[www.therams.com]

Kupp 18
Reynolds 9
Rogers 39
Johnson 43
Ebukam 50
Price 51
Everett 83
Smart 92

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/b...ine-receiver-sammy-watkins-fifth-year-option/

Three years ago, the Buffalo Bills traded their first-round pick, along with their first and fourth-round picks the following year, to move up five spots in the 2014 draft and select Clemson wide receiver Sammy Watkins, who was considered the best receiver in the class.

Watkins went on to set franchise rookie records with 65 catches for 982 yards during his first season in the NFL, and also scored six touchdowns. He's struggled with repeated foot injuries since then, though, and hasn't quite progressed as the Bills expected when they surrendered so much value to get him on their team.

And so, on Tuesday, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Bills will not pick up the fifth-year option on Watkins' rookie contract.

Because he was the No. 4 overall pick, Watkins would have been in line for a fifth-year option salary of $19,935,603, per Spotrac. Given his significant health issues (he's played only 21 of 36 games the last two years and has had two surgeries on it) and relatively stagnant production, it's not a surprise the Bills aren't willing to pay him that much money.

With new leadership in place at head coach (former Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott) and general manager (TBD), it's certainly possible the organization now feels less loyalty to Watkins than before and could look elsewhere. Then again, there's nothing stopping them from giving him a new contract (or just using the franchise tag) next season if he stays healthy and productive this season. They just didn't want to be on the hook for nearly $20 million if that didn't work out.

All are subject to change before the regular season starts, but here's their current numbers!

Wade Phillips will be on the Rich Eisen show today. No report which hour but his show starts now running for the next three hours.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...harles-scheduled-visit-denver-broncos-tuesday
5:53 PM CT

• Jeff LegwoldESPN Senior Writer

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Jamaal Charles, who has caused the Denver Broncos plenty of headaches over the course of his touchdown-filled career, will meet with the Broncos on Tuesday.

If Charles passes a physical and the Broncos' medical staff gives a favorable prognosis, the expectation is for the Broncos and Charles to try to close out a contract for the veteran running back.

Charles, 30, who tore his right anterior cruciate ligament in October 2015, played in just three games last season because of pain in his knees. He had just 12 rushing attempts for the season before the Chiefs put him on injured reserve in November.

C.J. Anderson -- is coming off knee surgery, while Devontae Booker had a productive rookie season.

The Broncos also signed former Ravens running back Bernard Pierce as a "futures" player this past January. They then traded Kapri Bibbs to the San Francisco 49ers this past weekend and selected Coastal Carolina running back De'Angelo Henderson on Saturday.

Henderson, who ran a sub-4.5 40-yard dash at the scouting combine is the fastest of the team's backs. Booker, Anderson and Pierce all have similar styles, so if Charles passes a physical and can resurrect even some of his past explosiveness, the Broncos would want to add that to their offense.

Charles has four 100-yard rushing games against the Broncos in his career, including a 259-yard effort during the 2010 season.

I listen to Philly Sports Radio, specifically the FANATIC, and I miss the hometown spirit of being fanatically passionate about a team. The FANATIC isn't even the Eagles station, but you wouldn't know it by the coverage of the team. They love all things Philly, especially Anthony Gargano in the Mornings, and I just love listening to their passion (all of the shows). I HATE the supposed objectivity of a-holes like Keyshawn Johnson....Maybe I am wrong, but I haven't heard of a station in LA that goes bonkers during the day for the Rams. Philadelphia isn't a small city and so the big city sophistication bullcr@p doesn't fly with me as an excuse. Really, I like baseball at certain times of the year and I could give a flying-fark about the NBA...WE NEED A RAMS STATION, that gets off on covering the Rams all year.

Rams have their reasons for not drafting offensive linemen

Alden Gonzalez
ESPN Staff Writer

[www.espn.com]

The Los Angeles Rams fielded what was widely considered one of the NFL's worst offensive lines this past season, but did not select a single offensive lineman in this year's draft.

What gives?

It makes a lot more sense once you dive deeper.

First, consider their free-agent signings. They splurged on a left tackle, as they should, signing Andrew Whitworth to a three-year contract that guaranteed him $15 million. They released center Tim Barnes, but replaced him with John Sullivan, a six-year fixture on the Vikings' offensive line until back issues crept up in 2015. Whitworth, however, is 35, his window closing. Sullivan, 31, came over on only a one-year contract. And the Rams still don't have a young, long-term solution at left tackle or center.

But this didn't seem like the draft to get one.

It was deep at several different positions, but offensive linemen certainly was not one of them. For the first time in the common draft era, which dates back to 1967, no offensive linemen were taken within the top 15. Only two were taken in the entire first round. And only one, Garett Bolles at 20th overall to the Broncos, went within the top 31. The draft was especially devoid of left tackles. It had some intriguing centers for the middle and late rounds, but the Rams instead signed a couple of undrafted free agents -- Jake Eldrenkamp out of Washington and Anthony McMeans out of New Mexico State -- who will work out at center for them.

Last year's Rams offensive line was rated 27th by Pro Football Focus. Behind it, Jared Goff absorbed 25 sacks over his last six games and Todd Gurley averaged the second-fewest yards before first contact. But there's a key reason the Rams didn't address it in the draft, outside the lack of talent available and the free agents they signed: new offensive line coach Aaron Kromer wants to mold the linemen he inherits.

"There are a lot of guys in our group that he wanted to work with and felt like they may be better than some of the rookies in this draft class," Rams general manager Les Snead told reporters from the team facility on Saturday night.

“We really wanted a close look. ‘Do we need offensive linemen or do we not?’ Because if you go back, we had the ‘16 season and we had the ‘15 season. The ‘15 season, we’re probably a top-five rush team, we’re a top-five sacks-per-play-allowed team. Then, you go to ‘16 and we’re basically bottom 30 in both of those categories with probably the same starting lineup. So at some point, between ‘15 and ‘16, you’re on opposite ends of the spectrum. But these guys were young, got experience, and we felt like there was some upside there."

One of the most appealing aspects of this job for Kromer was his ability to develop. He talked about it shortly after being hired, saying: "I’m excited about this group, and the reason is the youth. When you look at it, there’s not many offensive lines in the league that have second- and third-year players across the board."

It's a result of the Rams drafting seven offensive linemen from 2014 to '15, six of whom remain on the roster.

Greg Robinson, the No. 2 overall pick in 2014 who will not have his fifth-year option exercised, will transition from left tackle to right tackle. Rob Havenstein, a second-round pick in 2015, is moving from right tackle to right guard. Jamon Brown, Andrew Donnal and Cody Wichmann, all headed into their third year, will get reps at different positions in hopes of finding their best fits. Aside from Whitworth and left guard Rodger Saffold, the Rams' best lineman last season, starting spots are up for grabs.

"We feel good," first-year Rams head coach Sean McVay said of his offensive linemen. "I think coming out of that minicamp really enabled us to have a better feel for our depth up front."

I feel good about John Sullivan being the needed upgrade at the moment but we also know he is coming off a serious injury.
That combined with his age and the usual need for a strong Second Stringer at such an important position.

If he goes down we have zero experienced players on the roster.

Rhaney is under-sized and more suited for a zone-blocking system rather than the hybrid system we run as well as he looked overpowered in pass protecting. I don't really see him making the team.

McMeans has the needed size but was consistently rated as a UDFA and brings zero experience. His play in pass protection sounds like a Barnes scouting report - Barnes ability to block at the second level on run plays.

So my bet as the new backup is Jake Eldrenkamp, 6'5/296.
He more than likely went undrafted because of his size.
He is considered more of a zone-blocking system type as well with decent footwork and technique. Hopefully he gained about 15 pounds.

I think they will also have to seriously look at other teams last cuts.

UDFA QB Jerod Evans would give the Rams their own developmental signal-caller behind Jared Goff

https://www.downtownrams.com/single...developmental-signal-caller-behind-Jared-Goff

The Rams look to have filled their roster with new draftees and undrafted signees, but there is one player out there that makes a ton of sense for the Rams. His name is a Jerod Evans and he’s one of the best quarterbacks to play for the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Evans, unfortunately, did not hear his name called on Thursday, Friday or even Saturday. Now, he is undrafted and will always have that label and will surely lead to a chip on his shoulder. There isn’t a reason for Evans to feel bad however, lots of good football players went undrafted this year and of course we have tons of stories of undrafted free agents that became something in the NFL.

If you have been reading my articles, I believe the Rams could use another arm in camp and Evans would be my target right now. First off, Evans is much too talented to still be a free agent, but secondly, the idea the Rams shouldn’t pick up another QB because of Sean Mannion and Aaron Murray is a little bit of a stretch. We have seen this league become a league where good teams carry multiple quality QBs. The Packers are a good example as they drafted Brett Hundley to develop behind Aaron Rodgers who is nowhere near retiring, the Patriots drafted Jacoby Brissett behind Tom Brady and Jimmy Garappolo, the Broncos drafted Chad Kelly and signed Kyle Sloter to compete with Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch. So there are plenty of teams out there that have proven it, the Rams should be no different.

Evans is a dual-threat quarterback that has some impressive skills and tons of potential at the position. He’s got good size at 6-foot-3 and 232 pounds and uses his size to his advantage as an aggressive runner. What Evans does on tape is albeit inconsistent at times, but he flashes big time potential. He has the ability to keep his head up and his eyes downfield while scanning all over and looking for the best option. He’s got a great arm and puts NFL-level velocity on his ball. Evans likes to make some real NFL-level throws from time-to-time that just make you go “wow”.

There are reasons why he is somewhat of a project, first off being he has only played in 14 total FBS games, but then again the number two overall selection Mitch Trubisky only played one season for the Tar Heels and that didn’t hold him back. The second reason is based off the fact as much as I like Evans and see the potential there are some inconsistencies in his game, but regardless of that they can definitely be coached up and fixed.

All I know is that this kid is someone that came from community college, went to Virginia Tech and started his first year of real FBS competition. What did he do with that? He completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 3,552 yards, 29 touchdowns, and only eight interceptions. He also added 12 rushing touchdowns to his stat sheet, so he is a player that was put into an unfamiliar situation and really made the most of it.

While I believe Evans could have used another year of college to hone his skills which would prove to be unnecessary if he came to an NFL team that could work with him and coach him up. I believe that Evans would be a great fit in Sean McVay’s offense. Evans would have plenty of coaches that could help him mechanically immediately out of the gate. The Rams didn’t grab another quarterback for camp and Evans would be the last chance at this point.

Evans is a good enough passer in the short and intermediate game, flirts NFL-level ball placement, has a good arm, keeps his eyes downfield, has the awareness and the mobility to develop. You cannot teach arm strength and natural instincts which Evans possesses, you can, however, teach and coach technique, fundamentals, and mechanics. Evans based off potential alone could have been a late day two pick, but now he is undrafted and available for the taking. We watched as Vernon Adams last year ended up going to the CFL. Evans is right up there many of the QB’s in this draft and should be on an NFL roster.

Will the Rams take a chance on him? That remains to be seen, but with no real developmental option behind Jared Goff, I don’t think you can just let Evans go off the market for a bargain. The Rams really only met with two quarterbacks before the draft in Davis Webb of California and Wes Lunt of Illinois, but still, that interest in QB’s could be enough to warrant kicking tires on the former Hokie QB.

What are your thoughts Rams fans? Do you think the Rams should give Jerod Evans a shot? Let us know!

Tonight, the NFLN debuted the Top 100 Players of 2017, from the 2016 season. Tonight's episodes ranked 100 - 91 and 90 - 81, as voted on by the players. Here is the list so far.

100 - Joey Bosa, DE Chargers
99 - Malcom Butler, CB Patriots
98 - Adrian Peterson, RB Vikings
97 - David DeCastro, G Steelers
96 - Damon Harrison, DT Giants
95 - Kelechi Osemele, Tackle Raiders
94 - Dont'a Hightower, LB Patriots
93 - Brandon Graham, DE Eagles
92 - Everson Griffen, DE Vikings
91 - Lorenzo Alexander, LB Bills
90 - Malcolm Jenkins, S Eagles
89 - Thomas Davis, LB Panthers
88 - Doug Baldwin, WR Seahawks
87 - Travis Frederick, C Cowboys
86 - Jurrell Casey, DT Titans
85 - Chandler Jones, LB Cardinals
84 - Mike Daniels, DT Packers
83 - Calais Campbell, DT Cardinals
82 - Clay Matthews, LB Packers
81 - Alex Smith, QB Chiefs

Besides Donald, are there any other Rams players who could make the list? The only other guy I could see making it would be Johnny Hekker. Thoughts?

Edit: I forgot about Whitworth and Barwin. I think they made last year's list.

Login to view embedded media View: https://twitter.com/rich_hammond/status/859213930807164929


Anyone know a current count? Is this 91 now?

ESPN.com’s Rams reporter Alden Gonzalez came on to help the guys recap who the Rams selected in the NFL Draft. Gonzalez also went in depth on the skill players the Rams drafted with their 1st 3 picks.

Listen to Gonzalez Talk Rams Draft

Way-too-early 2018 Rams 7-Round mock draft

https://www.downtownrams.com/single-post/2017/05/01/Way-too-early-2018-Rams-7-Round-mock-draft

1st round: Minkah Fitzpatrick, CB, Alabama (6-foot-1, 203 pounds)

Yes, we have a first round pick again, this is going to feel weird. It’s also real early and right now many would probably go offensive tackle to replace veteran LT Andrew Whitworth, but I am going to mock Minkah Fitzpatrick here because CB Trumaine Johnson is not guaranteed to re-sign. I know he wants to, but sometimes the team and player are unable to come to a deal and it’s not that a expect that to happen, but I would still be aware that is a possibility.

With no one signed to a long-term deal at the cornerback position, I believe (at least as of April 2017) that grabbing a potential superstar cornerback is the right move. Fitzpatrick look like just that last season when he picked off six passes towards the end of Alabama’s season.

Fitzpatrick is a bigger and physical cornerback that can play both inside the numbers and outside the numbers. He is a faster cornerback as well posting a 4.4 at Alabama, which is very evident on tape. When you watch Fitzpatrick you get excited about the explosiveness to his game, he’s got some growing up to do as of now. He has some areas of concern, but I believe he will fix things and he will only get better this up-coming season for the Crimson Tide.

2nd round: Martez Ivey, OT, Florida (6-foot-5, 312 pounds)

Now we can address the offensive tackle position. I am not going to predict the future with this mock, but I believe Whitworth is in for another great year as usual. He’s been the model of consistency for years and I expect no different. After the season the Rams should absolutely be prepared for life after Whitworth and that is why we have Martez Ivey coming to the Rams here.


Ivey is the pick here because he is not quite a first round selection right now (that could easily change at the end of the season) but he is still a really good prospect. What you like from Ivey on tape is his quickness. Right off the bat he has a lot of it and he moves so well where you know he will be a threat in the second level. He’s a full on finisher that will take his opponent out of the play if need be. He’s a little bit raw and that was shown immediately which is why the Gators put in him in at guard. However, he can and will be playing left tackle especially now that David Sharpe is in the NFL.

Now that Ivey is at his natural position it is only a matter of time before people start knowing his name.

3rd round: Jalen Hurd, RB, Baylor (6-foot-4, 240 pounds)

What if Todd Gurley struggles in his third season? Not saying it will happen, but again let’s be real that Gurley has hit a considerable wall and will need a big season to tell us and show us otherwise. Regardless of Gurley’s success or not, the Rams in my opinion don’t have a great option behind Gurley. They have some nice options, but nothing that makes teams cringe. Malcolm Brown is a good back, but not a great one that can come in and seemingly do just as much damage at the RB position. Lance Dunbar is on a one-year deal and the jury is still out on Aaron Green. So I’ve decided to add a fun back here.

Jalen Hurd is a freak of a running back who knows how to run like an NFL running back. Scouts and I love the way he is able to run with low pad level, excellent balance, ability to run through tackles with ease. Hurd is similar to James Conner who was drafted by the Steelers this past weekend, in that he refuses to go down. However, Hurd is a different back, Conner isn’t nearly as big or tall and Hurd runs like a much more technically sound running back. He is apparently transferring from Tennessee to go to Baylor, regardless I think he is going to enter the NFL draft even if he has to sit out a year.

Hurd is a great pass protector which makes him even more valuable as a back. To be completely honest he is an outstanding back. Even if all works out with Gurley, imagine Gurley and Hurd as a duo…that might be a little unfair.

4th round: Dorance Armstrong Jr., OLB, Kansas (6-foot-4, 241 pounds)

Armstrong Jr., is one of the up-and-coming pass rushers in college football. In fact, he’s being touted as the possible next Myles Garrett who both were recruited by David Beaty who just so happens to be the Head coach at Kansas. He has shown steady improvement and has really flashed a high ceiling thus far. As Kansas football continues to improve so does he. Of course the Jayhawk edge rusher ranked 15th overall in the entire country for pass rushing productivity according to Pro Football Focus. Now this is his year to really take the college level by storm.

The Rams drafted two linebackers and have a ton of linebackers, but even so, we have no idea the fate of Robert Quinn. If he has another year where he battles injuries it’s likely the Rams will look for a future starter at the position. Armstrong Jr. has the tools to be a starting edge rusher in the NFL and will only fall to the third round because of him being at Kansas and how they seem to go unnoticed even more now.

5th round: Shaquem Griffin, LB, UCF (6-foot-1, 213 pounds)

With Alec Ogletree un-signed and Mark Barron’s future in question, it remains to be seen what the Rams will have to do. So I gave them the one-handed wonder Shaquem Griffin. He is an absolute inspiration to everyone out there as he had his hand amputated when he was four years old, but you would never know it.

His brother Shaquill will be in Seattle as they drafted him in the third round, but his brother is going to be at UCF for one more year and he’s already had some outstanding production there. Griffin won the AAC defensive player of the year award racking up 11 sacks, 20 tackles for a loss on 92 tackles, seven pass breakups, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and an interception.

He may have one hand, but he can definitely contribute and would be a great option for the Rams in the fifth round.

6th round: Evan Berry, FS, Tennessee (5-foot-11, 207 pounds)

I’m unsure how the off-season and regular season will go with the safeties on the roster, but I think regardless drafting Eric Berry’s brother would help the Rams. Since Benny Cunningham left in free agency and there is the possibility of letting Tavon Austin go after the season if he doesn’t perform up to par…the Rams could be in use of a return man.

Berry flashes an obvious bloodline, potential and the ability to take back any kick for a touchdown. The Rams really won’t understand the need for a kick returner until after the year. Benny Cunningham averaged 27.1 yards per return for his four years with the Rams. Berry makes sense as we look to the future.

7th round: Thomas Sirk, QB, East Carolina (6-foot-4, 220 pounds)

Lastly, I have the Rams taking a QB and this has nothing to do with what I think about Jared Goff because trust me, if it did, I would be selecting a first round QB not a seventh round. Sean Mannion is a free agent in 2019, so may not seem like a big deal, but besides the fact Mannion isn’t amazing by any means. On top of that the Rams have Aaron Murray as a restricted free agent next year. I do not believe Goff’s long-term backup option is on this roster judging by the amount of time these guys are signed. Sirk may not be the option either, but he does give the Rams a developmental option that is considered a dual threat QB. Sirk is transferring from Duke to East Carolina as a graduate transfer, receiving on more year of college football eligibility.

What are your thoughts on our extremely early mock draft? Any of these names interest you? Let us know!

I don't recall seeing this.

http://theramswire.usatoday.com/2017/04/29/los-angeles-rams-senior-bowl-nfl-draft-selections/



There’s a reason the Senior Bowl draws so much attention each year — it can single-handedly get players on a team’s radar.

The Los Angeles Rams scouts certainly made the most of their time in Mobile, Alabama. Of the eight draft picks, the Rams met six in Mobile.




The Rams kicked off their draft moving back in the second round, drafting tight end Gerald Everett. He was the first ever player out of South Alabama to get drafted.

In two seasons, he totaled over 1,200 yards and 12 touchdowns but it was the week of the Senior Bowl. He’s been brought in as a pass catch first and foremost, where he continued to impress against higher competition.

Following that week, most pundits expected a third round selection out of him. But the tight end, whose game is reminiscent of former Sean McVay tight end Jordan Reed, was too good to pass up on at No. 44 overall.

Following Everett’s selection, the Rams stuck to drafting small school prospects and grabbed Easter Washington receiver Cooper Kupp in the third round.

He was highly praised by his Senior Bowl quarterback Nate Peterman of Pittsburgh who described Kupp as having a “chip on his shoulder” to prove his worth out of a small school.



Kupp caught a lot of attention in Alabama with his speed. He may have run just a 4.62-second forty at the combine, but he was clocked at a hair under 21 mph at the Senior Bowl with wearable GPS technology.

Kupp was among the fastest players recorded in Mobile which helped earn him a private workout with the Rams.

Not only did he prove his athleticism but his overall playmaking ability. He was one of the top talents throughout the week of practice with PFF giving him a 4.5-point grade, the highest among offensive players.

Similarly, the Rams scouted fourth-round selection, receiver Josh Reynolds of Texas A&M but on the opposite sideline, partnering with Everett on the South team.

Reynolds has impressed scouts, hauling in 30 touchdowns in three seasons as a top red-zone target for the Aggies.

At the Senior Bowl, he had five receptions on five targets for 85 yards with a touchdown — leaving scouts impressed with his playmaking ability, scoring a 2.1 pass catching grade from PFF, among the highest marks.


Of course, Reynolds wasn’t the only player from a Power Five the Rams took. The previous round saw the team select John Johnson, a safety out of Boston College who had one of the biggest stock boosts following the Senior Bowl.

He was put through not only work as a safety but was also tested in cornerback drills, showing off much-valued versatility. Johnson showed continued growth through his week at the Senior Bowl.

He finished the 2016 season with five passes defended and two interceptions in the final five weeks of the season and proved that wasn’t a just a one-off hot streak.

The Rams became familiar with another defensive prospect, Tulane defensive tackle Tanzel Smart that same week. Smart is bound to be a rotational player for run-first situations.

Lastly, the Rams found one of the most unique players in the draft in Virginia Tech fullback Sam Rogers — one of the only at his position in the whole draft.

Fullbacks are a rare breed in the league today and the Rams are without one. He looks to be the player McVay had in Darrell Young in Washington.

At the Senior Bowl, Rogers left with the second-highest grade from Pro Football Focus among offensive players. The highest grade went to second-round receiver Zayn Jones. It may have been the game that helped Rogers be the first fullback off the boards.

If one thing can be taken from the Rams draft strategy, it was to target experienced talent no matter the school’s pedigree.

The Rams also took two outside linebackers that were not invited to the Senior Bowl but were indeed seniors: Eastern Washington’s Samson Ebukam (fourth round) and Pittsburgh’s Ejuan Price (seventh round).

NFC West

1 (13) Haason Reddick, LB, Temple
2 (36) (from Chicago) Budda Baker, S, Washington
3 (98) (from Carolina) Chad Williams, WR, Grambling State
4 (115) (from Carolina) Dorian Johnson, G, Pittsburgh
5 (157) Will Holden, OT, Vanderbilt
5 (179) T.J. Logan, RB, North Carolina
6 (208) (from Oakland) Rudy Ford, S, Auburn

Day 1: Arizona is building a versatile defense and Reddick epitomizes that goal as he can rush off the edge or play in more of an off-the-ball linebacker position. Reddick picked up 18 sacks, 24 QB hits and 54 hurries on 679 rushes the last three years in more of an edge role at Temple, but he has the athleticism to play in space at the next level. If he’s moved around the defense, expect Arizona to try to isolate him on running backs in pass protection where he should be able to continue that pass-rushing success and it’s only a matter of cutting down on his three-year total of 28 missed tackles to see Reddick maximize his potential.

Day 2: Another versatile piece added to the defense, Baker reminds of new teammate Tyrann Mathieu with his playing style and ability to play both safety and cover in the slot. Baker attacks the line of scrimmage in the run and screen game, though he has to cut down on some of the big plays he’s allowed in coverage through the years. Williams had a good showing at the Senior Bowl where he ranked among the top receivers during the week of practice.

Day 3: Johnson ranked 12th in the draft class with a pass-blocking efficiency of 98.5 and he has experience in both gap and zone schemes at Pitt. Holden ranked 10th in the nation with a 79.6 grade as a run-blocker, but his 42.7 pass-block grade ranked 217th (seven sacks, eight QB hits, and 11 hurries on 464 attempts). Logan brings 4.37 speed to the backfield and he does a nice job as a zone runner and out of the backfield as a receiver where his 1.63 yards per route ranked 11th in the draft class.


2 (44) (from Buffalo) Gerald Everett, TE, South Alabama
3 (69) Cooper Kupp, WR, Eastern Washington
3 (91) (from Arizona via Kansas City) John Johnson, S, Boston College
4 (117) (from Chicago via Buffalo) Josh Reynolds, WR, Texas A&M
4 (125) (from New York Jets via Tampa Bay) Samson Ebukam, Edge, Eastern Washington
6 (189) Tanzel Smart, DI, Tulane
6 (206) (from Miami) Sam Rogers, FB, Virginia Tech
7 (234) (from Baltimore) Ejuan Price, Edge, Pittsburgh

Day 1: No picks

Day 2: The Rams added weapons for QB Jared Goff on Day 2, starting with Everett who led all tight ends in forced missed tackles in each of the last two years. He is an over-sized receiver who can develop as a blocker in more of an H-back role. Kupp adds another receiving option and he projects as a possession receiver at the next level, most likely working out of the slot. He doesn’t have great speed, but he’s a good route runner who got open consistently during the week of practice at the Senior Bowl. Johnson had the fourth-best tackling efficiency among draft class safeties, missing one out of every 14.6 tackle attempts.

Day 3: Reynolds adds a potential downfield threat after using his long frame to catch 11 deep passes for 450 yards last season. Ebukam picked up 11 sacks, 10 QB hits, and 42 hurries on 397 rushes last season and he could find his niche as a situational rusher early on for the Rams. Smart ranked 16th in the nation with a grade of 86.7 against the run, and his 87.4 pass-rush grade ranked fourth (seven sacks, seven QB hits, and 33 hurries on 400 rushes) in 2016. Price is an undersized pass-rusher who ranked 13th in the country with an 87.7 pass-rush grade last season, picking up 16 sacks, 13 QB hits, and 39 hurries on his 498 rushes.


1 (3) Solomon Thomas, Edge, Stanford
1 (31) (from Seattle via Atlanta) Reuben Foster, LB, Alabama
3 (66) Ahkello Witherspoon, CB, Colorado
3 (104) (from Minnesota via Kansas City) C.J. Beathard, QB, Iowa
4 (121) Joe Williams, RB, Utah
5 (146) George Kittle, TE, Iowa
5 (177) (from Denver) Trent Taylor, WR, Louisiana Tech
6 (198) (from Baltimore) D.J. Jones, DI, Ole Miss
6 (202) (from Denver) Pita Taumoepenu, Edge, Utah
7 (229) (from New Orleans) Adrian Colbert, S, Miami (Fla.)

Day 1: The 49ers maneuvered around the first round and came away with two cornerstone pieces for their defense in Thomas and Foster. Thomas was the best run defender in college football last year despite playing on the interior at around 270 pounds. He’s grown as a pass-rusher, picking up 10 sacks, 12 QB hits and 22 hurries on 417 rushes last season. He will likely play on the edge on early downs before rushing the passer from the interior in subpackages. Foster is a potential top-five player in the draft who fell due to off-field concerns, but he brings three-down ability at linebacker. He was the nation’s top-graded linebacker at 93.9 overall, including the top grade against the run at 93.4 and an 86.5 coverage grade.

Day 2: Witherspoon brings great size and length at cornerback, coming in at over 6-foot-2 while boasting one of the better workouts at the NFL Combine. Witherspoon tied for the national lead with 13 pass breakups in 2016 while allowing only 31.8 percent of passes to be completed into his coverage. Beathard has a strong arm that led to above-average grades at the intermediate and deep level, though he forced too many passes into coverage last season.

Day 3: Williams has game-breaking speed and he’s a threat to take it to the house if given a clean path to the second level. 48.2 percent of his yards came on breakaway (15-plus yard) runs, 12th-highest in the draft class. Kittle is one of the best all-around tight ends in the draft as his 79.6 run-blocking grade ranked fourth in the class in 2016 and he has the shiftiness as a route-runner to get open at the short and intermediate level. Taylor has a great feel as a slot receiver, and his 3.27 yards per route ranked 12th in the draft class. He led the way with 131 receptions and 1,734 yards from the slot while averaging 7.7 yards after the catch per reception last season. Jones is stout at the point of attack in the run game, grading at 84.1 in 2015 and 80.4 in 2016. Taumoepenu is a pass-rush specialist who has picked up 23 sacks, 17 QB hits, and 56 hurries on only 645 rushes over the last three years.


2 (35) (from Jacksonville) Malik McDowell, DI, Michigan State
2 (58) Ethan Pocic, C, LSU
3 (90) Shaquill Griffin, DB, Central Florida
3 (95) (from Atlanta) Delano Hill, S, Michigan
3 (102) Nazair Jones, DI, North Carolina
3 (106) Amara Darboh, WR, Michigan
4 (111) (from San Francisco via Chicago) Tedric Thompson, S, Colorado
6 (187) (from Jacksonville) Mike Tyson, CB, Cincinnati
6 (210) Justin Senior, OT, Mississippi State
7 (226) (from Carolina) David Moore, WR, East Central (Oklahoma)
7 (249) (from Atlanta) Christopher Carson, RB, Oklahoma State

Day 1: No picks

Day 2: McDowell can play both on the interior and on the edge as he ranked fifth in among draft class interior defensive linemen in pass rush productivity (11.7) and seventh in run stop percentage (11.2 percent). Pocic has experience playing all over the offensive line, so he could fit multiple roles, but he was nation’s No. 9-graded center at 82.5 overall while allowing only 11 pressures (all hurries) across multiple positions. Griffin is a nice combination of size, athleticism and production as he ranked 10th in the nation at 87.6 overall while tying for sixth in the nation with 11 pass breakups. Hill is a potential box safety who missed one of every 14.5 tackle attempts, good for fifth in the class, while showing good coverage ability in short zones. Jones is a strong run defender as his 86.5 grade ranked 20th in the nation and he can steal early-down snaps as he develops as a pass-rusher. Darboh has the body control to make catches in traffic while doubling as one of the nation’s top run-blockers among receivers (finished sixth).

Day 3: Thompson is a versatile coverage defender who can play both safety and over the slot. He finished 2016 with seven interceptions and seven pass breakups while leading the nation’s safeties with a 92.3 coverage grade. Tyson knocked out most of his AAC foes on his way to an 85.9 overall grade that ranked 19th in the nation. Senior has potential in a zone scheme and he allowed three sacks, one QB hit, and 10 hurries on 473 pass-blocking attempts last season.

Just head on radio that former Ram C Tim Barnes has signed with the 49er's.

I hope he's the starter when the Rams play them.

These are excerpts. To read the whole article click the link below. Unless I missed it, there was nothing about the Rams draft, which is probably a good thing.
***********************************************************************
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/05/01/...aft-room-bears-trade-reuben-foster-peter-king

‘Ready to Be a 49er?’ Inside San Francisco’s Draft Room
Trades to move up, deals to slide down and the selection of a player not even on the board. John Lynch’s first draft had everything, including historical parallels that gave the rookie GM goose bumps. How it all went down, plus notes on best picks, the Bears’ rationale and more from Philly
by Peter King


It was the first draft for 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan (left) and GM John Lynch
Photo: John DePetro/The MMQB

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — “Let’s duck in here a minute and talk,” rookie San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch said to coach Kyle Shanahan and chief strategy officer Paraag Marathe in the team’s John McVay Draft Room here, motioning to his office across the hall 23 minutes before the start of the 2017 NFL draft.

Three men, one plan. As they walked into the room and Lynch shut his door, this is what they knew: Cleveland, picking first, was not trading, and was likely but not certain to take pass-rusher Myles Garrett over quarterback Mitchell Trubisky … San Francisco, picking second, had three men clearly atop its board: Garrett one, Stanford defensive lineman Solomon Thomas two and, in a surprise, Alabama middle linebacker Reuben Foster three …

Chicago, picking third, badly wanted someone. The Bears and Niners had an understanding that if Chicago’s man was still on the board after Cleveland picked (Chicago GM Ryan Pace wouldn’t tell Lynch who Player X was; the Niners figured it was Thomas), the Bears would give at least two third-round picks to move from three to two.

No nerves, but no pleasantries either. Marathe, who talks very fast and with great confidence, called another team with interest in the second slot and said, “We got some good action on the pick.” Marathe talked to the club official (he would not disclose the official, or the team) for maybe a minute, just to crystallize that if Garrett was there at two, the Niners would either pick or take a ransom for the pick.

“See if we can get one last thing with Chicago,” Lynch said to Marathe.

Marathe called the Bears. “To try to solidify this now,” Marathe said to Pace, “we’re gonna need a little bit more to finish. It wouldn’t have to be much. Like, your four. So let’s say your third, 67 overall, this year, your three next year, and your four this year, 111 overall … I’m not gonna string you along … No … I will do it quickly. Let me get with John and Kyle and I’ll call you right back.”

The Bears agreed. They’d give two third-round picks and a fourth-rounder to move up one spot.

“Man, who do they want?” Lynch said. “Gotta be Solomon, right?”

“Call me crazy,” Marathe said. “But I think it’s Trubisky.”

“Then why’d they go get [free-agent quarterback Mike] Glennon?” Lynch said.

They debated, and made sure that if they couldn’t find a trading partner to move down from three, they were comfortable taking Foster—with a questionable shoulder and a positive combine test for a diluted drug sample—with the third overall pick, if the Bears took Solomon. But they wanted to try to move down as far as No. 8 because they felt Foster had no chance of being selected before Cincinnati at No. 9.

Four minutes passed. “Don’t lose Chicago, Paraag,” Lynch said.

Marathe got the Bears on the phone. “Cleveland needs not to do something crazy,” Marathe said to Pace. “Other than that we’re good to go if you are—67, 111 and next year’s three, 2018. Shoot, is next year 2018? Time flies. We’re close to a handshake, right?”

Pause.

“Hey,” Marathe said, “can you tell me who you’re taking? I’m so curious.”

No dice.

Off the phone, Marathe said to Lynch and Shanahan: “He [Pace] said, ‘I think you guys are going to be comfortable with what we do.’ So I don’t know what that is.”

Eight minutes until the draft went live in Philadelphia. The Niners were fairly sure Garrett would go number one. Now they’d made a verbal deal with Pace for the number two pick. They felt good. They felt mystified. They weren’t sure who the second pick would be. They weren’t sure if they’d be able to deal the third pick down for more picks to replenish one of the least talented rosters in the NFL.

After four months of studying a vital draft, the GM and coach who’d been paid millions with twin (and unheard of) six-year contracts truly didn’t know if they’d have Thomas, or Foster, or a bevy of draft picks and neither, or a bevy of draft picks and one or both, by the end of the evening.

“Got a Keurig in here, John?” Shanahan said. “I need some coffee.”

* * *


Lynch took over as GM in late January with no previous experience in an NFL front office
Photo: John DePetro/The MMQB

In the 24/7/365 media crushing of the NFL, somehow the significance of this San Francisco draft was, if anything, being underplayed last week. Think of the historic similarities to the only great era in Niners history.

In the spring of 1979, the 49ers were coming off a 2-14 season, with a new coach/GM, without a quarterback of the future, and with a 30-something owner. Entering the draft last week, the 49ers were coming off a 2-14 season, with a new coach and GM, without a quarterback of the future, and with a 30-something owner.

When I pitched the inside story about the new 49ers regime’s first draft to Lynch at the NFL owners meetings in March, I explained the similarities between Bill Walsh’s start 38 years ago and the new start now. “You just gave me goose bumps,” Lynch said. And so this story was born.

There was one major difference. In 1979, the Niners were a year removed from making one of the worst trades in NFL history: acquiring a broken-down O.J. Simpson from Buffalo for five draft choices, including the first overall pick in the 1979 draft. Simpson had 108 rushing yards in his first Niners home game, and never had another impactful game in his last 21 for San Francisco. But that trade actually was to the Niners’ advantage, as it turned out.

When Eddie DeBartolo cleaned house after the ’78 season, he hired Bill Walsh as coach and architect—and the lack of a number one pick forced Walsh to dig deep to find his quarterback. He got Joe Montana at the end of the third round. In the next two decades, the 49ers won five Super Bowls. It left much for the new Niners to live up to.

That’s part of the reason why Lynch woke up at 3:30 a.m. on draft morning. His mentor and friend John Elway had told Lynch to pace himself—that nothing of importance happens on draft morning or afternoon. Lynch told his scouts to come in at 1 p.m. PT, with the draft scheduled to begin at 5:10 p.m.

But Lynch was a kid on Christmas dying to open the new Xbox under the tree. He got up and watched tape of some second-round prospects in his hotel room two miles from his office next to Levi’s Stadium. He did a workout, then jogged to his office. While he ran, he sought a break.

Before Lynch went to bed the previous night, Elway called to alert him that he’d heard reliably that the Browns really might take Trubisky, not Garrett. Someone else told Lynch on Wednesday night that Cleveland coaches would be stunned if the pick was anyone but Garrett. Whom to believe?

But Thursday morning, Lynch got another call. And now he thought strongly that the Cleveland the pick would be Garrett. And so he ran the flat San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail on a warm morning, passing Silicon Valley joggers and bicyclists in anonymity. “To be honest,” he said, taking a slow pace, “we’ve been anticipating they’d take Myles the entire time.

It wasn’t until the last couple days, really yesterday, that I got a heads up they really may be going Trubisky. Then it kept mounting. I think in retrospect they tried with Myles for a while to get someone to move up to their pick, and it didn’t work. So they said, 24 to 48 hours out, let’s put out the word on Trubisky. Probably not a bad play on their part.”

This was a morning to strategize about the 34th pick in the draft—San Francisco’s second-round choice. In Shanahan’s first-floor office, with the practice fields outside his window (at one point, in an early phase of the off-season strength and conditioning program, a group of players including quarterbacks Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley stretched out on the field), he and Lynch studied candidates;

Marathe and vice president of player personnel Adam Peters filtered in and out, in between projects and calls. (One of Peters’ projects, a late-rising prospect, would get intense by Saturday’s third day of the draft.)

Wisconsin pass-rusher T.J. Watt was of particular interest, though there was a good chance he’d be gone by the end of round one.

Lynch said: ”Let's throw up T.J. real quick and start watching him. Let's see how passionate we get. I know what I think. Contagious competitiveness. Football passion.”

They watched Watt slice and dice through offensive lines. Lynch loved him. It was clear he could be a candidate through a trade late in round one, or at 34.


Paraag Marathe, currently the vice president of football operations, has worked for the 49ers for 17 seasons
Photo: Getty Images

But the talk kept coming back to Foster, if indeed he would be the pick at number three. Marathe was talking theoretically to his agent about some contract concessions to address Foster’s off-field concerns, and the agent was amenable. The 49ers were going to be comfortable picking Foster third overall if they couldn’t move, even though they knew they’d be subject to criticism for taking him too early if it happened.

At one point discussion turned to the rest of the first round. Peters heard reliably that Kansas City, picking 27th, was moving way up to Tennessee at five. Presumably for a quarterback. “I hear it’s for a one, two, four and next year’s one,” Shanahan said. “They offered that to Tennessee.”

Said Shanahan: “The only other guy that I can think of that they would really need would be Leonard Fournette. Would that be possibly worth that?”

“Don’t think so,” Lynch said. “That doesn't fit Andy [Reid]'s style, I don't think, a big back.”

The video of Watt, up on the big screen in Shanahan’s office, was paused now. “Look, if we can get one good player today, whoever it is and wherever it is in the first round, we've gained a third-round pick, worst-case scenario, and a third for next year, worst-case scenario.

And now we are sitting in there later tonight, and I think we have a bunch of offers for that 34th pick and hopefully one of those offers is a later second-round pick, another third-round pick or whatever the hell it is … and now we've got enough that we can move back up in the second if there is a guy we absolutely want. There's plenty of guys in the third and fourth. I want to have four guys that can really help us early.”

Marathe asked: “What if Foster falls, free falls, and he's sitting there at 25?”

“To me, that's easy,” said Shanahan. “Get him.”

“He's not getting past Cincy [with the ninth pick in the first round], though,” Lynch said.

“I think he is getting past Cincy,” Shanahan said. “I don't think he's getting past [Ravens GM] Ozzie [Newsome at 16].”

Really interesting part of the pre-draft hours that would surprise most people: These guys have the second pick in the draft. They’re in the belly of the beast. And they truly don’t know what’s going to happen.

* * *

At 4:57 p.m. Pacific Time, Lynch and his coach walked back into the draft room. There were 31 people in the place. Across the main side of the table: Marathe, CEO Jed York, Shanahan, Lynch, Peters, senior personnel executive and former Lions GM Martin Mayhew (Lynch’s sounding board) and co-chair John York.

Scouts and medical personnel ringed the table; Jed York’s son Jaxon, 4, came in and out. In the back were a collection of minority owners and a few fans who paid handsomely to the team’s foundation ($30,000 in one case) to silently observe the proceedings.

“A couple ground rules,” said Lynch. “My first time doing it. But let’s have a business atmosphere in here. If you have a phone in here, and you’re on it, it’s got to be for work purpose. This is a serious day for our organization … We’re gonna get after this thing. But let’s have some fun.”

The draft began. Garrett to the Browns. The trade with the Bears went through. No drama in the draft room. The TV seemed happier. “The 49ers picked up all that draft capital—phenomenal!” Mike Mayock said on NFL Network. Then the waiting, and Marathe made a round of phone calls between four and 14. Six teams said no. No trade-down.

5:21 PT. Lynch: “TRUBISKY!”

Marathe: “I TOLD YOU!”

That was a shock. Now the room went from possibly/probably reaching for Foster to picking Thomas. At 5:29, after waiting for an offer that never came, Lynch picked up the landline on the table in front of him and dialed Thomas’s cell. Bizarrely, as Jenny Vrentas of the The MMQB reported, Lynch and Thomas had taken a management class together when Lynch returned to Stanford to get his degree in 2014. Thomas was a freshman. So Lynch said when the phone was answered, “Solomon! It’s me! … John Lynch! You want to be a 49er?”


With the No. 3 pick, San Francisco selected Solomon Thomas, who played collegiately at nearby Stanford
Photo: Getty Images

Shanahan got on the phone next. “I told you it’d all work out,” Shanahan said.

Then York. “Congratulations, man … Call me Jed!”

Then a text from Elway to Lynch: “Nice going!”

Lynch, to me: “Had Solomon been gone, we’d have gone Reuben. And been happy.”

6:18 PT. Lynch: “Kansas City took Pat Mahomes!”

6:28 PT. Lynch: “Man, I’d love to go up and get that corner, [Marshon] Lattimore.”

Now the draft was at 12 overall. And Marathe or Mayhew or Peters or Lynch called or took calls from every team between 12 and 26. Foster, Foster, Foster. Nothing worked. For instance, Marathe on with Tampa Bay, preparing to pick 19th, at 7:14 PT:

“Hey it’s Paraag. You are? … Anything? … Okay.”

Marathe off phone. “Standing pat.”

Foster still there. Miami, 22, standing pat. Giants, 23, keeping. Raiders, 24, staying.

Seattle GM John Schneider (26) called.

Marathe: “John, we got a nice juicy fourth pick in the fourth round, 111 overall, for you to move … Yeah, I know, but we like 67 [the third-round pick] too.”

Schneider would think about it.

“He’s got to pee,” Marathe said. “He’ll call back.”

Fifteen minutes passed. Marathe called Schneider back. “Still in?”

Lynch: “Ask him how the pee was.”

Shanahan: “Long one.”

No deal. A few more calls. Some confusion with Schneider about the trade chart. Schneider traded down from 26 to 29, and then from 29 to 31.

Roger Goodell on the TV: “With the 30th pick in the 2017 NFL draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers select … T.J. Watt, linebacker, Wisconsin.”

Foster is still there.

8:23 PT. Marathe called Schneider. “DUDE!” Marathe said, then looked pained. “HE PUT ME ON HOLD!” … Schneider came back on the line. Marathe said, “You’re on the clock, you know … CALL ME BACK.”

The room could feel it. A gift from the gods. Whether they’re worried about his shoulder or his smoking or his lifestyle, Reuben Foster, the third player on the board, the player Shanahan called “my favorite player in this draft,” sits there.

8:24 PT. No call back. “I don’t think it’s happening,” Marathe announced.

8:25 PT. Lynch called Schneider, who said he’s thinking about it.

No reason not to do it, according to the draft trade chart most teams use. Each pick in the draft is assigned a value. You total the picks on either side of the trade, and if they’re close to equal, the deal is usually agreed on both sides to be fair. This had to work. The 31st pick has a value of 600 points. San Francisco’s two picks—34 and 111—totaled 632.

A minute or so later, with 80 seconds left in the 10-minute period to take a first-round pick, Schneider told Marathe, “Okay, we’ll do it. We got a deal.”

Marathe pumped his fist gently. “He’s in!” Marathe said to the room. But it wasn’t over. Now each team had to verbally tell the league the terms of the trade, and the league then had to put San Francisco on the clock before the Niners could turn in this card:

REUBEN FOSTER
LB
ALABAMA

The room was buzzing, and excited. Getting louder. “GOT HIM!” someone yelled.

“Not yet!” Marathe said pointedly. “Don’t celebrate yet. Let’s wait ’til we get confirmation from the NFL!”

Lynch picked up the phone, and one of all-time weirdest conversations in draft history happened next.

“REUBEN!” Lynch said into the phone. “John Lynch with the 49ers! Ready to be a 49er?”

8:28 PT. I looked up. Nineteen seconds left on the clock in this period. If the clock went to :00, the next team would be able to pick a player. The next team was New Orleans. New Orleans loved Foster. New Orleans was the team that worried the Niners most. “We got it!” Marathe said. “Turn in the card!”

The room erupted.

“HOW ’BOUT THAT S---!” someone screamed. Fans hugged in the back of the room. Eighty-three bro hugs in the front of the room. Shrieks.

Lynch on the phone, trying to be heard by Foster.

Foster was following the draft on TV. And five minutes earlier, he’d gotten a call from Saints coach Asshole Face. “It got down to the point where he was like, ‘I'm going to pick you,’” Foster told me. “But he said, ‘I got a question. What's your girlfriend first name?’ I said, ‘Alissa.’ He said, ‘Is she next to you? Give her the phone.’

“I was like, okay, I gave her the phone. You know, you don't want to argue with no head coach. You respect them! So I gave her the phone and I was just nervous and scared just thinking about what they were talking about. But all he was saying was is she gonna be that guidance and that person and make sure I don't get in no trouble.’ This I heard after the fact.

“So my girlfriend holds the phone out to me. Call waiting. I look at the screen. San Jose California. 408 number.

“It was San Fran. It was the GM, and I was like, ‘Hey coach.’ And he was like, ‘Hey Reuben, we're going to pick you. And I’m watching on TV, and it hasn’t changed over yet, and I was like, ‘It's too late man, you're the 34th pick, New Orleans is right around the corner and they are about to come get me.’”

Lynch finally got through to him, and explained it exactly, and the excitement in the room didn’t die down for the two minutes it took for Foster to understand he was a 49er.

Linebackers coach Johnny Holland, the former Packer, couldn’t believe what happened. “I thought he’d be a top five pick. He’s one of the best three, four linebackers to come out of college football in the last 10 years.”

“It’s the pick we had no business getting!” Jed York said, 20 minutes later.

On TV, Mayock said: “This kid’s got tape like Kuechly.” On TV, someone else worried about how long Foster’s surgically repaired shoulder would hold out. Earlier, the Niners said their doctors passed Foster and thought his shoulder was okay.

Lynch hollered to his chief medical officer, Jeff Ferguson: “You guys worried about his shoulder?”

“What shoulder!” Ferguson yelled back.

Having a cocktail 90 minutes later, Marathe still looked shaken. And thrilled.

“That’s the most electric day I’ve had in 17 years working for this organization,” Marathe said. “It’s definitely my most exciting day here.”

One round in a seven-round draft was over.

Would anyone here have the energy for the remaining six?

* * *


The 49ers draft room is named for John McVay, who worked in the front office for all five of San Francisco’s Super Bowl-winning seasons
Photo: John DePetro/The MMQB

Friday. Rounds two and three. Niners with the 66th and 67th overall picks, both early in the third round. Shanahan liked a bunch of players, including corner Ahkello Witherspoon from Colorado and Ohio defensive end Tarell Basham. But there was no second-round pick, and lots of action on the two third-round picks. The Saints badly wanted Tennessee running back Alvin Kamara, and Lynch wondered if the Saints would part with next year’s second-round pick and a low pick this year for number 67.

Lynch called the Saints, got a six this year and two next year, and in his chair, Shanahan wasn’t pleased about missing out on a good player this year. But he understood. “We’re not one or two players away,” Shanahan said. “This is about building a program.” They chose Witherspoon, a versatile but not particularly physical corner whose best asset might be his height: 6'2¾". Three picks, three defensive players.

The room was calm. After the pick, the football staff went down to the cafeteria to eat dinner. Marathe still seemed ebullient from the night before. He joked about doing deals with Eagles executive VP Howie Roseman, who is notoriously tough in his trade requests in the GM community.

Marathe caught immense crap from the public and the media in recent years as part of the York team, even though he had precious little to do except negotiate contracts with coaches Jim Harbaugh, Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly. Now, in a day and a half of this draft, the tide has turned. He’s a peer of Lynch.

“I love him,” Lynch said. “He’s quick, and he’s smart.” Figures. Marathe was a salutatorian when he graduated from Cal-Berkeley. “I grew up loving sports,” said Marathe. “That’s why a day like yesterday was so thrilling to me. You’re a part of a team, and you feel like you contributed to the team. I love that.”

Back into the draft room, the team re-examined the wide HD draft board that covered the front wall. Basham went to the Colts at 80. There wasn’t a player they had to have, but they’d picked up an extra seventh-round pick in an earlier deal, and someone suggested moving from early in the fourth round to late in the third, five spots up, to snare the only quarterback Shanahan wanted in this draft: Iowa’s C.J. Beathard. “We’d all sleep a little better if we got him instead of waiting ’til tomorrow,” York said.

So they dealt for the 104th pick to choose Beathard, the grandson of former Super Bowl GM Bobby Beathard. “He processes the game so well,” Shanahan said. “Tough as s---. Got a chance. He reminds me a lot of Kirk Cousins.”

Of course, there is an almost mythological quality to this trade. Think of it. In 1979, Bill Walsh, with only veteran journeyman Steve DeBerg to give him a chance to win that season, waited until the end of round three to take a lightly regarded Midwestern quarterback, Joe Montana. In 2017, John Lynch, with only veteran journeyman Brian Hoyer to give him a chance to win this season, waited until the end of round three to take a lightly regarded Midwestern quarterback, C.J. Beathard.

“Oh my God,” Beathard said upon learning his link to Montana. “That is crazy. Wow. Joe Montana. Wow.”

Indeed. So now, with the evening over, there was a solitary figure staring at the draft board. It was a little like the stare of John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. Shanahan was trying to figure out, with both high fourth-round picks now traded, what he could do to get the one player he wanted above all others, now that the Niners would not be scheduled to choose until the 36th pick of round four on Saturday morning.

“Joe Williams,” said Shanahan, in his laconic, unemotional voice. “Running back, Utah.”

I looked at San Francisco’s running back stack. I looked a second time.

No Joe Williams. He was off the 49ers’ draft board. Yet, for the head coach, if there was one must-get player on the last day of the draft, it was the troubled Williams.

“He had some issues in college,” Shanahan said. “Quit on his team.”

Now Saturday was going to be interesting, if only to find out the fate of Williams.

Shanahan: “I’m telling you right now: If we don’t get him, I’ll be sick. I will be contemplating Joe Williams all night.”

* * *


Photo: Peter King/The MMQB

Can you ever say, unless you’re a scout or a GM or a coach or Mayock or Kiper, that the third day of the draft is really interesting?

“I had a really hard time sleeping the night before,” said Lynch, “and let me tell you, I was exhausted.”

Why?

“Joe Williams.”

Lynch made a point of telling everyone at the draft, and the scouts and coaches, of his vision statement for the organization. Not only would players have to fit athletically and in the scheme, but they’d need six more traits, spelled out on the laminated sheet around the facility on draft weekend:

• Football passion—do they love it?
• Contagious competitiveness
• Dependability—“protect the team”
• Mental toughness
• Football IQ
• Accountability to other players and themselves

“Joe Williams was a tough one for me,” Lynch said. “He was off my board. So when I got in the building Saturday morning, I had to call him.”

The Williams thumbnail: Kicked off UConn’s team in 2013 for stealing a teammate’s credit card and using it … enrolled in a tiny Brooklyn college trying to get his football career back … enrolled at Utah in 2015 … Quit Utah’s team in September 2016, telling head coach Kyle Whittingham he couldn’t deal with the mental pressure he was going through …

Returned to the team at the coaches’ request a month later when three backs got injured … After a month away from any physical activity, he ran for 179 yards against Oregon State, and then, in his second game, he set the Rose Bowl stadium record for a college running back, rushing for 332 yards and four touchdowns in a Utah win over UCLA.

“It was dead,” Lynch said. “No chance. I wasn’t interested. But I knew how Kyle [Shanahan] felt, so I figured I should at least talk to [Williams]. When I got in, I called him. When I got him on the phone, I said to him, ‘Joe, to be honest, I was done with you.’”

And they talked. Lynch was stunned by Williams’ forthright admissions. Lynch found out what he believed to be the root of the problems: In 2007, when Williams was 13, his sister died of a heart ailment, and Joe Williams felt the burden was with him, because on the night she died, he was with her and fell asleep when she fell gravely ill.

He was destroyed, distraught, and ignored his pain, and as he discovered later, the bottling up of his pain caused extreme distress. He was diagnosed with manic depression. He told Whittingham he would do himself more harm than good by staying on the team, and Whittingham understood. The team understood. After a long time on the phone, Lynch had a radical change of mind.

“Screw it,” he said to himself Saturday morning. “I’m going to try to jump up and get this guy.”

Early in the fourth round, Lynch, responding to the agita of his head coach, traded up 22 spots to pick a player not on his draft board.

In a remarkable interview after the pick, Williams was emotional nearly to the point of tears. “I really wanted to play in the NFL someday,” Williams said, “but I understood the dream was over. I had to get my life in order. My mental health was far more important.

I was going to do more damage by playing than walking away. I saw a psychiatrist who helped me get my life, not my football, on track. I didn’t do anything in that month away—no conditioning, no weights, nothing. Then they called me to come back, and I felt like I was ready.”

But how does one walk back onto the field, after doing nothing for a month, and, in successive games, gain 179, 332, 172, 181, 149, 97 and 222 yards in his last seven games?

“Sheer willpower,” Williams said. “I was running the ball for my sister, I was catching the ball for my sister.”

The laminated 49er ethos sheet didn’t account for Joe Williams. Lynch won’t know for years, most likely, if he made the right call on Williams or any of these players.

“What do you think Bill Walsh would say about your draft?” I wondered.

“I think he’d be incredibly proud,” Lynch said. “But the one thing I’ve learned through this process is there’s no perfect player.”

* * *

The one thing I learned through this process, through my 11th time inside a team’s draft room: There isn’t one way to do this. A year ago, after watching the Cowboys’ draft, I remember a morose Jerry Jones being angry at himself for not being to pull off a trade so Dallas could pick quarterback Paxton Lynch. And then Dallas was foiled at a shot to get its next-best choice for a rookie quarterback—Connor Cook. The Cowboys settled for Dak Prescott.

Draft grades are crazy. Judge Tom Brady at 199. Judge Ryan Leaf at two. In this draft, one team, the Bears, likely stood between John Lynch picking Reuben Foster at three, or picking him at 31. Maybe Reuben Foster will be Ray Lewis. But based on first-round history, there’s a 50 percent chance he’ll be a bust.

On Thursday night, the Niners’ brass had a few post-draft cocktails and dinner, and Shanahan just shook his head at the happenstance of it all. “For us, tonight, it all worked out perfect,” he said. “But this is such an inexact science. How do we know how it’ll turn out? No one knows. Part of it’s luck. It’s a crazy profession. It just takes one team to throw everything off. Reuben Foster’s one of the top five players in the draft. But that’s how we saw it. If other people saw it that way, he wouldn’t have been there at 31.”

The moral of this year’s draft-embedding? If Lynch drew a hard line about his 49er ethos, maybe Foster and Williams aren’t Niners today. If Jed York hired a hard-liner instead of a GM willing to open his mind about guys like Foster and Williams, the story’s different. And certainly not as good, or compelling. It’s doubtful the first draft of John Lynch will be as historic as Bill Walsh’s first one. But there is no way Walsh’s was this dramatic.

* * *

The Bears Did Nothing Wrong


Photo: Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

When new Chicago quarterback Mitchell Trubisky was introduced to the crowd at the Celtics-Bulls game Friday night in Chicago, fans booed. It was probably due to the impression from fans that the Bears overpaid to move up from the third pick in the draft to the second to get Trubisky in a trade with San Francisco. I disagree with the anger over the deal.

The last time a team traded up from three to two in the first round to get a quarterback happened in 1998, when San Diego moved up one spot and ended up drafting Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf. Let’s compare the compensation paid for two quarterbacks picked in the same spot 19 years apart.

• What the Bears paid to move from three to two for Trubisky: third- and fourth-round picks this year, and a 2018 fourth-round pick.

• What the Chargers paid to move from three to two for Leaf: a second-round pick in 1998, a first-round pick in 1999, returner/receiver Eric Metcalf and linebacker Patrick Sapp.

NFL teams use a device during the draft (referenced above in my lead on the Niners) called the draft-trade value chart, which assigns points to every pick in the draft. So when teams start to talk trade, they can use some sort of universal trade language to calculate the fairness of the compensation.

Let’s calculate how much San Diego GM Bobby Beathard paid to move up to get Leaf, and how much Bears GM Ryan Pace paid to move up for Trubisky, using an estimate of the 16th pick in the fourth round to calculate the value of the 2018 pick for this year’s calculus.

• Points Beathard paid to get in position to draft Leaf: 1,980.
• Points Pace paid to get in position to draft Trubisky: 580.

I know how this looked Thursday night: The Bears waaaay overpaid for Trubisky, when they could have just sat at three and drafted him. That’s possible, and in fact it’s more likely than not. But as someone who was with San Francisco GM John Lynch for much of the day, and in a planning meeting with cap guy Paraag Marathe and coach Kyle Shanahan 25 minutes before the draft began, and in the 49ers’ draft room that evening, I can tell you that is a false assumption.

Ask me my gut feeling, and it is that yes, the Bears would have gotten Trubisky at three without moving. But it was not at all certain. What if the scenario happened that, as of Thursday, was legitimately possible—what if the Browns packed up enough picks to make the Niners move from two to 12?

The 49ers had been in touch with Cleveland before the draft, and were anticipating they could get a call from the Browns when they were on the clock at two with Trubisky available. There was also a mystery team that I could not identify that wanted to move to two and wouldn’t say which player the team was targeting.

Understand this also: The Niners were not stuck on drafting Solomon Thomas had they stayed at two. It certainly was most likely, but they would have been fine with moving back for a ransom, or moving back as far as eight and taking Reuben Foster for less of a ransom.

So let’s say you’re Pace, and you’ve determined that you really want Trubisky. You call the 49ers and trying to work out fair compensation if the Browns do not pick him at one. You think Trubisky’s going to be the long-term Bears quarterback, starting in 2018 or later.

By late Thursday afternoon, you think there’s probably an 80 percent chance you’re going to get Trubisky at three. Are you willing to take the chance of staying put? Or, for the cost of the 67th and 111th picks this year and a third-rounder next year, are you willing to guarantee you’ll get Trubisky if Cleveland passes on him?

The market for quarterbacks is always weird. In 2004 the Giants had the fourth overall pick and dealt it to San Diego for the first overall pick, so New York could snare Eli Manning. The Giants gave up future first-, third- and fifth-round picks to make the swap. That’s a lot. But is it really? Manning has helped deliver two Super Bowl titles to the Giants in 13 seasons, and he’s been an ironman.

This year’s market was filled with flawed passers who were lusted after nonetheless. Really, the NFL has two drafts—a regular draft, and a draft for quarterbacks. Three teams moved up a total of 31 draft slots this year to get quarterbacks in the first round. The Bears, Chiefs and Texans paid a total of two 2018 first-round picks and a third- in ’18, plus two thirds and a fourth this year to move up for Trubisky, Pat Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, respectively.

For quarterbacks, NFL history says you pay Four Seasons prices. That’s why I can’t fault Pace for what he did. He wasn’t willing to risk losing the guy he loved.

* * *

“You’re talking about a guy that broke [Pro Football Hall of Fame RB] Marshall Faulk's record. Lightning feet. Great feet and great hands. And don't let the size fool you: This guy, he's a little dog that thinks he's a big dog, and he plays that way.”

—Philadelphia VP of player personnel Joe Douglas, on 5'9", 180-pound running back Donnel Pumphrey of San Diego, drafted 132nd overall by the Eagles.

* * *

The Award Section

OFFENSIVE PICKS OF THE WEEK

Forrest Lamp (second round, 38th overall) and Dan Feeney (third round, 71st overall), guards, L.A. Chargers. GM Tom Telesco knew he had a major weakness in his offensive line, and I’ll be surprised if both of these men are not starting by midseason.

DEFENSIVE PICKS OF THE WEEK

Jamal Adams (first round, sixth overall) and Marcus Maye (second round, 39th overall), safeties, New York Jets. When head coach Todd Bowles was Arizona’s defensive coordinator in 2014, his linebacker corps got decimated by injuries and suspensions, and he experimented with putting a couple of his physical safeties in the box at linebacker.

It worked well—very well, in fact, and Bowles kept doing the versatile game-planning even when he had a full complement of linebackers. Adams weighs about 214, Maye about 212, and you can be sure Bowles will help his linebackers with the use of these guys on certain downs. They’re both very good tacklers. The hybrid way is how the Jets will play in 2017.

SPECIAL TEAMS PICK OF THE WEEK

Ryan Switzer (fourth round, 133rd overall), wide receiver/returner/special-teamer, Dallas. Seven career punt returns for touchdown at North Carolina, and a ruthless and instinctive competitor. Watch some Steve Tasker tape, Ryan. That’s your best NFL model.

GM OF THE WEEK

John Lynch, San Francisco. Running his first draft room, piloting a front office for the first time, Lynch did more than he hoped he’d be able to do—and that would have been the case considering the first round only. He got the second guy on his board (Solomon Thomas) with the third overall pick, engineering a good trade for the Niners in the process, and drafted the third guy on his board (Reuben Foster) with the 31st pick, nudging out the Saints at 32 in the process.

TRADE OF THE DRAFT

Brandin Cooks from New Orleans to New England for the 32nd overall pick. Cooks is 23, has averaged 72 catches a year in his first three NFL seasons, plays tougher than he looks, and will play for the next two years for a total of $10 million. What’s not to like? And if you’re the Saints, you feel you’ve gotten in Ryan Ramczyk a guy who’s likely going to be a starting tackle for you soon—maybe this year—and it’s unlikely they’d have signed Cooks long-term after 2018. So from each team’s perspective, it’s a good deal.

LESSON OF THE DRAFT

Sitting with Kyle Shanahan a few times over the weekend, I learned a few things. Mostly this: The world’s not the same as it used to be, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

We talked about the Niners’ late-first-round pick Reuben Foster late Thursday night. Foster was a pretty big red-flag guy entering the draft, with the confrontation at the combine that got him sent home, the shoulder that might require more surgery, the diluted positive drug test, the weird Alabama-then-Auburn-then-back-to-Alabama recruiting process in high school that resulted in him getting death threats.

Shanahan’s take, not in his words but paraphrased: Here’s a guy who was shot by his father when he was 16 months old, who didn’t have a home in high school, who just found places to stay at night, who had death threats against him after his college process, and now, he’s got his life together enough to be great at football, he’s a great teammate, he lights up the room when he walks in …

Now Shanahan’s words: “I’d say it’s a pretty great accomplishment with what he’s been through to have gotten to this point. You and I didn’t grow up like he did—not even close. I love the guy. He’s going to be a really good player for us and a good teammate for our team.”

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This week: Mike Mayock on all things draft.

• Mayock, a college safety at Boston College, on his draft day—April 29, 1981, when he was chosen in the 10th round, by the Steelers, 265th overall, just 257 picks after a slightly more famous defensive back in the draft, Ronnie Lott:

"I was the captain of the Boston College baseball team, and we had games on both days. And back in those days the draft was Tuesday and Wednesday, carried by ESPN, and it was six rounds each day. We played a home game on Tuesday, and I was hoping to go on Tuesday. I remember being out there, I played first base and centerfield, and I think I was first base that day. I want to say we were playing UConn but I'm not sure. This was way before cell phones, and my roommates were waiting in the room to see if I got picked.

And if I got picked, they were going to sprint down to the field screaming and yelling. And I kept looking toward the hillside apartments, hoping to see my roommates. And no roommates! So I got several phone calls that night saying, ‘Hey we might pick you tomorrow morning, be ready.’ And so I had an away game Wednesday at Harvard, and we had to leave on the bus at a certain time, and I called the coach and asked him if I could drive myself to the game as long as I got there by a certain time, just so I could hang in there in case I got the phone call.

So I am sitting there in my baseball uniform waiting until the last minute to drive this borrowed car I have to Harvard. I'm waiting and I'm waiting and they are in the 10th round and I'm just so upset. I can't even tell you how upset I was. I thought I was going to get drafted higher, and I hadn’t been drafted at all. They're in the 10th round and I have to leave for Harvard.

I'm already pushing it to get there, and I'm at the elevator in the fifth floor of our building, and I hear this, ‘Mike, Mike, Mike, you got picked by the Steelers, oh my God!’ And I'm like, ‘That ain't funny. You guys aren't right. That's BS!’ I'm screaming at my roommates because I think they are messing with me, and they weren't. So I go back in and sure enough it is the Pittsburgh Steelers on the phone.

“My roommates doused me in champagne in my baseball uniform, and I got in the car and drove to Harvard and went four for five. I was in a different world. I think I stole a couple bases, hit a home run, I drag-bunted. I was just beside myself that day.”

* * *

Things I Think I Think

1. I think these are my quick notes of analysis from draft weekend:

a. The Raiders better be right on Gareon Conley.

b. I dare say Chad Kelly is probably the most talented Mr. Irrelevant of all time.

c. Football is a funny game: A long-snapper, Colin Holba, was drafted in the sixth round by Pittsburgh, ahead of quarterbacks Brad Kaaya and Chad Kelly—ahead of 40 other players, actually.

d. In the second half of the first round, the pass-rusher’s name I heard the most while researching my mock draft was Charles Harris. Miami made a good call at 22, and the Dolphins are fortunate to get him there.

e. Thought the Bengals did really well, but I will echo what one coach told me about Joe Mixon: You better have a plan for him in place the minute he walks into the building—and it better be a plan not just for one year but for each year he plays for you.

f. Great Mixonian idea from a veteran scout: “I’d hire Ray Rice as a consultant if I were the Bengals and let him mentor Mixon.”

g. The Panthers are going to be great fun to watch.

h. Favorite draft celebrity picker: The team of two (of eight) Philip Rivers children, announcing safety Rayshawn Jenkins in the fourth round in Carson, Calif., the new temp home of the Chargers.

i. Favorite scene: The Cardinals’ pick from the Grand Canyon, a really touching moment, with running back David Johnson with the wife and son of slain Arizona police officer and Cardinals fan David Glasser.

j. Did okay, not great, on the mock draft: six direct hits (Myles Garrett, Solomon Thomas, Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffrey, Pat Mahomes, Deshaun Watson) and 29 of my 32 first-round players were drafted somewhere in the first round (missed on Adoree Jackson, Evan Engram, Taco Charlton).

2. I think it’s easy to take potshots at owners for making changes, and now Terry and Kim Pegula, who bought the Bills 30 months ago, will be hiring the second GM of their tenure to go along with three head coaches in that short time. The fired Doug Whaley, history will show, likely overspent trading up for first-round wideout Sammy Watkins in 2014, and picked wrong with quarterback E.J. Manuel in the first round in 2013.

So no one’s saying Whaley got jobbed. But I’ll keep coming back to the point I make about franchises that make changes regularly: Show me one with nine coaches in 17 years, a succession of would-be franchise architects, and no steady, winning quarterback, and I’ll show you a team that never wins. So I understand dumping Whaley. But nothing is going to change in Buffalo without two things: continuity, and a quarterback the franchise commits to.

3. I think I must ask (and I am not the first): Is it really necessary for Roger Goodell to announce all the picks on day one, and a host of them on day two, while boos rain down on him like a summer storm in a rainforest? I bring you two sub-quotes of the week, from day two, when you think the crowd might have gotten the booing out of its system after doing it 32 times on Thursday. The first, when Goodell went onstage with Ron Jaworski to kick off day two, and he could barely be heard over the booing in Philadelphia: “JUST ONE SECOND! And you can resume your booing.” And then this, every time he returned Friday: “BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Wouldn’t it be better, say, if he kicked off the draft with either military folks with him (perhaps just after the national anthem) or with some legendary players on stage from the city hosting the draft? And then, in each city, a local legend (Ron Jaworski in Philadelphia, for example) announces the first-round picks, with Goodell off to the side, welcoming and bro-hugging the players but not getting showered with disdain … and then the league continues the tradition of various announcers for the rest of the draft.

It’s getting distracting, trying to hear Goodell over the rancor. It’s almost to the point that the booers seem to be trying to out-do themselves. It can’t be good for the league, or the 32 owners, to see that, year after year.

4. I think the league, despite its protestations to the contrary, has to get serious about allowing the use of marijuana for pain management. Because it’s going to be used anyway.

5. I think the most stunning non-draft news of the week, to me, was the Vikings prepping to say goodbye to Teddy Bridgewater after the 2017 season, reportedly leaning toward not exercising his fifth-year option. Just think where we were nine months ago. Bridgewater was the centerpiece of the franchise, the 10-year cornerstone. Then, just before the season started, he took one awkward step on the practice field and blew out his knee and did significant damage, and there reportedly hasn’t been enough recuperation, and here we are. Amazing and sad at the same time.

6. I think you’ll enjoy this Instagram series by our Kalyn Kahler, from three days in Philadelphia: Humans of the NFL Draft. Kahler found players, cops, fans and people who made the scene so interesting. My favorite was Adoree’ Jackson, the 18th overall pick by the Titans. “For my relaxing time I watch the Food Network. I’m into the competition shows so I like ‘Cutthroat Kitchen,’ ‘Chopped,’ ‘Iron Chef,’ ‘The Gauntlet.’ I watch ‘Beat Bobby Flay’ a lot. I try to cook myself, but I just don’t like washing dishes.

I like making fried rice, with everything. I make combination fried rice because you can put it away and heat it up and it never gets old. I just like those competitive shows because they are making something out of nothing. They give you three ingredients and they say make this. To see people transform it, you got people from different areas and fields and it’s amazing.

People always outdo themselves and what they think they can do, just being adaptable. I couldn’t do it in 30 minutes. I would need the ‘Cupcake Wars’ time, like two hours. I know a little bit, but I don’t know the right terminology, the right spices, or to put in a reduction.”

7. I think a really smart story in the run-up to the draft was this one by Conor Orr of NFL Media, about the cloak-and-dagger business of finding out real information when scouts are on college campuses. Orr got scouts past and present to reveal some secrets about how they get information. And this about why college programs are so cryptic with the NFL.

“Recruiting,” former Bears director of college scouting Greg Gabriel told Orr. “In today's world, they gotta try and protect their players. If word gets out that they're saying negative things about their players—and trust me, a lot of them do—they have to be discreet about it. And that goes back to relationships. You have to have the right relationships.” Worth your time.

8. I think Philadelphia performed like it should host the 2018 draft too. The NFL has an option for second year in Philly, and will strongly consider it after the city’s outstanding performance. But I also think Dallas is still the favorite to host in 2018. Sentimentally, I’d love to see Canton get the 2020 draft, on the 100th anniversary of the birth year of the league. The Pro Football Hall of Fame city is in the running, but I don’t sense it’s in the driver’s seat.

This draft had McVay's fingerprints all over it. He got HIS players at HIS positions. Snead found the players and stacked the board for him.

When they passed on Lamp, it told us all we needed to know about their impressions of their current OL players AND of the new draft crop of OL players.

This will be a pass first O, making Gurley even more effective.

Two TE sets will be common. Three TE sets will sometimes be seen.

Woods, Reynolds, and Kupp constitute a very dangerous trio.

Opponents will have to defend every blade of grass henceforth. No more 8 man boxes.

We'll see more screens. A lot more. Some with that new kid Rogers.

We now can and will attack short, medium, and long. That's the way McVay rolls.

I predict that Tavon will struggle to remain a starter. I predict that he will drop to 4th on the WR depth chart by no later than game 6, but it could happen by opening day. Yeah, I said it.

Kromer will quickly settle the question of whether our '16 OL was personnel or coaching.

Goff has gotta take the next step. He's just gotta. If he does, we can be a 10-6 or better team. Maybe even playoffs.

Wade is gonna have a field day with all this talent. Maybe a top 5 D this year? Wouldn't bet against him, especially if the O starts to do their fair share.

Hope Quinn is finally healthy. If he is, look out!

Gurley is reportedly bigger, faster, and stronger. I see 1500 yards for him in this new O.

Position battles on the right side of our OL are gonna be intense. I predict Hav at RT and Brown at RG, but who knows? Best 5 will play.

I see intense battles at WR, LB, CB, and S, as well.

I can hardly wait for those camp reports to start rolling in.

Per a SB Nation article John Fox reached out to Jeff Fisher for advice on how to handle a rookie franchise Quarterback.
Just let that sink in.
Would love to heard that conversation.....
"First, surround him with marginal coaching talent, then.....and this is key, don't let them do their thing."
Yikes John Fox.

So they say it takes about three years to truly grade a draft so how about we go back and look at 2014 peeps.

• Greg Robinson OT, Auburn 1st Round, 2nd Overall
• Aaron Donald DT, Pittsburgh 1st Round, 13th Overall
• Lamarcus Joyner CB, Florida State 2nd Round, 41st Overall
• Tre Mason RB, Auburn 3rd Round, 75th Overall
• Mo Alexander SS, Utah State 4th Round, 110th Overall
• E.J. Gaines CB, Missouri 6th Round, 188th Overall
• Garrett Gilbert QB, SMU 6th Round, 214th Overall
• Mitchell Van Dyk OT, Portland State 7th Round, 226th Overall
• C.B. Bryant FS, Ohio State 7th Round, 241st Overall
• Michael Sam DE, Missouri 7th Round, 249th Overall
• Demetrius Rhaney C, Tennessee State 7th Round, 250th Overall

We had added draft capital from the Washington trade... and well... we know how that's turned out.

All in all, I have to say I'd give this draft a B. We got an Canton bound DT if he stays healthy for the next few years. Two starters in Joyner and Alexander and some spot starting depth in Gaines (perhaps more) and Rhaney. If only they had hit on Robinson (or he had at least proven to be an above average tackle), this would have been an A draft. Even with the waste of Tre Mason.

Get to know the Los Angeles Rams 2017 UDFA class


After the draft every team in the NFL sign undrafted free agents. It’s a period of time that lasts until all rosters are full. Some teams sign a quarter of a roster full of them while others sign a smaller amount. All the teams are different, the Rams signed 11 officially, now we will take you through each one and what they bring to the table for the Rams.

Ishmael Adams, CB, UCLA (5-foot-8, 186 pounds)

Adams is going to be known by many Rams fans since he is from UCLA. He is a former cornerback that switched to wide receiver and had minimal production. In all honesty, to me, he is a cornerback and a return man that is really going to have his work cut out for him to make the 53 man roster.

At his school’s pro day, he ran a 4.50 forty yard dash and 15 reps on the bench. He doesn’t have the greatest vertical at 27 inches and his broad jump doesn’t turn heads either at just over 9 feet. He racked up 138 tackles, 4.5 for a loss, a half sack, eight interceptions, three returned for touchdowns and 12 pass breakups at cornerback. As a returner Adams averaged a whopping 24.2 yards per kick return.

The local kid was born in Inglewood, California, his dad Stefon Adams was drafted in the third round of the 1985 NFL Draft as a defensive back. Ishmael Adams saw extremely limited amount of playing time in his freshman year that he ended up redshirting and soon to be graduating with a degree in Sociology.

Jared Collins, CB, Arkansas (5-foot-11, 176 pounds)

Collins is a speedy cornerback who has been the bearer of consistency. He ran a 4.47, jumped a 36.5 inch vertical and almost an 11 foot broad jump so he has the nice measurables. The consistency is shown by the fact he keeps his numbers within the neighborhood of each other in categories such as tackles and pass breakups.

The razorback corner actually had quite the scare in 2013 when he randomly collapsed on the sidelines in the game versus Southern Mississippi. Obviously judging by the fact that was almost four years ago…it’s safe to say he’s okay.

The real issue with Collins is the fact he is so light, he will either need to add weight or battle hard and prove he can contribute on special teams.

Kevin Davis, ILB, Colorado State (6-foot-2, 235 pounds)

Davis was wearing horns in college and will apparently wear horns in the NFL with the Rams too. He was a combine participant that likely got written off after he ran a 4.91 forty yard dash. Davis adds the ability to drop in man or zone coverage and does make the sneaky touchdown saving tackles on running backs that are shiftier and faster than he is.

He’s a two-year starter that doesn’t really have the physical power or strength to finish tackles against better competition at the next level. He lacks the instincts and has a hard time getting off blocks. Coming to a team that just drafted two linebackers and added one via free agency, there is a good chance he is going to have all the odds against him.

Davis finished his career playing in 49 games, accumulating 257 tackles, 27 tackles for a loss, seven sacks and two interceptions. He will receive his degree in Sociology after spending five years with Colorado State University.

Justin Davis, RB, USC (6-foot-1, 208 pounds)

Another Davis, but more well-known Davis is Justin Davis who hails from USC. Rams fans get their UCLA and USC guy. Not quite Fabian Moreau or JuJu Smith-Schuster, but still players from the colleges. In all honesty, I like Justin Davis.

Davis was considered a late round grade due to his fumbling issues and past injury concerns that held back a promising career. He finished with 2,465 yards rushing, 19 touchdowns, 46 receptions, 400 yards receiving and two receiving touchdowns. As many already know the Trojans used Ronald Jones as well and he was the more productive of the two.

Davis has good open field vision, he’s elusive and can make a man miss in space. He ran a 4.53 forty yard dash which is well above the league RB average and he benched 21 reps on the bench press which makes him one of the strongest backs in the class. The big problem with Davis is he will dance in the backfield too often and doesn’t take action when running the football like the other backs do. Despite all of that, Davis could make this roster with the new coaching staff and the unknown opinions on RB’s Malcolm Brown and Aaron Green.

Jake Eldrenkamp, G, Washington (6-foot-4, 302 pounds)

This is the mystery offensive lineman Les Snead mentioned that the Rams had been close to signing, but couldn’t announce it until it was official. The Rams had Eldrenkamp at a seventh round grade and the rest of the league had him around that grade too. He’s an athletic and thinner offensive lineman than many look for, but he also has the versatility to play center according to scouts.

Eldrenkamp was real good last year, he improved his pass protections, but the big knock on him was when he played against a good pass rush he struggled mightily. Eldrenkamp has the bend and smooth movement skills you like to see in an offensive lineman, but he has plenty to improve on.

This is a project that could make the 53 if Aaron Kromer has anything to say about it. Kromer might end up making this kid the starting center if he sees enough in his game. You are pretty much swinging for the fences on this kid, but without spending a pick on him the Rams will take that all day.

Anthony McMeans, C, New Mexico State (6-foot-1, 316 pounds)

McMeans has been working hard to keep his family life moving along without a hitch. In an interview with Arrowhead Addict, he explained that his lease is up in May and is trying everything he can to keep him, his girlfriend and his child taken care of. He has been getting up early each day working out in the gym and after that he’s been going to work to be able to support for him family.

One interesting thing of note is that McMeans went through his pro day with patella tendinitis he had suffered in his pro day training. He wasn’t sure until after the pro day. The reason it is interesting is because McMeans has been knocked for his lack of speed in which he ran a 5.74 forty yard dash, but there is a possibility that he could have ran much faster had he not been hurt.

Emory Hunt of Football Gameplan loves McMeans and had this to say about him:

“Anthony McMeans of New Mexico State plays the position with passion and intensity. He may even be a very good guard prospect as a pro. He’s proficient in all aspects of the running game and he’s also above average in pass protection. Now, he does have a few athleticism limitations as far as defending quickness is concerned and climbing to the second level is where you can see some of that, but I do believe if he loses about ten pounds, he can definitely overcome those limitations. I really like his footwork in regards to the running game and his short area footwork also helps him in the blitz pickup department”

McMeans in my opinion has a legit shot to make the roster and play center for the Rams.

Johnny Mundt, TE, Oregon (6-foot-4, 243 pounds)

Mundt is a player that was one of the Rams 30 pre-draft private visits. Apparently the Rams must have liked him a lot. He posted some solid numbers at his pro day, running a 4.74 forty, 30 inch vertical and 21 bench reps. Mundt was originally a top prospect coming to Oregon that suffered an injury and knocked him down the depth chart in favor of fellow undrafted free agent TE Pharoah Brown.

Mundt is coming into a TE group that is loaded with young talent in Gerald Everett, Tyler Higbee, Temarrick Hemingway, Travis Wilson and Bryce Williams who all have less than three years of NFL experience. Mundt also wasn’t overly productive in college finishing with only 683 receiving yards and eight touchdowns in 23 games.

Folarin Orimolade, OLB, Dartmouth (6-foot-0, 240 pounds)

“Flo” as they call him, is the ultimate underdog at 6 feet. He ran a weak 40 yard dash at 4.92, but he had a nice vertical jump of 36 inches and benched 21 reps on the bench press. Flo isn’t just some undersized nobody though, he won the defensive player of the year award for the Ivy League and has a nice career.

He tallied 143 tackles, 35 tackles for a loss, eight pass breakups, 10 forced fumbles and 23.5 sacks in 40 games. Orimolade comes in and instantly brings experience as a captain and a man with his priorities straight as he already graduated two semesters early with a degree in economics.

He is going to have a tough time making the roster only because of how many linebackers are on the Rams squad right now, but he has talent off the edge and is quick footed with instincts like fellow Ram teammate and seventh-round pick Ejuan Price. He definitely doesn’t look like a 4.9 forty player on film that’s for sure.

Aarion Penton, CB, Missouri (5-foot-10, 198 pounds)

This Missouri Tiger is a ball hawk and makes that his mantra on the field. He doesn’t have great long speed at 4.61 in the forty, but he has soft hands that make interceptions come easy for him. He finished his career playing in 45 games and ending up with 153 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for a loss, 10 interceptions, one pick six and 31 pass breakups.

Penton is a lot like Gaines, but he lacks the cover skills against players inside the numbers that Gaines simply doesn’t. Penton has a hard time in one-on-one tackle opportunities and it shows by the amount of missed tackles you see on film.

With a cornerback room of: Trumaine Johnson, Kayvon Webster, E.J. Gaines, Mike Jordan, Troy Hill, Blake Countess, Ishmael Adams, Jared Collins, Nickell Robey-Coleman and Kevin Peterson. It’s likely Penton is going to have to claw his way onto the roster.

Casey Sayles, DT, Ohio (6-foot-4, 289 pounds)

Sayles is a defensive tackles that can rip through the line and rush the passer. He doesn’t have the long speed you would like to see at his weigh, but he’s quick and deceptively fast when chases quarterbacks to the sideline.

With the question marks on the defensive line and not knowing how many players the Rams plan to keep on the defensive line in their first year switched over to the 3-4 scheme. Sayles could have a chance to carve out a role in camp.

Sayles finished his collegiate career with 110 total tackles, 19.5 tackles for a loss, 11.5 sacks, 6 pass breakups and three fumble recoveries.

Dravious Wright, DB, NC State (5-foot-10, 194 pounds)

Wright is known for helmet-jarring hits during his time as a member of the Wolfpack. Wright has the combo safety/nickel corner type of build that will give him some value to keep around in camp.

He is likely going to have to prove himself on special teams since he doesn’t really have the skillset the other safeties on the roster possess.

Please fill in the blanks so I can see what your thinking was and just how bad McVay and company fouled this up.....


#37? ___ You have this pick because you didn't trade down and selected Lamp or someone else.
#69? ___

#91 x __Not available to you because no trade down with the #37 pick

#117? ___
#125? ___

#189? ___
#206? ___
#234? ___