|
|
|
|
|
|
The Rams left the backfield alone in the draft but did pick up a couple of street free agents with some ability and one very athletic veteran free agent. The situation with Ryan McNeil is that the Rams are trying to call his bluff. His agent offered to settle several weeks ago if the Rams would agree to never designate him a franchise player again. The Rams are trying
to wait him out and do expect him to come into camp during the first week, sign the contract and play out the year. Brian Ransom also asked for most of the franchise tender up front in the form of a bonus. The Rams have said they would compromise some on this issue. Taje Allen-He made a year or two worth of errors when he got significant playing time at the end of the year. He was faster and smoother than McCleon last year and understood the position better. Allen is not a good tackler however and does not support the run well (a Todd Lyght strength). He could easily be the nickel back for 5-6 years though. There has been a lot of talk from Rampark about how well he and McCleon have improved. Dexter McCleon-He has not been a CB that long (since his sophomore year in college) and he had a lot of trouble turning his hips and running without falling. He was not natural in back pedaling and tended to get tangle footed. He has thrown himself into the offseason conditioning and worked with some of the pro players from Clemson during the offseason. He has more of a chance to start someday than Allen. He can potentially play a complete game at CB including supporting the run. Some of the talk about he and Allen is of course Dick Speak to send a message to Ryan McNeil. But he has legitimately improved his coverage skills and techniques. His history in college was that it took him a while to get adjusted each time they either changed his position or his role. Willie Clark-Extremely fast and could be the fastest player on the defense. His history has been that he tends to get turned around, can't jam at the line of the scrimmage all that well and is not much on run support. He has never been a big interceptor (high in one year is 2). He is a solid pro cornerback though who could start in place of McNeil and not destroy the team. McNeil was not that skilled at man-man coverage until Giunta and Brown worked with him. Billy Jenkins Jr.-A great find last year from Howard. He is a natural strong safety with a lot of skills including a good burst to the passer on safety blitzes. He had a great two game run as a starter last year. He will probably move Gerald McBurrows to free safety on the depth chart. He was in great shape at the last mini camp and he expects to be the starter at the first of the year. All the tackles and run effort got a lot of attention last year, but he can cover tight ends and has good feet. He is definitely a player to watch the next couple of years. Todd Lyght-If McNeil comes in and everything else goes as expected he will be covering in the slot again on nickel situations. An interesting point that I just learned is that the Rams rotated Keith Lyle away from him most of the time and to Ryan McNeil. A lot of that was due to McNeil's habit of peaking at the QB too early (remember Chris Chandler and the Falcon games). He has this year and next to go on his contract and given reasonable development by McCleon and Allen I doubt they will resign him. Going into his 8th year you can reasonably surmise that he is as good as he is going to get. I like his run support and as long as he can keep the receiver in front of him where he can time a hit he is okay...but if the guy gets behind him he struggles with his lack of catch up speed. He is very very strong for a cornerback. Keith Lyle-Born to play free safety. He really struggles if the other team sneaks in a 3rd or 4th WR and the Rams don't counter with another CB. Rickey Dudley abused him in the Oakland game last year. He almost always is in great shape and did not appear to need training camp during the mini camps. He has excellent field vision and his experience at QB in college helps him anticipate plays by formation. IMHO he should be getting more support from the rest of the league for the Pro Bowl the last two years. Gerald McBurrows-He could have come back toward the end of the year, but they needed a roster spot so they put him on IR. The Rams really missed him on special teams when he was injured. He is very steady but not flashy, he cannot blitz like Jenkins, nor hit like either Wright or Jenkins. He makes a great backup and could be an emergency starter at either free or strong safety. He is very popular with the other players and is a solid citizen and guy in the locker room. He is one of the few "football players" the team drafted in the misbegotten 1995 draft. Ryan McNeil-He is good, but not that good imho. He can jam and turn and run with the best of them, but he got caught up in his own numbers and started to peak into the backfield and that cost him a lot of long completions. He also had more pass interference penalties than any other Rams back. I like his size and run support a lot. He is actually a good guy and plays with more pride and fire than you might expect given all his nonsense about last year being just a "business trip" or whatever that was. Ransom and Ryan felt the Rams put one over on them. They did not expect the franchise tender and it took them so unawares they have been scrambling ever since. My gut and ears tell me that McNeil will report to Macomb one week or so after camp starts. I hear he is decent shape, but you can bet Vermeil will make comments for at least two weeks about him not being ready to play football. Joe Rowe-He can break on balls and has ability but is a long shot to make the club. In practice and in college he has had a tendency to act confused and lost at times and lose his man in coverage or cover the wrong guy. He used to get zone assignments wrong in college. Mike Scurlock-The Rams experimented with him at CB in one of the mini camps and he could not handle it. That was about his best chance at sticking with the team. He has been good-very good at times on special teams but has almost no coverage skills and no position. He was never really healthy last year. But to his credit he would not be the first special teams player who stuck with a team and could not play a position. He is very good at punt coverage and getting down the field quick. Toby Wright-The story is that he has rededicated himself to his game and is working harder than ever to get back on the field. I was upset when he did play last year in that I thought parts of his game had eroded over the last two years. When he has been healthy he has given the defense a presence and a leadership that they severely lacked when he was out. But his coverage skills last year were awful at times. During his big 1995 year he could lock onto a tight end and cover them all over the field. He seemed to be Lyle's equal at playing a deep centerfield and showed very good hands on interceptions. The only part of his game he seemed to reclaim last year was the big hits and the run support. I am sure everyone has heard the story by now about him sneaking into a scrimmage...it was not that smart. He needs to completely heal and get back onto the field in better shape. He is bulky and needs some work on flexibility. He was a daily visitor to the weight room and trainers offices in St. Louis. Specialists- Jeff Wikins-There was some fear that Crash Gansz was in his head last year and was causing the slump. That was only partly true. In the Green Bay game he got his mechanics all fouled up when he got a beat off on a kick and scuffed the ground. He got his leg way out in front of his body after that and was awful for a few games. He and Vermeil have a better rapport than he and Gansz (who remains one of my alltime least favorite Rams assistant coaches). He is over the yips at this point. Rick Tuten-The Seahawks blamed everything on his injury last year...everything I read out of Seattle during the offseason seemed to think that if his hernia had not kept him out so much they would have made the playoffs. I found that a remarkable spin on a season and include it just for the novelty of it all. He is going into his 10th year....does not like to kick out of bounds but uses the "pooch kick" inside the 20. He is good at directionally kicking. I wonder if old Crash still thinks it was such a great idea to bring in competition at punter. Jim 
HOME |