Making the St. Louis Rams a winner
by MattMiller on Sep 29, 2008 3:03 PM EDT
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PrintWith the St. Louis Rams firing Scott Linehan today, where does the franchise go? Here is our ten-step plan for making the St. Louis Rams a winning team again.
Step 1: Fire Jay Zygmunt. Hire Scott Pioli, New England Patriots
Step 2: Hire Steve Spagnuolo, DC, NY Giants as Head Coach
Step 3: Hire Pat Shurmur, QB Coaches, Philadelphia as Offensive Coordinator
Step 4: Retain Jim Haslett as Asst HC/Defensive Coordinator
Step 5: Draft Andre Smith, OT, Alabama* with #1 overall pick.
- This shores up the OL (Smith, Bell, Leckey, Incognito, Barron)
Step 6: Draft Ian Campbell, DE, Kansas State in 2nd round. Move Chris Long to DT.
- Much like Justin Tuck, Long could handle playing end and tackle in a versatile defense.
Step 7: Draft Trey Covington, OLB, Maryland in 3rd round.
- Outside linebacker has been a huge weakness in STL. Getting a run stopper with Covington will dramatically help the defense.
Step 8: Draft Chase Holbrook, QB, NM State in 4th round.
- Marc Bulger will regain his starting job this week, but the team drastically needs a young quarterback to groom for the future.
Step 9: Draft George Hypolite, DT, Colorado in 5th round.
- Hypolite is the hard-charging tackle needed to disrupt the pocket in Spagnuolo's scheme.
Step 10: Draft Terrail Lambert, CB, Notre Dame in 6th round; and Louis Delmas, SS, Western Michigan in 7th round.
- Adding depth to the secondary is a must. These last round picks are worth gambling on young athletes.
Starting lineups:
QB: Marc Bulger/Brock Berlin/Chase Holbrook
HB: Steven Jackson/Brian Leonard/Travis Minor/Antonio Pittman
FB: Dan Kreider/Brian Leonard
WR: Torry Holt/Donnie Avery/Dante Hall
TE: Randy McMichael/Anthony Becht/Joe Klopfenstein
LT: Andre Smith/Adam Goldberg
LG: Jacob Bell/Adam Goldberg
C: Nick Leckey/Brett Romberg
RG: Richie Incognito/John Greco
RT: Alex Barron/John Greco
WR: Keenan Burton/Drew Bennett/Dane Looker
LE: Leonard Little/Victor Adeyanju
UT: Chris Long/La'Roi Glover/Victor Adeyanju/George Hypolite
NT: Adam Carriker/Clifton Ryan/George Hypolite
RE: Ian Campbell/James Hall/Eric Moore
SLB: Trey Covington/Quinton Culberson/Chris Draft
MLB: Will Witherspoon/Chris Draft
WLB: Pisa Tinoisamoa/Chris Chamberlain
LCB: Tye Hill/Ricky Manning, Jr.
FS: OJ Atogwe/Brannon Condren/Terrail Lambert
SS: Corey Chavous/Todd Johnson/Louis Delmas
RCB: Ron Bartell/Jonathan Wade/Jason Craft
K: Josh Brown
P: Donnie Jones
KR: Dante Hall
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i like your thoughts
1. Charlie Armey hasn’t been GM in a few years. Jay Zygmunt is currently the GM and certainly needs to be fired. If Scott Pioli would come to STL, I would to backflips.
2. I like the idea for Spagnolo, but the Rams may need an established (read: old and recycled) coach to turn around the team. Now is not the time for a rookie HC.
4. Haslett needs to go, and probably would prefer to go after spending the rest of the year at interim HC. He might feel marginalized with a new Defensive style HC installed as well.
ADD step 4 and a half: sign Nnamdi Asomugha
5 – Smith over Oher?
6 – I really don’t think Chris Long should move inside, I know he is not an edge rusher, but I would still start him at DE for the next 10 years.
Rams Gab!
www.ramsgab.com
5&6
5. Smith over Oher?
Yes. If Smith comes out, he has more ability than Oher. Oher has looked stiff and uninterested this year. I’ve already started moving him down.
6. Long to DT
I consider this only with the hypothetical Spagnuolo hiring. Long could then play inside and out, moving up and down the line to create matchup problems.
www.newerascouting.com www.mockingthedraft.com
Oher
over Andre Smith. they could be 1A and 1B but Oher has been better longer while Smith looks much better this year than he has in the past.
2nd Rd Kraig Urbik, OG – Keep adding to a horrid O-Line
3rd Rd Curtis Painter QB – Could challenge Bulger and eventually replace him
4th Rd George Hypolite DT – Keep Long where he is
5th Rd Lucas Taylor WR – Holt looks really old right now
6th Rd Dallas Reynolds OT – More line depth
7th Rd DeAngelo Smith CB – underrated and overshadowed by Mickens
Good work
I think everyone would like this draft. I have Painter rated as the #1 senior QB, and therefore not lasting until Rd3. However, his stock is shaky at best right now.
I like both guards, Bell and Incognito. As an unattached and somewhat ill-informed (I’m sure) bystander, OG doesn’t seem to be much of the problem.
www.newerascouting.com www.mockingthedraft.com
Counter suggestion
http://www.mockingthedraft.com/2008/9/29/624618/making-the-rams-a-winner-a
SB Nation's Indianapolis Colts blogger at Stampede Blue. Please make an account and post a diary, add some comments, and make some noise. Accounts are free, and only require an email address.
Cool article
I told BigBlueShoe earlier that the main positive about being the league doormat on the verge of upheaval is that you get a lot of good ideas from a lot of good minds about how to fix the mess. And I mean it.
Anyway, what’s the deal with Orlando Pace? Are you cutting him in your plan? I’m pretty sure he’s under contract through 2011.
Nothin'. A handful of nothin'. You stupid mullet head. He beat you with nothin'. Just like today when he kept comin' back at me......with nothin'.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Pace
Just not counting on him, really. I expect him to either seriously consider retirement, or to retire after the season. Even with Pace on the roster, I would draft Smith/Oher and let them spend a year with Pace.
www.newerascouting.com www.mockingthedraft.com
Agreed
Pace needs to retire, imho. If the Rams can squeeze one more year out of him, that is gravy. This is about building the team for 2, 3, 5 years from now. A new LT is very important to achieving that.
SB Nation's Indianapolis Colts blogger at Stampede Blue. Please make an account and post a diary, add some comments, and make some noise. Accounts are free, and only require an email address.
Yep
And Alex Barron has proven he is not that player. He could have a very solid career as a RT, but this club needs a Michael Oher/Andre Smith player at left tackle.
www.newerascouting.com www.mockingthedraft.com
Oh, i agree about needing to draft a LT
I was just wondering why you left Pace off the roster up top.
Nothin'. A handful of nothin'. You stupid mullet head. He beat you with nothin'. Just like today when he kept comin' back at me......with nothin'.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
i think we'll be talking about this sort of thing all season
and ALL offseason.
Rams Gab!
www.ramsgab.com
I don't think Long inside is a good idea
The Rams haven’t been able to stop the run in nearly 7 years now. They moved their 2007 Rookie DE/DT to DT. If they did that to their 2008 rookie DE then their D-Line would consist of 3 1/2 DE. That is not the way to stop the run. The Rams should have taken Glenn Dorsey with their pick this year instead of Chris Long. He is a BIG boy in the middle to stop the run.
DT
You don’t need big DTs to stop the run. It all depends on the kind of defense you run. A Tampa 2 defense can have one of the DTs be 270-285 pounds because their job is to rush the passer from the inside. So, moving Long to DT would be on passing downs (3rd and 5, 3rd and 6).
SB Nation's Indianapolis Colts blogger at Stampede Blue. Please make an account and post a diary, add some comments, and make some noise. Accounts are free, and only require an email address.
Important but...
They have spent their last two first round picks on the D-Line. Maybe it is time to go O-Line. Actually it is.
"Hey Raiders fans!!! If you leave now you can beat traffic!"
-Rod Smith
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