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Billy Devaney on ESPN 101
-Monday may have been the worst day for him. Combination of losing, by the end of the day the players had vacated the building, it was like a morgue. Everything had changed. Nobody around on Tuesday. As much as you get around these guys, he likes it – messing around with players, getting to know these guys. There’s a vibe. Good thing is they’re doing football stuff – free agency in morning, college in the afternoon. No time to wallow for personnel people.
-Coaches and staff are evaluating our team. Have to take emotion out of it. Look @ players like you don’t have feelings for them one way or another, how do they perform as football players? But there’s some guys whose value is 50% on field, but toughness and leadership has value that plays a part of evaluation as well. Have to take intangibles into consideration with on field stuff. Might apply to older vets on downside of career more often, experience that he brings, way he sits in meetings, way he studies film. Still has to be able to play, but still value to intangibles. Had a bunch of guys who stepped up and filled that role this year.
-Free agency is never something to turn around a team. Maybe to plug hole here or there. This year, it looks like the available players will not be very impressive, even number-wise. Looks like there won’t be a cap which affects year 4-5 players who won’t be FA. Now it’s six years and above, so 29 or 30 year old guys and those guys are less appealing as they’re one year contract guys, and that’s not what they’re looking for. There won’t be Jason Browns out there in the prime of his career who will be with the Rams forever and has another contract down the road. Pool of players has shrunk, type of players has shrunk. That being said, there are guys out there that they’re on right now, personnel people have it lined up. May not be marquee, high priced guys. Might be able to help yourself with solid starter.
-Injuries make the evaluation process difficult. Have to be honest; weren’t playing great with full compliment of players. Thought the season would be tough sledding but if they stayed healthy they’d get better by end of season. They struggled but then guys started going down and then it become a real struggle. So how do you evaluate a guy like Laurent Robinson? Is he a #1 or #2? He has big time ability, but they only have a couple of games to evaluate on. Know he’s a keeping, same thing with Jason Smith. Saw a guy getting better and better. Hit a spell where 2-3 games where OL was really going. Became a tough physical run oriented team, then Smith gets a concussion and is out. Have to base it on what you saw in small window and the progress made from camp to season, knock on wood he’ll be fine when he comes back and is healthy.
-Smith went to a specialist in Pittsburgh and they’re fully convinced there’s nothing to worry about. Tests and scans came back fine. Not worried about Jason any more than someone who hasn’t gotten a concussion before. Anticipates that Smith as LT this year is the plan. Drafted him as LT of the future. Decision was to get five best players on the field at the start, which meant Jason at right tackle. They knew Barron could play, survive, and do a credible job @ LT. Thought Jason coming from spread offense in upright stance, it would take longer to pick things up @ LT than on the right side, but knowing full well he’s their LT. When he comes back from offseason workouts, Devaney thinks he’d line up @ LT.
-Do you need a good QB to be successful? Yeah, you do. Have to be able to throw the ball to score points and run the ball to control the game and close out the game. But have to be able to score from outside. Hard to go 80 yards and drive a ball down a team’s throat. Coupled with the running game, none of the successful teams are throwing the ball 70 times a game with no running game. Have to be balanced. But you need to be able to score from way out and throw the ball.
-Spread offenses makes it more difficult to evaluate college QBs, but not just for QBs. Looking at DL for draft and how they play against spread O, not traditional trench warfare, things are spread out for DL too so it’s hard to evaluate them. Not running power game at DL, it’s wide open so it makes it a challenge to evaluate everyone.
-Devaney wouldn’t have any problem reaching out and taking advice from someone who has gone through 1-15 before if he thought it would help. To be honest, 1-15 wasn’t part of the plan but they knew changes would make it difficult this year with the idea that they’d take their lumps and in year two they’d make a jump. Not like they’re thinking, now what do we do? They know and they need to implement it.
-Draft stuff is phenomenal. Started catching fire ten years ago and before the season is even over, people are looking to the draft. Loves it because it’s a passion of his, drives his wife crazy, talks to brother for an hour about it. Devaney loves all the lists, etc.
-First pick for Rams, last year they knew days before who’d they take. Some talk about maybe a QB, but it became obvious who they’d take. Wasn’t much pressure with first pick on draft day. But second round, they see Laurinaitis falling, thinking that’d be good but there’s no way he gets by so-and-so. Then Maualuga gets by, how’d that happen? Have them rated close, but James rated higher. Are we sure about this? Everyone, one more vote. Coaches were in there. Is everyone sure? Any second thoughts? Not much pressure, decided James was the best pick, shocked he was there. Rams thought no way JL would get out of first round. Thought one or two teams in the second before the Rams (Detroit) would take him, but they lucked out.
-You have your board ranked and your rankings, and you spend hours looking at that. Pull maybe 4-5 names off when you get to second round, these four guys are here, how do we go? They’ll go, 1 2 3 4, then pull out another four and repeat. Last thing you want to do is say, okay we didn’t take a receiver with the first pick and there’s a guy down there at six or seven… you’ve thought it out, stay true to the board, don’t force someone up who shouldn’t be there because you didn’t get the position. Stay true to the board.
-Suh is a great player. Dominating player. All reports are he sounds like a heck of a kid, intangibles, work ethic, all that is in line. Still have a lot of work to do, coaches haven’t seen him. Have to go through the physical stuff @ combine, though to be honest he isn’t worried about the combine. Doesn’t care if he benches 29 instead of 33 reps, who cares about that stuff, guy’s shown he’s a dominant player. But you want the interviews, the medical stuff, and your DL coaches and coordinators to spend time with the player. That said, he’s a great player but there will be other great players out there and how they measure up to Suh – same level/range, what positions. Not ready to say Suh is the pick, but right now he’s a hell of a player and worthy of a consideration.
-Lot of talk about taking guys off the board. When he came in, he walked into situation where draft picks going to jail, arrested, suspended. Looking @ guys who were drafted who were known to be major character concerns, how in the world did this happen? So right away, if we bust out on a guy it’s because we misevaluated. We’re not bringing in any turds, known guys who are trouble guys, red flagged. Strict about that Year One and Two. Eased up a little bit, but there comes a point where they have enough strong character guys on the team where they can take a chance on a guy. Not going to take someone off who in his freshman year did something wrong, minor issue. Now if a guy has flunked 3-4 drug tests or served time in jail, not gonna screw around with those guys. Too old to worry about these guys. But if a guy did college stuff, screwed up a little bit, not going to hold that against him.
-Rams have to do their due diligence on everyone, including veteran quarterbacks who have had their issues in the past (Vick reference by host). Can’t talk about guys under contract with other teams, but they’re at the point now where they could explore it, find out details, where they stand now, and do a thorough evaluation.
-This week, they’re finishing up team evaluation and coaching staff got books of UFAs that they’re interested in. They have the full list, just in case there’s a cap. Never hurts to evaluate. Guys on the list that will get tagged or tendered, not interested in guys who are tagged with first and third compensation. Doesn’t know if they’ll use tag on Atogwe, it depends. End of next week they’ll sit down with coaches, go over our team, we’ll have a feel then as to what tenders, who gets a tender, etc.
-Spags was everything he expected the day he hired him. Biggest thing was he was unflappable. Probably frustrates people at times, but they see it as a great trait. Never changes message, never these ups and downs, personality is the same. Constant with message, players appreciated that and building did too. He was a rock, and if he can withstand all this stuff – swine flu, kept saying every time something happened there’s another chapter for the book – he withstood it all.
Audio here…
101 ESPN/Post: The Fast Lane Show Note Wednesday 1.6.10
-Monday may have been the worst day for him. Combination of losing, by the end of the day the players had vacated the building, it was like a morgue. Everything had changed. Nobody around on Tuesday. As much as you get around these guys, he likes it – messing around with players, getting to know these guys. There’s a vibe. Good thing is they’re doing football stuff – free agency in morning, college in the afternoon. No time to wallow for personnel people.
-Coaches and staff are evaluating our team. Have to take emotion out of it. Look @ players like you don’t have feelings for them one way or another, how do they perform as football players? But there’s some guys whose value is 50% on field, but toughness and leadership has value that plays a part of evaluation as well. Have to take intangibles into consideration with on field stuff. Might apply to older vets on downside of career more often, experience that he brings, way he sits in meetings, way he studies film. Still has to be able to play, but still value to intangibles. Had a bunch of guys who stepped up and filled that role this year.
-Free agency is never something to turn around a team. Maybe to plug hole here or there. This year, it looks like the available players will not be very impressive, even number-wise. Looks like there won’t be a cap which affects year 4-5 players who won’t be FA. Now it’s six years and above, so 29 or 30 year old guys and those guys are less appealing as they’re one year contract guys, and that’s not what they’re looking for. There won’t be Jason Browns out there in the prime of his career who will be with the Rams forever and has another contract down the road. Pool of players has shrunk, type of players has shrunk. That being said, there are guys out there that they’re on right now, personnel people have it lined up. May not be marquee, high priced guys. Might be able to help yourself with solid starter.
-Injuries make the evaluation process difficult. Have to be honest; weren’t playing great with full compliment of players. Thought the season would be tough sledding but if they stayed healthy they’d get better by end of season. They struggled but then guys started going down and then it become a real struggle. So how do you evaluate a guy like Laurent Robinson? Is he a #1 or #2? He has big time ability, but they only have a couple of games to evaluate on. Know he’s a keeping, same thing with Jason Smith. Saw a guy getting better and better. Hit a spell where 2-3 games where OL was really going. Became a tough physical run oriented team, then Smith gets a concussion and is out. Have to base it on what you saw in small window and the progress made from camp to season, knock on wood he’ll be fine when he comes back and is healthy.
-Smith went to a specialist in Pittsburgh and they’re fully convinced there’s nothing to worry about. Tests and scans came back fine. Not worried about Jason any more than someone who hasn’t gotten a concussion before. Anticipates that Smith as LT this year is the plan. Drafted him as LT of the future. Decision was to get five best players on the field at the start, which meant Jason at right tackle. They knew Barron could play, survive, and do a credible job @ LT. Thought Jason coming from spread offense in upright stance, it would take longer to pick things up @ LT than on the right side, but knowing full well he’s their LT. When he comes back from offseason workouts, Devaney thinks he’d line up @ LT.
-Do you need a good QB to be successful? Yeah, you do. Have to be able to throw the ball to score points and run the ball to control the game and close out the game. But have to be able to score from outside. Hard to go 80 yards and drive a ball down a team’s throat. Coupled with the running game, none of the successful teams are throwing the ball 70 times a game with no running game. Have to be balanced. But you need to be able to score from way out and throw the ball.
-Spread offenses makes it more difficult to evaluate college QBs, but not just for QBs. Looking at DL for draft and how they play against spread O, not traditional trench warfare, things are spread out for DL too so it’s hard to evaluate them. Not running power game at DL, it’s wide open so it makes it a challenge to evaluate everyone.
-Devaney wouldn’t have any problem reaching out and taking advice from someone who has gone through 1-15 before if he thought it would help. To be honest, 1-15 wasn’t part of the plan but they knew changes would make it difficult this year with the idea that they’d take their lumps and in year two they’d make a jump. Not like they’re thinking, now what do we do? They know and they need to implement it.
-Draft stuff is phenomenal. Started catching fire ten years ago and before the season is even over, people are looking to the draft. Loves it because it’s a passion of his, drives his wife crazy, talks to brother for an hour about it. Devaney loves all the lists, etc.
-First pick for Rams, last year they knew days before who’d they take. Some talk about maybe a QB, but it became obvious who they’d take. Wasn’t much pressure with first pick on draft day. But second round, they see Laurinaitis falling, thinking that’d be good but there’s no way he gets by so-and-so. Then Maualuga gets by, how’d that happen? Have them rated close, but James rated higher. Are we sure about this? Everyone, one more vote. Coaches were in there. Is everyone sure? Any second thoughts? Not much pressure, decided James was the best pick, shocked he was there. Rams thought no way JL would get out of first round. Thought one or two teams in the second before the Rams (Detroit) would take him, but they lucked out.
-You have your board ranked and your rankings, and you spend hours looking at that. Pull maybe 4-5 names off when you get to second round, these four guys are here, how do we go? They’ll go, 1 2 3 4, then pull out another four and repeat. Last thing you want to do is say, okay we didn’t take a receiver with the first pick and there’s a guy down there at six or seven… you’ve thought it out, stay true to the board, don’t force someone up who shouldn’t be there because you didn’t get the position. Stay true to the board.
-Suh is a great player. Dominating player. All reports are he sounds like a heck of a kid, intangibles, work ethic, all that is in line. Still have a lot of work to do, coaches haven’t seen him. Have to go through the physical stuff @ combine, though to be honest he isn’t worried about the combine. Doesn’t care if he benches 29 instead of 33 reps, who cares about that stuff, guy’s shown he’s a dominant player. But you want the interviews, the medical stuff, and your DL coaches and coordinators to spend time with the player. That said, he’s a great player but there will be other great players out there and how they measure up to Suh – same level/range, what positions. Not ready to say Suh is the pick, but right now he’s a hell of a player and worthy of a consideration.
-Lot of talk about taking guys off the board. When he came in, he walked into situation where draft picks going to jail, arrested, suspended. Looking @ guys who were drafted who were known to be major character concerns, how in the world did this happen? So right away, if we bust out on a guy it’s because we misevaluated. We’re not bringing in any turds, known guys who are trouble guys, red flagged. Strict about that Year One and Two. Eased up a little bit, but there comes a point where they have enough strong character guys on the team where they can take a chance on a guy. Not going to take someone off who in his freshman year did something wrong, minor issue. Now if a guy has flunked 3-4 drug tests or served time in jail, not gonna screw around with those guys. Too old to worry about these guys. But if a guy did college stuff, screwed up a little bit, not going to hold that against him.
-Rams have to do their due diligence on everyone, including veteran quarterbacks who have had their issues in the past (Vick reference by host). Can’t talk about guys under contract with other teams, but they’re at the point now where they could explore it, find out details, where they stand now, and do a thorough evaluation.
-This week, they’re finishing up team evaluation and coaching staff got books of UFAs that they’re interested in. They have the full list, just in case there’s a cap. Never hurts to evaluate. Guys on the list that will get tagged or tendered, not interested in guys who are tagged with first and third compensation. Doesn’t know if they’ll use tag on Atogwe, it depends. End of next week they’ll sit down with coaches, go over our team, we’ll have a feel then as to what tenders, who gets a tender, etc.
-Spags was everything he expected the day he hired him. Biggest thing was he was unflappable. Probably frustrates people at times, but they see it as a great trait. Never changes message, never these ups and downs, personality is the same. Constant with message, players appreciated that and building did too. He was a rock, and if he can withstand all this stuff – swine flu, kept saying every time something happened there’s another chapter for the book – he withstood it all.
Audio here…
101 ESPN/Post: The Fast Lane Show Note Wednesday 1.6.10
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