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Pyser · 04-11-2005, 11:21 PM

Meet Your Newest Rams

C Leonard Duncan - 5'11, 275 - Pre draft 35/88 - First look 35/86 - Pick 1(9). Leonard was the 2nd highest player on our draft board, behind CB Greenberg. We think he could have dropped to us at 1(12), but weren't willing to take the risk, after already moving back from 1(7) to 1(9) in exchange for a 2nd next year. We were looking to play Duncan at LG this season, and let him slide over to C next year, but with the addition of a guard at 1(12), he may just sit this year. We are very happy to have landed this player. He should be a monster center, one of the very best in the league.

G Will Beatty - 6'4, 215 - Pre draft 33/72 - First look 33/75 - Pick 1(12). Another offensive lineman was just about the last thing we were looking to draft with this pick, but the safety that we had our eye on went extremely early, at pick 3. We thought long and hard about S Norton with this pick. We had him pegged as a late first rounder, but at the time had no trade worked out to move in there and grab him. We had three choices: take the top player left on our board and pray we could work out a trade, trade down to around pick 20 and take Norton a bit early, or take Norton at 12. After a lot of trade talks, we decided to keep the pick, and go with the top player on our board, G Beatty. And he rewarded us with a quick ratings boost right off the bat. LG had been a trouble spot for us since we traded Adam Timmerman for cap reasons. It's no longer a problem now. In fact, we have an embarassment of riches on the line now, with 7 potential starters for only 5 spots. A nice problem to have.

S T.J. Norton - 6'2, 209 - Pre draft 34/52 - First look 35/59! - Pick 1(24) - And the gamble paid off big time. Norton was the guy we wanted most in the whole draft. We obviously couldn't rate him first on our board, but we are happier to have landed Norton than Duncan. His outstanding combine times gave us hope he'd move to CB, but alas, he can only make the move at 89%. We are debating contacting the rules committee. We have a mentor CB there, and would almost certainly start this young phenom, even over CB Surtain. Or we could keep him at safety, where he'd also start, and certainly improve even more. He is everything we'd hoped for so far. Can't wait to see how far he climbs. To get him, we traded picks 2(12), 3(12), and T Stinchomb, who performed badly for us filling in for the injured Turley. We'd pay that again in a second, gladly.

TE Earl Fones - 6'8, 278 - Pre draft 29/48 - First look 30/55! - Pick 3(4) - Another riser! This one really almost never came to be, and was pure luck that we landed him at all. Fones was certainly our target in the third round, that much we knew. But at the time pick 3(1) rolled around, only 1 TE had been taken all draft. So we thought we could nab Fones a bit lower, and worked out a trade with a team for a couple mid round picks, which we planned to use on Fones and RB Stargell. But the deal was only a go if a certain player dropped to 3(4). Well, he didn't. And with no backup deal worked out, we suddenly found ourselves on the clock. With no trade partner around, we picked Fones a good 20 spots ahead of where we thought we could get him. Then another TE went right after Fones, and RB Stargell a mere 2 picks later. So had we traded down, we almost certainly would have lost out on both players we wanted. Extremely lucky there. Fones looks like a monster player, who will almost certainly start this season. And we have a mentor TE around to help him along even more. Sweet!

LT Edgar Kerr - 6'7, 334 - Pre draft 13/45 - First look n/a - Pick 6(12) - After a long internal debate in the draft room, we took run blocking specialist Kerr to fill in as our 4th tackle, over G Gordon and DE Skerritt. We loved Skerritt, but he was a marginal upgrade at 4th DE, whereas we had no 4th tackle. And we were already swimming in guards, knocking Gordon out of the running. Kerr is no gem, but he could be servicable if called into action, which we hope doesn't happen anytime soon.

LG Rusty Gordon - 6'6, 323 - Pre draft 21/47 - First look n/a - Pick 7(12) - We had to rub our eyes to make sure Gordon had really fallen a whole round from when we almost took him. Easy choice here. We were planning on using the pick on a throwaway RB with high volatily, but instead we land a fairly solid guard who is a run blocking beast. Another bonus for our o-line, where we will now be cutting or trading 2 solid players to make room for the 4 rookies on the line.

04-11-2005, 11:21 PM	#41
Pyser Pro Rookie Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Los Angeles	Meet Your Newest Rams C Leonard Duncan - 5'11, 275 - Pre draft 35/88 - First look 35/86 - Pick 1(9). Leonard was the 2nd highest player on our draft board, behind CB Greenberg. We think he could have dropped to us at 1(12), but weren't willing to take the risk, after already moving back from 1(7) to 1(9) in exchange for a 2nd next year. We were looking to play Duncan at LG this season, and let him slide over to C next year, but with the addition of a guard at 1(12), he may just sit this year. We are very happy to have landed this player. He should be a monster center, one of the very best in the league. G Will Beatty - 6'4, 215 - Pre draft 33/72 - First look 33/75 - Pick 1(12). Another offensive lineman was just about the last thing we were looking to draft with this pick, but the safety that we had our eye on went extremely early, at pick 3. We thought long and hard about S Norton with this pick. We had him pegged as a late first rounder, but at the time had no trade worked out to move in there and grab him. We had three choices: take the top player left on our board and pray we could work out a trade, trade down to around pick 20 and take Norton a bit early, or take Norton at 12. After a lot of trade talks, we decided to keep the pick, and go with the top player on our board, G Beatty. And he rewarded us with a quick ratings boost right off the bat. LG had been a trouble spot for us since we traded Adam Timmerman for cap reasons. It's no longer a problem now. In fact, we have an embarassment of riches on the line now, with 7 potential starters for only 5 spots. A nice problem to have. S T.J. Norton - 6'2, 209 - Pre draft 34/52 - First look 35/59! - Pick 1(24) - And the gamble paid off big time. Norton was the guy we wanted most in the whole draft. We obviously couldn't rate him first on our board, but we are happier to have landed Norton than Duncan. His outstanding combine times gave us hope he'd move to CB, but alas, he can only make the move at 89%. We are debating contacting the rules committee. We have a mentor CB there, and would almost certainly start this young phenom, even over CB Surtain. Or we could keep him at safety, where he'd also start, and certainly improve even more. He is everything we'd hoped for so far. Can't wait to see how far he climbs. To get him, we traded picks 2(12), 3(12), and T Stinchomb, who performed badly for us filling in for the injured Turley. We'd pay that again in a second, gladly. TE Earl Fones - 6'8, 278 - Pre draft 29/48 - First look 30/55! - Pick 3(4) - Another riser! This one really almost never came to be, and was pure luck that we landed him at all. Fones was certainly our target in the third round, that much we knew. But at the time pick 3(1) rolled around, only 1 TE had been taken all draft. So we thought we could nab Fones a bit lower, and worked out a trade with a team for a couple mid round picks, which we planned to use on Fones and RB Stargell. But the deal was only a go if a certain player dropped to 3(4). Well, he didn't. And with no backup deal worked out, we suddenly found ourselves on the clock. With no trade partner around, we picked Fones a good 20 spots ahead of where we thought we could get him. Then another TE went right after Fones, and RB Stargell a mere 2 picks later. So had we traded down, we almost certainly would have lost out on both players we wanted. Extremely lucky there. Fones looks like a monster player, who will almost certainly start this season. And we have a mentor TE around to help him along even more. Sweet! LT Edgar Kerr - 6'7, 334 - Pre draft 13/45 - First look n/a - Pick 6(12) - After a long internal debate in the draft room, we took run blocking specialist Kerr to fill in as our 4th tackle, over G Gordon and DE Skerritt. We loved Skerritt, but he was a marginal upgrade at 4th DE, whereas we had no 4th tackle. And we were already swimming in guards, knocking Gordon out of the running. Kerr is no gem, but he could be servicable if called into action, which we hope doesn't happen anytime soon. LG Rusty Gordon - 6'6, 323 - Pre draft 21/47 - First look n/a - Pick 7(12) - We had to rub our eyes to make sure Gordon had really fallen a whole round from when we almost took him. Easy choice here. We were planning on using the pick on a throwaway RB with high volatily, but instead we land a fairly solid guard who is a run blocking beast. Another bonus for our o-line, where we will now be cutting or trading 2 solid players to make room for the 4 rookies on the line. Last edited by Pyser : 04-11-2005 at 11:24 PM.