grimesgoat

Just to close the loop on this - Signing Bozeman for a 3 year, 36m contract may look something like this... Salary Bonus Cap hit 1 4 5 11 4 15 12 4 16 He gets 12 million up front and his salary in year 1 is 1m. He earns 13 million in year 1. His bonus is spread over the term of the contract. Salary in years 2 and 3 are unguaranteed, so he can be cut with significant cap savings if something goes wrong. Dead cap hit in year 2 is 8m. Dead cap hit in year 3 is 4m. Burns is due to make 17m next year. A restructure/extension could be 5/125 with a signing bonus of 30m. It could look like this... Salary Bonus Cap hit 2 6 8 22 6 28 22 6 28 24 6 30 25 6 31 95 30 125 Burns earns 32m in 2023 instead of 17m, but the cap hit goes from 17m to 8m. We save 9m on 2023 cap.

Burns and DJ restructures save us money in 2022. Signing Bozeman won't cost much as the salary cap hits are back loaded. Darnold may cost 3-4m. I'm also assuming Wilson and Elf are cut - freeing up another 8m or so. The rest is just coaches and draft picks, which will not impact salary cap in a meaningful way.

Wilks hired as HC. Reich hired as OC. Bozeman resigned. Darnold given 1 year deal. Burns extended. DJ restructured. Shaq kept. Levis drafted at 9. TE and Edge in 2nd. RB in 3rd. LB and S in 4th. OL in 5th.

There are a lot of moving parts. I think Young and Stroud will both be gone, but I don't believe Atlanta or Vegas takes Levis. I could see Tennessee at 11 or the Jets at 13 moving up for a QB (even though the Jets may be gun shy from the Wilson experiment). We know Fitterer will sign someone in FA - because you can't go into the draft with just Matt Corral on the roster. We should give Corral a chance to develop - see if anything is there - but not totally count on it. If Levis is sitting there at 9, I'd take him - but no way I trade up. If Levis is gone, I go Edge or WR. Who knows, maybe we sign Tyrod Taylor, roll with Corral, trade back with the Jets for an extra second, and end up with Mayer and 3 seconds. That might be fun.

I know. I think they can interview him in the next week or so. If they like what they see, they will have to wait until Eagles' season is over, which could be as early as Jan. 23, but probably later. It will be interesting to see if he gets an interview.

My prediction... They will try for Steichen. Wilks is the fallback option. But Wilks will have to hire Reich as OC. He'll keep Holcomb as DC.

Not yet.

I feel like Smith and Goff are both better options than Levis. (Stroud and Young will go to Indy and Houston). Especially if you could use the pick for a stud in another place of need. Imagine adding Quentin Johnson to Detroit or adding Myles Murphy to Seattle.

Given that we basically were knocked out of the playoffs by giving up 3 long passes to Mike Evans should have clued you in to the fact we need a shutdown corner. Horn is a shutdown corner. He was the right pick. Getting hurt in tackle football is just bad luck.

You gotta factor in the 20+ fumbles too. And the 14 losses. Frankly, with Rhule as coach, I doubt Fields develops into anything here. We signed Darnold before the draft, so it would have been awhile before he had his chance. He's been so inconsistent I'm sure there would be a revolving door with Darnold and PJ. His stats would never transfer here.

Houston will take Young. Indy will take Stroud. We will sign a vet before the draft (probably Darnold). We will stand pat and choose between Levis and Quentin.

28. Jared Verse EDGE Florida State 39. John Michael Schmitz OC Minnesota 128. Luke Musgrave TE Oregon State 139. Kenny McIntosh RB Georgia 2024 TEN 1st 2024 WAS 1st 2024 DET 1st 2024 DEN 1st

If Harbaugh comes, I think Darnold is gone. We stay put and pick Levis. DE and TE in round 2. RB in round 3. We compete in every game and finish with 7 wins. 2024/2025: back to back winning seasons.

well said. I too wonder about the mental health of some folks on here. When fantasy football first started, you had to really dig to get info. Being successful took a lot of research and smarts. Now, everything is at your fingertips and it seems so much easier. People don't understand all the scouting research, financial planning, risk assessment, and plain old luck that goes into putting a real team together.

lol - how much cheese is too much cheese?

I get all this. You make some good points. I don't agree on the money issue. I don't believe there is anyone in free agency next year that can replace Burns for 15m. We'll see how it shakes out. But finding a DE with a good chance for 15 sacks in 2023 willing to play here for less than 25m would be tough. Last year the Rams traded for Von Miller - which was a springboard for a SB run. Who's to say Burns would not have done the same. Fitt can't assume injuries or retirements etc. With McVay - there is just no way you can assume the bottom will fall out. I think it was the Kupp injury that was the real issue and that happened weeks later. Fitt stuck with a known commodity - one of the best young DEs in the game that is still only 24. The picks are just too uncertain. I would have done it, but its not incompetence to not do it. I love the draft - the more picks, the more fun. But I don't fault Fitts' reasoning here.

Among DEs, he's 3rd in sacks, 2nd in tackles, 3rd in TFL, 7th in QB hits. Plus he's made the pro bowl 2 out of 4 years. Dude is only 24. Peak years are yet to come. Are there a lot of guys like this?

agree to disagree.

The trade deadline was November 1. They lost to SF on October 30, so negotiations would have taken place prior to that game. So at the time, Fitt is looking at a team that was 3-3 with losses against Buffalo, Dallas, and at SF. Stafford was healthy and he'd just beat us, going 26-33 for 253. Definitely didn't look slowed in that game. McVay is one of the best coaches in the league - a collapse was simply not imaginable. And we still don't know where those picks will be in 2024 and 2025. Hard to know for certain in late October of 2022. Again - I'm with you - I would have done the deed. But the jury is still out on where those picks will be. Fitt played it conservative - assuming they would be late firsts. Late first round is usually not a place you find a Brian Burns. The only 2 DEs ahead of Burns in sacks are Bosa and Garrett, who went 2nd and 1st overall in their respective drafts. I don't think people appreciate how special Burns is.

Coaching malpractice? I'd argue it would be malpractice to go for it. 4 and 1's are converted about 70%. 4th and 1 #1: we are up 7-0 in the first quarter on our own 42 and a QB sneak just failed on 3 and 1. Why would the odds increase on 4th and 1. You can pin them deep with your pro bowl kicker or possibly shift momentum and bring the crowd into the game. Gotta punt that one. Still a lot of football left to play. 4th and 1 #2: we are up 14-0 in the second quarter, again at our own 42, with about 3 minutes left. Our defense is pitching a shutout. The only thing TB has going is their strong Defensive line. Again, why give TB a short field up 14-0 with 3 minutes left until halftime? Pin them deep. Hindsight is 20-20. But rolling the dice on your own side of the field and giving the other team/crowd something to get excited about was not the smart play. The problem was not a lack of aggressiveness. The problem was the 63-yard bomb thrown over the head of our 4th string CB.

I agree with you in that I probably would have made the trade. But the scenario you paint is the rosiest possible and far from likely at that time. At the trade deadline, Rams were 3-4 and still had a healthy Stafford and Kupp. Adding Burns and everyone stays healthy probably means Rams win 10-11 games and are picking mid-to-late 20s. While it might be possible to draft someone of Burns' caliber in that range, we'd have to get really lucky. And we only free up 16m in 2023. Finding a guy as good as Burns on the open market would likely cost 25m per year. In my opinion, Reddick is not a viable alternative/comparison. Reddick is a LB. Weights 230. Burns, while light at 250, is definitely a DE. I don't consider that an apples to apples comparison, and LBs will almost always be cheaper that traditional DEs.

Hopefully this will not be considered slobbering but Darnold threw some absolute dimes out there. there is definitely growth there. He’s not forcing things like he used to. The PI by DJ saved an int, but at that point in the game he had to take some risks. His int was a poor throw, but that was his first this year vs 11 tds. He is playing qb as well as anyone right now. As others have said - he is not the reason we lost I suspect Darnold has hit his ceiling. But until we can get a draftee to take over, he is a respectable bridge.

I guess I’m in the minority here, it I like what fitt has done so far. I haven’t agreed with all his decisions. The two main disagreements I had was picking up Darnold’s option and turning down the Burns trade. Jury’s still out on the latter, but I probably would have pulled the trigger. Still, I get why he wanted to keep a young pass rushing specialist as a core piece. I think his drafts have been pretty solid. No way I pick fields over Horn. Shut down corner is tremendously important these days. Fields is a fantasy standout due to his running, but he’s 5-20 with 21 interceptions and 28 fumbles in less than 2 seasons. He may get better, but he would not have been developed by rhule and would have been a wasted pick.

Atlanta is still trying to win games. They could beat TB if TB rests some starters. We’re not jumping Vegas, KC will see to that. We might win and still move up to 8. I don’t see a loss against the taints hurting us at all.

Atlanta won today. I guess they didn’t know you were supposed to quit after elimination. what is pathetic about some of our “fans” is the desire to lose while still in contention. frankly if every team that was unlikely to win it all tanked, the game would not be worth following. Too much like pro wrestling. Just a fake clown show.