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As best I can tell, of the 53 Rams on the current active roster, 36 were brought here by the hand of Billy Devaney over the past 19 months. That's almost 7 out of every 10 players. If, on Sundays, we believe that this team has a "different feel" to it, I think we can point to Devaney as a major source of that difference.
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The more things change, the more they stay the same. -
Re: Devaney's fingerprint
Nice observation. Only time will tell, I'm sure there's going to be bumps down the road, no pun intended, but I think with time we'll see that this team has improved significantly from last year.Always and Forever a fan of the St. Louis Rams -
Re: Devaney's fingerprint
Good tracking Hub... we'll just have to see if that number changes at all before Sunday. I bet it will at the pace we're going.I believe!:ram:Comment
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Re: Devaney's fingerprint
2006 season (8-8)
2007 season (3-13)
2008 season (2-14)
It's quite obvious that we were more than a couple of "changes" away from being a contender.
Changes are not always popular but obviously needed.
GO RAMS!!!!sigpic :ram::helmet:Comment
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Devaney, Scouting Staff Ready for Phase Two
Friday, December 18, 2009
By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
Less than 24 hours after he was named Rams General Manager on Christmas Eve of last year, Billy Devaney found himself asking for some divine intervention.
Armed with the arduous task of rebuilding the Rams by bringing in a new coaching staff, starting a roster makeover and generally changing the complexion of the Russell Training Center, Devaney knew he would need some help from somewhere.
So it was that on Christmas morning, Devaney went for his usual run, a course he has mapped out that he regularly runs near his home. Along his normal path, Devaney encountered one of the priests at Our Lady of the Pillar church in Ladue, the church where Devaney and his family had attended mass only hours before.
Stopping to chat, Devaney made it a point to ask the priest for a little help in his new endeavor.
“I said ‘Hey, I have got a favor to ask. I just got this job with the Rams, I need a lot of help, can you keep me in your prayers?’” Devaney said, laughing at the memory. “He said ‘Yeah, I saw that, that’s you, huh?’ I said ‘This is a big one, man. You have got to keep me in your prayers.’”
Less than a week from today, Devaney will have hit the one-year mark as the top decision maker in the Rams hierarchy but there’s no doubting that year two will come with less stress than the first one.
It would almost have to.
THE PROCESS
Building a football team doesn’t happen overnight. And though it’s become popular to believe that a major turnaround can happen in a single year, that’s really more of a myth than anything.
While a team’s record can certainly dramatically improve in a single year, it takes years of building something with commitment and continuity to get it right.
Soon after taking the job, Devaney went on a whirlwind tour along with the rest of his staff that included the hiring of a new coaching staff, evaluating current Rams to make decisions on their future with the team, scouring the free agent market, scouting college players, signing free agents and going through the 2009 NFL Draft.
It was a hectic time for Devaney but it also could someday be looked at as a turning point for the franchise.
Having that year to get the scouting staff he wants in place, form a pro personnel department and get everyone on the same page should make attacking the 2010 offseason an easy transition.
“That’s one of the many advantages is stability and that is what we are trying to establish,” Devaney said. “I think going into this year, we’ll be light years ahead of where we were last year. We haven’t changed the structure at all. These guys are veteran guys so it was an easy transition for them. It’s an easy system...-12-19-2009, 03:54 PM -
Rams' GM discusses reasons for his optimism
BY JIM THOMAS
Sunday, August 1, 2010
General manager Billy Devaney has seen the preseason prognostications and wisecracks. He knows what the record was in 2009. And '08. And '07. And like most Rams players, he wants to do something about it.
"The only way I can say it is the players are (ticked) off still from last year," Devaney said. "You want to say forget last year, and last year's over. But let me tell you, this isn't any fun. I know it isn't any fun for our players or anybody in this building to hear all the time: worst team in the NFL, 1-15, lowly St. Louis Rams.
"If that doesn't (tick) you off, or get you motivated in the offseason, then we have the wrong kind of guy. There's a lot of motivated people here to get this thing going and start winning football games."
Other than the selection of Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford with the No. 1 overall draft pick, it was an offseason devoid of big-name acquisitions for St. Louis. Nonetheless, Devaney feels there is no comparison between the 2010 Rams and coach Steve Spagnuolo's inaugural Rams squad of 2009.
"It thought we had a great offseason," Devaney said. "The intensity and the participation of the players in the offseason program was outstanding. Even though we were in shorts and T-shirts, you could just see in Year Two how much more comfortable our players were in the system.
"We looked faster than you would expect. At this time last year, we were installing playbooks for the first time — the wheels were grinding. So the thing that jumped out in the spring — the whole tempo, everything, looked much faster and quicker."
Whether this is truly the case, or simply misguided optimism, remains to be seen. But with Rams training camp now in full gear, we're about to find out.
In a pre-camp interview with the Post-Dispatch, Devaney discussed the state of the roster, the impact of the pending franchise sale, and more:
PD: How would you characterize the offseason in terms of personnel acquisitions?
DEVANEY: "Knock on wood, I think it's going to turn out to be a pretty darn good draft. I know people say why didn't we jump out and sign a big marquee-type free agent? That was never part of the plan. I think the guys that we added are going to be 'fits' and the right fits here. And to be honest, just the way free agency worked this year — the available free agents — there weren't that many names out there to begin with."
PD: Did the pending franchise sale lead to any financial constraints in going after players?
DEVANEY: "None whatsoever. We were allowed to put our plan in place, and we weren't restricted at all. Not one bit. Not once did we go to ownership and say, 'hey, we'd really like...-08-01-2010, 09:21 AM -
By Bernie Miklasz
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, Dec. 18 2008
Bobby Beathard helped build Super Bowl champions in Miami and Washington. He
was one of the great general managers in modern NFL history, even though his
last job, in San Diego, ended poorly.
Billy Devaney was with Beathard in Washington and San Diego, witnessing the
good and the bad. He was a super scout for a brilliant Redskins team that won
three Super Bowls and 19 postseason games. The San Diego experience wasn't a
success, but Devaney learned from the mistakes.
I asked Devaney about Beathard's influence, and the most important lesson he
learned from his mentor.
"It's a team effort," Devaney said. "It's not about one person. It's players,
coaches, scouts, management, everyone in the building. You have to build
something together.
"Organizations win."
Organizations lose, too.
And with the Rams skidding with a 5-25 record over the last two seasons,
someone must step into the leadership void to create a new football
organization. Someone must take the lead role in changing the culture, changing
the direction.
Devaney, the Rams' executive VP of personnel, is in line for a promotion when
Rams owners Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez restructure the team's front
office after the season.
Devaney will head the search for the next coach, with Jim Haslett among the
candidates. He already coordinates the team's draft. And he will supervise free
agency.
Devaney hasn't been informed of the owners' plans for him. He does not want to
be presumptuous. He's sensitive to the perception that he's the GM in waiting
at Rams Park. Devaney emphasized that he's interested in doing one thing only:
contributing to a organization-wide effort to transform the Rams.
But if Devaney is asked to take over the football side, what can we expect?
In two separate interviews this week, Devaney articulated a vision for the
future.
Devaney wanted to make one thing clear: "We have a lot of good players," he
said. "We have components in place to build around. When I talk about
improving, it shouldn't be taken as an indictment of the 53-man roster."
Here are some of Devaney's key philosophies:
— Beef up the scouting department. He believes the Rams have a good staff of
college scouts. But he'd like to see more manpower dedicated to the pro
personnel department.
— Beef up the roster. "The team needs to get bigger, physically," Devaney said.
"The team needs to be tougher, physically and mentally. This is a tough, nasty
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Rams in unfamiliar spot: middle of draft
BY JIM THOMAS
Thursday, January 6, 2011 12:20 am
No matter where the Rams finish in the standings, this always is a busy time and exciting time for general manager Billy Devaney and the personnel department. Even so, after coming so close to a division title and a playoff berth, the season's sudden end was a jolt to the system.
"I sit up in my office and I look out on the practice field, and I'm thinking at this time last week we're geeked up, we're playing, we're practicing, guys are joking around," Devaney said Wednesday.
And now?
"It's awful coming in," he said. "It's quiet. The building's quiet. The silence is deafening."
But with the Rams' offseason now underway, the good news is that at least Devaney doesn't have to worry about picking No. 1 or No. 2 as has been the case the past three drafts.
"It's great, because you're not going to ask me every day who we're taking," Devaney teased. "Who we're thinking about. Because we don't have any idea."
Actually, Devaney already has a little bit of an idea even this early in the pre-draft process. (Not that he's telling.) The Rams held their first round of draft meetings last month, well before the regular season ended.
"About 3-4 weeks ago, we put our tentative (draft) board up and started the process," Devaney said. "We're lining up East-West and Senior Bowl (college all-star game) trips. I mean, it is full go. That is the beauty of this thing. There isn't any down time. You just go."
That's true even with the uncertainty of the NFL labor situation. Those in the personnel department are proceeding full speed ahead; that's the only way they can approach it.
"We go over every draftable player right now by position and what needs to be done (in evaluating that player) between now and the draft," Devaney said. "What concerns there are. We have all sorts of symbols. The guy may have a medical concern. Maybe a character concern. Maybe a learning concern. Work ethic.
"Whatever questions that the scouts have picked up. 'Is this guy a bad character guy or did he just mess up a little bit? Is it something that we really need to dig into?' We started that process. Not necessarily putting grades on 'em, but it gives us a plan (as to) what we need to find out about these guys."
Just like every other NFL team, the draft list isn't complete because underclassmen still have time to declare for the draft.
"The juniors (and third-year sophomores) as they come out now, we have tapes being sent out to our scouts at home," Devaney said. "We haven't done a lot of work on the juniors until they declare."
Devaney and the scouting staff also...-01-06-2011, 09:27 PM -
By Brian McIntyre
Around the League writer
June 24, 2012
Though the St. Louis Rams went 7-9 and nearly won the NFC West in 2010, a 12-52 record during his four seasons wasn't enough to save general manager Billy Devaney's job after a miserable 2011 season.
So what went wrong in St. Louis? On Saturday, Devaney discussed the situation he inherited and the roadblocks that surfaced along the way during an interview with Doug Farrar and Rob Rang on "Chalk Talk" on KJR-AM in Seattle.
"I still ask myself that, almost every day," Devaney said. "The short version is when I was named general manager, we were looking for a head coach. And went through the hiring process, had great candidates, and knew (Steve) Spagnuolo from way back when I worked at the Redskins, he was an intern, so they hired Spags. As soon as Spags gets hired, the team is for sale. Chip and Lucia (Rosenbloom) inherit the team from Georgia Frontiere. Through a whole mess of legalese and tax issues, they tried everything they could to keep the team and they weren't going to be able to.
"So the team went up for sale. It was an old roster. Really old roster. There were some guaranteed contracts on there that we had to live with. Spags and I could got together with Chip and we said 'Listen, this is going to be a complete overhaul, let's just bite the bullet and, rather than do it piece meal, let's blow the whole damn thing up.' "
Farrar commented on the state of the Rams' roster in 2008, which he jokingly said was basically "Steven Jackson and the Pips".
"That was it," said Devaney. "And you know what? I would have probably been happier with some of the Pips, quite honestly."
Devaney mentioned that they had to make some tough, unpopular decisions on Torry Holt and Orlando Pace, two franchise cornerstones who were no longer performing at a high level, and that there wasn't a whole lot of money being put into a team that was for sale. The selection of Bradford gave Devaney the impression that the franchise was moving forward, but coaching moves led to a backslide.
"We lose Pat Shurmur to the Cleveland Browns, he's our offensive coordinator. And the decision was made to bring in Josh McDaniels and change the whole offense. And it kind of completely blew up on us," Devaney said. "It was the perfect storm, Doug and Rob. When you look at it, we had a ton of injuries, no offseason. It was just one thing after another. I could tell in training camp -- I mean early on, I don't even know if we started playing a preseason game -- things just, especially on offense, things just looked really ... nobody looked comfortable.
"And our (2011) schedule was ridiculous. I mean, we were hoping, and this is -- we're trying to be optimistic -- we were hoping at the halfway point,...-06-24-2012, 01:25 PM
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