1.) Agreed.
2.) The cornerback needs to be able to match Bartell’s style. I’d like a power CB in the mold of San Diego’s Quentin Jammer or San Fran’s Nate Clements. Vontae Davis is coming out of Illinois this year…
3.) SS aren’t typically for over the top help. We need a tackling SS. FS’s are for over the top help. That’s why Atogwe gets so many picks. He does need to work on his overall coverage skills and decision making.
4.) Two or three LBs and you think we can make the playoffs next year? This is a lot of personnel demands to meet in a single offseason…
5.) A center will be a huge improvement. We also need a top-tier OT. Pace is old and Barron is too shaky. And if we move him to RG and Incognito to C (which kind of negates your search for a great center), that inconsistency will play itself out on the field. Good O-lines develop together and block as a unit. It takes time to get them to understand each other and then have QBs and HBs foresee the pocket/lanes.

Good FanPost, Marmie. I’ll try to put something similar up soon.

6. Bring back Larry Marmie…

;)

To move Witherspoon to the outside

I seriously disagree that Bartell and Atogwe are top 5 at their positions. I do like the 3-4 idea, I’m a fan of that defense, if the team had the right players I would go with a 3-3 or 4-2(02 Bucs), but for that to happen you would have to have awesome players, so the 3-4 I would go with. The draft class for linebackers is talented and deep, so getting some linebackers wouldn’t be that hard.

Wheather we get the second or third pick, shouldn’t we trade down to get more picks and/or players. The draft also depends on what happens in free agency, which is way I like free agency before the draft, because you can fill out your roster and then draft for talent instead of need.

Another thing, get Mark Cuban to buy the Rams. He did it with the Mavericks.

I haven’t posted in awhile because I became a loser and got really busy with school. The ideas were still there, just no time for TST. Obviously, I’m on break now.

Bringing back Marmie would also help, perhaps as head coach this time…

Getting 2 or 3 LBs is a huge challenge, but I think that it needs to be done if an effective transition to the 3-4 is going to be made. We all agree that Witherspoon is a very good player, who would be more effective on the outside. Devaney has even said that he wants to get a MLB this offseason to move Witherspoon back outside. But, we don’t really have any other solid LBs. Pisa comes close and he would be serviceable, but if he your second best LB in a 3-4, you will get killed.

I have been thinking a lot about the 2006 draft lately. Think, if we just took Cromartie instead of Hill, how much better our defense would be. Two corners, that big and that good, it might be the best corner combo in the NFL. Instead we have Tye Hill.

Rams will make the 2009 Playoffs …

Uh, right. Pass whatever you are smoking on down to me.

is that making the playoffs is a definite possibility each year.

I’m one of those fans who sees his team making the playoffs every year… heck, until the Rams were officially eliminated I had hope. I can see things going right next year. It’s just going to take a lot of work from the new front office and coaching staff.

Oh, and at least they’re not the Lions.

Atogwe does take some gambles and loses, but I think of him like Barry Sanders. Sanders was a boom and bust runner, but he was a great one and obviously one of the better ones of all time. His booms outweighed his busts. Turnovers are so valuable in the NFL and Atogwe has shown that he can produce them.

Bartell:
I’ll give you Bailey, Nnamdi Asomugha, and Antonio Cromartie. After that, I think Bartell can play with any of those guys. Look at what he has done this year. Against Dallas, Owens had 2 catches for 31 yards. Against the Bears, Hester had 5 catches for 57 yards (2 of those catches were not on Bartell. ) Against the Seahawks at home, Bartell had a sack, showed his big hit ability by lighting up John Carlson twice, and only allowed 2 or 3 catches by Branch for 20-30 yards (the 45 yarder that Branch caught was not Bartell’s responsibility.) I guarantee that today, whoever lines up next to Bartell gets shut down. The kid is a great player.

Let’s trade down. Right now I’m leaning towards Crabtree. He can ease his way into the league next year as the slot, then take the starting role away from Holt the next year. We saw what Holt and Bruce did for us, maybe Crabtree and Avery can become almost as talented as them, of course Holt and Bruce had a quarterback, runningback, and offensive line.