stafford/Matt Ryan realm of QB’s whose team have or are no doubt about to make 2nd long term commitments to them, I think Bradford is the guy in STL because he’ll fit what the Rams are ultimately looking to do on offense. That said, in FF, he’s at the back end of the QB2 train.
Zac Stacy – I actually attended the MNF game where the Rams almost upset SEA. It was the first game the Rams really leaned on Stacy to provide them a consistent chain moving force. It was also the first game after Bradford went down for the season. Stacy was up for the challenge and the Rams damn near stole the game. But from my POV, back then and also as I see it today, it was really the first time the Rams started to see the type of team they ultimately could be and wanted to be. Stacy became a 20 rush/game player who deserved 20 rushes/game. Sure he had some stinkers (ARI, 2nd SEA game) where he combined to rush 29 times for 40 yards. But with a worthwhile QB under center and an O-Line bolstered up the middle with Greg Robinson and perhaps a better complimentary piece in Tre Mason to off-load at least some of the workload, I can see Stacy amping his YPR to the 4.3-4.4 range. And while he isn’t Andre Ellington catching passes out of the backfield, he’s not Michael Turner either. Ultimately, I’m surprised he’s ranked below Giovanni Bernard as I feel like Stacy can be a player like Rudi Johnson was during his prime. With a little more versatility.
Tre Mason/Benny Cunningham – While many have pegged Mason as a 3rd down passing RB right off the bat, I would counter that by stating that I feel Mason will be more of a 2nd/3rd down RB initially due to his inexperience in pass protection. The Rams want and need to distribute the rushing game workload off of Stacy’s broad shoulders to an extent and with Stacy showing at least some proclivity in the passing game, I would suspect that Stacy might get breathers/breaks on early downs. This isn’t to say that Mason won’t play on 3rd down, I just think he’ll be part of an RB rotation that isn’t down specific. That goes for Benny Cunningham too who showed some flashes in a couple of games last year as well (against 2 of the worst rushing defenses in the NFL, but 9 YPC is 9 YPC). At the end of the day, while Fisher is indicating that all jobs are open, so long as Stacy has taken care of himself in the off-season, hasn’t ballooned up or something like that and works hard, he’s the best fit for what Fisher wants to do.
Kenny Britt – So what to make of Britt? Last year on a team in need of weapons in the passing game, Britt for the most part was alienated/alienated himself to consistent gameday inactive status by having a truly awful first quarter/half of the season. To be fair to Britt, he was in a state of limbo for the majority of the season as trade rumors always seemed to follow his status. And for a guy who has had as many off-the-field issues as he’s had, we’re probably talking about a guy with a fragile psyche. While he’s always been immensely talented, coaching staffs including Fisher himself had grown weary not just of Britt’s off-field exploits but his lack of attention to detail with regard to the nuances of the game; blocking, precise route running to name a couple. And as recently as last summer, Britt was still dealing with knee-swelling from a 2011 ACL injury. But in FF, talent and opportunity together always seem to lure at least one owner and that is what lies before Britt in 2014. Let’s not forget that last year at this time, Britt was looking explosive then as well with no sign of knee trouble. However, again on the flip side, were Mike Munchack and Dowell Loggains the right type of coaches for Britt who obviously needs care and feeding. I’m inclined to think that Britt is a guy you don’t want to touch. But if he’s there in Round 14, its guys like him or Miles Hamstring.
Tavon Austin – Football Outsiders did a great in-depth review of Austin going back to his college days about the type of player Austin was and whether from this point forward it projected to NFL success. To dumb it down, the conclusion was that even going back to WVU, while Austin was very fast even back then, he was not a guy that fared very well at making people miss in small quarters. And at Austin’s size, you can’t just be fast in the NFL, you have to be slippery. This isn’t a damnation of a player in his 2nd year to be sure, players develop and Austin may wind up doing so in that regard. But for a team that has struggled in past years to put a consistent passing game together, drafting a gadget type big play player doesn’t seem like the wisest move in retrospect. However, the Rams could wind up being more creative with his usage. Using him out of the backfield more would seem to be a natural fit for his talents (9 rushes in XXXXXX) but then again, we are talking Brian Schottenheimer here. It’s too early to write of Austin as an NFL worthy player. But the comparison FO made when comparing Austin to another NFL player was Eric Metcalf. And if that’s the case, the FF upside is limited although the NFL upside is still solid.
Chris Givens/Stedman Bailey/Austin Pettis/Brian Quick – The interesting thing about the signing of Kenny Britt wasn;t the fact that if gets his head on straight, he has a chance at resuscitating his career. It’s that it feels like the Rams are almost counting on it. Pettis and Bailey profile as very similar players with Pettis having more NFL experience. Both though are possession WR types, albeit with different builds/abilities. Quick was seen as a raw size/speed prospect who to this point looks great in shorts and not so much in pads. And Givens who looked great in pre-season was unable to assume the mantle of WR1 and as such, even his differentiating skill, the deep ball, took a hit. At the end of the day, this is a mish-mash of talent that to date has struggled to establish any type of NFL worth pedigree necessitating the lottery ticket signing of Britt who at one point in his career looked capable of assuming that role if Britt emerges, Givens probably stands the best chance of re-establishing some value, but this is a group that despite some fairly high picks being spent in the draft, has failed to deliver on any promise.
Jared Cook – For me, Cook remains an interesting FF TE. To be fair, Cook had started down a path of irrelevance long before Sam Bradford got hurt. But given expectations that people had for Cook last season, he was drafted at TE9. Behind Antonio Gates and ahead of Greg Olsen. Those two TE’s put up an average line of 75/839/5. Cook’s was 51/671/5. I would say that Gates/Olsen for the duration of 16 games performed a little bit above expectations based on where they were drafted. Jared Cook, a little bit below expectations although people were most likely betting on the come with him. But Cook also lost his QB. But he led STL in receiving, caught 5 of STL’s 22 TD passes and if you 16 game prorate Cook’s stat line with Bradford at QB, he upticks to 59/786/5. Now all of this isn’t all that noteworthy with this exception. He’s not showing up on the Top 17 TE’s drafted on FFC at the moment. Point is, if you wait on a TE, Cook is a very nice under the radar flier who still sports a load of physical ability. There’s more to like here than what I would consider TE18 or lower.
Predictions:
Bradford – 314 Completions 514 Attempts, 3634 Passing Yards 26 TD’s 11 INT’s; 25 Rushes 57 Rushing Yards.
Stacy – 287 Rushes 1239 Rushing Yards 12 TD’s; 28 Receptions 169 Receiving Yards
Mason – 56 Rushes 217 Rushing Yards, 2 TD’s; 17 Receptions 102 Receiving Yards 1 TD.
Cunningham – 31 Rushes 131 Rushing Yards; 2 Receptions 13 Receiving Yards
Britt – 47 Receptions 691 Receiving Yards 5 TD’s
Austin – 52 Receptions 665 Receiving Yards 2 TD’s 24 Rushes 188 Rushing yards 2 TD’s.
Cook – 65 Receptions 862 Receiving Yards 8 TD’s.
Kendricks – 24 Receptions 251 Receiving Yards 3 TD’s.
Givens – 31 Receptions 511 Receiving Yards 3 TD’s.
