Billy Devaney on ESPN 101

[Nick]

Billy Devaney on ESPN 101

-Monday may have been the worst day for him. Combination of losing, by the end of the day the players had vacated the building, it was like a morgue. Everything had changed. Nobody around on Tuesday. As much as you get around these guys, he likes it – messing around with players, getting to know these guys. There’s a vibe. Good thing is they’re doing football stuff – free agency in morning, college in the afternoon. No time to wallow for personnel people.

-Coaches and staff are evaluating our team. Have to take emotion out of it. Look @ players like you don’t have feelings for them one way or another, how do they perform as football players? But there’s some guys whose value is 50% on field, but toughness and leadership has value that plays a part of evaluation as well. Have to take intangibles into consideration with on field stuff. Might apply to older vets on downside of career more often, experience that he brings, way he sits in meetings, way he studies film. Still has to be able to play, but still value to intangibles. Had a bunch of guys who stepped up and filled that role this year.

-Free agency is never something to turn around a team. Maybe to plug hole here or there. This year, it looks like the available players will not be very impressive, even number-wise. Looks like there won’t be a cap which affects year 4-5 players who won’t be FA. Now it’s six years and above, so 29 or 30 year old guys and those guys are less appealing as they’re one year contract guys, and that’s not what they’re looking for. There won’t be Jason Browns out there in the prime of his career who will be with the Rams forever and has another contract down the road. Pool of players has shrunk, type of players has shrunk. That being said, there are guys out there that they’re on right now, personnel people have it lined up. May not be marquee, high priced guys. Might be able to help yourself with solid starter.

-Injuries make the evaluation process difficult. Have to be honest; weren’t playing great with full compliment of players. Thought the season would be tough sledding but if they stayed healthy they’d get better by end of season. They struggled but then guys started going down and then it become a real struggle. So how do you evaluate a guy like Laurent Robinson? Is he a #1 or #2? He has big time ability, but they only have a couple of games to evaluate on. Know he’s a keeping, same thing with Jason Smith. Saw a guy getting better and better. Hit a spell where 2-3 games where OL was really going. Became a tough physical run oriented team, then Smith gets a concussion and is out. Have to base it on what you saw in small window and the progress made from camp to season, knock on wood he’ll be fine when he comes back and is healthy.

-Smith went to a specialist in Pittsburgh and they’re fully convinced there’s nothing to worry about. Tests and scans came back fine. Not worried about Jason any more than someone who hasn’t gotten a concussion before. Anticipates that Smith as LT this year is the plan. Drafted him as LT of the future. Decision was to get five best players on the field at the start, which meant Jason at right tackle. They knew Barron could play, survive, and do a credible job @ LT. Thought Jason coming from spread offense in upright stance, it would take longer to pick things up @ LT than on the right side, but knowing full well he’s their LT. When he comes back from offseason workouts, Devaney thinks he’d line up @ LT.

-Do you need a good QB to be successful? Yeah, you do. Have to be able to throw the ball to score points and run the ball to control the game and close out the game. But have to be able to score from outside. Hard to go 80 yards and drive a ball down a team’s throat. Coupled with the running game, none of the successful teams are throwing the ball 70 times a game with no running game. Have to be balanced. But you need to be able to score from way out and throw the ball.

-Spread offenses makes it more difficult to evaluate college QBs, but not just for QBs. Looking at DL for draft and how they play against spread O, not traditional trench warfare, things are spread out for DL too so it’s hard to evaluate them. Not running power game at DL, it’s wide open so it makes it a challenge to evaluate everyone.

-Devaney wouldn’t have any problem reaching out and taking advice from someone who has gone through 1-15 before if he thought it would help. To be honest, 1-15 wasn’t part of the plan but they knew changes would make it difficult this year with the idea that they’d take their lumps and in year two they’d make a jump. Not like they’re thinking, now what do we do? They know and they need to implement it.

-Draft stuff is phenomenal. Started catching fire ten years ago and before the season is even over, people are looking to the draft. Loves it because it’s a passion of his, drives his wife crazy, talks to brother for an hour about it. Devaney loves all the lists, etc.

-First pick for Rams, last year they knew days before who’d they take. Some talk about maybe a QB, but it became obvious who they’d take. Wasn’t much pressure with first pick on draft day. But second round, they see Laurinaitis falling, thinking that’d be good but there’s no way he gets by so-and-so. Then Maualuga gets by, how’d that happen? Have them rated close, but James rated higher. Are we sure about this? Everyone, one more vote. Coaches were in there. Is everyone sure? Any second thoughts? Not much pressure, decided James was the best pick, shocked he was there. Rams thought no way JL would get out of first round. Thought one or two teams in the second before the Rams (Detroit) would take him, but they lucked out.

-You have your board ranked and your rankings, and you spend hours looking at that. Pull maybe 4-5 names off when you get to second round, these four guys are here, how do we go? They’ll go, 1 2 3 4, then pull out another four and repeat. Last thing you want to do is say, okay we didn’t take a receiver with the first pick and there’s a guy down there at six or seven… you’ve thought it out, stay true to the board, don’t force someone up who shouldn’t be there because you didn’t get the position. Stay true to the board.

-Suh is a great player. Dominating player. All reports are he sounds like a heck of a kid, intangibles, work ethic, all that is in line. Still have a lot of work to do, coaches haven’t seen him. Have to go through the physical stuff @ combine, though to be honest he isn’t worried about the combine. Doesn’t care if he benches 29 instead of 33 reps, who cares about that stuff, guy’s shown he’s a dominant player. But you want the interviews, the medical stuff, and your DL coaches and coordinators to spend time with the player. That said, he’s a great player but there will be other great players out there and how they measure up to Suh – same level/range, what positions. Not ready to say Suh is the pick, but right now he’s a hell of a player and worthy of a consideration.

-Lot of talk about taking guys off the board. When he came in, he walked into situation where draft picks going to jail, arrested, suspended. Looking @ guys who were drafted who were known to be major character concerns, how in the world did this happen? So right away, if we bust out on a guy it’s because we misevaluated. We’re not bringing in any turds, known guys who are trouble guys, red flagged. Strict about that Year One and Two. Eased up a little bit, but there comes a point where they have enough strong character guys on the team where they can take a chance on a guy. Not going to take someone off who in his freshman year did something wrong, minor issue. Now if a guy has flunked 3-4 drug tests or served time in jail, not gonna screw around with those guys. Too old to worry about these guys. But if a guy did college stuff, screwed up a little bit, not going to hold that against him.

-Rams have to do their due diligence on everyone, including veteran quarterbacks who have had their issues in the past (Vick reference by host). Can’t talk about guys under contract with other teams, but they’re at the point now where they could explore it, find out details, where they stand now, and do a thorough evaluation.

-This week, they’re finishing up team evaluation and coaching staff got books of UFAs that they’re interested in. They have the full list, just in case there’s a cap. Never hurts to evaluate. Guys on the list that will get tagged or tendered, not interested in guys who are tagged with first and third compensation. Doesn’t know if they’ll use tag on Atogwe, it depends. End of next week they’ll sit down with coaches, go over our team, we’ll have a feel then as to what tenders, who gets a tender, etc.

-Spags was everything he expected the day he hired him. Biggest thing was he was unflappable. Probably frustrates people at times, but they see it as a great trait. Never changes message, never these ups and downs, personality is the same. Constant with message, players appreciated that and building did too. He was a rock, and if he can withstand all this stuff – swine flu, kept saying every time something happened there’s another chapter for the book – he withstood it all.


Audio here…

101 ESPN/Post: The Fast Lane Show Note Wednesday 1.6.10

[tomahawk247]

I like everything i read here, especially the point about not changing the draft board

We need to be taking the best guys we can, doesnt really matter too much about position, as any player we get from this draft will help this team out in some way

[Bralidore(RAMMODE)]

i also liked just about everything i read. Our stance on drafting BPA and not being swayed significantly based on a slightly lackluster combine performance. Its all about how a guy plays on the field anyway, not necessarily what he does in a weight room.

[Dr. Defense]

Anticipates that Smith as LT this year is the plan. Drafted him as LT of the future. Decision was to get five best players on the field at the start, which meant Jason at right tackle. They knew Barron could play, survive, and do a credible job @ LT. Thought Jason coming from spread offense in upright stance, it would take longer to pick things up @ LT than on the right side, but knowing full well he’s their LT. When he comes back from offseason workouts, Devaney thinks he’d line up @ LT.

If I am reading this right, I think you have just made every Rams fan happier then they have been in a long time. Bye Bye Barron, have fun making false starts somewhere else. Just can't see us paying him big time money to bring him back as a RT.

[tomahawk247]

If I am reading this right, I think you have just made every Rams fan happier then they have been in a long time. Bye Bye Barron, have fun making false starts somewhere else. Just can't see us paying him big time money to bring him back as a RT.

I believe that if there is no CBA, that Barron would be a restricted free agent. In which case the team may tender him to bring him back just because they can without making a long term commitment to him. Thats not to say he would be starting though

[molar_pistol]

I believe that if there is no CBA, that Barron would be a restricted free agent. In which case the team may tender him to bring him back just because they can without making a long term commitment to him. Thats not to say he would be starting though

i hope they trade him, for whatever they can get.

[Mooselini]

I love it. Reading this makes me a little more confident going into the offseason.

I figured we won't make a huge splash in free agency this year. We just need a couple guys to fill in holes. Maybe one or two reliable starters. We have been great signing the not so big names in the past few years. We can do it again!

I think it's evident that Suh will be the pick this year. The philosophy of getting the BPA works in this situation for us. We have so many holes, most positions we draft will fill a hole.

[THOLTFAN81]

Just listened to it. For a second time now he hasn't exactly shot down Vick. When the hosts asked him he could have easily just said "Whether they are under contract or not, we are not interested in those types of players, etc." But instead he once again said that they would explore it but cant talk about players under contract; talk to people surrounding to see where they are at now obviously Vick is in good standing in Philadelphia after winning the Courage Award and I am sure Reid and Dungy are going to give him great report cards.

(Not trying to turn this into another Vick thread...just saying)

[Fat Pang]

Great interview.

Everything about it made me happy that, along with Spagnuolo, Devaney is calling our shots. Its an approach that we could have done with 6-8 years ago.

[Rambos]

Not ready to say Suh is the pick, but right now he’s a hell of a player and worthy of a consideration.

Yes he is...

[Trevor]

So now that Jason Smith most likely will be the LT what happens to Barron? i seriously hope he gets released..

[Dr. Defense]

So now that Jason Smith most likely will be the LT what happens to Barron? i seriously hope he gets released..

Barron is a free agent at the end of this season

[Nick]

Barron is a free agent at the end of this season

Restricted free agent in an uncapped year...

[RamOfDenmark]

I think the choice is going to be either Suh or Clausen. Those are my top 2 prospects in the 1st round for us and I would be fine with either.

Suh might be the best prospect in the draft, but on the other hand QB is the most important position in the game and Clausen is starting to look like a really good option too IMHO.

It's going to be a tough choice.

[Fortuninerhater]

I think the choice is going to be either Suh or Clausen. Those are my top 2 prospects in the 1st round for us and I would be fine with either.

Suh might be the best prospect in the draft, but on the other hand QB is the most important position in the game and Clausen is starting to look like a really good option too IMHO.

It's going to be a tough choice.

I like Jimmy Clausen as well, but I don't think he is worth the first pick. Arm strength issues will be big for him. If he happens to fall to the 2nd or 3rd round, I think he'd be a no-brainer.