Halfway Through: 5 Notes on 2009

Here are five ideas that I have concluded are true (feel free to disagree with me in the comments).

1. We're getting more production from unknowns then our stars

Ok, star's isn't exactly the word to use (moneymakers? dead weight?). But with the exception of the first two picks of the draft this year and Jason Brown and Steven Jackson, we aren't getting the production you'd expect from the big-shot Rams players. Marc Bulger and Chris Long are obvious (you can throw Adam Carriker in there too). But the little moves we made to grab unknown players like Danny Amendola, Craig Dahl, Daniel Fells and Laurent Robinson sure paid off a lot more then most of our bigger splashes. Speaking of big splashes...

2. We effectively traded a talented Will Witherspoon for nothing.

Nothing against Brandon Gibson, but Will Witherspoon has been quite good since we've traded him. I'm not saying the trade wasn't justified, but since Gibson hasn't done anything to help the Rams (understand that isn't a shot at him), we effectively traded veteran linebacker with probably three pretty good seasons for nothing. Don't think I thought we should have gotten two first round picks for him (Roy Williams) but so far, we got the short end of the stick.

3. Steve Spagnuolo is a good coach

The Giants brought in a bunch of coveted free agents on defense, and they still can't pull it together. Spag's doesn't have the personnel here that he did in NY, but along with the players, I firmly believe that he can put a winning team together. Pat Shurmur on the other hand...that's a wait and see. But even professional drivers can't do much with a Daewoo.

4. We should have a 1-2 punch at RB

Steven Jackson is too good of a back to never see the light. We need someone who can help him so that when the Rams get good, he won't be washed out. I'd hate to see him turn into the nice, responsible Larry Johnson. Jimmy Clausen and Tim Tebow aren't the answer (I'm from Seattle. I'm not throwing golden boy Jake Locker into that mess just yet). With that being said, we also need to get this offensive line in future mode. It's about time somebody created an online petition to start Jason Smith at LT.

5. How do you feel about Ryan Pickett?

Just saying...he could be a free agent...Aubrayo Franklin perhaps? Aaron Kampman? Ndamukong Suh? We need somebody to help on the D-Line. I want Gary Gibson back, but this James Hall Leonard Little combo just isn't going to cut it for much longer.