Brian Young

[coy bacon]

I saw an article on the PD board about Brian Young and how he's doin so good down in NO.

It burns my butt to see that we let our best, or one of our best DTs go and kept those other 2 DTs Lewis and Kennedy (Pickett was average, and I don't know how his stats compare with Youngs). What a waste, what bad management. Its stuff like this that brings back all those bad old memories of how the Ram's FO screwed the team over back in the day. Shaw demoralized a great team, and the 90s showed it.

Sometimes you see our FO do some sharp stuff, then you see em do such stupid stuff, (like drafting that QB out of Neb to play WR!), it makes it difficult to figure out if they are knowledgeable leaders who make mistakes, or dufuses who get lucky.

[Nick]

Well, let's be fair. The Broncos and Chiefs were also looking at Crouch as a wide receiver option. True, they didn't draft him. But the Packers signed him twice to play a position other than QB. Obviously the Rams weren't the only team that recognized the athletic skills and potential of Eric Crouch.

As for Brian Young, it's good to hear he's doing well elsewhere, but I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to suggest by saying we should have kept Young but let Lewis or Kennedy go. Kennedy was a rookie last season. It would have been moronic for a franchise to release a first round rookie a year after drafting him if only because of the advanced cap hit that would have been created, but also because we don't know yet if he's going to be the talent he was in college. Lovie's scheme of having the DTs play at a lower weight to try and add speed was detrimental to their skills, so this season under Marmie should be a good test to see what these guys are made of.

Plus, Kennedy has been said to look great this offseason. He's much stronger and looks just as fast if not faster with the weight back on. As for Lewis, I think he's signed through 2005, so again we'd be taking a hit by releasing him. I just don't see the logic in releasing someone else just to resign Young because our DTs haven't proved their worth yet.

[RamWraith]

It's all about $$$

[Nick]

When it's all said and done, I think you're absolutely right, Wraith. I don't think Brian Young chose to go to New Orleans because they offer the best chance of winning.

[txramsfan]

When 70% or so of your salary cap is going to the offensive side of the ball, it makes for slim pickings on the defense.

The salary cap is the necessary evil that keeps teams competitive. It's also probably the most overlooked aspect of the teams makeup by fans.

[Nick]

Good point, Tex. Then again, Young didn't exactly get a backbreaking contract from the Saints. His salary breakdown is

2004 535000.00
2005 950000.00
2006 1950000.00
2007 2450000.00

...and he got a $4M bonus. I'm not a cap expert, but now that the Rams released Warner, it looks like they could have squeezed Young in. Then again, they probably would have gone over sometime earlier this spring, and I'm not sure if that's allowed or not. They probably could have waited to finalize the deal with Bulger until after Warner's release to try and maximize their cap space prior earlier in the year, who knows... :confused:

[adarian_too]

Well, let's be fair. The Broncos and Chiefs were also looking at Crouch as a wide receiver option. True, they didn't draft him. But the Packers signed him twice to play a position other than QB. Obviously the Rams weren't the only team that recognized the athletic skills and potential of Eric Crouch.

I'm not sure why the fact that a couple of other FOs looked at Crouch entitles the Rams FO a "fairer" evaluation? That could possibly just mean that they're were other FOs equally as stupid as the Rams'. The reverse is just as true. Apparently 30 other teams recognized that Crouch wasn't going to be an asset in any form - certainly not enough to waste a draft pick on. So it just goes to show that the overwhelming opinion of the FOs in the league recognized that Crouch was a waste and a quitter.

The salary cap is the necessary evil that keeps teams competitive. It's also probably the most overlooked aspect of the teams makeup by fans.

Another sweeping statement by you Tx that could arguably be just as incorrect as it is valid. Perhaps the salary cap isn't talked about much because the topic is fairly confusing and FOs/the league/the NFLPA don't do much to shed light on the matter ... in fact, by virtue of the fact that they don't open their books for all to see one could say that they contribute to the obfuscation in order to minimalize the criticism that could be forthcoming..

[txramsfan]

Actually, they do open the books for all to see. Salaries are posted for all teams all over the web.

[Nick]

I'm not sure why the fact that a couple of other FOs looked at Crouch entitles the Rams FO a "fairer" evaluation? That could possibly just mean that they're were other FOs equally as stupid as the Rams'. The reverse is just as true. Apparently 30 other teams recognized that Crouch wasn't going to be an asset in any form - certainly not enough to waste a draft pick on. So it just goes to show that the overwhelming opinion of the FOs in the league recognized that Crouch was a waste and a quitter.

So because 30 other teams didn't show public interest in Crouch prior to the draft, they thought he wasn't going to be an asset? And since no other teams wasted a third round pick or higher on Crouch, that means they were smarter?

I must have forgot your telepathy gives you access to the minds and true motives of every NFL owner and GM of the time. :bored:

Really, you have absolutely no idea whether or not another team would have taken a chance at Crouch later in the draft. The Rams made a bad move by taking Crouch in the third round, but how do you know if another team would have taken him in, say, the fifth? Unless you can provide public sources to confirm that, you're being pretty presumptuous by saying every other team knew something different on Mr. Crouch.

[txramsfan]

Here's 2003 for instance adarian...
Archuleta, Adam 1,308,000 S
Bruce, Isaac $ 7,340,709 WR
Bulger, Marc $ 379,900 QB
Butler, Jerametrius $ 431,900 CB
Cleeland, Cameron $ 478,700 TE
Coady, Rich $ 450,000 S
Covington, Scott $ 423,529 QB
Curtis, Kevin $ 398,666 WR
Duncan, Jamie $ 1,375,000 LB
Eby, Andy $ 150,100 OL
Faulk, Marshall $ 2,185,356 RB
Faulk, Trev $ 300,000 $ 0 LB
Fisher, Bryce $ 380,200 DE
Fisher, Travis $ 534,800 CB
Flowers, Erik $ 105,882 LB
Furrey, Mike $ 227,900 WR
Garrett, Kevin $ 254,000 CB
Goodspeed, Joey $ 123,529 RB
Gordon, Lamar $ 456,250 RB
Groce, DeJuan $ 333,000 CB
Harris, Arlen $ 225,000 RB
Herring, Kim $ 2,680,600 S
Holt, Torry $ 3,445,714 WR
Jackson, Tyoka $ 727,266 DE
Kennedy, Jimmy $ 1,344,000 DT
King, Andy $ 52,941 OL
Landeta, Sean $ 477,100 P
Lewis, Damione $ 1,760,000 DT
Little, Leonard $ 2,000,000 DE
Looker, Dane $ 380,200 WR
Loverne, David $ 533,800 OL
Loyd, Jeremy $ 66,176 LB
Manumaleuna, Brandon $ 478,000 TE
Massey, Chris $ 314,000 RB
McCollum, Andy $ 842,733 OL
McDonald, Shaun $ 333,000 WR
Pace, Orlando $ 5,734,000 OL
Pickett, Ryan $ 1,199,000 DT
Polley, Tommy $ 786,166 LB
Sehorn, Jason $ 1,001,000 S
Smith, Justin $ 39,706 LB
St Clair, John $ 609,700 OL
Tercero, Scott $ 39,706 OL
Thomas, Robert $ 1,058,750 LB
Timmerman, Adam $ 5,055,350 OL
Tinoisamoa, Pisa $ 629,750 LB
Turley, Kyle $ 2,356,799 OL
Walton, Shane $ 188,074 CB
Warner, Kurt $ 8,767,457 QB
Weary, Fred $ 450,000 CB
Wilkins, Jeff $ 1,329,400 K
Williams, Aeneas $ 2,503,100 S
Williams, Grant $ 693,133 OL
Wistrom, Grant $ 3,214,666 DE
Wohlabaugh, Dave $ 1,160,100 OL
Young, Brian $ 610,100 DT

[Nick]

That list doesn't factor in the cap hit caused by signing bonuses though, right?

[txramsfan]

No, that's the grand total for 2003. I edited out how it came about due to space.

I found it at USATODAY.com

[general counsel]

keep in mind cap wise that even after cutting warner and saving some money, we need $3 million to sign the rookies, so the freed up 4.5 million in cap space from warner didnt give us 4.5 million to spend. Prior to cutting captain kurt, we were only 36k under the cap.

general counsel

[coy bacon]

My point is that with the sustained weakness at DT, our FO could have been creative enough to keep their best DT. It would not have bothered me at all to have dumped Kennedy, why gamble when you have a proven DT? The Rams have carried the other two underachieving DTs far too long, why not wake up and do the right thing?

The hoopla coming out of camps this early is PR. We'll only know when games are actually played. I've heard far too much of the player PR, prior to the season, to get excited about it anymore. Blah blah blah. Show me the money. Lewis and Kennedy were duds last season, and Pickett only average. Why not clean house or at least get rid of one over-paid guy and keep the best player?

[txramsfan]

That would have accounted for way too much dead money coy.