Rams trade for Lions DE James Hall

[Nick]

Lions trade Hall to Rams
March 2, 2007
By NICHOLAS J. COTSONIKA
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

The Lions have traded defensive end James Hall to the St. Louis Rams for a draft pick, believed to be a fifth-rounder.

Hall would have been cut had a deal not gotten done because he was due a roster bonus.

The Lions signed Hall as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan in 2000.

He played seven seasons with the team. Hall's best season was 2004, when he recorded 11 1/2 sacks and made one interception.

[Drew]

i think thats a good move,you could say we traded hargrove for hall in a roundabout way!

[viper]

Here is a link to Hall's bio:

http://www.detroitlions.com/bio.cfm?bio_id=36&season=8

[RealRam]

Hmmm, well, from CBS SportsLine.com:

Fantasy Analysis.
Hall should wind up sharing playing time with second-year DE Victor Adeyanju opposite Leonard Little. He should only be considered as a reserve Fantasy DE in the deepest of Fantasy IDP leagues.
(Updated 03/02/2007).

Seems Hall is a tentative type of upgrade, that is to say, nothing extraordinary but slightly promising? Similar to the expectations we had with Glover at DT last year.

I'm still hoping young Adeyanju will have a breakout year at DE. Thanks for the news Nick.

[CanadianRam!]

He's an upgrade to what we have, a good veteran player who should be able to start for us. He seems to be a good influence in the locker room as well as he was a captain for the Lions. He could have 10+ sacks per season as long as he stays healthy and for a 5th round pick, it's a great pickup for us.

[Varg6]

Welcome aboard James, try not to suck. lol

[r8rh8rmike]

Interesting move. He may be a bit of a question mark coming off a season ending shoulder injury last year, but if he can put together some performances like he did against Buffalo (3 sacks), this could turn out to be a very shrewd pickup.

[RAMMAN68]

Well see how this pans out, but they could still target a DE in the first round.

[txramsfan]

I'm not so sure that this is more of a depth move than a potential starter move. I would still like to see the Rams go after Patrick Kearney.

[RamsFan16]

I like the move. Gives us a good combo of Adeyanju on Run Downs and Hall on passing downs.

[Nick]

From the blog of a Lions beat writer a few weeks ago...

One of the mysteries surrounding the Lions is how defensive end James Hall went from being one of the hardest working guys on the team to a locker room politician. But it happened and it's been very annoying to the new coaching staff and that's why Hall has been granted permission to seek a trade.

But don't expect him to go anywhere. There are still enough people in the organization who know what Hall is capable of and they don't want to give up on him.

Hall is an average defensive end who has above average drive and determination, but that's been undermined by the constant losing and crappy attitudes of many of his defensive line teammates. One of those attitudes, the one belonging to Marcus Bell, is expected to be jettisoned sooner rather than later.

One of Rod Marinelli's biggest challenges is to get some of these important veterans, like Hall, back on board. To think that a bunch of guys are going to be eager and excited about returning to a 3-13 team is ridiculous.

[Goldenfleece]

Okay, so the good news is that he has proven capable of an 11.5 sack season. Having just turned 30, he's probably got a few more years of good production, and the fact that he was a team captain suggests good things about his character. I also saw an article here where Shaun Rogers says that Hall was probably the best player on their line against the run. The downside is he's not that young, and he has apparently been slowed by a shoulder injury.

[RAMMAN68]

Okay, so the good news is that he has proven capable of an 11.5 sack season. Having just turned 30, he's probably got a few more years of good production, and the fact that he was a team captain suggests good things about his character. I also saw an article here where Shaun Rogers says that Hall was probably the best player on their line against the run. The downside is he's not that young, and he has apparently been slowed by a shoulder injury.

Ok, so maybe with a change of scenery he will be productive again. It appears that he is a lead by example type that can be a positive force on the younger guys.

Welcome to one of the finest organizations James Hall.

[BigGameMN]

Welcome aboard James, try not to suck. lol

My thoughts exactly.

[HUbison]

I believe my response on this one can best be summed up by the fictional manager of the Cleveland Indians, Lou Brown in the movie Major League, when asked if he wanted to manage the big club after leading the AA Toledo team............."Oh, I don't know. Let me get back to you, I got a man on the other line about a set of white walls."

Sounds like Hall is decent on the field, but has he recovered from his shoulder problem ('06) and groin injury ('05), and let me tell you, there is no recovery from being in your 30's.

Off the field, he sounds like a solid presence in the lockerroom.....as long as the team is winning. What happens if the Rams don't win? Will he return to the political games that pushed him out of Detroit?

And if he was going to get cut anyway, why trade for him?