Av's Sensible FA Shopping List

While I share the dreams of obtaining guys like Haynesworth, Peppers, Suggs or Gross, I think its pretty clear that the Rams will be shopping in the Second Tier of the FA market. That's fine, as long as the Rams spend money to keep their own key FAs (Atogwe, Bartell, Adeyanju). Here are my "sensible" FA targets.

Jason Brown, C, Ravens
Big, young and experienced. Generally, that would equate to a high FA price. However, given that the Ravens will have to spend a great deal to keep other FAs, and the fact that centers generally don't command the largest contracts, Brown is a guy who could be in the Rams price range. Signing him would alleviate the need to take a center in the first three rounds of the draft, allowing another need to be filled.

Derrick Ward, RB, Giants
Although Ward is 28, he has only 342 career carries. Its questionable whether the Giants can afford to pay him along with Brandon Jacobs, particularly when they have another capable back in Ahmad Bradshaw on their roster. Ward would create a nice 1-2 punch with Jackson.

James Farrior, ILB, Steelers
Though Farrior has been playing in a 3-4, I think he has the size to play MLB in a 4-3 as well. He is 34, but is still very productive (133 tackles in 2008). With the youth on the Rams' defense, it would be nice to have a guy like Farrior in a veteran leadership role.

Sean Jones, S, Browns
Jones has the size of a SS (6'1, 220) but the coverage skils of a FS (14 interceptions in the last 3 years). I like the idea of him playing along side Atogwe. He has had some injury issues, which should keep his price down, but is young enough to be a good long-term prospect.

Hey Av, I'm not sure why it's pretty clear the Rams don't try to make a big splash in FA. AT 2-14, the model for going 2nd tier hasn't worked for years. What's your basis for thinking the Rams won't go after someone like Jordon Gross, Bart Scott, or Terrell Suggs? I for one hope they do.

I think AV is referring to this statement made by Bernie as part of a summary of the Dec 16 interview with BD on st...louis...insider...insider dot com (sorry about the excessive dotting but I need to avoid castration with a rusty bacon slicer for posting links) .

"Billy said that he would rather draft top players and fill in the middle of the roster with mid-level free agents, and the Rams won’t have a lot of room under the salary cap."

Well...Devaney knows more about that than I do. I'll leave the real work to the experts and I'll sit on here and act like I know what I am talking about.

:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by txramsfan

Hey Av, I'm not sure why it's pretty clear the Rams don't try to make a big splash in FA. AT 2-14, the model for going 2nd tier hasn't worked for years. What's your basis for thinking the Rams won't go after someone like Jordon Gross, Bart Scott, or Terrell Suggs? I for one hope they do.

---

I don't think they have the cap space right now to sign their own guys and go after top tier FAs. Of course, if space is cleared, that could change.

That's one thing will change. The cap is going to go up, and all indications point to house cleaning. If this is an "as of right now" I could deal with Ward. The Rams struggled extremely bad when Jackson went down.

I'm not sure about ward. Isn't he looking to be a no.1 back and for no.1 money? and i think we could draft a capable running back in the draft.

Farrior is an interesting idea. But I really like curry or mauluga and that would be great to trade back for one of those guys and then pick up the RB with an extra 2nd or 3rd rounder.

I like Sean Jones and Jason brown.

If we could take care of the RB, MLB in the draft could we make a serious bid for gross?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by txramsfan

That's one thing will change. The cap is going to go up, and all indications point to house cleaning. If this is an "as of right now" I could deal with Ward. The Rams struggled extremely bad when Jackson went down.

---

But the cap goes up for every other team wanting to sign top FAs as well.

Ain't inflation a mutha?

Then WTF? We stay status quo, go for the middle of the road that the former team didn't want and attempt to go at least 8-8 something that hasn't been done since Martz had a fighting chance? I'm sick of this. I'm sick of signing our own players who turn out to suck and having no shot of even beating the whiners. Damn sick of it. Do something different? Can't hurt. The only thing worse could happen is to get the first pick of the draft.

Ward will want to go somewhere where he can be a number 1 back most likely if he doesn't stay at the Giants.

It also seems like Spags is interested in building the team for the long term and I don't think James Farrior will be at the top of their list of free agents.

Add James Butler to that list. He is going to lose his starting job to Kenny Phillips, and would definitely welcome a chance to play under his old coach in St. Louis. He would be a nice stop gap at SS for two years, much better than Chavous/Johnson. Johnson did well given his chance, but his true talent remains on special teams.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by txramsfan

Then WTF? We stay status quo, go for the middle of the road that the former team didn't want and attempt to go at least 8-8 something that hasn't been done since Martz had a fighting chance? I'm sick of this. I'm sick of signing our own players who turn out to suck and having no shot of even beating the whiners. Damn sick of it. Do something different? Can't hurt. The only thing worse could happen is to get the first pick of the draft.

---

Isn't there a difference between the poorly-evaluated choices, both in terms of talent and financial value, made in the pre-Devaney era and what we hope Devaney can do?

The approach may be the same but we have to hope he has a better eye than whoever was making those choices for the last few years.

And just because a team can't afford to sign a player or has a cheaper promising alternative doesn't mean they should be dismissed out of hand as stiffs,does it?

Dimitroff, for example, is more impressive to me because of the Turner pick-up than anything else. Who knew he would be such a success?

There's no guarantee that FODS (Friends Of Devaney) will be any better than FOSLs were. Kreider was a disaster & Bell is still controversial . Nothing as mindblowingly bad as Bennett or the flotilla of TEs but they show me that he is not infallible. Even Spags is a risk. I like the hire as much as most but it remains to be proven.

The "all in" approach that you seem to be advocating certainly can work; Moss @ NE, but it just as often doesn't; Moss @ OAK. I see the difference as being the former was a team with a well-managed roster/cap, unified FO/coaching unit and the complete opposite in the latter.

Which one seems closer to the Rams of recent years ?

Back to AV's list: I think the options presented fit with the little we know of BD's approach except for Farrior who is too old and , as observed above, Ward who will probably want to start & be paid accordingly. We also can't forget that we don't know BD's assessment of Pittman,Leonard, and Darby.

Alright guys.....sign the Circuit City liquidation sale players.

:)

Ward has said in a public interview, sitting next to Bradshaw and Jacobs, that he wants them to sign elsewhere, so he can get the carries. Not sure he's like to get behind another star running back.

Its all well and good for Ward to say that he wants to go to a team where he can be a starter, but if you think about it, there are not too many teams who lack a true starting RB.

15 teams had a 1,000 yard rusher in 2008. A lot of teams that didn't still have a true starting RB (i.e. Dallas - Marion Barber, Philadelphia - Brian Westbrook, Miami - Ronnie Brown, Kansas City - Larry Johnson, Pittsburgh - Willie Parker). So, in the end, there are not a lot of places where Ward would automatically become the primary back.

He could be enticed to play under Jackson, who has had a hard time staying healthy for 16 games. Never say never.