Safety concerns

[CRAZYHORNS]

How many Rams fans are concern about the Safety position.

The Rams did very little with in the draft or during free agency to address this position?

Should the Rams have tried to upgrade the safety position OR do you believe the Rams have the right personnel for the DC system.

GO RAMS

[rammiser]

I'm actually ok with the safety position right now. Atogwe is young and to give up on him now will be a mistake. He should be a lot better this year and it may be his make or break year. Chavous isnt the best but he is servicable and does bring veteran leadership to the secondary. I'd rather see d-line additions rather than safey.

[RamsNation]

I agree with rammiser, and will add that I would have addressed it only if someone "fell in our lap" so to speak.

[ImJohnWayne]

only real concern i have with our safties is depth. I like Ron Bartell but i dont know if he can come out swinging at a new position if a starter goes down. But man he was fun to watch those last few games last season from the slot.

[cfh128]

Dont forget we signed Todd Johnson. The coaching staff seems pretty high on him. Not only from a special teams standpoint, but also as quality depth.

[RealRam]

Don't forget we signed Todd Johnson. The coaching staff seems pretty high on him. Not only from a special teams standpoint, but also as quality depth.

You beat me to it! Agreed 100%. TJ is my sleeper at S. :r

[Bar-bq]

I'll give it one more season before i get concerned.

Put it this way- At 31, Chavous held up well and started all year. Now, eventually, wear and tear and age will Catch upto Chavous, but until that time, i'm quite happy to see him holding down one slot.

At FS, I can't help but love the potential of OJ Atogwe. He's shown a knack for making plays now and then, but needs to turn it on more consistently in order to become a great safety. He also may need to work on taking better angles when he takles. Hell- the whole team could work on that.

The TJ point has alreadyt been made-

What I am concerned with is this-
Chavous' eventual aging
Atogwe's contract status.

OJ is off contract this offseason, and if he has a year that shows enough production to warrant a new extension, the FO has a tough decision to make. Where do you take a safety in the draft? From my pov, 30+ DB's are time bombs, so there has to be compensation for when Chavous becomes better suited to a mentor role.

If either safety has a bum year, this decision is made easy. You take a safety early on draft day(rounds 1-2).

Personally, I'm hoping for Atogwe to have a solid year and get re-signed, and for Chavous to demonstate that there's still a year or two left in the tank. For me, Safety is a day one pick regardless next April.

So am I concerned? Ask me in 2008.

[chiguy]

Generally speaking, I don't think our secondary is great. However, our defensive line was so much worse that I don't see how they could do anything other than what they did in the draft -- stockpile new players hoping that some of them can execute.

Do I wish we had more help in the secondary too? Sure. But, not at the expense of upgrading the defensive line.

And don't forget that if we can generate any kind of actual pass rush and run gap protection, that our corners and safeties are going to look a whole lot better without actually improving themselves.

[z.nrd]

HShould the Rams have tried to upgrade the safety position OR do you believe the Rams have the right personnel for the DC system.

GO RAMS

Neither.

They had to fix the DL. That's a priority. They only had 3 CBs cause Butler was going to be gone so that's a 2nd priority.

Safety just wasn't up there on the list of priorities.

But it will be next time, I bet.

Atogwe takes bad angles to ball carriers. I have never seen anyone "fix" that kind of problem. Seems to me you either know what you're doing with that or you don't. Chavous IMO is not a true SS and belongs at FS. They need a real genuine stud SS in his place.

Once they fix CB and the front 7, safety will emerge as the next priority to fix. Maybe signing Johnson will provide depth but I don't think he's the SS they will need.

There was so much wrong with this defense, they were never going to fix it all this year anyway.

So, one thing at a time....and my bet is, next March they will be looking to repair the safety spot.

[AvengerRam]

The way people react to O.J. Atogwe reminds me of the way people reacted to Ryan Pickett. Both players put up good numbers on bad defenses, and both have been (in my opinion, wrongly) lumped in with a lot of players who didn't do their jobs.

[Goldenfleece]

I don't have a problem with Atogwe. I do think he missed his share of tackles last year, but he got better over the course of the season. Chavous really is a better fit for FS than SS. I think he'll be alright, and with Johnson, Carter, and Bartell on the roster we're in decent shape as far as depth goes. Right now, safety isn't one of the team's strengths, but neither is it our Achilles' heel.

[rammiser]

The way people react to O.J. Atogwe reminds me of the way people reacted to Ryan Pickett. Both players put up good numbers on bad defenses, and both have been (in my opinion, wrongly) lumped in with a lot of players who didn't do their jobs.

I agree with you 100% Avenger. Wouldnt we rather have kept Pickett and let Kennedy go last year? Now we have neither of them and are starting over with another young dt in Carriker. Some people tend to give up on our young guys way too fast. Some people last year were wishing we had drafted Lawrence Moroney instead of Jackson and I fought hard for Jackson. I expressed people needed to give him time he would be fine but some are just too impatient. Atogwe is in the same boat, he did show flashes last year and can only improve this year. He's young and will make mistakes but who on our defense last year didnt make mistakes? Give Atogwe some time he'll be fine.

[z.nrd]

I agree with you 100% Avenger. Wouldnt we rather have kept Pickett and let Kennedy go last year? Now we have neither of them and are starting over with another young dt in Carriker. Some people tend to give up on our young guys way too fast. Some people last year were wishing we had drafted Lawrence Moroney instead of Jackson and I fought hard for Jackson. I expressed people needed to give him time he would be fine but some are just too impatient. Atogwe is in the same boat, he did show flashes last year and can only improve this year. He's young and will make mistakes but who on our defense last year didnt make mistakes? Give Atogwe some time he'll be fine.

The issue is not "giving up on YOUNG GUYS." That's an abstraction.

It's recognizing Atogwe's limitations.

And no he did not get better at taking angles to the ball carrier last year. He got better at not blowing coverages and in forcing some TOs.

So unless you can name a young safety who was bad at taking angles to the ball carrier after 2 years in the league who then miraculously improved on that basic, fundamental skill his 3rd year, I would not expect too much from Atogwe this year.

And the reason the Rams shoulda kept Pickett and dumped Kennedy has nothing to do with "giving up on young guys." It's simple---Pickett was better than Kennedy.


My bet is if Atogwe doesn't step up in ways he hasn't YET he will be replaced. Which is good. We want that. We want better players. We don't want to keep starting guys just cause the Rams drafted them and they are young.

[Bud Light Guy]

Chavous has been pretty solid over his career, but Atogwe I don't think has much talent and really shouldn't be a starter in this league. Though he is young so I guess it would be wrong to just give up on him now. I still don't think he is all that talented. Kinda makes me think the Rams should have addressed this issue in the draft. But there are so many holes on this defense to where you can't really fix everything in one offseason, and once the defense progresses and gets better, it will be time to replace Olinemen and WR's on the offensive side of the ball. Martz really screwed this team draft wise whenever he was head coach, and defensively the Rams are paying for it.

[z.nrd]

Every safety I have ever seen, you knew what you had after a year starting.

There was no sudden, dramatic improvement. He didn't suddenly start doing things he wasn't good at before.

I don't care if Atogwe is young. If he's mediocre, he's mediocre. There's no point in keeping him just cause he's a Ram and he's young.

And this year will tell.

Chavous is not solid---he has real holes in his game. Especially at SS. But at least he would be used better as a FS. There, he can do what he does best---using his head, putting a young secondary in the right positions, etc.

They need a real, genuine stud SS---not a "well wait and maybe he will improve" guy, a guy where we know from year one starting that he's a stud.

Since Atogwe offers nothing Chavous can't do, the best possible outcome for the Rams is to move Chavous to FS and replace him at SS with someone who can do all the things Chavous can't.

As it stands the Rams safety combo is one of the most mediocre in the league. I can think of any number of guys I would rather have.

And as I said, this year will tell. One more year of mediocre to average-at-best safety play, and they will probably make a move to fix it.