http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/04/13/jared-goff-los-angeles-rams-sean-mcvay-nfl-minicamp

Thu Apr. 13, 2017
Sophomore Spurt or Slump?

by Albert Breer

The first offseason is crucial for quarterbacks coming off their rookie years. Here’s a look at where Jared Goff, Carson Wentz and Paxton Lynch stand. Plus notes on a draft QB’s freefall, Saints-Pats trade talk and more

The rules are the rules, so first-year Rams coach Sean McVay has spent a lot more time since January looking at his new quarterback on a television monitor than he has looking him in the eye. With the team’s offseason program starting this week, McVay readily concedes he and Jared Goff have a long way to go in making the team’s massive investment in the QB look smart.

But go ahead and ask McVay what’s made him most excited. He won’t skip a beat.

“New Orleans. New Orleans. Watch the New Orleans game,” he says, laughing. “He made a lot good throws, where he moved, he slid, he had a good feel for the pocket. When things condensed around him, he threw for a couple touchdowns. He ends up making a zero audible vs. a zero pressure, where he gets to max protection and hits Tavon Austin on a corner route in a 3-by-1 formation.

“If you buzz through that game, there’s a handful of plays that get you encouraged, where he’s moving, he’s making athletic throws, and he’s showing he can take a hit and get the ball out. He made a lot of throws in that game you get excited about. And he’s doing things mentally, where you can see he’s making protection audibles and getting the ball where it should be vs. those pressure looks.”

Over the next two weeks, we will obsess over where Mitchell Trubisky and Deshaun Watson and the rest of the draft quarterbacks will land. Most people won’t spend a second thinking about the guys we were obsessing over a year ago. But for those quarterbacks—Goff and fellow 2016 first-rounders Carson Wentz and Paxton Lynch—these weeks are critical, maybe moreso than they are for even Trubisky and Watson.

Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
The Saints beat the Rams by four touchdowns in November, but Jared Goff’s play in that game caught the attention of his new head coach.

In this week’s Game Plan, we’re going heavy on the draft, with a look at the big-name quarterback who’s falling, the few knocks on Myles Garrett, how football teams look at college basketball players, why the Giants and Steelers and Chargers should be looking closely at young quarterbacks, and much more.

But we’ll start with the 2016 first-round quarterbacks, and what many coaches believe is the most critical offseason of any player’s career—the one between rookie year and Year 2, when growth should be at its most rapid. It started for Lynch in Denver on Monday, and Wentz and the Eagles get going next Monday.

Likewise, Goff and McVay are now three days in. And McVay does have those impressions from the tape. As he explained, “The two characteristics that we really value a lot from that position—are you a natural thrower of the football, and are you tough enough not to flinch in the face of the rush? He has both those things.”

Conversely, McVay won’t hesitate to admit he doesn’t know yet what ultimately he’ll need to know most about Goff. And to get there, he links the process ahead to a belief that’s deeply embedded in McVay’s football heritage.

“This goes back to what my grandpa (ex-Niners architect John McVay) instilled in me, from Bill (Walsh),” McVay said. “The quarterback position is the most difficult position. So everything that we do is geared towards making the most difficult position as easy as possible. And everything that you do is with the quarterback in mind first.

“And the thing that was great about having two guys like Kirk (Cousins) and Colt (McCoy in Washington), who took such great ownership of what we were trying to get done, they could explain why they liked a play. And if they didn’t like a certain play, whether it was Kirk or if Colt was playing, then we weren’t gonna call it. I thought it showed the value of having that relationship and rapport.”

And there you have the biggest goal set for Goff this spring.

To earn veto power that Cousins and McCoy attained over the next 11 weeks, as the coach sees it, two things have to be achieved. Goff needs to understand the offense well enough to articulate the “why.” And Goff, McVay, coordinator Matt LaFleur and QBs coach Greg Olson need to build the trust to have that kind of open discourse.

Is it different to try and give a 22-year-old that kind of latitude? A little. But Cousins’ results, and how a colorful offensive group in Washington responded to McVay’s style is proof positive that it’s been effective.

As for where they are now, the limited face time coach and quarterback have had has been largely uneventful. Goff was in two-hour meetings with the staff Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They covered style of play, formations, motions and personnel groupings on Day 1, baseline drop-back concepts on Day 2, and protections Wednesday. It wasn’t intimate—all the skill players were there.

But McVay was able to get a little more in January when he spoke with Goff during his interview process.

“The thing I really liked in how he came off, even before he had any idea we’d be working together, clearly things didn’t go as well as we would’ve liked last year, but he made no excuses,” McVay said. “He took full accountability and I sensed a guy who was challenged to respond in the right kind of ways, as opposed to making excuses for not playing as well as we would’ve liked last year.”


Of course, Goff hasn’t been sitting on his hands the past three months. One big focus in his work away from the facility has been on finding consistency in the kind of stroke he had in that New Orleans game. And he’ll continue to work on his drops from center and becoming a better distributor and more aggressive downfield.

McVay and Goff will get to that when they hit the field in a few weeks. For now, the good news is McVay sees evidence that, while there’s a long way to go, the vault of draft capital the Rams yielded for the guy on that Saints tape eventually will prove to be well worth it.

“You see the natural thrower, you see the toughness, those are the things you get excited about,” McVay said. “And then, what you also appreciate is, if this guy stayed in college, he’d be a senior right now without even having redshirted. … So he has a lot of maturing and developing to come. When you see those kinds of skills, it gets you excited about the opportunity to work with him and try to help him develop and reach that highest potential. And I know Greg and Matt feel the same way.”

So that’s Goff. His draft classmates? Glad you asked …

Photo: Getty Images (2)
The Broncos will give Paxton Lynch the chance to win the job, while the Eagles want to see more leadership from Carson Wentz.
• Paxton’s progress: Broncos coach Vance Joseph said this week that he’d like the competition between Trevor Siemian and Lynch to go deep into the summer. That’s the way it’ll go if both are assimilating to the new staff and playing well. But I believe the presence of new/old offensive coordinator Mike McCoy gives Lynch a leg up, and for a couple reasons.

First, McCoy is master at retrofitting his scheme to match its signal-caller. In fact, it’s the mark of who he is as a coach. He made it work for Tim Tebow one year, Peyton Manning the next. So he should be able to mitigate that Lynch is raw, and that means talent will matter more. Second, as he did for both Rivers and Peyton Manning, McCoy plans to add elements of Gary Kubiak’s offense to ease the transition.

Joseph, for his part, has seen every inch of game and practice tape from Lynch’s rookie year, and I’m told he reached out to Kubiak to get a more complete picture on his new quarterbacks. Two things on Lynch’s game tape that impressed the staff: 1) How he seamlessly came into the Tampa game and competed; 2) How he took drops from center. Having been a shotgun QB in college, that showed he’s coachable.

That’s not to say he’s perfect. Lynch was less effective in his two starts than when he came into that Tampa game and flashed on the fly, a sign that he had more trouble with defenses game-planning for him. But there’s certainly plenty to work with here.

• What about Wentz? Goff played 393 snaps and threw 205 balls as a rookie. Lynch played 176 snaps and threw 83 passes. By comparison, Wentz played 1,127 snaps (second most among all NFL QBs in 2016) and threw 607 balls. The Eagles rookie started hot, had to deal with defensive coaches getting tape and building a book on him, leveled off, and then continued to grow.

Naturally, we know more about Wentz. For obvious reasons, there’s more optimism on Wentz nationally than the other two. But that doesn’t mean there’s not plenty of work to be done. The Eagles sent him off in January with two directives, as I understand them. One, he needed to rest a worn out throwing elbow. Two, he was to drill his lower body mechanics, in an effort to play and throw with more balance.

The Eagles’ staff will get its first look at Wentz on Monday, when vets return for Year 2 of the Doug Pederson era, and there’s something else Pederson hopes he gets. “I want to see him embracing being a leader on this football team,” Pederson told me, a few weeks back. “Now that he’s got a year under his belt, he can be the guy, a guy who can really motivate other players, challenge other players.”

Once we get to OTAs, the hope is that the offseason work on his mechanics and the rest will help Wentz’s downfield accuracy, one area where defenses made it hard on him last year. But there’s still plenty to be excited about here.

Each of these guys had help in the offseason, too. Wentz and Goff worked with renowned QB gurus Tom House and Adam Dedeaux; Lynch went back home to Florida to work with the coach who readied him for the draft, Charlie Taaffe. So each guy seems to be doing the right things.

But numbers tell us all of them won’t make it. In the five-year span between 2009 and ’13, 14 quarterbacks were drafted in the first round. Five got second contracts, and one of those was Mark Sanchez. Only Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill, Cam Newton and Matthew Stafford remain with their drafting teams. Bottom line: The odds aren’t in favor of all three of these guys becoming true franchise quarterbacks.

It will be fun to watch and see which of the three do.

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/04/13/jared-goff-los-angeles-rams-sean-mcvay-nfl-minicamp

Sophomore Spurt or Slump?
The first offseason is crucial for quarterbacks coming off their rookie years. Here’s a look at where Jared Goff, Carson Wentz and Paxton Lynch stand.
by Albert Breer


Photo: Sean Gardner/Getty Images

The rules are the rules, so first-year Rams coach Sean McVay has spent a lot more time since January looking at his new quarterback on a television monitor than he has looking him in the eye.

With the team’s offseason program starting this week, McVay readily concedes he and Jared Goff have a long way to go in making the team’s massive investment in the QB look smart.

But go ahead and ask McVay what’s made him most excited. He won’t skip a beat.

“New Orleans. New Orleans. Watch the New Orleans game,” he says, laughing. “He made a lot good throws, where he moved, he slid, he had a good feel for the pocket. When things condensed around him, he threw for a couple touchdowns. He ends up making a zero audible vs. a zero pressure, where he gets to max protection and hits Tavon Austin on a corner route in a 3-by-1 formation.

“If you buzz through that game, there’s a handful of plays that get you encouraged, where he’s moving, he’s making athletic throws, and he’s showing he can take a hit and get the ball out. He made a lot of throws in that game you get excited about. And he’s doing things mentally, where you can see he’s making protection audibles and getting the ball where it should be vs. those pressure looks.”

Over the next two weeks, we will obsess over where Mitchell Trubisky and Deshaun Watson and the rest of the draft quarterbacks will land. Most people won’t spend a second thinking about the guys we were obsessing over a year ago.

But for those quarterbacks—Goff and fellow 2016 first-rounders Carson Wentz and Paxton Lynch—these weeks are critical, maybe moreso than they are for even Trubisky and Watson.

But we’ll start with the 2016 first-round quarterbacks, and what many coaches believe is the most critical offseason of any player’s career—the one between rookie year and Year 2, when growth should be at its most rapid. It started for Lynch in Denver on Monday, and Wentz and the Eagles get going next Monday.

Likewise, Goff and McVay are now three days in. And McVay does have those impressions from the tape. As he explained, “The two characteristics that we really value a lot from that position—are you a natural thrower of the football, and are you tough enough not to flinch in the face of the rush? He has both those things.”

Conversely, McVay won’t hesitate to admit he doesn’t know yet what ultimately he’ll need to know most about Goff. And to get there, he links the process ahead to a belief that’s deeply embedded in McVay’s football heritage.

“This goes back to what my grandpa (ex-Niners architect John McVay) instilled in me, from Bill (Walsh),” McVay said. “The quarterback position is the most difficult position. So everything that we do is geared towards making the most difficult position as easy as possible. And everything that you do is with the quarterback in mind first.

“And the thing that was great about having two guys like Kirk (Cousins) and Colt (McCoy in Washington), who took such great ownership of what we were trying to get done, they could explain why they liked a play. And if they didn’t like a certain play, whether it was Kirk or if Colt was playing, then we weren’t gonna call it. I thought it showed the value of having that relationship and rapport.”

And there you have the biggest goal set for Goff this spring.

To earn veto power that Cousins and McCoy attained over the next 11 weeks, as the coach sees it, two things have to be achieved. Goff needs to understand the offense well enough to articulate the “why.” And Goff, McVay, coordinator Matt LaFleur and QBs coach Greg Olson need to build the trust to have that kind of open discourse.

Is it different to try and give a 22-year-old that kind of latitude? A little. But Cousins’ results, and how a colorful offensive group in Washington responded to McVay’s style is proof positive that it’s been effective.

As for where they are now, the limited face time coach and quarterback have had has been largely uneventful. Goff was in two-hour meetings with the staff Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They covered style of play, formations, motions and personnel groupings on Day 1, baseline drop-back concepts on Day 2, and protections Wednesday. It wasn’t intimate—all the skill players were there.

But McVay was able to get a little more in January when he spoke with Goff during his interview process.

“The thing I really liked in how he came off, even before he had any idea we’d be working together, clearly things didn’t go as well as we would’ve liked last year, but he made no excuses,” McVay said. “He took full accountability and I sensed a guy who was challenged to respond in the right kind of ways, as opposed to making excuses for not playing as well as we would’ve liked last year.”

Of course, Goff hasn’t been sitting on his hands the past three months. One big focus in his work away from the facility has been on finding consistency in the kind of stroke he had in that New Orleans game. And he’ll continue to work on his drops from center and becoming a better distributor and more aggressive downfield.

McVay and Goff will get to that when they hit the field in a few weeks. For now, the good news is McVay sees evidence that, while there’s a long way to go, the vault of draft capital the Rams yielded for the guy on that Saints tape eventually will prove to be well worth it.

“You see the natural thrower, you see the toughness, those are the things you get excited about,” McVay said. “And then, what you also appreciate is, if this guy stayed in college, he’d be a senior right now without even having redshirted. …

So he has a lot of maturing and developing to come. When you see those kinds of skills, it gets you excited about the opportunity to work with him and try to help him develop and reach that highest potential. And I know Greg and Matt feel the same way.”

So that’s Goff. His draft classmates? Glad you asked …


Photo: Getty Images (2)

• Paxton’s progress: Broncos coach Vance Joseph said this week that he’d like the competition between Trevor Siemian and Lynch to go deep into the summer. That’s the way it’ll go if both are assimilating to the new staff and playing well. But I believe the presence of new/old offensive coordinator Mike McCoy gives Lynch a leg up, and for a couple reasons.

First, McCoy is master at retrofitting his scheme to match its signal-caller. In fact, it’s the mark of who he is as a coach. He made it work for Tim Tebow one year, Peyton Manning the next. So he should be able to mitigate that Lynch is raw, and that means talent will matter more. Second, as he did for both Rivers and Peyton Manning, McCoy plans to add elements of Gary Kubiak’s offense to ease the transition.

Joseph, for his part, has seen every inch of game and practice tape from Lynch’s rookie year, and I’m told he reached out to Kubiak to get a more complete picture on his new quarterbacks. Two things on Lynch’s game tape that impressed the staff: 1) How he seamlessly came into the Tampa game and competed; 2) How he took drops from center. Having been a shotgun QB in college, that showed he’s coachable.

That’s not to say he’s perfect. Lynch was less effective in his two starts than when he came into that Tampa game and flashed on the fly, a sign that he had more trouble with defenses game-planning for him. But there’s certainly plenty to work with here.

• What about Wentz? Goff played 393 snaps and threw 205 balls as a rookie. Lynch played 176 snaps and threw 83 passes. By comparison, Wentz played 1,127 snaps (second most among all NFL QBs in 2016) and threw 607 balls. The Eagles rookie started hot, had to deal with defensive coaches getting tape and building a book on him, leveled off, and then continued to grow.

Naturally, we know more about Wentz. For obvious reasons, there’s more optimism on Wentz nationally than the other two. But that doesn’t mean there’s not plenty of work to be done. The Eagles sent him off in January with two directives, as I understand them. One, he needed to rest a worn out throwing elbow. Two, he was to drill his lower body mechanics, in an effort to play and throw with more balance.

The Eagles’ staff will get its first look at Wentz on Monday, when vets return for Year 2 of the Doug Pederson era, and there’s something else Pederson hopes he gets. “I want to see him embracing being a leader on this football team,” Pederson told me, a few weeks back. “Now that he’s got a year under his belt, he can be the guy, a guy who can really motivate other players, challenge other players.”

Once we get to OTAs, the hope is that the offseason work on his mechanics and the rest will help Wentz’s downfield accuracy, one area where defenses made it hard on him last year. But there’s still plenty to be excited about here.

* * *

Each of these guys had help in the offseason, too. Wentz and Goff worked with renowned QB gurus Tom House and Adam Dedeaux; Lynch went back home to Florida to work with the coach who readied him for the draft, Charlie Taaffe. So each guy seems to be doing the right things.

But numbers tell us all of them won’t make it. In the five-year span between 2009 and ’13, 14 quarterbacks were drafted in the first round. Five got second contracts, and one of those was Mark Sanchez. Only Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill, Cam Newton and Matthew Stafford remain with their drafting teams. Bottom line: The odds aren’t in favor of all three of these guys becoming true franchise quarterbacks.

It will be fun to watch and see which of the three do.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/r...-explains-the-true-meaning-of-his-omaha-call/

Now that Tom Brady's missing Super Bowl jersey has been found , the greatest mystery in pro football involves Peyton Manning and the true meaning of his "Omaha" call.

Over the past few years, several players have tried to explain mysterious audible call. Eli Manning was asked about it once, Aaron Rodgers tried to explain it once and at one point, we even had one of Manning's old teammates, Reggie Wayne, try to break down the meaning of Omaha.

Of course, there's nothing like hearing it from the horse's mouth, and now that Manning's retired, it appears that he's now willing to talk about the meaning of his favorite word.


Peyton Manning finally shared his biggest secret: The meaning of Omaha. USATSI

During an appearance at the Adobe Summit in late March, Manning was asked what "Omaha" meant, and surprisingly, he actually answered the question.

"Omaha was just a indicator word," Manning explained from the Las Vegas event. "It was a trigger word that meant we had changed the play, there was low time on the clock and the ball needed to be snapped right now to kind of let my offensive lineman know that 'Hey, we'd gone to Plan B, there's low time on the clock.' It's a rhythmic three-syllable word, 'O-ma-ha, set hut.'"

Boom. Mystery solved.

Also, it's probably worth noting that this explanation was way better than the last one he gave. Back in January 2014, Manning joked that the call meant different things based on things like what color jersey the Broncos were wearing.

"Omaha is a run play, but it could be a pass play or a play-action pass depending on a couple things: the wind, which way we're going, the quarter and the jerseys that we're wearing," Manning said at the time.

After the audible call got huge, Manning says that people actually offered him money to use a different word instead of Omaha.

"I can't tell you how many solicitations I used to get for alternate words," Manning said at the Adobe event. "People would write me letters."

At the event, Manning also revealed that he has no interest in politics, doesn't want to be president of the United States and would prefer not to ever be the head football coach at the University of Tennessee.

I have been thinking he could fall out of round 1, and if he did would the Rams pick him. Jrry mocked Willis to the Rams once. Take is local so they should have eyes on him. But everything I read is that he goes mid round 1. I haven't seen him play but really haven't heard of him until draft season.

But then I see Dane Brugler's 2 round mock and he has Tak going to the Rams in round 2 at 37. Is he way off?

http://www.latimes.com/sports/rams/la-s ... story.html


Rams players pick up on the new vibe of coach Sean McVay

Gary Klein

Quarterback Jared Goff described it as “freshness.”

Linebacker Alec Ogletree spoke of “a whole different culture,” while running back Todd Gurley honed in on new coach Sean McVay’s energy and “swagger.”

Those were initial player impressions Monday after the Rams met as a team for the first time since McVay, 31, became the youngest coach in modern NFL history.

As the Rams began their offseason program, McVay, Goff and others at the team’s Cal Lutheran facility sported blue T-shirts emblazoned with a blue and white-horned Rams logo on the front and “WE not ME” written on the back.

The start of the program, which runs through mid-June, was “a long time coming,” McVay said.

“There was full attention, guys were locked in, they were engaged, they were ready to go,” he said of the team meeting, adding, “It was definitely, exactly the way that we wanted to come off as a coaching staff.”

It will take more than slogans, T-shirts and attentiveness in meetings to turn around a franchise that has not made the playoffs since 2004.

But after last season’s dismal 4-12 finish, the Rams are embracing the start of the post-Jeff Fisher era.

McVay might be young, Ogletree said, but the coach who served as the Washington Redskins’ offensive coordinator the last three seasons looked and sounded experienced.

“He definitely seems like a guy that’s been around awhile,” said Ogletree, 25. “You can gravitate toward a guy like that because he’s young, energetic, and you can definitely tell he has a lot of wisdom about him.”

McVay and his staff face a major challenge, especially on offense.

The Rams have ranked last in the NFL in each of the last two seasons. On the positive side, there is nowhere to go but up.

How much the Rams improve will depend in large part on the development of Goff, the No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft.

McVay has said that he, offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur and quarterbacks coach Greg Olson have worked to make sure they will provide Goff with a consistent message.

Goff, 22, said he was ready to get started. The Rams, he intimated, are not far from turning around their fortunes.

“I think we’re a lot closer to where we want to be than people may think,” he said.

Goff, winless last season in seven starts, worked this offseason in Newport Beach with quarterback trainers Tom House and Justin Dedeaux. The duo has tutored Tom Brady, Matt Ryan and other NFL passers.

Goff did not identify any particular mechanical adjustments that were made but said he was enlightened.

“Now you know when you do make a bad throw ... you know why,” he said. “It’s not just, ‘Oh, that was a bad one,’ and move on. You know why and how to fix it.”

Goff will attempt to assert himself on a team that has gone through numerous personnel changes.

Nine players who played prominent roles last season — quarterback Case Keenum, receivers Kenny Britt and Brian Quick, running back Benny Cunningham, tight end Lance Kendricks, center Tim Barnes, defensive ends William Hayes and Eugene Sims and safety T.J. McDonald — were either traded, released or allowed to pursue free-agent opportunities.

The Rams added eight players who are expected to contribute immediately: receiver Robert Woods, offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, center John Sullivan, running back Lance Dunbar, defensive lineman Tyrunn Walker, linebacker Connor Barwin and cornerbacks Kayvon Webster and Nickell Robey-Coleman.

With a year of experience, Goff said he was now comfortable in everything from knowing teammates to knowing his way around the facility.

“Comfortability,” he said, “you can’t overstate it. It’s really important, as for the quarterback position, and leadership overall.”

Notes

The Rams’ exhibition schedule includes home games against the Dallas Cowboys and the Chargers and road games against the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers. The Aug. 26 game against the Chargers at the Coliseum will kick off at 5 p.m. and be televised nationally by CBS. Dates for the other games are to be determined. The Rams are playing the Cowboys in a preseason opener for the second year in a row. They also will play the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium during the regular season. In Week 2 of the preseason, the Rams will visit the Raiders, who last month received permission from the NFL to move to Las Vegas in a few seasons. The Chargers, who are playing home games at the StubHub Center until they will move into Stan Kroenke’s new Inglewood stadium in 2019, will visit the Coliseum in Week 3. Last year, the Rams traveled to Minnesota’s new stadium for their final preseason game. This year, they travel to Green Bay’s legendary Lambeau Field. ... Defensive lineman Ethan Westbrooks signed a restricted free-agent tender. The Rams waived receiver Stedman Bailey and retained exclusive rights to defensive linemen Matt Longacre and Louis Trinca-Pasat.

Examining A Decade Of Drafted Wide Receivers: Temper Expectations If They Aren’t First Round Picks
April 11, 2017 | By 14Team Mocker


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Draft capital is a term used to describe the value of the draft pick spent on any player — it’s also a valuable predictive indicator of that player’s career production.

This article focuses on wide receivers; the same exercise for running backs will be posted prior to the NFL draft.

I often find myself wondering: how many players ever become productive? While weighing how to evaluate a player’s chance of sustained NFL relevance, I wanted a straightforward way to establish reasonable expectations.

As it relates to fantasy, particularly the dynasty format, I wanted to expand upon the thesis that rookie picks are incorrectly overvalued and that expectations of relevancy, never mind stardom, are entirely too high.

Prior to last season, I detailed the production of every wide receiver drafted in the last ten years by what round they were drafted in. Below are the same tables, but updated through the 2016 season. Because so many of these players are still active, the numbers are broken out on a per-game basis in an effort to normalize the results.

DRAFTED WIDE RECEIVERS
There were 322 WRs drafted from the years 2007 through 2016. These are the averages for all those players, by round:

Round WRs Drafted Age Career Catches/game Career Yards/game Career TD/game Career PPR/game 16 game PPR pace

Note: This is for receiving only. There are no rushing, passing, or special teams points included, apologies to Tyreek Hill.

The major trends stay intact from last year’s chart, with first-round WRs being by far the youngest and most productive.

• Generational outliers Brandon Marshall and Marques Colston both aged out of the 10-year window, and the averages for WRs drafted in the fourth and seventh rounds fell hard as a result.
• Antonio Brown is still single-handedly inflating the sixth-round average to make it appear better than it otherwise would be.

As with a lot of what RotoViz does, these numbers are meant to contextualize probabilities and likelihoods.

The human brain causes us react to data like this with the counterpoint “but Stefon Diggs was a fifth round pick, so this information should be thrown out completely.” We have to train our brains to instead process the information along the lines of: “Diggs performance is an exception to the rule; draft capital is an extremely strong indicator of future success.”

After only two seasons in the league, Diggs already has the eighth-most receiving yards out of 38 WRs drafted in the fifth round over the last 10 years. He represents someone whose draft capital did not align with his pre-draft profile, or rookie season production, and thus identified as a possible outlier.

There is certainly value in being able to identify the exceptions to the rule, and numbers like Dominator Rating and Breakout Age can help point to guys whose draft capital appears too low.

That value has to be contextualized with the level of risk though. Overconfidence in your ability to beat the trends can be disastrous. Don’t overpay. For example, even if someone confidently identified Diggs as way under-drafted, the value is diminished by however much they overpaid for him in fantasy drafts.

There is also a propensity to identify a basket of players as under-drafted, and when Diggs hits, we scrub the rest of the players from our memory, and convince ourselves over time that we were far more prophetic than we really were. More than likely, we aggressively projected several lottery-ticket types and had just one hit, thus wasting our value (hitting on Diggs) by reaching on several others.

There will always be exceptions to a rule. Some people and methods are better at identifying who those exceptions will be, but it’s a very difficult and inexact science. Based on how difficult it is to be accurate, especially in a profitable way, the practice has rapidly diminishing returns.

If you play like I do, you don’t try to identify the exceptions; and, if you do, you don’t aggressively invest in those predictions. Instead, you follow the trends, and try to maintain a pragmatism that begets optimality.

Give yourself the chance to benefit from the chaos of outliers, but don’t sacrifice antifragility to a point of overexposure.

Without further ado, here is what the data says:

ROUND 1
BEST CAREER:
1st – Calvin Johnson 2,390.9 PPR fantasy points, 135 games played

2nd – Demaryius Thomas 1,628.4 points, 101 games

BEST PER GAME:
1st Odell Beckham 21.17 PPG, 43 games played

2nd Julio Jones 18.96 PPG, 75 games

• Johnson maintains his spot as having the best career, and no one will be within striking distance for a very long time.
• Thomas jumped Dwayne Bowe last season for the No. 2 spot, and barring something unforeseen, A.J. Green, Dez Bryant, Jeremy Maclin, and Michael Crabtree will all also pass Bowe this season.
• Both Johnson and Bowe will age out of the 10-year window next season, and Thomas has a more than 100-point advantage on Bryant to move into the top spot after this year.
• Of the 39 WRs drafted in the first round over the last ten years, seven average five-plus catches and 15-plus fantasy points per game.
• Two of the 39 average 90-plus receiving yards and 18-plus fantasy points per game.
• Three of the 39 average 0.6-plus TDs per game.
• Beckham is the only one who does all three.
• Other than Johnson and Jones, the only other players to average at least 75 yards and 16 fantasy PPG are Thomas, Green, and Mike Evans.
• On the opposite end, there are some recent picks that are potentially historic busts. Kevin White, Josh Doctson, and Laquon Treadwell currently have 268 yards in four combined seasons. To put that in perspective, Julio Jones had 300 yards last year… in Week 4.

While it’s far too premature to put any of those three out to pasture, not all careers are destined to bounce back as a result of the repeated opportunity first round picks are afforded. We see plenty of examples in Justin Blackmon, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Jonathan Baldwin, Craig Davis, and A.J. Jenkins, who are all still in the 10-year window.

Other recent picks like DeVante Parker, Phillip Dorsett, Cordarrelle Patterson, and Nelson Agholor average between five and nine PPG, well below the career average of first rounders. All find themselves buried on depth charts and in situations where breaking out at this stage in their careers is increasingly unlikely.

All of this is to say that recent misfortune of first-round WRs is not normal and shouldn’t be expected to continue at such a miserable rate. Even despite that recent unpleasantness, first-round WRs maintain their massive average production gap versus all other rounds.

ROUND 2
BEST CAREER:
1st – DeSean Jackson 1,655.9 PPR fantasy points, 127 games played

2nd – Jordy Nelson 1,611.6 points, 121 games

BEST PER GAME:
1st – Michael Thomas 17.30 PPG, 16 games

2nd – Allen Robinson 14.67 PPG, 42 games played

• Greg Jennings aged out of the top spot, and with no one within 450 career points of Jackson, he and Nelson have a real stranglehold as the top two performers.
• It’s good to be a Packers WR drafted in the second round. Nelson, Randall Cobb,and Davante Adams are three of only 12 (out of 42) that average 10-plus fantasy points per game in their careers.
• Thomas’ small sample size is keeping him from skewing the whole group.
• Sterling Shepard is also a positive early outlier, but, for both Shepard and Thomas, age when entering the league is a red flag.
• They are two of four (out of 42) second-round WRs who average 0.5-plus TDs per game in their career, suggesting their production was reliant on bizarrely high TD rates.

Top-end production and overall averages aren’t the only thing that plummets from the first to second round and beyond.

ROUNDS 3 THROUGH 7
BEST CAREER:
1st – Antonio Brown 1,769.7 PPR fantasy points, 101 games played

2nd – Mike Wallace 1,536.4 points, 127 games

BEST PER GAME:
1st – Antonio Brown 17.52 PPG, 101 games played

2nd – Keenan Allen 15.23 PPG, 38 games

Round First Second Third Fourth - Seventh

• There’s less than half the number of WRs with career averages of 15-plus PPG in rounds two through seven as there are in just the first round.
• There were 58 fourth-round WRs drafted in the last ten years, three of which average 10-plus PPG (Martavis Bryant, Mike Williams, and Jamison Crowder). By contrast, ten have recorded just zero or one catch.
• There were 38 fifth-round WRs drafted in the last ten years, one of which averages 10-plus PPG (Diggs). Compare that to four named Kenny. In other words, fifth-round WRs were four times as likely to be named Kenny than they were to average 10.0 fantasy PPG.
• While one of the 189 WRs drafted after Round 3 averages a startling 15-plus PPG (Brown), there were 143 WRs drafted after Round 4, and only four averaged even 10.0 PPG (Brown, Diggs, Pierre Garcon, and Stevie Johnson).

Good luck scouting WRs taken after the first round as you search for the next Brown or Diggs in your dynasty rookie draft this year.

May the odds be ever in your favor.

Downtown Rams 2017 NFL Draft Interview: Idaho NT Glen Antoine

https://www.downtownrams.com/single...017-NFL-Draft-Interview-Idaho-NT-Glen-Antoine

In this new series we bring you pre-draft interviews with a handful of really good football players. Here is the best nose tackle in the draft Glen Antoine. Glen was nice enough to interview with us and he's been a huge supporter of Downtown Rams since writing our draft profile on him. Please be sure to give this interview a listen and share this around. Glen Antoine everybody...he could end up becoming a Los Angeles Ram in a couple of weeks.

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After looking at the bigger contracts that will be on the books in 2018, these were the players that have the highest probability of being cut after the 2017 Season should they not perform up to expectations.

If these particular players with high cap numbers in 2018 don't play to the level of the their contract numbers, they are prime targets to possibly be released and replaced by other players via 2018 Free Agency period or the 2018 Draft.

Hypothetically we have to consider that some of the selections in the upcoming 2017 draft could be in play as replacements for the below listed players depending on how the draft goes and if some of the rookies selected end up having decent rookie seasons that play similar positions etc.


DEFENSE

DE ROBERT QUINN- If he's cut after the 2017 season due to a sub-par performance or misc reasons...

(2018 Total cap savings with his dead cap hit penalty of $955,354 is a Total savings of 11.4 million)


LB MARK BARRON- If he's cut after the 2017 season due to a sub-par performance or misc reasons...

(2018 total cap savings combined with his dead cap hit penalty of 3 is a Total savings of 7 million)


CB KAYVON WEBSTER- If he's cut after the 2017 season due to a sub-par performance or misc reasons...

(2018 Total cap savings with his dead cap hit penalty of $500,000 is a Total savings of 3.2 million)


LB BRYCE HAGER- If he's cut after the 2017 season due to a sub-par performance or misc reasons...

(2018 Total cap savings with his dead cap hit penalty of $18,035 is a Total savings of $705,000)



OFFENSE

OL RODGER SAFFOLD- If he's cut after the 2017 season due to a sub-par performance or misc reasons...
(2018 Total cap savings with his dead cap hit penalty of 1 million is a Total savings of 6.5 million)


WR TAVON AUSTIN- If he's cut after the 2017 season due to a sub-par performance or misc reasons...

(2018 total cap savings with his dead cap hit penalty of 5 million is ONLY a Total savings of 3 million)

I was wrong before thinking that Tavon could be released after 2017 with a minimal cap penalty.
(5 million dollar dead cap penalty in 2018 is a decent chunk)

If Tavon is released after the 2018 season his dead cap hit penalty is $0 dollars so the Rams might keep him around in 2018 even if he has similar stats like he did in 2016


TE CORY HARKEY- If he's cut after the 2017 season due to a sub-par performance or misc reasons...

(2018 total cap savings with his dead cap hit penalty of $0 dollars is a Total savings of 1.9 million)


K GREG ZUERLEIN- If he's cut after the 2017 season due to a sub-par performance or misc reasons...

(2018 total cap savings with his dead cap hit penalty of $750,000 is a Total savings of 1.8 million)


Side Note: Player Status should play a part in the 2017 Draft and post draft/phase 3 of Free Agency and UDFA's

DT Aaron Donald- $due to break the bank soon$
DL Dominique Easley- is a UFA after 2017 unless he agrees to a contract extension
LB Alec Ogletree- UFA after 2017 but this season could warrant an extension should he start out on fire


CB Trumaine Johnson- UFA after 2017 unless he agrees to a contract extension
CB Nickell Robey-Coleman contract status N/A could be UFA after the 2017 season (Rams need CB depth for 2018)

SS Maurice Alexander- UFA after 2017 unless he agrees to a contract extension
FS LaMarcus Joyner- UFA after 2017 unless he agrees to a contract extension (Rams need Safety depth for 2018)

OL Greg Robinson- not expected to have his 2018 5th year option exercised-make or break season for his future
C John Sullivan- contract Status N/A could be UFA after the 2017 season (Rams need Center depth for 2018)

RB Lance Dunbar- UFA after 2017 unless he agrees to a contract extension
RB Malcolm Brown- UFA after 2017 unless he agrees to a contract extension (Rams need RB depth for 2018)

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...ding-block-big-names-get-dealt-2017-offseason

NFL players on the trading block: Big names who could get dealt
Dan Graziano/ESPN Staff Writer

Of all the potential NFL offseason storylines, "Seahawks trade Richard Sherman" would have ranked among the least believable two or three months ago. Yet, here we are.

Which other players might soon be traded? With offseason programs beginning, teams want to get their rosters squared away. If a guy is out there on the trade market, the next few weeks are a likely time for a deal to go down.

Let's start with the quarterbacks who could be on the block:


Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

Jimmy Garoppolo, QB, New England Patriots
At this point, the Patriots have told teams they're not interested in dealing Garoppolo, whom they view as a valuable backup to Tom Brady, who is soon to turn 40 years old. But circumstances can change, and if the price gets crazy-high enough (say, Cleveland wants to offer that No. 12 overall pick in a package), the Patriots could be swayed.

As with Malcolm Butler (mentioned a little later), the idea of losing Garoppolo without compensation a year from now can't be too appealing. The Browns, Texans and possibly the 49ers all look like teams that would jump if Garoppolo became more available.

Kirk Cousins, QB, Washington
Let's be clear here, since these things can get misread. I don't think Garoppolo will be traded, and I don't think Cousins will be traded. But neither is impossible. Cousins can't seem to get the long-term deal he wants from Washington (though it has until July 15 to try), and former Washington offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan is now a quarterback-needy head coach in San Francisco.

It's impossible to imagine the offseason going by without Shanahan making a significant attempt to acquire Cousins. Perhaps if talks on an extension go nowhere, Washington makes the move. But it would have to give up on its 2017 season to do so. And that's a tough call to make for a franchise that's already wallowing in bad PR vibes from the ugly firing of its general manager last month.

Brock Osweiler, QB, Cleveland Browns
Already traded once this offseason for basically nothing, Osweiler is not in the Browns' plans. He could be the best quarterback on their roster right now, but they are eyeing a better long-term solution with the No. 12 pick in the draft, and they still have dreams of prying a veteran away from another team to add to their mix (see: Garoppolo, and the next guy on this list).

It's just tough to imagine the market for Osweiler, who flamed out after signing the big contract with Houston a year ago. Denver, which wanted him back, has moved on to Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch. Osweiler still has promise, but he's not as attractive a pickup as he appeared to be in 2016, and teams likely will wait for the Browns to release him.


Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

AJ McCarron, QB, Cincinnati Bengals
Andy Dalton's backup is a player in whom some teams have interest, but the Bengals have made it clear they would demand a high price. The most obvious fit is Cleveland, where former Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson now coaches.

But the Bengals would demand an even higher price if dealing McCarron within the division. McCarron is to be a restricted free agent at the end of 2017, so Cincinnati would have an opportunity to get something in return next year if they held on now.

Marshawn Lynch, RB, Seattle Seahawks
Lynch appears quite interested in ending his one-year retirement and playing for his hometown Oakland Raiders. Of course, Seattle still controls his rights and would try to get something -- even if it's only a cursory late-round pick -- from Oakland in return. A lot has to happen here. First, Lynch has to formally unretire.

Second, Seattle and Oakland would have to agree on trade compensation. Third (or possibly second, actually), the Raiders and Lynch would have to agree on a new contract, as it's unlikely they'll want to pay him $9 million this year. The most likely outcome here still feels like a release and a signing with the Raiders, but it's not impossible that the Lynch transaction could be a trade.

Malcolm Butler, CB, New England Patriots
This was red-hot just a few weeks ago, as it looked certain that Butler would end up with the New Orleans Saints. And the fact that it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. But things have cooled on the Butler front, and the Patriots don't seem to want to give him away for free.

They could keep him and force him to play for them on his one-year, $3.91 million restricted free-agent tender, but that runs the risk of dealing with an unhappy player who could leave them without anything in return as a unrestricted free agent a year from now.

At this point, the Saints might want to see whether they can address cornerback in the draft. Regardless, nothing can happen here until Butler signs that tender, as New England has made it clear it's not interested in talking trade without that happening first.


AP Photo/L.G. Patterson

Trumaine Johnson, CB, Los Angeles Rams
The problem the Rams have is that they've franchised Johnson two years in a row, which means he'll make $16.742 million this year. That's more than any other cornerback except Josh Norman, and it's $1.742 million more than the average annual value of any other corner's current contract.

Johnson's a fine player, but he's not the best corner in the league, and the Rams are paying him as if he were. They have until July 15 to do a long-term deal that would help defray the cap hit, but Johnson doesn't mind the franchise tag and has the leverage. Sherman's sudden arrival on the market doesn't help the Rams' effort to find a trade partner for Johnson, either.

Mychal Kendricks, LB, Philadelphia Eagles
The key number for Kendricks is 27. It's his age as of this coming Sept. 28, which means he should still have value in the eyes of acquiring teams. It's also the percentage of Eagles defensive snaps he played in 2016, which tells you he's not a fit for what Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz wants to do.

The Eagles have been trying to get something for Kendricks for more than month, and the $4.35 million of his 2017 salary that became fully guaranteed on the third day of the league year tells you they have no interest in releasing him outright. The Eagles could wait out a training-camp injury on another team and try to get something for Kendricks later this summer.

Sheldon Richardson, DT, New York Jets
The Jets were dangling Richardson at last year's trade deadline and would like to get something in return for their talented-but-troublesome defensive lineman before he leaves as a free agent in 2018. The Jets have star-caliber coverage in the form of Muhammad Wilkerson and Leonard Williams at the position and could get by without Richardson.

The question is what they can expect to get for a guy who's one year from free agency and has been suspended for parts of the past two seasons. He fits any defensive scheme and can rush from the interior or outside, so pick a team that needs defensive line help. Cincinnati makes some sense if it isn't using its draft capital to help its offensive line. So does Seattle, actually. Sherman for Richardson? Who says no?

Josh Gordon, WR, Cleveland Browns
Yeah, this guy. Still suspended. No guarantee he'll ever be reinstated. But if he is reinstated, the Browns will surely try to get something in exchange for him before releasing him outright. He turns 26 on Thursday, and four years ago he caught 87 passes for 1,646 yards and nine touchdowns in just 14 games. But it'll be tough for the Browns to get much for a guy whose next suspension is likely to be permanent.

Nothing new under the Ram's Sun, I know....I know that I am getting bored with almost every thread, which I include my own.

All I know is that if Nolan Cromwell had been one foot taller, we'd have won another Super Bowl, dad gummit!

http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2017/04/charlie-murphy-dead-at-57

Charlie Murphy Reportedly Dead at 57 After Battle With Leukemia
BY KYLE NEUBECK


Image via Charlie Murphy's Facebook

Comedian and legendary storyteller Charlie Murphy has reportedly passed away at age 57 following a battle with leukemia.

According to TMZ, Murphy's manager has confirmed he passed away in a New York City hospital due to complications from the deadly cancer. He had previously been undergoing chemo treatment to fight the illness.

Murphy appeared in minor acting roles in films throughout the 1980s and 90s. His star rose the highest after breakout performances as a storyteller on Chappelle's Show. The elder Murphy brother garnered widespread acclaim for his retelling of stories involving music stars Rick James and Prince. His graphic, no-holds barred approach to sharing these stories introduced him to a new generation of fans.

After Dave Chappelle took his (eventually permanent) hiatus from the show, Murphy filled in as the host of "The Lost Episodes" alongside fellow Chappelle's Show alum Donnell Rawlings.

Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHeeLsNAjt4

Click the link below and scroll down for the Prince video

http://www.tmz.com/2017/04/12/charlie-murphy-dead-leukemia-eddie-murphy-brother/

ST. LOUIS • The city, the county and the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority are suing the National Football League over the relocation of the Rams 15 months ago.

The 52-page suit filed Wednesday in St. Louis Circuit Court lists the National Football League and all 32 NFL clubs as defendants and seeks damages and restitution of profits.

"The Rams, the NFL, through its member teams, and the owners have violated the obligations and standards governing team relocations" because the Rams failed to meet league relocation rules, the suit claims. As such, the league has breached its contractual duties owed the plaintiffs, the suit says.


The Rams and the NFL made intentionally false statements, unjustly enriched themselves, the plaintiffs say, and interfered with business expectations.

The suit claims St. Louis has lost an estimated $1.85 million to $3.5 million a year in amusement and ticket tax revenue with the departure of the Rams. It says the city also has lost about $7.5 million in property tax and $1.4 million in sales tax revenue, plus "millions" in earning taxes.

Although it doesn't provide dollar amounts for St Louis County, the suit says the county has lost out on hotel tax, property tax, and sales tax revenue because of the departure of the Rams.

The suit contains five counts, or causes for action:

• Breach of contract (against all defendants).

• Unjust enrichment (against all defendants).

• Fraudulent misrepresentation (against the Rams and team owner Stan Kroenke).

• Fraudulent misrepresentation (against all defendants).

• Tortious interference with business expectancy (against all defendants except the Rams). This last count basically alleges that the NFL and the other 31 teams "intentionally interfered" with the business relationship between the St. Louis plaintiffs and the Rams by approving the relocation.

The league's relocation rules were established in 1984 in response to a court recommendation to the NFL to avoid antitrust liability. The rules call on teams to work diligently and in good faith to remain in their home community, stating that teams cannot relocate unless the relocation policy is satisfied.

The suit lists three pages of examples in which the Rams "made false statements regarding the team's intent to engage in good faith negotiations."

Included is part of a 2010 Post-Dispatch interview with Kroenke in which he said: "I'm going to attempt to do everything that I can to keep the Rams in St. Louis. I've always stepped up for pro football in St. Louis. . . . People in our state know me. People know I can be trusted."



Another example came in 2014 from Rams executive Kevin Demoff after Kroenke bought land in Inglewood, Calif., that became part of the eventual site of the LA Rams' proposed stadium: "I promise you, Stan is looking at lots of pieces of land around the world right now and none of them are for football stadiums."

(Continued)

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/football/professional/st-louis-suing-nfl-over-rams-relocation/

Greg Robinson - T - Rams
The Los Angeles Times' Gary Klein reports the Rams will decline 2014 first-rounder Greg Robinson's fifth-year team option for 2018.

Duh. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2014 draft, Robinson has been a colossal bust. He's arguably been the worst left tackle in the sport since entering the league and is now being flipped to right tackle by the Sean McVay coaching staff. We doubt he proves much better there. The Rams haven't been able to find a capable left tackle since Hall of Famer Orlando Pace moved on, and they smartly plugged the hole with veteran Andrew Whitworth as a priority free agent.

Source: Gary Klein on Twitter
Apr 12 - 12:44 PM

This is a predraft observation, of course. And we all know that FA is not completely over. Especially if there is a TruJo trade.

But here goes...

First, the 2 big holes. And I mean BIG holes.

WR. Absolutely, positively cannot have only Woods and Tavon as starting WR's. Gaping hole here, y'all. Gotta add at least one WR via draft, preferably by 4th round. Two new WR's might be better, if a nice one falls. Tavon is not a WR, so it's foolish to count on him, imo. Otherwise, 2 and 3 WR sets will get little respect from opposing D's. And we've all seen that movie several times, huh? Arrrrrgh!

TE. Same story as WR, only more so. With Kendricks' release, we are down to essentially Higbee and Hemmingway at TE. Two second year players that failed to distinguish themselves in last year's train wreck of an O. And that's being kind, tbh. Our HC loves 2 and 3 TE sets. So a TE via draft seems beyond obvious, don't you think? Otherwise, we're bringing a knife to a gunfight every Sunday. Can't overstate what a big hole at TE we currently have.

Now the big question marks.

QB. Goff has gotta step it up to at least league averages. He doesn't need to make the Pro Bowl. But he does need to look like an NFL QB, for cryin' out loud. I THINK he can and will. I have great confidence in this new coaching staff. But until Goff shows it on the field, I'm gonna be kinda holding my breath.

Robert Quinn. It's simple, really. If Quinn is healthy, he's an absolute beast. But if his back is still bothering him, he can't even make the active roster. That creates a hole for Wade to try to patch up. Not good. So, I'll be holding my breath regarding Quinn's health all season long.

The good news? That's kinda it for the unknown biggies, don't you think? All else are details by comparison.

More good news? It's a good draft for WR, TE, and CB, just to name a few. A good draft could go a long ways toward plugging these two big holes.

So yeah, I'm cautiously optimistic even as I hold my breath. Lol.

Hey gang,

With the NFL draft almost upon us, let's have some fun and throw out some trade scenarios to move up into the first round. Part of this for me is to see what people are thinking and willing to offer to move to a certain pick or get a certain player.

Here is the NFL draft draft chart values (it goes without saying that other factors come into play when making trades i.e. Supply & demand), but it's a great reference:

http://www.ourlads.com/nfldraftvalue/

I'll start off by suggesting a trade with MIA @22 (780 points) for our round 2 pick 5 selection (530 points), our 3rd round pick 69 selection (245 points) and next year's third or fourth to sweeten the deal. I realize the third pick may be a bit too much but I think we include it to close he deal. Maybe MIA throws in a fourth or fifth this year?

I see this happening bc McVay and Gase have a tremendous friendship, and several times this off season he has mentioned how much he has communicated with Gase about being a first time HC and all that comes with it. Also, rumors were swirling that we were touching base with MIA about Tru (legit or not) so I think draft day communication could be a real possibility.

"And with the 22nd pick of the NFL draft, the Los Angelos Rams select... FORREST LAMP"

https://goo.gl/images/yPP1hc

As expected.

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Mason Shreck (Buffalo) 6'5" 255 lbs 4.70 / 40

Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZUunlMQyXM


A couple of plays below worth noting:

@ 1:58 mark ; makes outstanding block before releasing for a short route

@ 3:42 mark ; Catches TD after crossing with the outside receiver ; the CB gets rubbed a bit, but Schreck gets to the outside very quickly for his size.

@ 4:45 mark ; makes great site adjustment to the ball on a wheel route.

Andrey Avgi Western Oregon 6'6" 270 lbs 4.75 / 40

Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2KHUBd0qPk


An athleticTE with more experience on the basketball court than playing football. Could be a good red zone target.

In his first five years as the general manager of the Rams, Les Snead was used to being in the center of the action during the first round of the NFL draft. Twice, his teams had two first-round picks. Last year, the Rams owned the No. 1 overall pick after swinging a blockbuster trade with the Tennessee Titans.

So now that the Rams don’t have a first-round pick this year — part of the price the team paid to move up to select quarterback Jared Goff last year — Snead finds himself wondering exactly what he and his staff are going to do, and what they’re going to wear, while the rest of the league works on April 27.

“We’ve been trying to come up with something creative to do on that Thursday night,” Snead told USA TODAY Sports. “That's been one of the stress points for me. I'll be walking down the hall and go, ‘Wait to we wear suits on Thursday night or not?’ I don't know the answer to that. I do think it's a time to be more casual, right?”



Snead figures he and his personnel staff, as well as new head coach Sean McVay and his assistants, will watch the start of the draft in the same fashion as many fans: eagerly awaiting the Cleveland Browns' pick at No. 1, as well as seeing which teams draft quarterbacks – and how high.



“But we'll know as each domino falls, that might be affecting our strategy in the second round,” Snead said. “I think what will be important for us is, we'll be really, really interested once we get to about pick 25 knowing there's seven or so picks left in the [first round], and 10 or 12 away from us picking. We've got 37, and that's pretty early on Friday. The work for us will really start later Thursday night, and especially once that round's over.”

The Rams enter the draft with eight picks, including four picks by the end of the fourth round despite continuing to pay for last year's deal.

With the 2016 draft being remembered for that trade and the arrival of Goff, this year could be defined by the moves the Rams make to improve the offense around the young quarterback.

Offensively, the Rams have needs at wide receiver and tight end as well as along the offensive line, despite the additions of 35-year-old left tackle Andrew Whitworth and 31-year-old center John Sullivan in free agency.

“Obviously the offense and where it's been ranked the last two, three, four years, we've got to fix the offense. But just because we've got to fix the offense, that doesn't mean when we go to pick there is actually going to be a player there that is going to help us fix it. We've got to fix it, but we can't force the issue. If we force it, we're hurting it. You want to be disciplined there,” Snead said. “Yes, we need to fix the offense. Could that be skill players? Could that be offensive linemen? We have to take that one pick at a time, because we know that is a goal. We need to fix it immediately, we want improvement next year for sure, but we know this could be one to two, maybe three, year process.”

The Rams signed a cornerback (Kayvon Webster) and outside linebacker (Connor Barwin) in free agency, and used the franchise tender to keep cornerback Trumaine Johnson. But several holes remain on defense after losses at safety (T.J. McDonald) and defensive end (William Hayes and Eugene Sims).

“Our strength has been our defense, and let's keep that strong, so that as we're in the construction project over here, we've got a chance for team success,” Snead said. “That's as good for all of us, including Jared.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ams-nfl-draft-plan-les-snead-picks/100347506/
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.

As I look through this roster I keep coming back to Tavon and what a darkhorse he is. And of course there is the difficulty of measuring his impact on this team as a whole in terms of a typical wideout for one simple reason: you can't force the ball to him like you can with a guy with a good catch radius and contested catch ability.

I am assuming here that his radius and inability to make contested catches are not going to change. It's not just about his size, as there are small guys who have contested catch ability, but Tavon ain't ever gonna be that guy.

But what is interesting about him is even with that assumption being true it is possible he will emerge as a legitimate weapon in this offense. Which begs the question: what would that look like statistically?

I'm going to go with two metrics: TDs and field position change type plays, which would be plays of 20+ yards. In 2013 he only started 3 games, but racked up 569 yards and 5 TDs. In 2015 he had 907 yards and 9 TDs. Both of those seasons' stats include rushing totals as well btw, which I think will continue to be part of his usage. But back to TDs and field position changes why those two metrics? Because he's basically a big play option more than anything else when it comes down to measuring his value.

Now that said his 20+ yard gains are difficult to look up so let's avoid that as a discussion piece for now. And for reference the rarified air for TD totals are 20ish, with all the records being in that range (Moss 23, Rice 22, Clayton 18). What do those receivers have in common? Benefactors of getting a high volume of passes thrown to them as a primary option in good offenses. That's not Tavon IMO. He's never going to be that guy who gets 100 receptions, I just don't see it.

So what is his expected TD total if he were to find himself in a well designed offense with a QB who can deliver the ball? I'm going to go with 10-15. Ten minimum because he's going to get the ball in space and he had 9 in a much lesser offense back in 2015. Fifteen maximum because that's nearing a TD a game pace, which is going to be very hard for any player to get without being a primary receiving option.

Back to field position change type plays, in 2015 he had 11 plays of 20+ yards in 104 total touches (run/pass). In 2013 he had 7 over 49 total touches. Since 2013 was his rookie season it's safe to say teams had him identified thereafter as a focus target, so the big play ratio per touch is more realistic looking at the 2015 numbers.

Extrapolating it out here's how I'd take a stab on what I'd expect out of Tavon IF this offense is well designed and the basic functionality is there from the QB position and line, and note these are rushing and receiving totals:

TDs: 10-15
Yards: 700-1200
Touches: 80-120
20+ yard gains: 12-18

Lastly, I suspect his numbers will be better in TDs and 20+ yard gains if his touches are lower in a good offense. Why? Because defenses will not be able to key on him as successfully, which means more chances of possessing the ball in space.

Am I crazy? Yeah, probably. Fire away foos.

With no first-round pick, Rams keeping an eye on NFL draft dominoes
Lindsay H. Jones , USA TODAY Sports6:34 p.m. ET April 11, 2017

In his first five years as the general manager of the Rams, Les Snead was used to being in the center of the action during the first round of the NFL draft. Twice, his teams had two first-round picks. Last year, the Rams owned the No. 1 overall pick after swinging a blockbuster trade with the Tennessee Titans.

So now that the Rams don’t have a first-round pick this year — part of the price the team paid to move up to select quarterback Jared Goff last year — Snead finds himself wondering exactly what he and his staff are going to do, and what they’re going to wear, while the rest of the league works on April 27.

“We’ve been trying to come up with something creative to do on that Thursday night,” Snead told USA TODAY Sports. “That's been one of the stress points for me. I'll be walking down the hall and go, ‘Wait to we wear suits on Thursday night or not?’ I don't know the answer to that. I do think it's a time to be more casual, right?”

Snead figures he and his personnel staff, as well as new head coach Sean McVay and his assistants, will watch the start of the draft in the same fashion as many fans: eagerly awaiting the Cleveland Browns' pick at No. 1, as well as seeing which teams draft quarterbacks – and how high.

“But we'll know as each domino falls, that might be affecting our strategy in the second round,” Snead said. “I think what will be important for us is, we'll be really, really interested once we get to about pick 25 knowing there's seven or so picks left in the [first round], and 10 or 12 away from us picking. We've got 37, and that's pretty early on Friday. The work for us will really start later Thursday night, and especially once that round's over.”

The Rams enter the draft with eight picks, including four picks by the end of the fourth round despite continuing to pay for last year's deal.

With the 2016 draft being remembered for that trade and the arrival of Goff, this year could be defined by the moves the Rams make to improve the offense around the young quarterback.

Offensively, the Rams have needs at wide receiver and tight end as well as along the offensive line, despite the additions of 35-year-old left tackle Andrew Whitworth and 31-year-old center John Sullivan in free agency.

“Obviously the offense and where it's been ranked the last two, three, four years, we've got to fix the offense. But just because we've got to fix the offense, that doesn't mean when we go to pick there is actually going to be a player there that is going to help us fix it. We've got to fix it, but we can't force the issue.

If we force it, we're hurting it. You want to be disciplined there,” Snead said. “Yes, we need to fix the offense. Could that be skill players? Could that be offensive linemen? We have to take that one pick at a time, because we know that is a goal. We need to fix it immediately, we want improvement next year for sure, but we know this could be one to two, maybe three, year process.”

The Rams signed a cornerback (Kayvon Webster) and outside linebacker (Connor Barwin) in free agency, and used the franchise tender to keep cornerback Trumaine Johnson. But several holes remain on defense after losses at safety (T.J. McDonald) and defensive end (William Hayes and Eugene Sims).

“Our strength has been our defense, and let's keep that strong, so that as we're in the construction project over here, we've got a chance for team success,” Snead said. “That's as good for all of us, including Jared.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ams-nfl-draft-plan-les-snead-picks/100347506/

Identifying the best player fit at each position for the Rams in the draft

https://www.downtownrams.com/single...it-at-each-position-for-the-Rams-in-the-draft

The NFL draft is less than 20 days away and here we wrote up an article to give you the best and most realistic fits for the Rams at each position.


Quarterback: Joshua Dobbs, Tennessee

If the Rams are going to select a QB in this draft it better be in the mid-late portion of the NFL draft. The Rams already have their starting quarterback and two developmental backup quarterbacks so it would just depend on what Sean McVay thinks about Sean Mannion. If McVay feels that he would rather trade Mannion away, get a pick and draft a developmental QB like Dobbs then that is what will happen.

Dobbs has been gaining some steam to move up boards. NFL Network was dubbing him as the possible next Dak Prescott. Dobbs has the athletic ability to be an interesting option for the Rams. If say the Rams think there are too many cooks in the kitchen they may opt for a different skill set Dobbs possesses over Mannion who is just a pocket passer like the other two QB's on the roster. Dobbs isn't some undersized kid with a weak arm and no speed. Dobbs has the athleticism, size and enough arm strength to stick in the NFL.

Runner Up: Brad Kaaya, Miami

Running back: Kareem Hunt, Toledo

With another position that is set at starter the Rams would have to look depth wise. Enter Kareem Hunt who is one of the most underrated running backs in the draft. Hunt looked great in the Senior Bowl finishing with 15 carries for 118 yards rushing. He finished his college career as the all-time leading rusher in Toledo history passing former NFL veteran Chester Taylor. According to Pro Football Focus, Hunt actually forced the most missed tackles for any RB in college football.

Hunt would be going to a team that has Todd Gurley, Malcolm Brown, Lance Dunbar and Aaron Green. Dunbar is likely to make the team with Gurley but it is a question mark after that. Hunt brings a guy who is in the middle as far as what he can do between Gurley and Dunbar. He's 5-foot-11 and 216 pounds so he can can be your agile and shifty power back. He's quite possibly the best value in this draft because he might actually be one of the top five backs but he is buried in the mix because of guys like D'Onta Foreman, Alvin Kamara, Christian McCaffrey and T.J. Logan. Hunt showed he can ball with his peers and he would be a nice addition for the Rams to make for a serious running back camp battle.

Runner up: T.J. Logan, North Carolina

H-back: George Kittle, Iowa

This is the perfect fit for the Rams. Sean McVay needs his H-back and Kittle can do that and much more. Kittle is considered an athletic freak but he knows the fundamentals for being a great tight end. He wasn't used a ton in passing downs and maybe you could argue that was a mistake when you see the small sample size and what he was able to accomplish with it. Kittle is your ideal H-back though, the Rams have Tyler Higbee and Kittle could step in right away and contribute as a blocker and open up Higbee's role.

Kittle is projected to go rounds three or four. I think he could sneak his way into the second if someone likes him enough. He is very similar to the old favorite target of Peyton Manning, Dallas Clark. McVay will highly appreciate how well he does all of the little thins to refine his game.

Runner up: Taylor McNamara, USC

Wide receiver: Chris Godwin, Penn State

Chris Godwin as many of you know I think should be the Rams first pick of 2017. He compares well to Pierre Garcon and Hines Ward which overall makes me believe McVay might see the same thing. Right now the Rams have a starting receiver group of what looks like Robert Woods, Tavon Austin and Pharoh Cooper at the moment. Godwin would be able to come right in and start on the outside with Woods in seemingly an identical role. Woods and Godwin both can run routes well, have decent size and can help in the blocking department. This would allow Austin to kick into the slot full time which is a perfect fit for his ability and would give Jared Goff plenty of weapons to work with.

Godwin does everything McVay said he was looking for in his wide receivers to help out in all phases of the game whether they block, run precise routes or can catch the ball with natural hands. Godwin does all of that and while he may not be as flashy as a Zay Jones or John Ross but Godwin is likely going to be the safer pick out of those two due to better route running and limited injury history.

Runner up: Zay Jones, East Carolina

Tight end: Evan Engram, Ole Miss

Everyone's fan favorite for the Rams first pick in the draft seems to be Evan Engram and it's hard to disagree with it. Engram is the best fit at TE in the draft for the Rams because he resembles so much of Jordan Reed's game who was McVay's TE. Engram has shown that he is a physical freak testing some crazy numbers at the combine including a 4.42 second forty yard dash. Engram has proven he can be a starting TE day one but with Tyler Higbee on the roster the two could be lethal.

McVay has raved about Higbee and how he will bounce back, so I think they don't plan to necessarily draft someone to replace him, but rather draft someone to compliment him. Engram and Higbee will give plenty of play-making ability for Goff and the young Rams offense. Engram may not be there in the second come the Rams pick but if he is it will be hard for the Rams to pass him up.

Runner up: Adam Shaheen, Ashland

Offensive tackle: Julie'n Davenport, Bucknell

I don't think I've ever soured then liked and gone as back and forth on a prospect as Davenport. However, I think he's a perfect fit for the Rams because he is nowhere near ready to start in the NFL and the Rams don't need him to. He can be a perfect understudy to Andrew Whitworth. The Rams can't afford to draft a tackle early and that is one of the reasons drafting a raw tackle like Davenport makes sense.

Davenport has some serious talent that, if coached up enough...it could make him a starter. Davenport durng the pre-season was considered a sleeper prospect to sneak into the first round but after the season progressed and all the film was watched it was hard to truly envision Davenport as even a day two pick. He makes a lot of sense in the middle of the draft because the Rams don't necessarily need to draft a starting caliber tackle. Drafting Davenport allows the Rams to give Greg Robinson one last year to prove himself while having stability with Whitworth. On top of all that the Rams still have Rob Havenstein who moved inside at guard but can swap spots with Robinson if he indeed proves he cannot play the position. Davenport is an investment that could pay dividends later on, that is only type of tackle the Rams need in this draft. With that being said he's also one of the only raw developmental tackles that can be molded into a starting left tackle which is why he gets the nod as the best fit.

Runner up: Taylor Moton, Western Michigan

Offensive guard: Dan Feeney, Indiana

This may be a little surprising after raving about Forrest Lamp's fit with the Rams but at this point I am hearing Lamp is bound to go in the top 20. Dan Feeney is a mean guard he's just flat out ruthless and just like what offensive line coach Aaron Kromer likes in his guard. Feeney will likely be there for the Rams pick and he fits better than any guard realistically that will be available for the Rams. If the Rams go this route expect someone to be traded like Havenstein or Saffold. There is also a possibility Feeney moves into the center spot as well.

Runner up: Nico Siragusa, San Diego State

Center: Tyler Orlosky, West Virginia

Here's another player who may not be the best name at the position but he is perfect to go behind newly signed veteran center John Sullivan. Orlosky is another menace in the interior of the offensive line. He can be had for most likely a third or fourth round pick which is perfect for a team that signed a starter and may want to use their draft capital on other pressing needs.

Orlosky is likely a future starter, not amazing but likely good enough to start after Sullivan's one-year is up and that is really all the Rams could ask for out of a mid round pick.

Runner up: Kyle Fuller, Baylor

Defensive end: Tanoh Kpassagnon, Villanova

Perhaps one of the "psycho" players in this draft Tanoh Kpassagnon comes off the edge like a bat out of hell. he played at a school not known for their football and he's made a name for himself. Kpassagnon was a captain for the Wildcats and many believe he would have been a late first had he played in a power five conference.

The Rams have a question mark at defensive end whether or not Dominique Easley or Michael Brockers will play on the end with Donald. Kpassagnon would be a nice day two selection to play the other end spot if the Rams do not feel Easley is their guy and Brockers is used at nose tackle. Tanoh definitely looks more like a 3-4 defensive end which the Rams now will need so he is a good fit with intelligence for the game and athleticism.

Runner up: DeMarcus Walker, Florida State

Nose tackle: Glen Antoine, Idaho

Glen Antoine is the best pure nose tackle in this draft and you have already heard me say that a lot. He is the best fit because of the fact he won't cost and early pick, he's a guy with a fantastic motor, passion and love for the game. He embraces the role of allowing other teammates to get the credit for his dirty work. If the Rams move Brockers to end then Antoine would likely be looking at a starting spot at nose if drafted. Even if the Rams move Brockers to nose they could use another guy behind him. The Rams signed Tyrunn Walker but he's not exactly a guy with a ton of upside.

With Antoine you are getting a stellar guy that just wants to help the team as the interior glue guy. Holding onto a double or even triple team like he has shown he can do, would seriously make things easy for Aaron Donald and company.

Runner up: Elijah Qualls, Washington

Outside linebacker: Carl Lawson, Auburn

I don't know why but I have a vision that Carl Lawson will be a Ram. No idea why. Anyway...Lawson would be a perfect fit in that DeMarcus Ware role played in Wade Phillips scheme after Connor Barwin's one-year deal is up. Lawson needs to develop more in other phases of his game which he will be able to with the Rams coaching staff but even if he can't it makes too much sense to put him into a pass rusher-first role. Lawson could possibly got to the Rams in the second as the most unexpected move for every Rams fan.

Lawson is the best fit seeing as he is strictly a 3-4 OLB, he went to Auburn and Snead has his Auburn connection with the Rams. Lawson would be able to fill the void at OLB and step in as a rotational pass rusher and then mold into a starter in year two.

Runner up: Javancy Jones, Jacksonville State

Inside linebacker: Kendall Beckwith, LSU

This might be heavily disagreed on by many but I believe in Kendall Beckwith and his ability to be a starting 3-4 inside linebacker. Beckwith would be the best fit because of his size, smarts and his tackling ability. He isn't quite fast enough to play an inside backer position in a 4-3 but with the Rams now luckily he won't have to. Beckwith is recovering from an injury so he would likely be insurance to Mark Barron inside.

The Rams have other guys inside like Rams ROY Cory Littleton, Bryce Hager, Nic Grigsby and Josh Forrest so this would be a camp battle for Beckwith but I think overall he is the best fit out of the linebackers seeing as the Rams don't need a big name ILB with their faith in Mark Barron.

Runner up: Connor Harris, Lindenwood

Cornerback: Shaquill Griffin, UCF

The Rams made some serious moves at the CB position which leaves me with no reason to believe they pick one until the fourth or fifth round. Shaquill Griffin can play on the outside and backup Trumaine Johnson and newly-signed Kayvon Webster. The Rams won't need a nickel cornerback now that they pretty much have three between LaMarcus Joyner, newly-signed Nickell Robey-Coleman and Blake Countess.

Drafting Griffin gives the Rams the ability to have their own guy as this is a new regime, have hopeful insurance in case Johnson refuses to sign a contract extension and of course give guys like E.J. Gaines, Mike Jordan and Troy Hill roster competition. Griffin is an underrated prospect who only allowed a 39.7 percent catch rate last year according to Pro Football Focus. Griffin as I said can be had late and would be a perfect fit in L.A.

Runner up: Brian Allen, Utah

Safety: David Jones, Richmond

The last fit is actually one the Rams apparently have identified as well as they have reportedly scheduled a private meeting with him. David Jones may not be playing against top notch competition but he has shown some serious skills and potential to come in and compete for the vacant free safety job right away. Jones has great speed and size that matches up well with starting strong safety Maurice Alexander. Jones was more of a ball-hawk than Alexander is. Jones may not be ready to play immediately but it sounds like the Rams want to play LaMarcus Joyner at the free safety position anyway along with the fact they still have Brian Randolph, Cody Davis, Isaiah Johnson and Marqui Christian to battle for the job as well. Jones wouldn't have to start and would come easy for the Rams who could snag him in the middle of day three in the draft.

Runner up: Fish Smithson, Kansas

What are your thoughts Rams fans, who do you believe are the best fits for the Rams at each position? Let us know!

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/04/11/49ers-have-21-new-players-and-counting/

49ers have 21 new players, and counting
Posted by Mike Florio on April 11, 2017

Monday’s Number of the Day for the 49ers was 21, as in the number assigned to running back Tim Hightower but rejected by him because it was worn by Frank Gore. (Hightower will instead wear 26.)

But 21 remains relevant to the 49ers because that’s the total number of new players added by the John Lynch/Kyle Shanahan regime without numbers formally assigned to them by the team’s website. And there’s still more than two weeks to go before the draft.

The new players are (alphabetically) quarterback Matt Barkley, receiver DeAndre Carter, linebacker Brock Coyle, linebacker Jayson DiManche, receiver Pierre Garςon, receiver Marquise Goodwin, kicker Robbie Gould, Hightower, quarterback Brian Hoyer, defensive back Don Jones, fullback Kyle Juszczyk, punter Brock Miller, defensive tackle Earl Mitchell, tight end Logan Paulsen, receiver Aldrick Robinson, kicker Nick Rose, receiver Rashad Ross, linebacker Malcolm Smith, linebacker Dekoda Watson, cornerback K’Waun Williams, and offensive lineman Jeremy Zuttah.

Given last year’s 2-14 record, change surely is needed. Major change already is happening, and there’s still a long way to go until the new-look 49ers get to the start of the new regular season.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/04/11/49ers-want-extreme-physicality-on-defense/

49ers want “extreme physicality” on defense
Posted by Mike Florio on April 11, 2017

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The arrival of Kyle Shanahan as head coach of the 49ers understandably will prompt significant focus on the offensive side of the ball. But the defense will be changing, too, and new coordinator Robert Saleh offered a two-word assessment on Monday of the primary trait he wants.

“Extreme physicality,” Saleh told reporters.

The physicality will be funneled through a defense that has become well known to 49ers fans in recent years, for all the wrong reasons.

“We are a single high defense,” Saleh said of the team’s scheme. “The system, you could say, it originated in Seattle. I was there from the get-go. Three teams currently, Seattle, Atlanta, Jacksonville, if you’re looking at tape, all of them have their nuances and how they operate. This will be a very, I don’t want to say it will be a very different scheme, but there are going to be differences and there will be nuances within this scheme that makes it unique to us.”

Saleh also explained that the base defense typically will be yielding to a nickel scheme, which will change significantly the needs for one of the linebackers.

“It’s real simple, the league back in the day was heavy base,” Saleh said. “SAM [strongside] linebacker, 65-70 percent of the game you’d have a SAM linebacker on the field where he’d need to perform his duties in base defense. Present day, it’s almost 70-percent nickel and the nickel who doesn’t get talked about as a starter, he’s starting to come up as an individual piece to the puzzle.

So when looking at the SAM linebacker and what they’re asked to do on a day-to-day basis, 70-percent of the game their hand will be in the ground. So, we’re looking for more of an edge rusher as opposed to what it was in years past with a brute SAM linebacker, a Bill Romanowski-type. We’re trying to move forward from that.”

Saleh mentioned that players like Ahmad Brooks, Eli Harold, and Dekoda Watson could fill the role of the strongside linebacker in a defense that spends most of its time with extra defensive backs on the field, which means the SAM linebacker will be in a pass-rushing posture.

Then there’s the LEO position in the defense, the one that Saleh calls the “hair . . . on fire, just get after the quarterback” edge rusher. The 49ers are looking for an “elite piece” like that on defense.

“I’ll name some names that have been LEOs in the past, even if they haven’t been attached to this system,” Saleh said. “People who have been attached to this system, you’re looking at Chris Clemons, Cliff Avril, Yannick Ngakoue, Dante Fowler, Vic Beasley. People outside of the system, you’d look at Von Miller, Khalil Mack. Back in his heyday, Charles Haley would have been a guy that would have been a LEO.”

The perfect LEO for the 49ers, who hold the No. 2 pick in the draft, could be the guy who currently is presumed to be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Which both makes the 49ers a potential candidate to slide up one spot — and underscores the yet again value of tanking during a season that already was lost.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/04/11/ethan-westbrooks-signs-restricted-tender-with-rams/

Ethan Westbrooks signs restricted tender with Rams
Posted by Curtis Crabtree on April 11, 2017

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Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Ethan Westbrooks signed his restricted free agent tender with the team on Monday.

Westbrooks was given a right of first refusal tender by the Rams prior to the start of free agency. The tender brings a price tag of $1.797 million for 2017 for Westbrooks.

Westbrooks could have explored offers from other teams with the Rams getting the chance to match any offer sheet signed by Westbrooks. Due to Westbrooks entering the league as an undrafted free agent, the Rams would not have been entitled to any draft pick compensation should he have been signed away by another team.

Instead, Westbrooks will remain with the Rams this season. He’s appeared in 35 games over three years with the Rams with 48 total tackles, four sacks and a forced fumble.