Something to prove | 10 things with Brycen Hopkins​

1. Watch out!

Sarina: Fill in the blank. The Rams' offense this season will be _.

Brycen: Explosive!

2. Everyone can do everything

Sarina: What are you most excited about when it comes to this offense?

Brycen: Versatility. A lot of our offense is based around everybody knowing every position. A lot of people can play a lot of different spots and that's exciting just to know that we have players that can do that.

3. Cheering for Matthew

Sarina: What teammate, are you most excited to see thrive this season and why?

Brycen: Matthew Stafford. I think a lot of people are expecting him to do big things and I hope there's not some sort of pressure built up on him. I know there is obviously. But he's a good player and I'm excited to see what he can do with our offense too!

4. The Wise Wes

Sarina: How would you describe [Tight Ends Coach] Wes Philips to someone who doesn't know him?

Brycen: Wes Phillips is a character. It sounds broad, but he's a great guy, he knows what he's talking about. He's got a lot of wisdom in that head of his and he's willing to give you advice. He's just a great guy all around. He just wants to see everybody succeed, so he's going to kind of push you. He seems very relaxed on the outside, but he's thinking. He's locked in.

5. In the car

Sarina: You like cars so much, what's something that you always have in your car?

Brycen: Chapstick! I don't know what it is, but I lose them all the time. I don't have them in the house, but I know there's one in my car somewhere!

6. Chicken Fried

Sarina: You are from just outside Nashville, Tennessee. Who is your favorite country singer or what is your country song?

Brycen: I like a lot of Zac Brown Band. They just have some constant bangers.

7. Too tall

Sarina: Would you rather go listen to live music, or go dancing?

Brycen: I'd rather go listen to live music. I've always been just too tall. I can't just be out there just breaking it down out there. People would turn their heads, who is this big dude out there? (laughs) That's my brother. My brother is the one dancing all the time.

8. Go go Goals

Sarina: Goal for 2021?

Brycen: I just want to take advantage of my opportunities as much as I can this season. Every single rep going into training camp I have something to prove. Obviously, I haven't had as much opportunity as I would like to in the past; considering we couldn't even be at the facility until later. But now that I have a lot and everything underneath me right now, I feel a little more grounded. I just want to use that foundation to just push myself even further and just go.

9. Wolford wins

Sarina: What teammate would you take with you on a game show?

Brycen: John Wolford. I'm taking John Wolford for sure!

10. Hello Brycen

Sarina: You run into fellow Hopkins…Anthony Hopkins, the actor, in an elevator. What do you say to him?

Brycen: Oh, I've been scarred by the movie Silence of the Lambs since I was a little kid. He might just have to stay over there. You just don't get on the elevator, don't get in, he can go up by himself. I might say "Oh my god, it's you. It's great to meet you. Go ahead, I'll get the next one."

Why Jacob Harris might not play many snaps for the Rams this year​

I like Jacob Harris a lot. Let me first tell you why and it’s all as clear as day in the tape of his pro day 40-yard dash.

By now you probably know the tale of the tape for the Rams fourth round pick out of UCF: Harris is an athlete of his own category, measuring in at 6’5, 219 lbs, and single-handedly bringing down the average speed of a tight end by blazing a 4.39 40-yard dash at his pro day. There were seven other prospects who posted a 4.39 at their pro day this year, and five of them ended up as first round picks.

Only 15 prospects posted official times faster than 4.39 in 2021, and the only other player who was taller than 6’1 was Penn State edge rusher Odafe Oweh, a first round pick of the Baltimore Ravens.

The other prospect in that same area of size and athleticism was Penn State linebacker Micah Persons, who is 6’3, 246 lbs, ran a 4.39, and was the 12th overall pick.

The Rams were able to pick Harris in the fourth round, long after most players of his physical caliber, mainly because of how raw he is (Harris didn’t start playing football until his senior year of high school, and he only has two seasons of real college experience), but Harris has other unique attributes that make him even more unprecedented than the two Nittany Lions prospects.

In addition to his straight line speed, Harris posted a 40.5” vertical (one of 21 players who went 40” or above), a 133” broad jump (tied for ninth-best), and a 6.54 three-cone drill, which was faster than any other 2021 NFL Draft prospect. But nobody in the top 35 of three-cone time was even a first round pick, so let’s focus on what everybody claims to love the most: The 40.

In watching the raw footage of UCF’s 40-yard dash runs, I was instantly enamored with Harris as a physical anomaly. And he even appears to show off how much different he is than other 6’5 humans by jumping a good two or three feet in the air during his warmup, even if it is an unintentional brag and merely a way for him to loosen up prior to his takeoff.

This is the first of two runs:

Login to view embedded media
View: https://youtu.be/mantwWFhGto

This is the second:

Login to view embedded media
View: https://youtu.be/mantwWFhGto

It is during one of those two runs that Harris posts a faster 40-yard dash than:

• Rams fourth round pick Robert Rochell, a 193 lb cornerback
• George cornerback Tyson Campbell, the 33rd overall pick and a 193 lb prospect
• Patrick Surtain, Jr., the ninth overall pick, and a 208 lb cornerback
• Kyle Pitts, the most highly-touted tight end prospect in recent history
• Travis Etienne, Justin Fields, and Terrace Marshall
• And faster than Tutu Atwell, LA’s 5’8, 155 lb second round receiver

Partly for these reasons, I do love Jacob Harris as an NFL prospect. My excitement is at least doubled by the fact that Harris has been noted as a standout at Rams practices already, which is not hard to believe given some of the highlight grabs that he made during the last two years at UCF:

Login to view embedded media
View: https://youtu.be/53I0HiftcI0

And to finish off everything that is good about Jacob Harris, I’ll add in that in my personal opinion, “Is inexperienced” is one of my absolute FAVORITE red flags. Every prospect has them, so I think every prospect evaluator and fan should also have the flags they accept and the ones that give them the most pause. Injuries and character concerns are the ones that scare me off the most. Inexperience, size, and athleticism, the ones that I care about the least.

But size and athleticism are literally unteachable. Inexperience — the literal opposite. With more time, Harris could develop into the type of player you aren’t supposed to typically find on day three. Even better, these bargain finds often seem to happen with tight ends, perhaps because of how much harder it seems to be to transition to that position in the NFL than it is with most others.

George Kittle was a fifth round pick.

Travis Kelce was a third round pick.

Jimmy Graham was a third round pick.

Antonio Gates was undrafted.

Darren Waller was a sixth round pick.

Mark Andrews was a third round pick.

Jason Witten was a third round pick.

Now, there are many more examples of tight ends who were drafted after the second round who did not turn into stars, starters, or even stopgaps. Going back to Kittle’s draft class in 2017, we see that Michael Roberts, Jake Butt, Jordan Leggett, Jeremy Sprinkle, Eric Saubert, Bucky Hodges, and Mason Schreck were the other tight ends drafted on day three. I seem to remember that Butt, Leggett, and Sprinkle were three players who many analysts felt had higher ceilings and brighter futures than Kittle.

And tight end evaluation can be so difficult that even in a year with five tight ends in the top 50 (O.J. Howard, Evan Engram, David Njoku, Gerald Everett, Adam Shaheen), it didn’t take long for Kittle to emerge as the elite option.

Whether or not Harris becomes Kittle or Sprinkle is entirely a guessing game and I do not believe we’ll get much of an answer to that question this year. Because Jacob Harris is not just raw as a tight end.

He’s barely even a tight end seed at this point.

I watched another tape of Harris, except this one was evaluating UCF’s offensive line performance in a 2020 game against Houston. You can see snap after snap from Harris in this game but do yourself a favor and don’t look anywhere near the offensive line to find “#87” because he doesn’t line up at tight end once. This isn’t surprising though because Harris wasn’t a tight end at UCF.

He was a wide receiver.

Login to view embedded media
View: https://youtu.be/ADP5FbRJx-8

For the 219 lb Harris to become a tight end in the NFL, he is going to probably need multiple years of development and weight training. The issue for the Rams, which is similar to the issue facing Pitts and the Atlanta Falcons, is how much you balance getting him involved early with getting him reps as a blocking tight end. In a perfect world, all of this can happen simultaneously, but little of our history suggests that this place is flawless.

When you break down all the possible avenues towards Harris playing significant snaps as a rookie, I think you’ll be left with too many roadblocks to actually expect it:

• How can Jacob Harris learn to play tight end in a single offseason?
• How can Jacob Harris become the lightest tight end in the entire NFL?
• How much more football (in general) does Jacob Harris need to learn now that he’s gone from being a soccer prospect when he was a senior in high school, to being a professional football player only a few years later?
• How does Jacob Harris go from playing all those snaps as an outside receiver in the UCF offense to playing any snaps at any other position in Sean McVay’s NFL
• If the Rams want to find room for Jacob Harris because he’s just “too damn good at catching the football” then which wide receiver do they demote: Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, DeSean Jackson, Van Jefferson, or Tutu Atwell?
• The first time that Jacob Harris caught more than three passes in a game was September 26, 2020. The first time that he crossed over 100 yards in a game was November 27, 2020. How probable is it that the same player could have an impact in an NFL game less than a year later?
• The first time that Jacob Harris played in a game against a top-25 program was November 21, 2020. UCF might not be “Division-II” but I’m not sure that Jacob Harris faced that many more future NFL players while playing for the Golden Knights than Trey Lance did while playing at North Dakota State. How ready could Jacob Harris possibly be for the transition from facing Houston, Temple, Tulsa, Memphis, and South Florida, to facing the Seahawks, 49ers, Cardinals, Packers, and Saints?

Harris recently did an interview for the Rams YouTube channel, saying that it really is a “whole different world” when playing tight end:

Login to view embedded media
View: https://youtu.be/vL_M59zhtBc

I won’t be surprised if many fans expect Harris to be no less than an option for McVay and Matthew Stafford next season, but how many timelines are there that involve Harris getting offensive snaps in 2021 because something good happened?

Not many.

We know that Harris is a unique athlete and that he made some noise at OTAs. But Harris really did not do anything in practice that was not expected of him by the NFL already. The league was aware that he was big, fast, and able to use his wingspan and body control to haul in highlight reel grabs. The reasons for why he was a fourth round pick instead of a first round pick still exist because Harris almost certainly needs a lot more time before he can line up as an inline blocker against NFL competition.

And if he gets on the field as a wide receiver, it would most likely come from the outside, and it could also signal to the defense that if Harris is on the field then he could be the presumed target.

For now, I would expect that Brycen Hopkins, Kendall Blanton, and Johnny Mundt are competing to be the backup to Tyler Higbee and the number two tight end when multiple are on the field. In Harris’s case, I think he’s only competing if a player gets injured or if he is as unparalleled of a student as he is as an athlete.

That is not a scenario that we can rule out. I would never rule him out.

I like Jacob Harris a lot.

In 3 weeks really.

Football is about to make its glorious comeback.

4 reasons that Tutu Atwell could become an immediate star for the Rams​

If you’ve watched a Louisville game in the last two years, then you know you can’t miss Tutu Atwell. If you’ve played defense against Louisville in the last two years, then you probably have.

One of the many hurdles in NFL draft evaluations is the fact that the college and pro games are so different. I’ll give you an example.

In a 2018 game, quarterback TaQuon Marshall led Georgia Tech to a 66-31 win over Louisville. It’s not the fact that Georgia Tech scored 66 points that is interesting. It’s that Marshall finished the game 1-of-2 passing for 12 yards. The Cardinals, the team that lost by 35 points, had 360 passing yards with three touchdowns. But the Yellow Jackets had more total yards.

Because Marshall’s 175 rushing yards led the way for a 542-yard attack on the ground. Georgia Tech rushed for eight touchdowns.

Were Calvin Johnson a recruit in 2018, I imagine he would have rather gone to Louisville over Georgia Tech. One freshman on the Cardinals that year — albeit one who we might as well start calling “THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF CALVIN JOHNSON” — was Chatarius “Tutu” Atwell, and that blowout loss to the Yellow Jackets also marks the day that he made it clear that he could be the steal of the 2018 recruiting class.

Atwell scored two touchdowns that day, more than the total number of completions by Georgia Tech in the game.

It’s an incredible achievement for any true freshman playing division-I football in the same conference as Clemson. It reaches another level of disbelief when you take into account that Atwell had been a dual-threat quarterback in high school. In Atwell’s first career game as a wide receiver at any level, he caught a 30-yard pass against Alabama.

That’s like when Clint Eastwood decided to give directing a shot after so many years of a successful acting career, and his first movie was Play Misty for Me, then High Plains Drifter, and soon after, The Outlaw Josey Wales. Eastwood went from acting to directing/acting. Atwell went from throwing and running to catching.

Atwell’s “successful westerns” phase happened over the last two years of college football. After setting a Louisville true freshman record with 132 yards against Wake Forest, Atwell entered 2019 as the team’s top weapon. This coming only a year after Louisville was the only major program to give him a scholarship offer as a three-star recruit out of Miami. Not even Miami, which as you’ll see, is clearly something that Atwell did not forget.

As I said in the beginning, when you watch Atwell play, you can’t un-see that he is so much smaller than everybody else. Even when he’s not going up against future professionals at Alabama and Clemson, Atwell is smaller to such a degree that one could imagine that Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson might like the chance to get to stand next to him at a photoshoot.

But size only matters to those who don’t produce and when it comes to production, Tutu Atwell is anything but the “opposite of Calvin Johnson”.

These are 4 reasons why I believe that Tutu Atwell could be as much of a steal for the Rams in the draft as he was for the Cardinals in the recruiting process.

1 - Atwell has always been productive

As a true freshman, playing wide receiver for the first time, Atwell caught 24 passes for 406 yards and two touchdowns.

The next year, LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase ruled college football, leading all receivers with 1,780 yards and 20 touchdowns. Justin Jefferson was third with 1,540 yards. CeeDee Lamb was sixth. Michael Pittman was ninth. And Chatarius Atwell was 10th, gaining 1,272 yards on 69 catches, with 11 touchdowns. He had one more catch and 16 more yards than DeVonta Smith, the receiver who would win the Heisman the following season.

Atwell also had more yards in 2019 than Gabe Davis, Rashod Bateman, Brandon Aiyuk, Tee Higgins, and Jerry Jeudy.

Login to view embedded media
View: https://youtu.be/Fs0feSzVjc4

While many receivers enter the NFL out of schools that are known for inflating wide receiver stats, Atwell was Louisville’s first 1,000-yard receiver since Harry Douglas in 2007. This includes Devante Parker, Dez Fitzpatrick, Jaylen Smith, James Quick, and Eli Rogers. Atwell’s seven 100-yard games in 2019 were as many as Lamb and Devin Duvernay, and more than Pittman or Smith. He was consistently effective, scoring a touchdown in nine different games (including one with a passing touchdown), and he went over 140 on four occasions.

There have also been bad days, particularly against elite competition. Atwell was far less effective in games against Notre Dame, Clemson, and Kentucky. He did make a statement against his hometown school though. The 256 career yards and four touchdowns against Miami are Atwell’s best marks against any team.

Login to view embedded media
View: https://youtu.be/cPxPyM5OYuc

How does he do it? The simple answer is that Tutu Atwell is a better offensive player than most of the players on defense in college football and in the ACC. There have been seven defensive players drafted within the top 60 picks over the last three years, and six of them came out of Clemson. (Can you name the one who didn’t?)

Login to view embedded media
View: https://twitter.com/ryderm25/status/1358145004053532672?s=21

So unless Atwell was playing against Clemson (he had two catches for 44 yards as a freshman, three catches for 37 yards as a sophomore, didn’t play them last year), he was rarely playing against NFL competition.

This is something that must have worked against Atwell in the draft preparation process, but he had other important factors going in his favor.

2 - Atwell could be the fastest player on the Rams

There will be some dispute as to who the fastest player on the Rams is right now, and that is not something that you can decide by comparing 40-yard dash times. Not from history, and not even recently. That’s not the speed the NFL is really interested in anyway.

Login to view embedded media
View: https://twitter.com/uoflfootball/status/1173007492210679808?s=21

I think the first prospect who shows up to the NFL Scouting Combine in full pads and then runs the 40-yard dash all geared up should be an automatic day one pick.

Login to view embedded media
View: https://youtu.be/YWL5Xez7bKI

Atwell’s official pro day time of 4.39 is better than good (Odell Beckham ran a 4.38) and it is the same reported time as rookie teammate Jacob Harris. But other reports say that Atwell can run a 4.27, and that would be tied as the fourth-fastest in combine history. There’s nothing on the tape, in pads, to suggest that Atwell is anything other than a neuron beaming from lobe to lobe.

McVay said after OTAs that you “could definitely feel that speed” when Atwell was at practice.

3 - Sean McVay won’t hold back a rookie if he’s ready as a rookie

I don’t believe that McVay shies away from rookies just because some highly-touted draft picks of past didn’t see much action early in their careers. Did they deserve it?

Few players do, and the Rams have been successful in trusting veteran additions over first round draft picks, so there is also less likelihood of LA being in a position to start a rookie. When those types of players come along though, McVay seems to trust them.

Login to view embedded media
View: https://twitter.com/cammellor/status/1198366314060013568?s=21

The Rams signed Robert Woods and traded for Sammy Watkins in 2017, but that didn’t stop Cooper Kupp from being essentially a Week 1 starter. Kupp caught four passes for 76 yards and a touchdown in his debut. Gerald Everett played in 29 offensive snaps in that same game. John Johnson became a starter in Week 5 of his rookie season. In 2019, Taylor Rapp was on the field for 31 snaps in Week 1, starting by Week 7. Jordan Fuller was an immediate starter in 2020. Sebastian Joseph-Days unofficial rookie season, after missing all of 2018, saw him become a Week 1 starter.

Even Van Jefferson was given ample opportunities to contribute in Weeks 1 and 2 of last season, but for whatever reason, his time on the field did not seem to be productive and he didn’t get back into regular action again until late in the year.

That also highlights the reality that Atwell must find snaps and targets while playing as maybe the number five or six receiver when the Rams enter training camp.



There’s no chance that Kupp or Woods will budge from their spots as the top two options for Matthew Stafford. McVay has trusted those two receivers to lead the way for his offensive in each of the last four seasons and I don’t expect 2021 to be any different in that regard. The team made this even more clear when they (somewhat recklessly) extended them both.

The addition of DeSean Jackson at $2.75 million guaranteed appears to signify that Stafford’s preferred number three will be the veteran. McVay has praised Jefferson of late, and there is reason to believe that he will have a much more important role in the offense next season. McVay did say last year that the Rams had “big plans” for tight end Tyler Higbee following his dramatic increase in production at the end of the 2019 season, but then Higbee saw a significant decrease in targets, even though he played in over 100 additional snaps.

The reality is that the Rams might have big plans for Van Jefferson right now and those plans could change. I would also think that the Rams would say that they have big plans for Tutu Atwell. I think they’re only planning good things to happen for their players.

But Sean McVay isn’t usually the type of coach to keep good players off of the field.

4 - He can be useful in more ways than one

Atwell didn’t do much work on special teams at Louisville, but he fits the profile to be a dynamic returner and McVay’s been “pleased” with his work on punts already.

It only took Atwell one offseason between high school and college to learn how to become a wide receiver. I do not doubt that he can spend one offseason between college and the pros to learn how to return kicks, and for certain players, that experience seems to build confidence and hype as they await for more chances on offense.

Login to view embedded media
View: https://twitter.com/pfn365/status/1394302542650257411?s=21

One player who balanced both successfully as a rookie was Jackson. In 2008, Jackson debuted with six catches for 106 yards and eight punt returns for 97 yards in a game against the Rams. He finished with 912 receiving yards and 440 punt return yards as a rookie.

Atwell’s pro comp before the NFL draft was DeSean Jackson. If you want a fifth reason, the guy blocking his path might also be a great mentor for him.

Login to view embedded media
View: https://twitter.com/pff_college/status/1357815010903404545?s=21

:alol:
The NFL announced Thursday it is fining the Washington Football Team $10 million based on the outcome of the review of the franchise, which was led by independent counsel Beth Wilkinson, that found the club's workplace to have been improper for many years.
Based on Wilkinson's review, Commissioner Roger Goodell came to the conclusion that Washington had operated "both generally and particularly for women," per the league statement, in a "highly unprofessional" manner that included bullying, intimidation, multiple allegations of sexual harassment and a "general lack of respect in the workplace."
"I want to thank Beth Wilkinson and her team for conducting a thorough and independent review of the Washington club's workplace culture and conduct and providing both the club and me with a series of thoughtful recommendations based on her findings," Goodell said in a statement issued by the league. "Beth and her team performed their work in a highly professional and ethical manner. Most importantly, I want to thank the current and former employees who spoke to Beth and her team; they provided vital information that will help ensure that the workplace environment at the club continues to improve. It is incredibly difficult to relive painful memories. I am grateful to everyone who courageously came forward."
Tanya Snyder, who was named co-CEO of the team earlier in the week, will now assume responsibilities of CEO and look over day-to-day operations. Washington Football Team owner Daniel Snyder added he would be concentrating on "developing a new stadium plan and other matters."
NFL counsel Janet Nova said Tanya Snyder assuming control of day-to-day operations was "voluntary" and no timeframe was presented for Daniel Snyder's return to that role, NFL Network's Mike Garafolo reported.
In August of 2020, the NFL informed Daniel Snyder it was looking into allegations of workplace problemswithin the organization, which were originally brought to light by reports from The Washington Post.
Snyder hired Wilkinson of District of Columbia law firm Wilkinson Walsh LLP to review the organization's culture and allegations of workplace misconduct after The Washington Post published a report on July 15, 2020 outlining allegations of sexual harassment from 15 female former employees. The team later asked the league's office to assume oversight of Wilkinson's investigation.

The $10 million fine will be used charitably, the league announced, as it will be applied "to support organizations committed to character education, anti-bullying, healthy relationships and related topics. They will also fund programs directed more broadly at improving the workplace, particularly for women and other underrepresented groups, and training and development programs throughout the league, with recipients identified with the assistance of respected third-party advisors. We will solicit recommendations from the club, particularly for organizations based in the Washington metropolitan area."
Snyder released a statement through the team Thursday.
"I have learned a lot in the past few months about how my club operated, and the kind of workplace that we had. It is now clear that the culture was not what it should be, but I did not realize the extent of the problems, or my role in allowing that culture to develop and continue. I know that as the owner, I am ultimately responsible for the workplace. I have said that and I say it again," Snyder said. "I feel great remorse for the people who had difficult, even traumatic, experiences while working here. I'm truly sorry for that. I can't turn back the clock, but I promise that nobody who works here will ever have that kind of experience again, at least not as long as Tanya and I are the owners of this team.
"I agree with the Commissioner's decisions in this matter and am committed to implementing his investigation's important recommendations."
Though no timeframe is known for Snyder's return to overseeing Washington's daily operations, going forward there will be an abundance of changes taken on after recommendations were made by Wilkinson, who made 10 specific recommendations that Daniel and Tanya Snyder agreed to implement.
As outlined in the league press release, the recommendations were for: protocols for reporting harassment; a disciplinary action plan; regular culture surveys; regular training regarding harassment; a more diverse workforce; establishment of clear lines of authority; expansion and empowerment of HR and legal; developing formal onboarding, a performance management and compensation system and exit interview process; protecting the cheerleading team; and regular assessment of policies.
Furthermore, the Washington Football Team will have semi-annual reporting obligations through July 31, 2023. These reports to the league office, which will be through an independent third party selected by the team and approved by the NFL office, will be on progress in implementing the aforementioned recommendations, the results of the culture and other surveys and any and all complaints, including those in exit interviews or post-employment, that "reasonably present workplace-related issues of bullying, discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, or retaliation."
Failure to implement these sanctions or to fully comply could lead to an extension of the reporting period past July of 2023 or other discipline.

Login to view embedded media View: https://youtu.be/l_ogm6oh-dU

So many single season stats are cemented in our minds. All that has to be recalibrated in our thoughts about player/team productivity.

Gulp.

I was reading the Cam Akers article posted here on ROD and it spoke to 1,500yds as a breakout season. I thought “well… hell yeah, that’s breakout kind of numbers”...

But, I paused and did that little calculation we all will be doing to ratio 16 games… “1500yds = about 1400yds in the old days”. Yada, yada.

Not too long, we will have to do it all over again with 18 games. Having our minds in tune and in calibration to stats won’t be the same for a while.

The extra weeks of football is worth it.

Who will fill WR3 role for Los Angeles Rams, quarterback Matthew Stafford?​

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Los Angeles Rams receiver Robert Woods flashed a big smile when he realized the question being asked of him during an offseason program videoconference with reporters.

If Woods runs a route and is open but doesn't get the ball from Matthew Stafford, will he return to the huddle and let his quarterback know to look for him next time?

"Of course," said Woods, chuckling. "I always let the quarterback know I was open. You got to stay in his ear and be a reminder."

In his 13th NFL season but first in L.A., Stafford is likely to have no shortage of playmakers chirping at him when the season opens on Sept. 13 against the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football. The Rams return receivers Woods, Cooper Kupp and second-year pro Van Jefferson. Over a two-month span during the offseason, they also signed veteran DeSean Jackson to a one-year, $4.5 million free agent contract. then selected Louisville's Tutu Atwell in the second round of the NFL draft.

Stafford also will have tight end Tyler Higbee and running back Cam Akers at his disposal.

"The best thing I can tell you is that's not my decision," Jackson said, laughing, when asked if there were enough footballs to go around. "I leave that for Sean McVay and for Matthew Stafford."

Woods earned a four-year extension worth up to $68 million and Kupp a three-year extension worth up to $48 million before last season. After four seasons playing under Rams coach Sean McVay, both are firmly established in the offense and anticipated to resume familiar roles this season.

Less established is the third receiver spot, filled last season by Josh Reynolds, who departed for the Tennessee Titans in free agency.

Rams general manager Les Snead and McVay hardly kept it a secret they would pursuit a playmaker this offseason -- one with the speed and ability to stretch a defense -- something they lacked amid last season's 10-6 finish. But it came as somewhat of a surprise that they snagged Jackson and then Atwell with their first draft pick, especially after Jefferson -- a second-round pick in 2020 -- demonstrated potential in his rookie season.

"In some ways it's a luxury," Kupp said. "You've got such a deep group of guys and really the next best thing about it is that guys aren't just locked in on one position, guys want to learn the entire offense, so you've got five guys that can play every position that you ask them to."

Jackson has a history with McVay, who served as his offensive coordinator for three seasons in Washington. The 14-year pro spent the past two seasons slowed and sidelined because of injuries but expressed confidence in his ability to remain healthy in his return to his hometown.

"It's definitely going to be a scary group for defenses and defenders cause Sean McVay, one thing about it, he's going to figure out how to get you open," said Jackson, who ranks sixth all-time in the NFL with 17.4 yards per reception. "So we just look forward to having a lot of fun doing it."

After he was selected 57th overall last year, Jefferson quickly established a reputation as a mature individual and polished route runner. He flashed during training camp but saw limited opportunities during the regular season.

When asked about his comfort with the offense going into Year 2, Jefferson admitted he wasn't as settled as he appeared his rookie season.

"If I had to be honest, last year I was a rookie coming in I was kind of -- my head spinning and stuff like that," said Jefferson, who caught 19 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown. "But I think I'm more comfortable now."

McVay called Jefferson a "major bright spot" this offseason.

"He's really put the work in," McVay said. "He's come back establishing himself as a legitimate dude, a guy that we're counting on for big things and I think the future is so bright."

When asked about the Rams adding two more receivers this offseason, Jefferson said he had to be comfortable with the decision.

"You just take it one day at a time," Jefferson said. "You know, not pay attention to that and just go out there and just complete and work every day and everything else will take care of itself."

Woods said Atwell played with swagger during the offseason program and demonstrated his quickness and ability to get downfield fast.

"He plays with a ton of heart and speed," Woods said.

However, with Jefferson's progress and if Jackson remains healthy, Atwell could be facing an uphill battle for playing time.

McVay has compared Atwell's skillset to Jackson, and although the Rams invested a second-round pick in Atwell, repetitions with Stafford behind Woods, Kupp, Jackson, Jefferson might be limited for the rookie, who is expected to return punts on special teams.

"Right now just getting my feet wet," Atwell said during organized team activities. "Just pretty much studying games and just watching [veteran players] and asking them questions and how to do this and how to do that."

Woods said the chemistry is growing on and off the field and each receiver brings a unique talent and ability.

"All these players do different things and what they bring to our offense is going to be a really great combination giving you all around the field, down field, fly sweeps, intermediate screens," Woods said. "I think everybody can contribute in every single way."

Stafford kept it simple when asked how his numerous playmakers can earn targets.

"For me," Stafford said, "I think just be assignment sound, get open and catch the ball."

Jake Funk's resolve helps him continue to defy the odds​

Indeed, Jake would, though it took some time for him to get a chance.

He appeared in all 25 possible games across his freshman and sophomore seasons, but since he shared a backfield with a pair of future NFL running backs in Trey Edmunds and Ty Johnson, he was primarily a special teams contributor.

Johnson was still on the roster in 2018, but a boost of confidence from spring practices in early 2018 had Funk feeling good about what his junior season had in store.

"Was really going into the season thinking I was going to contribute a lot more," Funk said. "And then two years of injuries hit."

First came a broken hand in practice the week after their Sept. 1 season-opener against Texas at FedEx Field. That injury healed in time for Funk to face Indiana on Nov. 10, only for him to tear his ACL against Ohio State one week later.

Funk said in the Ohio State game, he was running downfield on a kickoff when he felt his knee buckle on him. It wasn't very painful – in fact, he was able to jog off the field – but something didn't feel right while running and cutting on the sideline, even with a brace on. He removed himself from the game instead of attempting to play, and an MRI later confirmed a torn ACL.

"Stay positive, stay focused," was the focus of the conversations after the injury between Jake and his parents, according to his mother, Alisa Funk.

"It's a setback, but keeping forging forward," she told him.

The family was there to support him, whether it was his parents taking him to doctor's appointments, or his older brother Josh Funk, who owns his own physical therapy practice – Rehab 2 Perform – in the DMV area and worked with Jake and Maryland's athletic training staff to get him healthy in six months and ready for the 2019 season – Locksley's first as head coach after spending the 2016-18 seasons on Alabama's staff.

By this point, Jake had dealt with two years of position battles in addition to those injuries, but Locksley dissuaded him from considering the transfer portal, convincing Jake there was a role for him.

However, in the third game of that 2019 redshirt junior season, he tore his ACL again in the same knee. Another pop in his knee, but "less than the time before," he said.

While it didn't feel as bad as the first time, Jake said something still felt off. Testing and feedback from athletic trainers indicated the ACL was still intact, but an MRI later revealed Jake had partially torn it, forcing him to make a critical decision.

"If you could play on this, we could put a brace on it, you can play the rest of the season," Dr. Leigh Ann Curl, the Baltimore Ravens' head orthopedic surgeon who fixed Funk's first ACL injury and would be doing it again, told him. "But if you have any aspirations to play at the next level, your knee would not pass medical protocols. So you either have to get it done now or get it done later."

So, Jake "bit the bullet," as he described it, and opted to get the surgery done in October. Season over, but it afforded him more time to rehab.

However, one week after surgery, he dealt with a knee infection that required him to be on an IV three times a day plus antibiotics for a month. In the process, he estimated he lost 20-25 pounds – from 205 to "about 180" – though he later got his weight back up.

By the time he recovered from his second ACL injury, the COVID-19 outbreak had shuttered programs' remaining spring practices and their facilities, forcing athletes to train at home. Similar to the first injury, Jake worked with Josh for his rehab, with the two of them collaborating with the Maryland staff. Jake worked with Josh 5-6 days per week, with occasional two-a-day workouts, with a "nice, steady build-up" as the goal, according to Josh.

"Especially if you look at pandemic time, you could almost be like, 'Man, well, you're going to be concerned he's not going to get as many reps on his legs and his knee in particular,'" Josh said. "We did everything we could to make sure that when got to the University of Maryland and was going back into training camp, that there was little to no drop-off and little to no period of time where he needed to acclimate to the physical stress of practice or position-specific drills."

Jake also did his part when not working with Josh, including conducting workouts in a neighbor's "gritty and blue collar" barn with rusty plates, dusty floors and no air conditioning to compensate for Maryland's facilities being closed.

"From rehabs to lifting to football-specific training, came back for the 2020 season a whole new player," Jake said. "Completely changed my body composition, dropped like 5% body fat, was eating healthier at home, just completely different player."

He was in great shape and poised to take on a major role as a redshirt senior, but the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the 2020 season still loomed.

Stafford is 0-2 In the playoffs. Has shown he can't win the big games. How do we know he can't
win the big games? Well we go to any sports sight and go to schedule history and it says it
right there.
No need to go back and look at the games themselves. We have all the information
we need . Lions are winless in the playoffs and that is Stafford's fault.

For anyone of you interested in the pointless information on those games.
I will do my best to explain the circumstances of Stafford's failure.

GAME 1 features the 10-6 Lions against the 13-3 saints.


First Half
IN a gun slinging battle between two of the better QB's in the game.
The saints giving up two fumbles early, in which the Lions were unable to capitalize
The lions however are still up 14- 7 with the saints threatening at the Lions 7yd line
with under a minute until half the saints attempt 2 passes, with both of those
passes hitting Lion defenders in the hands before being dropped.
Saints settle for field goal

Second Half
The saint start out the 3rd by scoring ten unanswered points, before Stafford strikes back
with a 1 yd run for a TD. Now making the score 24-21 Saints.
4th quarter After Brees throws another pass right in the hands of a lion defender, That is once again dropped.
Sproles breaks for a 17yd run for a score.

Stafford feeling the pressure slings deep pass to Titus Young who falls down trying to adjust to the 50/50
ball and the pass is intercepted.The Saints respond with a 56yd TD pass to Meachem making the score 21-38 saints ( No Lion defender within 12yds of Meachem)

Stafforrd responds with a 12 yd TD pass to Johnson. 28-38 Saints
Saints score on insuring drive with 1yd TD run by Pierre Thomas. 28-45 Saints.
Stafford with little time left slings desperation type pass for his second INT



Stafford in his third year hung in the best he could against Brees the machine.
I was extremely impressed With Detroit's running game putting up 32yds while only allowing 167yds and Pierre Thomas 8.3yds per carry



Not going to get into the 2016 playoff game at Seattle.
Just some notes on that game.
Detroit started their rookie guard for the first time at center and
were forced to start their 3rd string tackle because of injuries.
Stafford who was playing with a dislocated finger on his throwing hand but,
should have somehow prevented the injuries on the oline.
I did watch a couple series of first quarter where on two consecutive
3rd down plays, Stafford hit two receivers right in the chest, only to watch them drop both of them.

Stopped watching at that point.

The Detroit running game again shined for 34yds ( if you subtract Stafford's 15yds on the ground)
Putting to shame Seattle's measly 177yds rushing.



This is one guy's opinion but Stafford will NEVER win a playoff game until
He can learn how to stop opposing teams from running up and down the field on offense.

Congratulations Rams you have acquired a loser who is incapable of winning a playoff game.

Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/PSchrags/status/1410343095330344963?s=19

Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/PSchrags/status/1410343716808704007?s=19

Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/PSchrags/status/1410345815978225666?s=19

Sean clearly admits the offense hasn't been the same with the loss of Brandin Cooks. The threat of Cooks speed changed how defenses were forced to play the Rams. In this case, they were truly drafting on traits. Tutu is less than an inch shorter than Cooks, and less than an inch shorter in his arm length. That said Tutu is faster than Cooks as a rookie. More importantly, when Cooks played for the Rams he a bit slower than in his rookie years at 25 years old in 2018. To be sure he would probably have timed sub-4.4 in the 40. Tutu runs a 4.32 with game play analytics showing him playing much faster than that. From McVay's and Snead's comments, they probably had him timed at sub 4.3 probably in the mid to upper 4.2 range. Much is made of his lack of weight, but all rookies gain substantial muscle weight due to improved diet and training once they get into the NFL. I can easily see his NFL playing weight to be around 170. Training to improve his leg and lower body strength will offset that weight gain.

As has been pointed out by the media, Tutu has been productive at all levels and I don't see that changing. Ultimately, I see Tutu as allowing McVay to return to not only his 2018 style of play but expand upon it. I think the role Jackson plays in this year's offense, is as a stop-gap giving Tutu a year to learn and physically develop. I expect Tutu to see his share of snaps this year, but in a carefully orchestrated set of situations.

I think the only real difference in the offense this year will be in the run game as I expect the passing attack to be more in line with what McVay rolled out in 2018 with adjustments for Stafford's style. I feel that whereas the 2018 run attack was primarily played off an outside zone run blocking scheme, I honestly think the Rams will be more varied in their run attack. I think it will be a mix of outside zone with a strong dose of an inside game as well. I think this is where the impact of Carberry will be. I feel Carberry is the type of coach to get the best out of the talent he has on the OL and the execution will improve overall. I think we got a glimpse of Carberry's approach when we saw Corbett at center in OTAs. He obviously wants to make sure he rolls out the best OL he can. I think he has a pretty good feel for what he has in Allen and Shelton, but he's being thorough by looking at the OTA combination. On the OL it's positional quickness and power that you want. That is why I can't see why they continue to tolerate lead foot Havenstein at that crucial RT spot. He was slow as a rookie and hasn't really improved.

I think overall Stafford will have the time to find his receivers. The play of the OL will be crucial in both the run game as well as the passing attack. Tutu's playbook as a rookie will be slimmed down IMO to jet sweeps and plays off that motion. How well the OL blocks in both aspects of the offense will determine how well Tutu will play this year. If a defense must honor an inside run attack as well as the normal Ram outside zone attack it will force them to take that fraction of a second to read the play which will open things up both on the jet sweeps by Harris and Tutu, that kind of speed is going to open up all kinds of opportunities for Woods, Kupp and the RBs (Akers, Henderson & Funk).

The Rams proved in 2018 how dominating their offense can be with good OL play. The wildcard will be Harris with his speed out of the TE spot. I think Harris will probably see more snaps this year than Tutu as he can play both as a TE and slot receiver. Once teams are aware of Harris's speed he can clear out that mid-range middle for Kupp running a 15 yd dig route. or a crossing route with Tutu out of the slot and Harris out of the TE position. The Ram's newfound speed will completely change how the opposing team's secondaries play. With that speed and a strong inside run attack, teams will be forced into mostly zone coverages. IMO Stafford will eat that up. We will probably get glimpses of the future this year but going forward, Tutu and Harris with Stafford at QB are going to change McVay's passing game. The OL doesn't have to be elite just good for this team to outmatch any opposition next year.

The Rams are truly evolving into a very fast team on both sides of the ball. Ramsey is the one garnering all the attention on defense, but with Floyd and possibly Hollins on the edges, they will have two fast players (4.6 and 4.5 respectively) on the edges to compliment the power of AD and Robinson inside. People are pinning their hopes on Lewis who has shown true flashes, but my money is on Hollins as a true difference-maker opposite Floyd. Now add in Rochell with length, and Ramsey like speed potentially emerging in 2023 (if not sooner). Add in Darious Williams timed at 4.44, David Long being times in 4.45 and Burgess with his 4.46 speed that is a very fast secondary.

Speed kills and the Rams have a lot of it.

Regardless of division, who are the best 4 teams in each Conference?

Mine:

AFC
Chiefs
Ravens
Titans
Bills

NFC
Rams
Buccaneers
Seahawks
Green Bay

Yours?

Who Will Be The New Defensive Play-Caller For The Rams?​

The Rams Defensive signal-caller has been a revolving door for years. The last player to hold the position for more than one year was Alec Ogletree who wore the green dot in 2016 and 2017. He was then traded to the Giants for a fourth and a sixth-round pick and was replaced by Cory Littleton. Littleton excelled in 2018, but he was replaced by veteran Eric Weddle in 2019.

The move to Weddle made sense since he had experience in the role in Baltimore. The bad thing about experience is that it generally only comes with age. Eric Weddle retired after the season.

Of course, that brings us to 2020 and John Johnson. He was enthusiastically installed in the position by defensive coordinator Brandon Staley. Staley was correct in his assessment of Johnson. They both wowed as the Rams went on to have the best defense in football. They captained the Rams defense so well that Johnson priced himself out of the Rams’ meager free agency grasps and Brandon Staley jumped ship for a promotion to head coach across town.

So the proverbial door continues to spin as the Rams season creeps slowly closer with no decision yet made on who the new Rams defensive play-caller will be. Of course, it’s not terribly hard to narrow it down. The role is generally filled by a safety or a linebacker. But a look at who Raheem Morris has selected in the past can shed some light on who he would prefer to communicate with on the in-helmet transmitter.

Morris served as defensive coordinator while he was also the head coach in Tampa Bay in 2009 and 2010. Morris remained head coach in 2011 but hired Keith Millard as defensive coordinator for that season. There, Morris inherited the tackling machine Barrett Ruud as the play-caller. Ruud remained in the position until 2010. But after that season the team allowed him to walk in free agency. For 2011, Morris looked to rising rookie linebacker Mason Foster. This would be Morris’ last season as the Bucs head coach.

Most recently, Morris was promoted to defensive coordinator in Atlanta for the 2020 season but took over as head coach when Dan Quinn was fired after the team went 0-5. There Morris retained Deion Jones as the play-caller. Jones had been the play-caller for several years before Morris became DC.

What do all these players have in common? Well, they are all middle linebackers and, thus, all are roughly the same size. None were drafted particularly high. Ruud was the highest going in the second round, 36th overall. Most were even fairly mediocre from an athletic perspective. Ruud was a veteran and was already in position when Morris named him the play-caller, but Morris also tagged a rookie that he drafted with the green dot. As Falcons DC, he also named Jones a team captain for the first time

So in terms of what Morris is going to do with the Rams for 2021, simply looking at traits and observables won’t help narrow it down. For that, we will need to take a look at what he has said about his former signal-callers.

Of Ruud, he said, “Ruud is a selfless player.” And when asked about how he felt about Ruud’s departure in free agency Morris said, “Obviously personally for me and Barrett, I’m going to miss him to death,” said Morris. “Ruud was more than just my Mike backer, he was a close friend as you guys all know.

Of Foster, Morris said “You really have to give a guy like Mason credit for what he’s done. This is a kid who’s been put in a man’s role and he’s done an exceptional job. He’s in there every week now calling the defenses and changing defenses and he’s really become the quarterback there. I don’t know of any mike linebacker in our system that’s come in and done that as well as he’s done it.”

And after he saw Foster at the Senior Bowl he told Bucs GM Mark Dominik, “’I’d like to have that guy in my huddle.'”

After a tough game for Foster in Minnesota Morris said “…to play with the energy that he played with time in and time out, of course, he had a couple of mistakes, no doubt about it, that’s just like my whole football team.

 They’re going to have mistakes, but [it’s] the understanding of those mistakes and his ability to come off and correct those things. He’s really showing growth and his development. It’s well beyond his years. It’s awesome.”

Morris included Deion Jones with Julio Jones, Matt Ryan, and Grady Jarrett as players that lead the team like Michael Jordan would. He said of the four, “So, when they watch [The Last Dance] as a leader [they see] how to pull a person along, how to bring them along, how to get people to a different level.”

Atlanta also promoted Jones to team captain in large part to his mentorship of younger players, especially when development was being done remotely due to COVID-19 protocols.

So with all that, the type of player that Morris will be looking to must be team-oriented with an ability to teach and mentor his peers and younger players. The player must be able to learn from his mistakes and be a quick learner that can persevere and play hard on every down, (Jones played 96% of Atlanta’s defensive snaps and Johnson played 100% last season for the Rams). And of course, he must be an exceptional leader.

So with those things in mind here are the candidates on the Rams’ roster.

Terrell Burgess

What Terrell Burgess can be for the Rams on the field is still a mystery. He missed a large chunk of last season with a broken ankle that left him unable to walk for two months. Adding insult to injury, Burgess was having the best game of his career before he was injured late in week seven against the Bears. Until that game, he had mainly been used on special teams, but he was finally getting some playing time.

What makes him a candidate for the Rams defensive play-caller is how he responded to the injury. Because of COVID restrictions and the nature of his injury, Burgess was isolated from his team. But even from his recovery room, Burgess was trying to lead his team. He stayed in contact with his team through text messages throughout the wins and losses of the season.

He became the biggest Rams fan on Twitter during games, cheering on his team as loud as he could from his very distant sideline. It was the only thing he could do, but he did it.

In his short time with the team, he is a stand-out teammate. Jordan Fuller calls him “…one of the most supportive people, one of the most positive people you’ll come around.” And this has earned him the buy-in of players team-wide. When you are the guy everyone wants to be around then you are already a team leader.

Whatsmore is he has shown perseverance and a commitment to playing football. Of his recovery, he said, “That was a long process … I didn’t realize how long I was not even going to be able to bear any weight. That was the longest I’ve ever sat out. … I’m definitely going to be a little nervous in the beginning. But I’ll be ready, for sure.”

Seven months later, Burgess shows up to OTA’s and is playing at 90-95%.

Of course, Burgess will have to make a jump to being a starter to get the green dot and will have to do so in a crowded safety room. Ironically enough, what may keep the job from him may be his versatility. That could thrust him into Troy Hill’s role, switching into nickel coverage.

Regardless of any official role as the Rams defensive play-caller, Burgess will be a leader on the team and only benefit whoever is given the role, if it isn’t him.

Micah Kiser

Could it finally be Micah Kiser’s time? He is heading into his fourth year but has missed significant time due to injury, including all of the 2019 season. He was thrust into the starting position last season with the departure of Cory Littleton. When he was healthy, Kiser played as a three-down Mike linebacker.

Prior to the 2019 season, Wade Phillips was looking to Kiser to take a larger role in the defense and saw him as on the same path as Littleton as far as his development was concerned. Kiser was a leader on this college team at the University of Virginia. He led the team and the ACC in tackles for three seasons and he was also a team captain during his senior season.

There are a few things standing in his way. One, he was looked over in the past for the position. Two, the Rams added another inside linebacker with their second pick in the draft. Three, despite being available in last season’s playoff games, Kiser played zero snaps on defense. They opted to stay with Kenny Young, who filled in while Kiser was hurt.

Kiser will have to really shine this season to get noticed by the coaching staff. Of course, the best ability is availability when it comes to being the Rams defensive play-caller. So not only will he have to take a huge step forward in his game as well as his leadership, he will have to stay healthy.

It is hard not to root for a player like Kiser. He has improved and earned his stripes over the years. This could be his chance, but the deck looks pretty stacked against him at this point.

Ernest Jones

Ernest Jones knows he is a leader. He said as much even before he became a Ram. “I take pride in controlling things and making sure every day I’m coming out and giving my best effort so they can follow me by example,” Jones said during the South Carolina 2020 spring camp. “Generally as the MIKE, you’re supposed to take charge and lead.”

He also told Rams reporters that he is ready to step up and be a vocal leader this season.

Now it’s one thing for a player to say that. It’s another to have the buy-in from the front office. Jones has that as well. Les Snead identified Jones as the best leader among all 2021 draft prospects.

If all you needed to be was a good leader to be named the defensive play-caller, it seems the Rams wouldn’t have to look any further. But there are still many questions about Jones’ ability to perform at an NFL level. He isn’t a superior athlete and could be a liability in coverage.

He has the football IQ to run the defense and is a fiesty bruising tackler, but if he doesn’t become serviceable in pass defense there is no way the Rams could have him on the field for such a high percentage of snaps.

But again, it must be pointed out that Morris looks first for a leader, rather than the most experienced or athletic player to fill the role.

But If Jones does develop in that manner, it will make a case similar to Mason Foster. Certainly, a player that can learn such a hard skill in such a short time would deserve the green dot.

Jordan Fuller

Jordan Fuller may be the most obvious choice to step into the role. The Ram’s defense will likely look a lot like it did last season and Fuller played the second most of any safety on the roster. He missed time due to injury, but when he was available he was in the game. He played at least 99% of snaps in 12 games last season including the playoff games.

And to be clear, this started in week one against the Cowboys. Fuller played 99% while Taylor Rapp only played in 21% and Terrell Burgess and Nick Scott only played on special teams. Which means he had the full faith and support of the coaching staff.

Fuller already proved he can make the leap from the college game to the pro game, despite coming into the league as the 199th overall pick in the 2020 draft. And he didn’t make that leap with raw physical athleticism. His combine numbers are laughably bad. This means he found other avenues to earn his spot as a starter, which makes him all the more impressive.

That said, it wasn’t like Fuller was getting burned out there. He held his own with much better athletes. He picked off three passes and defended five passes. There is still room for improvement, particularly in tackling and when he was asked to cover receivers. But for a guy like him to stay on the field it speaks to strong intangible traits. Furthermore, while at Ohio State he was named team captain and was also an Academic All-American. Further proof that he is smart and a leader.

The big question remains, can he make yet another impressive jump from starter to defensive team leader and Rams defensive play-caller.

He spoke to this very question in a post-OTA press conference. Fuller told reporters that he was working the most on improving above the shoulder pads.

He also told them that he is taking on John Johnson’s role on his shoulders and that he respected Johnson a lot for his communication and leadership. Fuller also called Johnson “..really, really smart” and noted that as the reason he was focused on his “..football 101 and in’s and outs of the game.” because “John was really good at that.”

It seems that Fuller football 101 is already on point and that he is also really really smart. This should stand out to Morris when it comes time to make the decision about who will be the Rams defensive play-caller.

Why 2021 May Be The Best NFL Season Ever​

A few weeks since teams have finished minicamp and players went to their summer vacations, we fans have nothing else to do besides getting on the hype train. There is more than a month until someone throws a football at the Hall of Fame game and two until the season opener, but let’s get on board.

First of all, what makes a season great? The answer will change depending on who you ask. The most common answers probably are great games, some Cinderella story, drama, and tough battles for the divisions and playoff spots. So let’s take a look at what the 2021 NFL season has to offer.

High-Quality Division Battles

Looking at how each division is stacked, we’ll probably see most of them going down to the wire. On the AFC West, the Chargers seem good enough to challenge the Chiefs if they stay healthy. The AFC East may have a triple battle between the Bills, Dolphins, and Patriots. Although the South has two of the worst rosters in the league in Jaguars and Texans, the dispute between Colts and Titans should be a good one. And the almost always entertaining North has the Browns better than ever, the Ravens with a WR core, the Bengals with a healthy Joe Burrow, and the Steelers with a healthier defense.

The NFC also has its shares of Super Bowl hopefuls. The NFC West has four teams that can play in January (if the 49ers injury plague is over). The East was embarrassing last year, but the Cowboys get Prescott back, WFT has one of the best defenses in the league, and the Giants improved their offense. The South is probably the only division that isn’t expected a fight, with the Falcons and Panthers still one or two years away from contention and the Saints without a QB. If it wasn’t enough, the Bucs managed to bring back the 22 starters from the Super Bowl. On the North, even if Aaron Rodgers plays for the Packers, the Vikings, with a defense again, and the Bears with a QB can challenge the defending champions.

Since 2011, there were two times when six divisions were decided by two or fewer games. In 2021 we can have up to SEVEN. Of course, all of this is in a perfect world in which everyone is healthy, but it will be hard to do it with a seventeenth hame. This also brings the next topic:

Great Games

Since the NFL only has 272 games, and the season is short, the expectations are high every single week. Since the Rams-Chiefs MNF in 2017, we expect another game like that. Although it’s highly unlikely that two teams will surpass 50 points in a game again, it’s ok for us to dream about it.

The gods of football were kind enough to give us a chance to see Mahomes vs Rodgers, but the latter is threatening to not play. This may be the last chance we get to see this match-up (unless Rodgers goes to the Broncos – please someone do this). We also have two payback games, with the Bills going to Kansas City and the Packers facing the 49ers, who destroyed them in the NFC championship a couple of years ago.

Quarterbacks

The most difficult position of American sports is always the one everyone wants to see. In 2021, we have some good teams that improved at the position. The Rams paid a lot to get Matt Stafford, and Sean McVay is already impressed. Although Jimmy G helped the 49ers to a Super Bowl berth in 2019, the team went all-in to move up and draft Trey Lance. Even Jaguars and Jets will get some attention due to Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson, respectively.

DRAMA

This may be Brazil in me, but I love some good gossip. And actually is during this time of the year that we have some good ones. The hottest one right now is who will be the long snapper for… Oh, who am I kidding, of course is the Aaron Rodgers one. After complaining – again – about the organization, no one knows if he will play for the Packers again. Some reports say he won’t, while others that he and the team are close to an agreement.

But Aaron Rodgers isn’t the only complaining. Before 22 women accusing him of sexual misconduct, Deshaun Watson was in the off-season spotlight. The 25-year-old signal-caller was pissed with the Texans and demanded a trade. It’s not hard to know why with the roster being a joke at basically every position and the betrayal (his opinion) of Cal McNair during the GM and HC search.

And, of course, we have to put in the COVID-VaccineGate (yes, I gave that name) After the NFL and NFLPA announced the 2021 protocols, some players got a little mad (some not just a little). The first one on the list is Cole Beasley, who got in a Twitter argument about him not getting and it made some headlines. In case you forgot, the protocols make life much harder for a player that won’t take the vaccine (duh).

With the promise of great games, divisions decided on the last plays, and fans back to the stadiums, 2021 looks very interesting. The only thing left for us is to wait this couple of months and enjoy. And we will see some classic helmets, and that’s always nice.

PFF Data Study: Coverage scheme uniqueness for each team and what that means for coaching changes | NFL News, Rankings and Statistics​

Between Peyton Manning’s 2015 Denver Broncos, Patrick Mahomes’ 2018 Kansas City Chiefs and Aaron Rodgers’ 2020 Green Bay Packers, the NFL has seen no shortage of dominant passing offenses over recent seasons.

Defenses have tried a variety of different coverages and schemes to combat that. The Seattle Seahawks soared to relevancy in the “Legion of Boom” era by playing heavy Cover 3 Zone, while the New England Patriots have found success for over two decades playing man coverages such as Cover 0 and Cover 1.

Since there are various ways to line up in coverage, we can group the league's defensive schemes into six K-Means clusters. K-Means clustering takes a set of data points and aggregates them together based on similarity. This can be helpful for the NFL coverage analysis because we can take multiple coverage frequencies, put them into a clustering algorithm and see which secondaries play similarly. The features of each cluster are listed below:

• Cluster 1: This cluster features a lot of man coverage, including the highest rates of Cover 1 and Cover 2 Man in the league. The Detroit Lions fall into this cluster.
• Cluster 2: Cluster 2 stands head and shoulders above the rest of the league in use of Cover 0 and man coverage. The New England Patriots emulate this cluster.
• Cluster 3: Zone coverage is the defining feature of this cluster, and they use Cover 3 more than anyone else. The Seahawks have been in this cluster ever since PFF started charting coverages in 2014.
• Cluster 4: This cluster is the most unique, as teams in this cluster play much more Cover 4 and Cover 6 than the rest of the league. Brandon Staley’s Rams defense took the league by storm in 2020 by doing just that.
• Cluster 5: Cluster 5 played an even split of man and zone and was really high on Cover 2 while being really low on Cover 4. The Pittsburgh Steelers define this cluster.
• Cluster 6: Cover 4 and zone coverage is the defining factor of this cluster. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fit into this category.

Based on our six clusters, we can do a principal component analysis to create linear combinations of all the variables we put into our cluster analysis, with a linear combination of the components going on the x-axis and y-axis:



The “Bill Belichick tree” in the bottom left shows that the Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions and New England Patriots featured a lot of man coverage, with Cover 0 and Cover 1. The “Vic Fangio tree,” with the Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams, is on the opposite side with zone coverage like Cover 4 and Cover 6.

That’s where we can create a new statistic called “coverage scheme uniqueness.” This statistic takes how far away a team’s PCA analysis is away from the origin. The more different a coverage is from the rest of the NFL, the higher their uniqueness score will be.

Here’s how the teams stacked up in 2020:



As mentioned earlier, Brandon Staley took a talented Rams defense, played a very unique sequence of coverages and finished with the No. 1 ranked defense in the league. On the other side, Gregg Williams’ Jets defense was the least unique, which might have contributed to him getting fired midway through the season. This prompts a deeper dive into those two teams' coverage usage.

Below is a side-by-side comparison of the most and least unique coverage teams, the Los Angeles Rams and the New York Jets, respectively.



Because the Rams played Cover 4 and Cover 6 much more frequently than the rest of the NFL, this gives us an idea that coverage scheme uniqueness is heavily weighted on the frequency of uncommon coverages being used. Other teams’ coverage schemes can be explored on The Kneel Down, which uses PFF data to automate that process.

That being said, scheme uniqueness doesn’t necessarily mean a defense will allow fewer expected points added (EPA) per pass:



In this graph, the dots represent every defensive scheme since 2015 along with the logos plotted for 2020. The Rams and Dolphins fielded great pass defenses with unique schemes, while Pittsburgh, Washington and Tampa Bay relied more on the pass rush to stop opposing quarterbacks.

One of the more interesting case studies was that Matt Patricia made his coverage scheme less unique as the season went on in an attempt to save his job. Spoiler alert, it didn’t work:



The Lions started 0-2 while playing zone coverage only 21% of the time during those weeks. They transitioned to a more common NFL defense, playing zone 48% of the time from Week 3 to Week 12, when Patricia was fired. The good news for Detroit — but the worrisome news for the Los Angeles Rams — is that scheme uniqueness is not stable when there’s a coaching change after the season:



This makes sense, as schemes are largely controlled by the playcallers and not the actual players on the field. Of course, a good defensive coordinator should be able to adapt to the players they’re given, but there is not much evidence of that. If that was the case, “different scheme” would be more stable, and “same scheme” would be less stable.

Now that we have an idea of how much defensive coverage scheme uniqueness changes from season N to season N+1, we can look at how much it changes when there’s a mid-season firing:



The Las Vegas Raiders appear on this graph three times in just seven years. They’ve tried and failed to run bland defensive schemes, and after a coaching change, their schemes get even more vanilla to finish out the season. This has contributed to the Raiders ranking 32nd in both EPA allowed per play and EPA allowed per pass from 2014 to 2020.

As seen with the line of best fit, scheme uniqueness doesn’t seem to change as much when there’s a mid-season coaching change rather than an offseason coaching change, as seen earlier. This is because it’s much easier to change a scheme with an offseason installation program than installing it on the fly as an interim head coach or defensive coordinator.

However, there are some really interesting outliers to look at, such as the 2018 Cleveland Browns:



In her Big Data Bowl paper on maximum defender depth, Nicole Tucker used tracking data from the 2018 season to find that the Browns did some different things in the post-Hue Jackson era:

“During the first eight weeks of the season, with Hue Jackson as the head coach, the Browns’ last defender stood, on average, approximately 17.5 yards away from the line of scrimmage at the snap. In the back half of the season, with Gregg Williams as interim head coach, the average was down to 16.4 yards. This doesn’t seem like a significant difference, but combining this information with the consistent downward trend seen in the visual provides more insight into the bigger picture.”

The Browns’ scheme clearly changed from the first eight games of the season to the final eight. Their maximum defender depth moved closer to the line of scrimmage, and their zone rate dropped from 60% to 50% with interim coach Gregg Williams.

Coaching changes aren't the only thing that can change the uniqueness of the scheme. There’s also playoff Bill Belichick:



With each year’s coverage scheme uniqueness plotted in gray and Belichick’s yearly average in blue, we can see that he generally keeps his best cards hidden during the regular season and ramps up the unique coverage schemes during the playoffs.



His main change in the playoffs is increasing his use of man coverage by about 8% more than he uses it in the regular season. NFL teams primarily are in some type of zone 60% of the time, but his 44% use of zone during the regular season and 36% use of it during the playoffs are what makes his coverage scheme uniqueness score so high from weeks 18 to 21.

He does this by placing an emphasis on Cover 2 Man and Cover 1 while decreasing his use of Cover 3 (the most common coverage played in the NFL) and Cover 2. Between his ability to be unique each and every year and to cause opposing offenses fits, Belichick has shown why he is still the top defensive mind in the NFL.

Coverage scheme uniqueness is a great way to measure the innovation brought by each NFL defensive playcaller. Looking at Brandon Staley as an example: Throughout the season, there was a hunch he was an incredibly gifted defensive mind, and his uniqueness score proves it.

Of course, a scheme's uniqueness doesn’t necessarily make it a better defense. Staley showed that in order for defenses to succeed, they need a unique playcaller and talented personnel. That is why the 2020 Los Angeles Rams were so successful.

Since Staley has left the Rams to be the Chargers head coach, coverage scheme uniqueness also allows us to see what actually happens when there is a defensive coaching change. Year-to-year coaching changes see a large change in scheme uniqueness, while mid-season coaching changes do not.

The Rams agree that one more vet FA would boost the roster prior to the start of the regular season.

If this was already posted I apologize.

This was good to watch/listen with a little bit less than a month before training camp begins.

Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC-NkLl8kLo
​

He was recently on the Chris Long podcast.

I can only come up with three: Cam Akers, Tutu Atwell and Johnny Hekker. Anyone know if there are others? If so, I can't help but wonder what trickery McVay might concoct ... Thoughts ??

Under the "Is it just me, or...?"

Does anyone else think that Stafford "looks, moves and throws" like a QB, where Goff didn't?

I know I'm getting pushback, (which that's fine), and I have NEVER posted an anti-Jared thread, but man, the more I watch Stafford in practice, the more "That's what a great QB looks like" thought keeps running through my head. And to get real knit-picky, it's nice to see tight spirals.

I guess we'll see if that translates.

2021 Thread!

2022 begins at Post #17


Get ready for it.Can’t believe some people’s thinking,and if there being real ? The players & research makes it unbelievably more crazy.

Spiking the Punch in the NFC West | NFL Deep Dive​

The MMQB team dives into one of the most elite divisions in the NFL. Do the Seahawks need a reboot? The stage is set for the McVay-Stafford show. Just how good is Budda Baker? And what do we expect from the 49ers?

The Division Preview Series moves on to the bluebloods of the NFC West, where all the most interesting QB-coach marriages live.

What do Jenny, Conor and Gary make of the upgrade from Jared Goff to Matthew Stafford? Will this ramp up the pressure on Sean McVay? Will Les Snead catch some heat if a thin defense falls apart? And is anything less than a Super Bowl acceptable for the Rams?

A look at Trey Lance and all the many reasons this isn't like the RG3–Kyle Shanahan setup in Washington. Examining the Seahawks' search for answers with a Russell Wilson–centric offense, and finding a solution for Jamal Adams on defense. And does Kliff Kingsbury's offense have anything beyond a cool name—and could Rondale Moore be the alcohol that spikes the red Kool-Aid?

Plus, our preseason poll for order of finish, a division preview Mad Libs–style, Conor's anti-bucket list, lots of powdered beverages and so much more.

Login to view embedded media View: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/spiking-the-punch-in-the-nfc-west-nfl-deep-dive/id916244917?i=1000527089749

.

Aaron Donald has heard 'a lot of good things' about Rams rookie Paris Ford​

Aaron Donald has split time between Los Angeles and Pittsburgh this offseason, as he does every year. He still trains daily and puts in more work than probably any other NFL player, but he doesn’t attend every practice and session the Rams hold before training camp.

However, while he’s been in Pittsburgh, he’s heard good things about Rams rookie Paris Ford, who L.A. signed as an undrafted free agent this year. Donald is willing to help the young safety any way he can, whether it’s on the field or with the playbook, hoping he makes the 53-man roster.

“I’ve been hearing a lot of good things. I wasn’t there, but I’ve been hearing a lot of good things as far as how he’s been doing,” Donald said of Ford, via John McGonigal of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “But once you put some pads on, he’s got to do a lot more and make a name for himself. But anything I can do to help him, I’m there. He just has to come up and talk to me. If it’s the playbook or something else I can do, I’m for sure going to be there to help him. I hope he makes the team. And I know at the end of the day the type of football player he is. He can help us.”

Ford has the ability to play both safety and corner, putting together a strong career at Pitt. He racked up 136 total tackles, 5.5 sacks and six interceptions, returning one for a touchdown. He also broke up 10 passes and forced three fumbles, with nine of those PBUs coming in 2019.

The Rams could use depth in the secondary following the departures of Troy Hill and John Johnson, and although it’s unlikely Ford will play a major role as a rookie if he makes the team, he could be active on game days if injuries occur to other players.

Having Donald in his corner as a mentor certainly helps, but as Aaron said: It will come down to training camp when the pads go on. That will be Ford’s real opportunity to step up and showcase his abilities to the coaching staff.

What would a breakout season for Cam Akers look like in 2021?​

It wasn’t exactly clear who the Rams’ starting running back was going to be last year. They had plenty of options with Darrell Henderson Jr., Malcolm Brown and Cam Akers, but before Week 1, no one truly knew who was going to get the bulk of the carries.

That was the case for most of the season with Sean McVay rotating his backs to either ride the hot hand or out of necessity due to injury. Heading into this season, there’s a much clearer picture in the Rams’ backfield.

All signs point to Akers being the lead runner, based on the way McVay has spoken about the second-year player and the way he finished his rookie season with six games of 80-plus scrimmage yards from Week 11 to the divisional round of the playoffs.

A breakout season is something many fans and analysts expect of Akers, but what would such a campaign look like?

Simply eclipsing 1,000 yards from scrimmage wouldn’t warrant a “breakout” label in my mind. It’ll take much more than that for Akers to truly emerge as a star in the NFL. James Robinson’s rookie season in 2020 would be a good baseline for Akers.

Last season, Robinson rushed for 1,070 yards and seven touchdowns in only 14 games, adding on 344 yards receiving with three more touchdowns. So in total, he had 1,414 yards from scrimmage and 10 total touchdowns as a rookie, which should be deemed a breakout year for the Jaguars running back.

In Akers’ final six games of last season, he had 152 total touches for 792 yards and three touchdowns. That’s a remarkable pace, and absolutely not one he should be expected to keep up in 2021. But if he were to, he would finish with 425 touches for 2,244 yards and about eight touchdowns.

More likely, he could average around 90 yards from scrimmage per game on about 18 touches per week, which works out to 1,530 total yards in a 17-game season. Surely, that would be considered a breakout year.

Pro Football Focus put Akers in a group of second-year breakout candidates this season, writing this about the Rams running back.

PFF’s Ian Hartitz recently wrote about Akers’ chances to get a Todd Gurley-sized workload in the Rams’ offense next season. In that article, there was an interesting nugget from head coach Sean McVay about his plans for Akers in Year 2:

“He’s obviously a great runner, but he’s got ability as a pass-catcher coming from the backfield, and we can displace him and put him in the slot or the outside receiver location.”

If this is the case, Akers may see north of 65%-70% of the Rams’ snaps next season, putting him in prime position to continue his 2020 hot streak.

The biggest question with Akers is his workload. Brown is gone, but Henderson is still in the backfield with Akers, which could lead to a continued share of the touches. But McVay sees Akers as an every-down back, given his skill set as a runner and ability to line up out wide as a receiver.

“Well, I think the more you can have the ball in Cam Akers’ hands, we’re in a good position,” McVay said in January. “This guy’s going to be a big-time player. He got more and more confidence as the season went. I have tremendous confidence in him, and I think [RBs coach] Thomas Brown did such a great job being able to help him continue to mature throughout the season, and I think this guy has an unbelievably bright future.”

Henderson will get his touches, but the backfield should belong to Akers. There’s no reason he shouldn’t get at least 15-20 touches a game this year.

Does Nick Scott have a chance to start for the Rams one day?​

As we saw in 2021, LA Rams general manager Les Snead likes using day three picks on prospects who may have more potential to contribute on special teams than they do on offense or defense. It can be hard for fans to fully come to terms with the idea that any players are ever drafted without the intent to become stars — the VAST majority of draft picks do not have near the offensive or defensive ceiling that many outsiders predict and many are meant to help fill out the 53-man and practice squad rosters, not a Pro Bowl roster — but the Rams need players all over the field and the building.

This year’s draft brought players such as Jake Funk, Ben Skowronek, and Jacob Harris as players who were noted for having fantastic potential to immediately contribute on special teams. Of those, Harris has caught the most attention as a prospect who could do more than that.

But two years ago, that player may have been Nick Scott, a seventh round pick out of Penn State who was praised for his special teams attributes. Only 11 players were drafted after Scott in 2019, but as the 243rd overall pick, he’s already surpassed reasonable expectations.

Given what we’ve seen from Scott over his first two NFL seasons, expectations may need to be raised.

Scott made the roster as a rookie in 2019, then led the Rams in special teams snaps with 378. He only appeared in 15 defensive snaps, but Scott led a group that also featured Marqui Christian, Travin Howard, and Troy Reeder with over 300 special teams snaps in 2019.

And in sixth place for special teams snaps was Darious Williams, who also managed 221 snaps on defense that year, most of those coming in December.

Then in 2020, Scott returned and made the team again, this time contributing 332 snaps on special teams. For the second year in a row, that led Los Angeles, and Scott was the only player who had more than 270. What was even less talked about was Scott’s 193 snaps on defense, with the majority of those coming in November and December.

Could Scott take a similar path as Williams towards becoming a defensive starter?

For now, it appears that 2020 third round pick Terrell Burgess could become the new number three cornerback and not the replacement for John Johnson at free safety. That would probably open up the door for Taylor Rapp, not Scott, to become the other starting safety in 2021. Rapp was Jordan Fuller’s backup last season and saw considerable action in the first half of the season, prior to going on injured reserve, so it would be mildly shocking to see Scott win a job over him at this stage.

But the competition is open and Scott has already done more than any near-undrafted player should ever be expected to do. He is no less than one of the Rams’ most valuable contributors on special teams, and he should be in LA for at least two more years.

LA Rams reporter J.B. Long spoke to Nick Scott recently on his podcast and talked about the work he’s done on special teams, as well as his fight to earn a regular role on defense.

Login to view embedded media
View: https://youtu.be/j48OM_14UuY