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Rams make a 'big' splash with undrafted free agent signing

2013-05-22T19:05:12Z

The St. Louis Rams added another offensive tackle this week, a big one. The team signed Terrell Brown of Mississippi, who measures a towering 6'10, 388 pounds. That officially makes him one big dude. The only thing longer than his 92" wingspan may be his odds to make the final roster.

Offensive linemen need to be pretty flexible, bending down, springing up and moving to keep track with today's speedy pass rushers. It cost him playing time at Ole Miss, where he saw the field exactly twice in his senior season there. Still, he had plenty of NFL teams checking him out at Mississippi's pro day this year (full results for Brown's workouts are here). With those kind of measureables, he's worth a look.

Here he is next to Stedman Bailey, who is a full foot shorter.

Speaking of undrafted free agents, the Rams were again big spenders on the secondary market this year. They paid out $103,100 in guaranteed money to undrafted free agents, the third most of any team. Only the Patriots and Cowboys paid more.

Safety Cody Davis and offensive tackle Braden Brown got the biggest guaranteed lumps at $20,000 each.

All together the Rams signed 22 undrafted free agents after the draft. Brown joins that list. They also had a heaping helping of tryout players in the building for rookie minicamp. Six of those players were signed.

The team only drafted seven this year. They obviously needed to lean on UDFAs for rounding out the roster. No players were picked after the fifth round, thanks to some wheeling and dealing on draft day(s). Teams structure their boards differently. Some have mid-round grades on the same players other teams grade as UDFAs. Grabbing up those players on the wire essentially replaced those later round picks, and gives Fisher and his staff plenty of young talent to evaluate.

The 49ers' Michael Crabtree out for 2013 season?

2013-05-22T18:50:27Z

The San Francisco 49ers suffered a blow, when their best wide receiver - Michael Crabtree - suffered a torn Achilles tendon during team OTAs. It's unknown how severe the injury is, or if Crabtree will miss the entire 2013 season. He's arguably the best wide receiver the 49ers have on their roster, so how the team will fill the void is going to be interesting to watch. Second year, 2012 first round draft pick A.J. Jenkins is waiting in the wings, as well as free agent Anquan Boldin.

The bottom line is, unless one of their stable of receivers step up, this offense may have some trouble. Mario Manningham is coming back from a knee injury, and though he and Collin Kaepernick seemed to have a good connection, I doubt he's going to be able to fill Crabtree's shoes. An intriguing player to watch could be 4th year wide receiver Kyle Williams. Much maligned in 2011, he has the talent to step in if the 49ers' fans will cut him some slack.

2013 NFL Power Rankings: Setting the Bar

2013-05-22T17:13:53Z

Power rankings. They fuel the soul on the football-less days.

We've seen them trickle out recently. SB Nation's community managers put together their rankings on the eve of the draft with the Rams coming in at 18. ESPN offered theirs just following the draft; St. Louis settled in at 15.

Yesterday, CBS Sports' Pete Prisco (never short with his words...) put his post-draft power rankings out, and it replicated the ESPN ranking slotting the Rams in at 15th.

Les Snead is building a heck of a roster. They have a talented front seven that they could ride to a playoff berth, even in a tough division.

The blurb isn't all that telling, but the ranking is.

The conventional wisdom is coalescing around this team - better than they have been, potential to be good, but everything yet to prove. Heck, you can apply that to Sam Bradford as much as you can the team.

Still, it's a different position to sit in at this point compared to a year ago when the Rams were thought of as one of the worst teams in the league going into the 2012 season. And with even more unknowns (key new additions and departures, rookies supporting one of the youngest rosters in the entire league), it's hard for anyone to really get a firm grasp on what this team will be, as opposed to say the Raiders or Falcons.

Of all people, it took Lavar Arrington to provide me some clarity on power rankings right now.

Listening to the Lavar & Dukes show on my way home yesterday, Lavar suggested something I completely agree with as they were discussing Prisco's power rankings: The top five or six teams are relatively clear. The bottom five or six are as well. Everyone else is interchangeable.

Put it like this. Prisco has the Lions, Vikings, Saints and Steelers all behind the Rams. I could understand why someone might rank any of those teams ahead of the Rams. Similarly, I could make a fair argument that the Rams should be ranked above the Cowboys, Redskins, Colts or Bears.

The Rams spent a painful amount of time sitting at the bottom level of power rankings in recent years. That's just not the case anymore.

Breakout Wide Receiver of the Year?

2013-05-22T13:13:51Z

The St. Louis Rams made a big splash at the wide receiver position during the NFL Draft. Les Snead & Co. moved up eight spots to get the explosive Tavon Austin. His PIC (Partner in Crime) at West Virginia, Stedman Bailey, was subsequently chosen with the team's second third-round pick.

Austin brings the speed/elusiveness/video game play-making ability that the Rams have been lacking for years. Bailey gives the Sam Bradford a reliable, sure-handed receiver with speed. At first glance, these wide outs were brought in to replace the departed Danny Amendola (have y'all seen this commercial??? I thought it was freakin' hilarious!) and Brandon Gibson. But in essence, Tavon is so much more of an explosive weapon than Amendola ever was and Bailey has been quoted as saying he models his game after Steve Smith. Lets hope we get the Carolina Panthers' Steve Smith and not the one we are more familiar with.

One element that these newly acquired offensive toys do not bring to the field is size. Enter: Brian Quick and his 6'3-6'4 220 lbs frame. It is these physical traits that have Quick poised for a breakout year.

The Reasoning

In Bryan Fontaine's piece over at PFF, he mentions that Quick still has the same talent level that made him the Rams second-round pick just a year ago. Brian is still big (he didn't shrink in the last year ). He is still a physical receiver (remember that TD against the 49ers?).

Then, in the same article, Fontaine quotes NFL Film's Greg Cosell:

Quick is a very fluid and smooth athlete with excellent lateral quickness and deceptive vertical speed due to stride length. It’s not a stretch at all, when you analyze Quick’s physical and athletic attributes, to understand why the Rams selected him early. With his size and overall skill set, he has a chance to be the best wide receiver in this draft class.

If Quick progresses as planned, he'll be our big receiver, like Vincent Jackson. Quick did not put up much in terms of numbers on the boards (let me know if y'all know where that music reference is from). In the 15 games he played in, Quick registered 11 catches, 156 yards and two touchdowns.

In fact, in Jackson's rookie year, he only had three catches for 59 yards. Jackson, like Quick, was from a small school. His "breakout year" did not occur until his fourth year (59 receptions, 1,098 yards, seven TDs). Also, fun tidbit, Rams' GM Les Snead compared Quick when drafting him.

The remaining WR cast also comes into play. Chris Givens had a solid rookie year and is expected to make huge strides this season. Tight End Jared Cook is also expected to play an integral part of the passing game. Austin and Bailey figure to be speed threats along with Givens. WR Austin Pettis and TE Lance Kendricks should also have a niche in the offensive scheme.

Jackson's career path should be what we'd compare Quick to. In his second year, Jackson had a 27-453-6 stat-line. In his third year, his stats were 41/623/3. These are similar numbers that have been thrown around a lot recently (check Brent Lancaster's twitter timeline). His biggest impact should be seen in the redzone where he can use his strengths.

I'll leave you guys with this video of all of Quick's targets in 2012. Cheers:

Poll

Which is more likely for Quick:

St. Louis Rams begin OTAs

2013-05-22T01:51:57Z

The St. Louis Rams started OTAs on Tuesday. It was the first round of spring practices mixing both the rookies and the veterans from all sides of the ball along with the coaches. OTAs are not conducted in full pads, and they represent just one small step toward assembling the final team that will take the field in September, but it is something kinda, sorta close to football.

We'll take it.

There wasn't much news out of this week's opening session. It was closed to the media. One item that did bubble up on talk radio was that Jake Long was sitting out.

The team warned in the spring after signing Long that he would most likely be out to start spring practices, as he recovered from surgery on his left triceps. Fisher told the Post-Dispatch in March that Long could return to work during the middle part of OTAs.

Another pair of veteran linemen could miss OTAs this year: Harvey Dahl and Scott Wells.

With Long out, it raises the question of where Rodger Saffold worked. Did he go ahead and begin the transition to right tackle? Or did he stay on the left side? Either way, with no contact through OTAs, the detail is a minor one.

Here's the complete schedule of OTAs going forward:

May 21
May 23-24
June 3-4
June 6-7
June 11
June 13-14

The Rams eliminated the mandatory minicamp portion this year. As the official site explains, Fisher felt the additional time away was better for the veterans who are entering their second year in the same system. Hooray for continuity!

Rams rookies Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey have something to prove

2013-05-21T19:57:15Z

This is another busy offseason week for the St. Louis Rams. The team starts OTAs on Tuesday. For the new players, this year's rookie class, this is just another action-packed week in a hectic span that's been going on since January. But at least this week, the players have the coaches and veterans on hand as they dive deeper into the transition from college to the pros.

"Oh man, it's is definitely crazy," Tavon Austin told TST last week at the NFLPA Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles, "just to see how many different positions I have to learn. After you relax, you start picking it up, but it's still kind of hard."

To be exact, Austin has three positions to learn. The Rams have him working on the outside as well as anywhere and everywhere on the inside.

"We work with a chip on our shoulder because we want to prove that we're very good wide receivers."-Stedman Bailey

The Rams' first-round pick has a familiar face making the jump with him: former West Virginia teammate and fellow wide receiver Stedman Bailey, who was drafted by the Rams in the third-round. The two are roommates, for now, and helping each other learn offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer's playbook.

"We're both learning the playbook together," Bailey said. "We get to quiz each other before we go to sleep, going over everything we went through in practice.

"We understand each other very well," Bailey said of his Mountaineers teammate. "I know his strengths; he knows mine. We use our strengths to our advantage on the field. We work with a chip on our shoulder because we want to prove that we're very good wide receivers."

Bailey compares himself to Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers. Both tend toward the smaller end of the spectrum for players at that position, but over the year's Smith has established himself as one of the most reliable pass catchers in the game.

"He's not the tallest guy around but he makes amazing catches and plays with a chip on his shoulder every snap," Bailey said. "I admire that about him. I try to model my game after him."

Austin doesn't offer a comparison for himself.

Their attitude is exactly what it should be for rookies. Both players are obviously hungry to make their mark on the game, but that's only a starting point.

Jumping from the college game to the NFL isn't easy, especially for wide receivers. Like most teams, the Rams have seen their prospects grapple with the transition. Brian Quick, the first player picked in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft, saw his playing time limited during the season after struggling to learn the finer points of the pro game in training camp.

One thing that could work in Austin and Bailey's favor is their college experience. Not only do they come from one of the larger conferences, they honed their craft in Dana Holgosen's Air Raid offense, which gave both players plenty of touches. Bailey felt like that experience would benefit him given the NFL's evolution.

"The NFL is developing into more of a passing league," Bailey said. "That's something that I love. I'm a wide receiver, and that just creates more opportunities for a receiver to make plays."

Obviously, it's not that simple, and more than a few players have struggled coming from a spread offense.

"Throwing a ball around can be hard, so you got the right scheme going," Bailey explained. "The right players in the system. That will benefit players like myself."

The rookies have someone else helping them learn the ropes: quarterback Sam Bradford.

"We ran plays together," Austin said of his new quarterback. "He told me that he'd been watching film on me. He believes in me, and I believe in him. Hopefully, we get a thing going.

"I can see that he's a true leader."

"I love Sam," Bailey said. "He's a great guy, very humble and trying to catch us up in the offense. I'm very appreciative of that."

The Rams improved to 7-8-1 last season after a year with just two wins brought about a full house cleaning. It wasJeff Fisher's first year on the sidelines in St. Louis, the first step in a long road back to relevance. The rookies are well aware of just where the team still needs to go and their role in that plan.

"They have some good wide receivers there," Austin said of his new teammates. "Hopefully, me and Sted can come in there and dig them out of that hole and try to go somewhere with it."

Austin's confidence about his place in turning around this team is quiet, inward. Bailey wears his self-assurance on the outside.

On Thursday afternoon, the first day of the Rookie Premiere, Bailey is answering questions at an East Los Angeles elementary school. He's part of a group of players there for a health and fitness seminar with third and fourth graders.

Bailey turns to head back onto the field. A radio guy extends his mic as far as his arm will take it, trying to get one more sound bite.

"If you've got a Steve Smith and Tavon Austin, that's pretty awesome," the man says.

Bailey stops in his tracks, turns around and gives the guy the his sound bite. I doubt it was the one the DJ expected.

"It's more like a Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin; that's pretty awesome."

Here ya go Rams fans, nice shout out from Tavon Austin vine.co/v/bE90q5eZMpY
— ryan van bibber (@justRVB) May 18, 2013

St. Louis Rams: Young Teams, and Sophomore Slumps

2013-05-21T19:55:12Z

Sophomore slumps are REAL. No, really! It isn't a urban myth, like the aliens visiting from the planet Glaxor to steal the secret recipe for Cheetos. They're really here to find out why In-N-Out Burgers are considered inter-galactic crack cocaine. Then there's the one about the I.R.S spying on people... OK, scratch that one.

I began to think about "sophomore slumps" when I did an evaluation of quarterbacks in the NFC West. I wondered if Russell Wilson - Seattle's second year phenom - could suffer from "yearicus II slumpitis". The it hit me: The St. Louis Rams have a ton of second year players... What if Janoris Jenkins, Trumaine Johnson, Michael Brockers, and Daryl Richardson all fold like a cheap suit in their second years? I left out Brian Quick and Isaiah Pead because I think they caught "slumpitis" a year early.

This is serious people! We need a telethon with Simon Cowell as host. He can demean people into donating to fight this disease that strikes down the "sort of young" every year.

There's actually some validity to the "sophomore slump", but it has nothing to do with an illness. A player's second year is marked by having game film for opposing coaches to study. It's an "action-reaction" kind of thing. Young players don't have vast pools of knowledge about the NFL game. Experience enables easy adaptation to changing circumstances, and second year players just don't have it. To me, the mark of a great football coach is how he manages second year players. They're responsible for knowing how to find the next level of a player. A decent example of a second season swoon would be the Carolina Panthers' Cam Newton. He shattered rookie records in 2011, only to look more than a little lost in 2012.

Some of it has to do with a player's ego, and Newton has more than his fair share. He walked into his second year thinking what he'd done the prior season would serve him well. Oops! NFL coaches are wily men who study game film to find tendencies or weaknesses. They have no social lives, and make kids addicted to video games look like outdoor fanatics. They're sports geeks to the tenth power, and they find EVERY player's weaknesses. A hand that twitches prior to the snap of the ball means a pass play, or a player telegraphs the type of play called by the number of fingers he puts on the ground - every little detail is noticed by NFL coordinators and their staffs.

I think it's fair to say the St. Louis Rams youth movement is going well, but the lack of experience in the young players more than offsets their talent to a certain extent. Great coaches have their work cut out for them, as they shepherd their young charges from season to season. If they don't, a player can turn into a one-hit-wonder. This year, there are quite a few rookies who face the challenge of Das Slump. Last season, 27 first round draft picks in the 2012 NFL Draft became starters for their teams. Some will stumble, and more than a few will take the next step toward stardom. Yet, when I look at the Rams, and how many young players they'll have on the field in 2013, it's hard not to wonder just how good they'll be.

St. Louis Rams Defense: Breaking The Trend

2013-05-21T14:33:32Z

In 2012, the 49ers, Seahawks, Steelers, Bears, and Broncos - all of whom had Top 10 [Defensively] seasons in Rush YPG and Pass YPG - were stingy about giving up yardage to the opposition. Teams that have that kind of success typically find themselves in the playoff discussion towards season’s end as a result. But looking at End of Year [EOY] rankings can also be slightly misleading...

Finishing in the Top 10 [or even Top 5] in one statistical category doesn’t necessarily equate to on-field dominance. It’s possible that one aspect of a team’s defense is so easily exposed, that it casts a positive light on another. The St. Louis Rams - over the course of the past decade - have shown that on more than one occasion.

Year

Rush YPG

Rank

Pass YPG

Rank

Record

2012

117.5

15

245.4

19

7-8-1

2011

152.1

31

222.6

8

2-14

2010

113.1

17

241.8

22

7-9

2009

137.6

27

244.6

23

1-15

2008

154.7

29

229.8

19

2-14

2007

115.3

20

240.4

24

3-13

2006

145.4

31

203.1

4

8-8

2005

136.1

28

226.2

22

6-10

2004

136.2

29

213.4

11

8-8

2003

123.8

20

210.2

14

12-4

* Green shading denotes highest EOY ranking

A Few Takeaways

* Last season’s defense unit is the first in the last decade to have finished the season ranked inside the Top 20 in both Rush YPG and Pass YPG. Those figures may not be staggering, but if progress is the expectation, the results are more than encouraging. Add in the fact that this defense is one of youngest in the NFL [ >25 years old; avg.], and the future is looking bright.

* The Rams finished 15th in defending the run in 2012, which was their most respectable performance in recent memory. In 2010, the Rams finished the season ranked 17th, but faltered in defending the opposition’s aerial attack. To be fair, it was a defense that featured Justin King as a starter.

* A Top 10 ranking in Pass YPG game doesn’t mean the Rams were fielding Pro Bowl corners and safeties. What it means - as aforementioned - is that teams were able to get a lead quickly, maintain a lead against the Rams often average-to-subpar offense, and then continue running the ball to kill the clock. It worked. see: "Record" column. The Rams finished 8th in 2011 and 4th in 2006; in both seasons the Rams finished next-to-last in the NFL in stopping the run.

* Averages: Over the course of the past decade the Rams have allowed [avg] 133.2 Rush YPG. In 2012, that would’ve finished 26th in the NFL. They allowed 227.8 Pass YPG [avg] during that span, which would’ve been good for 7th. This is more of the same. For ten years, the opposition hasn’t had to devise much more of gameplan than "Get the lead. Manage the clock by the running the football." And though finishing 7th in Pass Defense sounds appealing, it wouldn’t at the expense of achieving the usual results. A more balanced defense - like the one witnessed last season - is far more preferable.

If you’re looking at average rankings for the past decade, the Rams averaged 25th [24.7] in stopping the run, and 17th [16.6] in defending the pass. As you could imagine, it’s difficult to win when that’s the case...especially when consinstently finishing in the bottom quarter of the league statistically [against the run].

* In only three of the past 10 seasons have the Rams been better at stopping the run than the pass [2012, 2010, 2007]. Again, this past season is the only one in which the Rams were able to finish Top 20 in both categories. In the remaining seven seasons, the Rams finished [descending] 31st, 27th, 29th, 31st, 28th, 29th, and 20th against the run.

* A solid run defense isn’t going to hinder a team’s chance of winning, but it’s also no guarantee. In 2007 - one of the Rams’ finer performances - they allowed 115.3 Rush YPG [2nd best in the past decade], yet finished with a final season record of 3-13. Possibly more exception than norm, the Rams win percentage when their defense performs better in stopping the run than the pass throughout the season is .469, as opposed to the alternative... when their win percentage drops to .304.

* The quality of Rams defensive player has drastically increased, at least in terms of draft selection. In 2003 - the season in which the Rams had their best record - they boasted a plethora of highly drafted players...

especially across their front seven: Three 1st round picks, two second rounds picks, one third round pick, and a 5th round pick. The 2012 starting roster also has an impressive bunch of highly drafted players: Four 1st round picks, one second round pick, one third round pick, and an undrafted free agent. In the middle of it all [2008], the Rams proudly fielded: One 1st round pick, one 2nd round pick, one 3rd round pick, one 4th round pick, two 5th round picks, and an undrafted free agent.

So, if I were going to create my own scoring system based upon when a player was drafted and their ‘numerical value’ to the players that comprise the "4-3" portion of the Rams defense, I’d to it as such [also, please realize that I understand this doesn’t hold any true value or imply expected results]:

1st Rd = 7points , 2nd Rd = 6 points, 3rd Rd = 5 points, 4th Rd = 4 points, 5th Rd = 3 points, 6th Rd = 2 points, 7th Rd = 1 point, & UDFA = 0.5 pts [they can’t equal nothing]. The results of the three aforementioned seasons would score out like this…

2012

2008

2003

39.5

28.5

41

Again, I realize that this scoring proves nothing concrete, and certainly doesn’t suggest results. What it does, though, is highlight that for the first time in a long time, the Rams are fielding players who should excel at the next level... or at least their draft stock would lead you to believe they would. The 2013 Rams defense may not help lead the team to 12 wins, but it’s quite plausible to think it could at least aid the team in diverting a losing record for the 7th consecutive season.

The Rams are certain to find themselves down early in some of their 2013 matchups. But handing the ball off and assuming you’ll continue to chew up clock might just be a dated game plan when it comes to playing the St. Louis Rams.

In Summation

It’s a relatively small sample size, but the past ten years of Rams’ football has left a bit to be desired on the defensive side of the ball, and the chart above - along with their loss column - shows for it. It is a team game, though, and neither the offensive or defensive units have been reliable enough to secure victory when in crunch time.

The fact that the Rams have a run-stuffing defense superior to their pass defense won’t suggest that they’re in a better position to succeed or imply easy entry into the playoffs. What it may allude to is the Rams having a more well-rounded, competitive defensive unit. In seven of the seasons where the Rams ranked higher at defending the pass, five of them placed the Rams in the bottom four teams in the entirety of the NFL in defending the run. It wasn’t happenstance that they were facing team’s who preferred not to ask much from their Quarterback. It was as a result of fielding a defense who found themselves down early, and then having no answers offensively or defensively that put the opposition in a spot where throwing the ball was a necessity.

What happens in 2013 will be telling. I think it’s general consensus that the Rams’ defense should be improved this season. It will also be much younger. As it stands, the Rams will be replacing 23 years of NFL experience [Mikell, Dahl, McIntosh] with two years of experience between Darian Stewart, T.J. McDonald, and Alec Ogletree. The drop off in NFL-ready talent may be minimal... it may be non-existent. You cannot teach experience but, as you’ve seen, sometimes experience puts the Rams in the hole early in games. If history’s any indication, that would make for a long day for their opponents Running Back - as he’s asked to continuously chew up precious clock - and a longer one for the defensive line.

The product you’ll see on the field in 2013 is a far cry from that of 2011, when the Rams finished 31st in the NFL in defending the run. Chris Long and James Laurinaitis will be the only familiar starters from that season, while Robert Quinn and Darian Stewart will be asked to contribute far more. It’s good news. Having also added two more 1st round picks [to their front seven], and two solid free agent acquisitions puts the Rams in prime position for a second consecutive year finishing inside the Top 20 in both statistical categories.

Listen up, Rams foes. Go ahead and take the lead early in the game. Then tell yourselves that you’ll maintain it by punching it up the gut or occasionally bouncing it outside the tackles. Consuming time in an effort to maintain the lead is still a very good idea. Just be prepared to live with the consequences.

Year	Rush YPG	Rank	Pass YPG	Rank	Record
2012	117.5	15	245.4	19	7-8-1
2011	152.1	31	222.6	8	2-14
2010	113.1	17	241.8	22	7-9
2009	137.6	27	244.6	23	1-15
2008	154.7	29	229.8	19	2-14
2007	115.3	20	240.4	24	3-13
2006	145.4	31	203.1	4	8-8
2005	136.1	28	226.2	22	6-10
2004	136.2	29	213.4	11	8-8
2003	123.8	20	210.2	14	12-4