How did the 2006 Free Agent signings fair in their first year?

[RamsSB99]

Will Witherspoon - Exceeded Expectations
Fakhir Brown - Exceeded Expectations
Todd Steussie - Exceeded Expectations. Started several games played well.
Matt Turk - Exceeded Expectations
Corey Chavous - Met Expectations. Played solid D.
Raonall Smith - Filled the role signed for IMO.
Gus Frerotte - Filled the role signed for IMO.
Laroi Glover - Adequate but not as good as the hype.
Brad Pyatt - MIA
Tony Fisher -MIA

[RamsNation]

For the first time, I disagree completely with FTG and want to fight,(not really).All i'm sayin is you play middle line backer for a team with our tackles playing like they did last year, sifting through unblocked trash and cussing them the whole way to the ball on almost every play. I think Witherspoon could be a top 5 MLB with good d-tackle play.

[RamsNation]

I agree with RamsSB99 on everything but Tony fisher, thought he did well before his injury. Not great, but more than mia.

[IzzyHigh1212]

For the first time, I disagree completely with FTG and want to fight,(not really).All i'm sayin is you play middle line backer for a team with our tackles playing like they did last year, sifting through unblocked trash and cussing them the whole way to the ball on almost every play. I think Witherspoon could be a top 5 MLB with good d-tackle play.

Yeah, He's 10 times better than Pisa IMHO...
The first half of the season, if he wasn't the one who made the tackle..
He was always there, atleast. He's an undersized MLB, that had a great year behing a week defensive line..How wasn't he anymore than solid?

Pisa, has a great heart...but misses on a lot of tackels.
Spoon was the ONLY player on D that was a sure thing he'd get the ballcarrier down once he got his arms around him.

[Goldenfleece]

IMO, Witherspoon played pretty well under the circumstances and will probably show improvement next season. However, I would not say he exceeded expectations. We thought we were getting one of the better defensive free agents available at the time, and so far I'd say that he's done about what could be expected. Brown and Turk definitely exceeded expectations. I didn't even think Brown would be starting. Chavous missed more tackles than I would have expected, but he wasn't alone on that. Glover was a bit disappointing, as he seemed to lack burst off the line of scrimmage and got pushed away from the play too easily.

[RamsNation]

Just had to pick on ya FTG, I'm bored. And yeah, I expect a big year from Spoon.

[RamsNation]

No FTG, not to harsh now,sorry for my attack, infact I hope and would not doubt your right about "the new spoon".

[itsguud]

I voted bad! Appears I'm the only one hugely dissappointed with the pick-ups from last year.

[RamsInfiniti]

You are the only one who voted bad for a reason. If you think that group performed badly, then there is no pleasing you ...

Witherspoon had 116 tackles and played excellent in pass coverage behind a horrid defensive line. He had zero help, and still had top tier production ...

Chavous has 86 tackles and was the last line to prevent us from having one of the worst rushing defenses in football history, at all levels ....

Turk was a stud punting the ball, yet we are too dumb to resign him ...

Stuessie was an excellent role player ...

Fakhir proved to be a very solid corner despite playing hurt almost all season ...

Glover was a solid if not unspectacular DT. He filled his role well, but he's not the player he used to be ...

Fisher did very well as the third down back before he got hurt. I believe he caught 14 passes in only five games or so ....

What more do you want?

[general counsel]

infiniti is correct. the reason we were terrible on defense was NOT because the free agents we signed failed to perform at or above expectations. The reasons we were lousy on defense include, without limitation, the following

1) We let our only solid run defending tackle walk away (pickett) and put all our eggs in the jimmy kennedy basket. Kennedy had another disappointing season.
2) Hargrove, who showed a real pulse at the end of 2005, went awol, leaving us with no production opposite leonard and no pass rush threat when leonard was double and triple teamed.
3) Travis fisher was ok at best, and was injured, leaving us with a very very young inexperienced secondary that struggled for long periods of time.
4) Pisa was out for long periods of time. Our backups didnt do squat.
5) A number of our young defenders were below average as starters, ie oj, chillar. Not saying they were terrible, but they certainly werent very good compared to the nfl average.

We got plenty of bang for the buck on what we signed, but its what we DIDNT sign (pickett) that cost us the most.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[RamsInfiniti]

While both OJ and Chillar struggled at times, I think both CAN be very servicable players before it is all set and down. OJ seems to have a knack for creating turnovers: if we can put a solid defense around him, and allow him to be a ballhawk/assassin type, I think he will be very productive.

[timsum1283]

Turk was an amazing sign IMO. He contributed to the team, was the best punter we had in a while and even won special teams Player of the Week.

[Krames41]

I agree with Marshal Faulk, Will Witherspoon is one of the best weakside linebackers in the league but when you put him in the middle he kind of gets lost (undersized and can't bring the pain like other middle linebackers). I agree with that but at the same time I think he does a great job of flying to the ball, especially seeing how we are kind of weak at defensive tackle.

[keith m. klink]

I have to agree with GC,to not pay up and sign pickett , cost the team games , and now to remedy that problem , we will be paying someone more money and using draft picks to fill the whole , instead of signing the players that we brought along for 3-4 years , now that they left the team , they know what they are doing and playing well . so we paid them to learn the position, and let someone else collect the reward . that my friends kinda sucks .

[Ram-Genious]

I know.. doesnt it just bother you when a player sucks here.. and goes to another team and makes the probowl alomost every year.. I can't stand it when that happens.