All Things Rams - Stafford Thread

[Futureshock]

I will point out that Brad Holmes worked under three different GMs with the Rams. It’s simply a matter of preference when it comes to having the depth chart in the room. Not necessarily taking shots of what Les Snead does or anything like that.

Also, I can pretty much name off the Lions depth chart off of the top of my head. Excluding futures contract players. Sure that most people in the Lions draft room can too. Oh heck, even Rod Wood probably knows the QB1 and WR1 on the depth chart.

Well, it wasn't JF. He also spoke about that he remembers going BPA and having a lot of DL under Fischer. Doesn't sound like they were going on need at that point.

[Futureshock]

Holmes is playing chess.

[wcfwtf]

Every team has to think about cap space. How fast time flys this young team will be making tough decisions starting next year and they haven’t even won anything yet.
Every team is going to lose good players at one time or another. That’s why drafting well is essential to building a consistent winner.
If your just drafting jags to fill a need your never going to be good.

[whatever_gong82]

Note: From yesterday's Athletic. Just found out about it as I just posted a Lions Athletic mock article earlier.



Matthew Stafford: ‘I love coming to work here’ as Rams continue offseason reset


By Jourdan Rodrigue

Apr 17, 2023


THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Even as the Rams’ 2022 season and 2023 offseason dipped into uncertain times, and rumors about his future circulated, quarterback Matthew Stafford said Monday that the moment he was medically cleared to get back to football, he was confident it would be in Los Angeles.


“I feel great, I feel healthy,” he added, flashing a smile. “I’m not 25, but I definitely feel good.”


For the first time since the Rams traded for him in 2021, Stafford expects to participate fully in offseason programming. Last spring, a recurring elbow injury kept him on a strict pitch count and he didn’t throw truly “live” reps until deep into training camp. The year before, he bashed his thumb on a helmet and was sidelined through some of summer workouts.


This spring, Stafford — who reiterated head coach Sean McVay’s previous comments that he is indeed cleared from the spinal cord contusion that ended his rocky 2022 season — began throwing with receivers previous to Monday’s start to Phase 1 of OTAs. The reps are clearly valuable to him and to teammates, and even more obvious is how much Stafford missed simply throwing and being as naturally involved as a healthy quarterback is with his team.


“I wasn’t able to do much (last year) and that (was) frustrating for me,” he said. “Wasn’t able to do much, obviously was a long season the year before and a great one (with a) ton of success but I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do (the following spring). …


“The more reps that I can get live, the better I’m going to be. I think, if you ask a lot of guys in our locker room, they probably feel the same way.”


Stafford went on injured reserve Dec. 3, and the Rams claimed Baker Mayfield off waivers the following week. Because Mayfield immediately became their starter, Stafford’s role in game planning with coaches and his time with his receivers shifted.


“It’s different when you’re not playing. For me, it’s like the worst feeling because I feel like I can’t go out there and do it, can’t go out there and be a part of some of the stuff you get to be a part of when you’re actually playing. Not dialing up all the plays with (McVay), as much,” Stafford said at the end of last season.



Stafford started working out at the Rams’ facilities prior to the official beginning of OTAs, where he said he frequently ran into running back Cam Akers.


continued..

[whatever_gong82]

Because the Rams are overhauling parts of their roster, inexperienced players who had not previously gotten much playing time (or time with starting players such as Stafford) will now take on larger roles. Akers observed Stafford’s efforts to connect with some of those players.


“It just means he wants to maybe get to know the people he doesn’t already know,” Akers said. “The newer guys who we have (here), the younger guys that we have here, just trying to make sure that he knows us. He is the QB, he is the leader of the team. So why wouldn’t he want to know the guys he’ll be throwing the ball to or handing the ball off to? Just making sure he knows us like the back of his hand, and we know him.”



Much of the Rams’ offense still looks the same as it did in 2022. Stafford is in the middle of a four-year, $160 million deal of which the 2023 and 2024 seasons became fully guaranteed March 17. A few offensive players left in free agency (offensive lineman David Edwards, receiver/return specialist Brandon Powell among them) or have yet to sign anywhere, and the while the team has been open about its willingness to trade veteran receiver Allen Robinson after a disappointing debut season in Los Angeles, he is also still on the roster.




If Robinson does stay, Stafford reiterated that finally throwing the reps he didn’t get with the receiver after the Rams signed Robinson to a three-year, $46.5 million deal in March of 2022 should impact their on-field chemistry — while hinting that play design changes (McVay hired Mike LaFleur as his new offensive coordinator this winter) and Robinson’s own efforts will help, too. McVay and other team personnel have previously indicated that if Robinson stays, his role could change from their initial vision of him as an isolated receiver.


“Obviously as many reps as I can get with him is going to help us out, just like everybody on our roster,” Stafford said. “But finding creative ways to get guys in a position to be successful, that’s the name of the game in this business. We’ll continue to do that with whoever is on our team and love playing with Allen. Hope to get a chance to play with him more, and we’ll go from there. ”




But elsewhere, the roster is gutted. The Rams feature few defensive players with meaningful starting experience — star defensive tackle Aaron Donald and inside linebacker Ernest Jones, and possibly safety Jordan Fuller though he’s returning from significant injuries are the only three — and lack a single specialist. They will have 11 or more draft picks and will sign a college free agency class as well as any cheap veterans who can plug remaining holes after the draft. They also only have about $10.6 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap, and the majority of that sum will go toward signing their rookie class.


The Rams’ top brass — McVay, general manager Les Snead, chief operating officer Kevin Demoff and VP of football administration Tony Pastoors — have maintained belief publicly and even behind closed doors that the team will be more competitive in 2023 than its current bedraggled-on-paper appearance. Demoff even wrote a letter to Rams season ticket-holders outlining goals that included winning the NFC West and making “a deep playoff run”.


continued..

[whatever_gong82]

They definitely will get younger and cheaper on defense and take some bumps along the way as they develop new players, and they’ll hope to rejuvenate an offense that ranked among the worst in the NFL last season in most major categories and among the worst in NFL history in injury rates.



They’ll have to prove some substance behind all of that hope behind three aging core players: Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Donald, all of whom are returning from season-ending injuries (Donald and Kupp both had the tightrope surgical procedure to repair high ankle sprains). All three players are upper or top-tier caliber at their position, but the Rams also created their own financial infrastructure that has locked them into place as that core when they re-did all three contracts after winning Super Bowl LVI.



“For the most part, I don’t regret any of the decisions that we made with the players who were on the 2021 roster, and how that all played out,” Demoff said at the NFL owners’ meetings in March.




“A credit to all three of those guys, when we did their deals we said, ‘you’re doing it in ’22 but you’re looking towards ’23 and ’24,’” Pastoors added. “And they were all great to work with on that. They understood the structure.”




Understood it, and of course had to buy into it — come what may in 2023. Stafford, who requested the Lions trade him when they were about to begin another rebuild back in 2021, said Monday that he didn’t feel what the Rams are currently doing is “the same level” as the situation in Detroit.



“I love being here, I really love playing with the guys that we have in this locker room,” he said, adding a few minutes later with another smile, “I’ve been doing this going on 15 years now, and I’ve been a part of all sorts of offseasons. Some that were quiet like this turned into really good years. Some that were really loud, like maybe two years ago, that turned into not-so-good years. So, what matters is the games that we play in September and October and all of that through the season. This time of year, there can be a lot of noise. … For me, it’s just, ‘Who do we have in the building? Let’s go to work with those guys, let’s enjoy it, let’s find a way to be better every single day.’


“If I can do that and lead that way, I think we’re going to be better for it.”



Jourdan Rodrigue covers the Los Angeles Rams for The Athletic. Previously, she covered the Carolina Panthers for The Athletic and The Charlotte Observer, and Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times. She is an ASU grad and a recipient of the PFWA's Terez A. Paylor Emerging Writer award (2021). Follow Jourdan on Twitter @JourdanRodrigue

[Futureshock]

Ready to throw darts baby...

Matthew Stafford: I’m not 25, but I definitely feel good

Posted by Myles Simmons on April 17, 2023, 1:48 PM EDT

Getty Images

After facing some significant injuries during the 2022 season, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is back and healthy for 2023.

While there was some speculation that Stafford could hang up his cleats after last year, Stafford reiterated in his Monday press conference that he always planned to keep playing.

“I mean, I felt really confident I was coming back,” Stafford said at the start of Los Angeles’ offseason program. “I feel like more people were less confident in that than I was. But I was ready to go, ready to play, as soon as I was cleared. And I feel great, I feel healthy.

“I’m not 25, but I definitely feel good.”

Stafford did not throw for much of last year’s offseason program and training camp after undergoing an elbow procedure. And concussions and a spinal-cord contusion limited Stafford to just eight games in 2022.

But head coach Sean McVay said at last month’s annual league meeting that Stafford will have “no limitations” this spring.

“Yeah, I’ll be out there. I’ve been throwing with the guys a decent amount leading up to this. So, I feel good,” Stafford said. “Obviously, going to do everything I can to try to be as healthy as I can at all times. [I’m] not probably a human JUGS machine like I used to be. But, can still get it out there and throw it around a bunch.

“So, it’ll be a process like it always is to try to stay as healthy as you possibly can at all times. But I definitely feel like I can go out there and compete and do everything I want to do, which is fun and exciting for me.”

After winning Super Bowl LVI to cap the 2021 season, Stafford started nine games in 2022, completing 68 percent of his passes for 2,087 yards with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

[ghandi]

Like Aaron Rodgers, he just makes too much money to consider retiring...

[froot loops]

If he feels good and wants to play, he should play. Once you retire, its over.

[Futureshock]

Agree. At no point (even with back issues) have I saw any loss of velocity like Rodgers. If they can block for the guy he'll get sh!t done. Always has.

[Futureshock]

Goodness. They had to pay to get rid of him.

Report: Steelers finalizing trade for Allen Robinson

Posted by Josh Alper on April 18, 2023, 1:25 PM EDT

Getty Images

Veteran wide receiver Allen Robinson is reportedly on his way to becoming a member of the Steelers.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports that the Steelers and Rams are finalizing the details of a trade that would move Robinson to Pittsburgh. Robinson received permission to seek a trade last month and Pelissero reports that the Steelers have been given the green light to give him a physical.

There’s no word on compensation or whether the Rams will be picking up any of Robinson’s $15.25 million in guaranteed money to help facilitate the deal.

Robinson’s signing with the Rams last offseason was met with much fanfare, but he played just 10 games and finished the year with a disappointing 33 catches for 339 yards and three touchdowns.

The Steelers have George Pickens and Diontae Johnson at the top of the depth chart at wide receiver. Robinson would likely slot in ahead of Calvin Austin, Cody White, Anthony Miller, and Gunner Olszewski behind that duo.

[froot loops]

A disasterous signing for My Rams.

[edindetroit]

I am glad that we, as Lions fans, no longer have to deal with Kelly "the mouth" Stafford anymore.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/sports/2023/08/31/kelly-stafford-talks-on-controversial-remarks-she-made-about-rams-locker-room/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=snd&utm_content=wdiv&fbclid=IwAR0f2dju4l5chEBH0zRaQnXmVRTnuYNdrGNRlrrBLNn2bYd9REYHflxTvhU

[CGVT]

I am glad that we, as Lions fans, no longer have to deal with Kelly "the mouth" Stafford anymore.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/sport...Yd9REYHflxTvhU

Good grief, she is a pain in his ass.

[dpatnod]

What a Running th' geggy fud .