Rok Watkins Cut

[Retroram52]

Had the makings of a good player but was exactly like Jason Smith who is now officially out of football. The biggest detriment was between his ears!!

 

[fastforward]

I thought Smith was with the Saints. I know he signed a 1 year $780K deal during free agency.

 

[Retroram52]

Yea fastforward. He did sign a one year deal but after OTA's has been relegated to third string and is not expected to make the final roster according to the Saints on Rotoworld. But that could change if injuries show up. The Saints are not thrill with the dude though.

 

[fastforward]

Disagree completely on this last draft. Austin and Ogletree give us playmakers on both sides of the ball. Guards are a dime a dozen and you can find competent starters at any point in the draft. Not to mention that Barrett Jones, when he gets healthy, is a better prospect than Watkins and is a proven grader in the SEC. We're going to be fine along the O-line. We'll need to add a RG and possibly a center this off-season, but that's ok.

I disagree about OGs being a dime a dozen. Considering who we've had playing for us, (and the cost of Bell & Dahl), over the last 10 years it seems a strange thing to say.
Wells & Dahl are old, injured, and expensive. I think both will be gone before next year. (Dahl is likely to be cut before this season). Saffold will be a free agent and he's known not to be happy with our management. No-one knows who will play at LG and Long's health is a major question mark after a bad 2012 and mediocre 2011. It wouldn't be a shock if he retired before next season. To suggest that we're set at OL is extremely optimistic.

 

[fastforward]

Yea fastforward. He did sign a one year deal but after OTA's has been relegated to third string and is not expected to make the final roster according to the Saints on Rotoworld. But that could change if injuries show up. The Saints are not thrill with the dude though.

I'm not surprised. It's a vet minimum deal with only a $65K signing bonus. It won't be a shock if he's cut, but at minimum cost he'll find work later in the year once injuries kick in.

 

[jacobarch]

I disagree about OGs being a dime a dozen. Considering who we've had playing for us, (and the cost of Bell & Dahl), over the last 10 years it seems a strange thing to say.
Wells & Dahl are old, injured, and expensive. I think both will be gone before next year. (Dahl is likely to be cut before this season). Saffold will be a free agent and he's known not to be happy with our management. No-one knows who will play at LG and Long's health is a major question mark after a bad 2012 and mediocre 2011. It wouldn't be a shock if he retired before next season. To suggest that we're set at OL is extremely optimistic.

Long Retiring? Says who? Seems a bit over the top, wouldn't you say?
I agree with Saffold tho, he wants LT money and I don't blame him. If LT is where he excels then more power to him. But he's also been injury ridden the last 2 seasons so if he's expecting top LT money he's in for a rude awakening. When push comes to shove if we have a good season and offer him a decent contact he might just stay put. I don't mind over paying (a little) for a RT if he's top notch, but that's yet to be determined.
You're spot on about Wells and Dahl. Are they good players? yes, but they maybe have another year, maybe two tops of productive play if they stay healthy. Jones was a great pick up IMO because he can help fill a gap until he takes over @ center and what really hurt us the most was losing Rob Turner. He was a great swing player and an above average Center.
I would say lets hold our judgement until we see two things. Who can stay healthy and how they actually play together. We have a long way to go and what happens with our Oline depends on what our record is at the end of the year, which is a long ways off.

 

[shopson67]

Long's poor play was due to health AND system change. I doubt the Rams would've signed him if he wasn't dedicated to playing several more years, and they also checked his medicals thoroughly.

 

[DK7000]

I disagree about OGs being a dime a dozen. Considering who we've had playing for us, (and the cost of Bell & Dahl), over the last 10 years it seems a strange thing to say.
Wells & Dahl are old, injured, and expensive. I think both will be gone before next year. (Dahl is likely to be cut before this season). Saffold will be a free agent and he's known not to be happy with our management. No-one knows who will play at LG and Long's health is a major question mark after a bad 2012 and mediocre 2011. It wouldn't be a shock if he retired before next season. To suggest that we're set at OL is extremely optimistic.

Just because our front office was incompetent before Snead showed up doesn't take away from the fact that many teams find starters and all-pros with picks after the 2nd round. There was no need to pass up on Austin and Ogletree for any of the guards taken in the 1st round this year.

 

[The Pimp Of Eloquence]

I miss Richie Incognito.

 

[fastforward]

Long Retiring? Says who? Seems a bit over the top, wouldn't you say?

Not at all. Long has suffered injuries to both knees, back, ankle, tricep, & bicep during in his 5 year career. He's finished the last 2 seasons on IR and his play has deteriorated. Bodies wear down eventually and if he's hurt again this year there's every chance he could decide to call it quits given that his contract is guaranteed for $8M in 2014 & $4M in 2015. I'm not the only one suggesting he might be another Tony Boselli.

Long's poor play was due to health AND system change. I doubt the Rams would've signed him if he wasn't dedicated to playing several more years, and they also checked his medicals thoroughly.

Most injuries appear to heal 100%. The question is whether he can stay healthy or whether his body is reaching the point where it says 'no more'. Even Steel can be brittle. Systems are for the running game and mostly for interior line-men. There's no pass-blocking system for a LT. He's 1-on-1 with whoever the opposition sends after the QB.

If we get 3 good/decent years out of Long i'll be happy. That said if there was an over/under on Jake Long starts for the Rams, (set at 26), I wouldn't take the over.

 

[fastforward]

It's premature to say that that the previous GM got everything wrong whilst the current 'team' are getting things right. In 2011 the GM was in a win now or be fired position following 2 losing seasons. He employed an desperation 'all-in' strategy that blew up in his face. A lot of the big decisions were wrong but many of the smaller and late round pick decisions were good. That tends to be ignored because of the playing record. We only have 1 year of results for the current team. A big part of the 7-8-1 record was staying healthy. That overshadows many questionable decisions that the current management team have made.

 

[Clayton]

I miss Richie Incognito.

We already lead the league in penalties.

 

[DK7000]

It's premature to say that that the previous GM got everything wrong whilst the current 'team' are getting things right. In 2011 the GM was in a win now or be fired position following 2 losing seasons. He employed an desperation 'all-in' strategy that blew up in his face. A lot of the big decisions were wrong but many of the smaller and late round pick decisions were good. That tends to be ignored because of the playing record. We only have 1 year of results for the current team. A big part of the 7-8-1 record was staying healthy. That overshadows many questionable decisions that the current management team have made.

2008 Draft: Only Chris Long remains
2009 Draft: Only James Laurinaitis remains
2010 Draft: Sam Bradford, Roger Saffold, Josh Hull and Eugene Sims
2011 Draft: Robert Quinn, Lance Kendricks & Austin Pettis remain.

The only late round decision that worked was Sims. Yeah, pretty sure he got it wrong.

The current GM hasn't made "many" questionable choices. Watkins and Aaron Brown are the only ones gone from the 2012 draft and the rest all have a chance to be starters or major contributors.

 

[fastforward]

We were in a position to cut Jason Smith at no further cost after seeing how he performed in camp. Snead pre-emptively resigned him to a 1 year $4.5M fully guaranteed deal before seeing how he performed. He signed a CB who wasn't a ProBowler in '09, '10, or '11 to a 2 year $25M fully guaranteed deal. (A deal that makes it hard for us not to pay him a further $9M in 2014). He signed a C who needed knee surgery to a 2 year $13M fully guaranteed deal. He picked a WR at #33 who didn't appear on any 1st round mock Draft. He turned down multiple OL and LB options at #45 to pick a RB who wasn't considered to be the best RB available. He's guaranteed a LT who finished the last 2 seasons on IR $20M. He signed a slot receiver to a 5 year $35M contract with $19M guaranteed then traded a 1st & 2nd round pick to get another slot receiver. I'd say those moves were questionable.

 

[shopson67]

Describing Cook as a slot receiver is really a misnomer. Sure, he may play out of the slot occasionally, but he's a tight end, no doubt about it. Do you really want to label Cook and Austin as the same type of player? Could they be more different physically?

No draft pick can be completely evaluated after only one season. Are the Quick and Pead picks still questionable if they make sizable contributions this season? With SJ in place last year, there was zero chance of Pead making a big splash. Even all the hype about Richardson only amounted to a back-up RB with 98 carries, and only 16 carries over the final 5 games.

 

[SJ76]

The current GM hasn't made "many" questionable choices. Watkins and Aaron Brown
are the only ones gone from the 2012 draft and the rest all have a chance to be
starters or major contributors.

I agree. And mostly because of the reaches he made, when there were sure things right in front of his eyes. I like the Brockers pick and Janoris in 2012. And in 2013 grabbing Austin, then Ogletree was ok and proves to be seen - but I think we had to get Sam some weapons. But the Pead and Quick experiment is puzzling, when you have an SEC talent like Alshon Jeffrey and a burner with size from Miami in Miller. And if Jeffrey blows up this year and Quick is 3-4 on the depth chart, I'm going to be pissed. Again. You take an "athletic" WR from Applachain St over an SEC stud that had better numbers than Julio Jones in his last year in the SEC??!! Lamar Miller is a 3 down back at 5'11 215 with speed!

Remember, we traded that 45th pick to Chicago who took Jeffrey for a later 2nd (Pead) and a 5th (Rok).

Just sayin.

 

[fastforward]

Cook lined up as a slot receiver on over 60% of snaps last season. The misnomer is to describe him as a TE, which is why he threatened legal action if the Titans franchised him as a TE. Obviously he's physically different to Austin and he'll play the position differently, but it doesn't change the fact that they're both slot receivers. Tebow plays the QB position differently to Brady, but he's still a QB, at least for now. Quick and Pead would have been questionable picks even if both had gone to the ProBowl as rookies. You judge a decision based on the information to hand at the time - not the result. No-one saw Quick as a top 32 pick so he can't be value at #33. RB was one of the few positions where we had a definite starter last year. Not picking T, G, TE, DT, LB, CB, or SS at that point was questionable.

 

[DK7000]

We were in a position to cut Jason Smith at no further cost after seeing how he performed in camp. Snead pre-emptively resigned him to a 1 year $4.5M fully guaranteed deal before seeing how he performed. He signed a CB who wasn't a ProBowler in '09, '10, or '11 to a 2 year $25M fully guaranteed deal. (A deal that makes it hard for us not to pay him a further $9M in 2014). He signed a C who needed knee surgery to a 2 year $13M fully guaranteed deal. He picked a WR at #33 who didn't appear on any 1st round mock Draft. He turned down multiple OL and LB options at #45 to pick a RB who wasn't considered to be the best RB available. He's guaranteed a LT who finished the last 2 seasons on IR $20M. He signed a slot receiver to a 5 year $35M contract with $19M guaranteed then traded a 1st & 2nd round pick to get another slot receiver. I'd say those moves were questionable.

Considering we had a need at tackle and Snead was able to create cap relief with Smith's deal, that was the smart play. The pro-bowl is a popularity contest, so I could care less if Finnegan didn't make it those years. He was the best CB on the market, he filled a need and he would help the defense transition under Fisher. Again, it's a smart move and has paid off. Wells was the best free agent center, a Super Bowl champ and had Aaron Rodgers stamp of approval. He's the perfect center to help Bradford develop into the QB we all expect from an #1 overall pick. Yes, Kiper and others didn't have Pead & Quick ranked the highest. I wasn't the biggest fan of the Quick and Pead picks either, but I'm going to trust Snead's judgement on this until they become busts. They both still have a lot of potential and with the two extra 2nd rounders, I don't blame him for taking a risk on a player who could become a stud. Jake Long, when healthy, is the best LT in the game. Many people have complained about the lack of talent on the O-line. But he goes out and gets a proven LT and you're worried about $20 million just because of some injuries? We have to roll the dice on that if it means protecting Bradford. Another poster already commented on Cook, so no need to bring that up.

 

[Clayton]

Cook lined up as a slot receiver on over 60% of snaps last season. The misnomer is to describe him as a TE, which is why he threatened legal action if the Titans franchised him as a TE.

Yeah, he's a Mizzou style 'TE' that is just there for the mismatch. But he is one heck of a mismatch and Bradford had one of these type of TEs at Oklahoma in Greshem.

 

[mutigers1fan]

Yeah, he's a Mizzou style 'TE' that is just there for the mismatch. But he is one heck of a mismatch and Bradford had one of these type of TEs at Oklahoma in Greshem.

Not anymore, Coach Henson has changed that. Time for TE's with hands in the dirt at MU!