Hello Rams. It’s me again. We’ve had a rough go of it, you and me, over the last, say, 13 seasons. But we can make it good again. I believe in us. You’ve been my favorite team since I was four years old. I don’t care what city you play in. I’m not going to turn on you now, not unless you draft Jameis Winston, but even then I’ll be back after he flames out. We can fix this, you and me. Mostly you. But there’s some things you’ve got to do.
This season saw the best roster the Rams have put on the field since Scott Linehan began decimating the team in 2006. It still ended with a 6-10 record and the eighth consecutive losing season for the franchise and worse under head coach Jeff Fisher. Still, the Rams were close and if you watched every game, like I did, you saw a team that was one player away from joining the party. Unfortunately, that one player was on the sideline with a two-time surgically-repaired left knee.
Here are the six things the St. Louis (or Los Angeles) Rams on my wish list that you need to do to get to the playoffs next year. And maybe go further than that.
Sign Sam Bradford to a cap-friendly extension. Do not let him go, whatever you do.
Sam Bradford is coming into the final year of his rookie contract, the last of the crazy contracts, that will pay him $16.5 million this season. Bradford hasn’t been injury prone in the NFL so much as had horrible luck. Nobody takes the shots to the knee he has and walks away. If Bradford is a bust, it’s best to make him the Rams bust under a contract that would pay him NFL starter money, probably $10 million a year, but structure it with incentives and a better cap hit in case he gets hurt again. Because if he does, it’s time to cut bait. If the Rams let Bradford go, make no mistake, in a league with only 16 legitimate starting quarterbacks, he’d be signed immediately. He might not even make it off waivers with Rex Ryan in Buffalo needing a QB. No, Bradford has to stay and the Rams need to make it happen.
Resign your own free agents
The Rams have the majority of their key players under contract and most of those (with the exception of Bradford) aren’t bad. The two biggest players the Rams must keep are wide receiver Kenny Britt (26) and right tackle Joe Barksdale (27).
Britt led the Rams with 48 catches for 748 yards and three touchdowns this last season. More than that, Britt was a boon to the team in the locker room, helping Brian Quick jump out for what looked to be a breakout season before his injury. With Britt, the Rams have a potent receiving corps along with Quick, Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey and Chris Givens. Britt was the glue this season and a bright spot in a rough offensive year. Time to sign him long term.
Barksdale has played his butt off in his two seasons with the Rams and has probably been their best overall offensive lineman in that span. Barksdale graded out as one of the top eight offensive tackles and the No. 1 run blocker in the league. Barksdale is a right tackle and that might keep his price down a little, but he’s too important to let go. The Rams should have Barksdale under contract before free agency begins or they may lose him.
Tight end Lance Kendricks (27) has been an important piece in the passing game, especially in the red zone, leading the team with five touchdowns this season. Kendricks along with restricted free agent Corey Harkey are important pieces in a Rams offense that’s just now worth a damn. Harkey and Kendricks can both get open on third down when the Rams need it and can play H-Back in the backfield. They need to find a way to keep them.
Cut Jake Long, Scott Wells and Kendall Langford
The Rams rolled the dice with Jake Long, hoping he would return to his Pro Bowl form, but it just hasn’t happened. Long has been injured a lot and when he’s on the field, has been mediocre at best. It was Long that surrendered the hit that ended Sam Bradford’s year in the preseason last year. It’s time he called it a career.
Wells has been OK, but for the money he’s due to make ($4.7 million) he should be a hell of a lot better than OK. There are better guys out there and probably better young guys currently on the Rams roster.
Finally, Langford is an odd one. He’s got too big a cap number this year at $7 million and has underperformed for that money while, at the same time, being a decent tackle. But he’s not a starter anymore with the emergence of rookie Aaron Donald and the continued development of Michael Brockers. The Rams should cut Langford and then try to re-sign him. He’s a good piece to have on the line, but not a multi-million dollar piece.
Sign a free agent quarterback that you know can start in the NFL.
Bradford hasn’t played a full season in two years. There’s every reason to believe that he won’t get the same knee blasted again, but the Rams should have learned from those two seasons that the back-up quarterbacks they had were fare from adequate. Jeff Fisher has said that they’ll bring in guys to “compete” with Bradford, but that’s a joke. No free agent or rookie quarterback is going to beat Sam Bradford out in camp. It’s ridiculous to think they would. No, the Rams really need a guy they can line up with that isn’t Shaun Hill or Austin Davis. They need a guy that can and has won games in the NFL. And he can be old. Look at what the Bills did with Kyle Orton.
Here’s the guys you need to look at: Matt Flynn from Green Bay, Matt Hasselbeck from Indianapolis or Matt Moore from the Miami Dolphins. The Rams will be tempted to look at talented young guys that’ll be on the market like Jake Locker and Brian Hoyer, but they have their own injury issues for the last two seasons too. There’s no advantage there. Christian Ponder or Mark Sanchez? The Rams didn’t want Sanchez last year and Ponder’s never won anything. Flynn has helped the Packers make the playoffs. Hassellbeck played in a Super Bowl. They’re your guys.
Sign a big-time free agent center. Don’t be afraid to spend some money.
Since the Rams, in my scenario here, have dumped Wells, they’ll need a replacement. They could go with a guy on their own roster like Barrett Jones, but they need a young star. An anchor to join Barksdale, Roger Saffold and Greg Robinson to hold down that line for the next 10 seasons. Stefan Wisniewski from the Raiders and Rodney Hudson from the Chiefs are the guys to target, with either one sliding right into the starting position and making a Pro Bowl or five in the process.
Trade Zac Stacy.
Every league’s fantasy bust this season is a good running back and a legitimate NFL starter for most other teams that aren’t the Rams. Stacy was beaten out by Rookie Tre Mason as an every-down back and had already lost his third-down back job to Bennie Cunningham last year. Stacy has a ton of value and is probably better than any running back on 15 NFL team’s roster right now. The Rams traded fourth and sixth round picks to the Buccaneers for safety Mark Barron last season and it would be nice to get one or more of those back. Stacy is just wasting a roster spot at this point and he’s a good kid who deserves to play. Just somewhere in the AFC.
Don’t be afraid to bring in an old guy to be a leader on defense.
Jo-Lonn Dunbar has been a fine outside linebacker, but he’s not been spectacular. Lance Briggs has been spectacular. With a new coach and limited salary cap space, the Bears won’t resign Briggs and he’s right there waiting to join the team. If the Rams put Briggs with Alec Ogletree and James Lauranitis with Dunbar as the backup, they’ll have something special behind what is already one of the best defensive lines in the league.
Finally, Rams, here is your perfect 2015 draft
First round – Andrus Peat, OT, Stanford
Second round – Bryce Petty, QB, Baylor
Third round – Paul Dawson, OLB, TCU
Fifth round – Geno Grisson, OLB, Oklahoma
Seventh round – Justin Fox, FS, Mississippi State
