Rams brothers,

I think we should consider offering our 7th pick in the second round to Pittsburgh for WR Mike Wallace. I realize it would need to be a sign-and-trade kind of deal but why not? We would acquire a true, PROVEN #1 WR with incredible stats (3,000+ yards, 24 TDs in the last three years and he is only 25), exactly what we need. We could address our OL (Cordy Glenn) with the 1st pick, and then go BPA with our 3rd pick. Wallace is still not signing his contract and next year he could leave the Steelers and Pittsburgh wouldn't get anything in return.

I am of the opinion that a proven WR is way more valuable that someone with tons of potential but that has never taken a single snap in the NFL.

I understand the cost implications but assuming that those can be worked out by the FO, why not??

Go RAMS!

Updated: I just found this link talking about this scenario from a Steelers fan site:

http://bleedblackandgold.com/blog/2012/04/27/rams-could-show-interest-in-mike-wallace-today/

Rams brothers,

I know that we all have our favorite picks and I can understand that some Rams fans were hoping for the sexy pick (Blackmon, Floyd, Richardson,...) but we need to trust the FO. They have done an incredible job so far. Believe me when I say that I understand your frustration because I have been asking for a true #1 WR for the last two years. During that time, I have suggested trading for Brandon Lloyd (last year), Vincent Jackson (this year), and Mike Wallace (this year) but this FO knows what is doing. They have watched way more film than we have, they have interviewed the players, they have seen them in action during private workouts. They know better and they know what may work best for us.

To add some credibility to their plan, they have turned TWO picks (#2, and #6) into four, FOUR additional picks (two extra second rounders this year, and two extra first rounders in the following couple of years. That is HUGE and the Rams are already turning this ship around, no doubt about that.

Reasons to feel good about the way this is going:

1) We have filled one of our top needs, DT (many people had Brockers as a top 10 pick).

2) If they traded down from #2 is because they didn't see any player in a position of need that was worth the pick.

3) If they traded down from #6 is because they didn't see any player in a position of need that was worth the pick.

4) If a Calvin Johnson, A.J. Green, Larry Fitzgerald type of talent would have been available in this class, the Rams would have not traded down.

and

5) We have picks 1 (33), 7 (39), and 13 (45) in the second round. That is OUTSTANDING NEWS!

Sure, getting Blackmon or Floyd would have been exciting but realistically speaking, can we say that one of those guys was going to turn into an elite WR for sure? Nobody knows. Many solid WRs have been found in the early/middle rounds. There are some intriguing possibilities on the board AND we own the top of the second round!

Today is good to be a Rams fan! Please trust our Front Office, they are experienced football guys that have been in the business for many years and you just can't forget that.

GO RAMS!

Rams brothers, you may know that I have been advocating going after a #1 WR for years now. In my opinion, Steelers WR Mike Wallace would be a superb addition to the Rams WR unit. It would be even better than Vincent Jackson or Brandon Marshall. Mike Wallace is only 25 years old and has accumulated 24 TDs and 3,000+ yards in only 3 seasons. He is arguably the top deep threat in the NFL. Wallace would fill a huge need for the Rams. We are starting to hear some rumors about the Rams trading for DeSean Jackson. I would also be happy with that but I much rather have Wallace who seems to be more mature and hasn't even reached his ceiling.

WR Wallace's Full Stats

Year/Games/Receptions/Yards/Average/Long/TD/FirstDowns/Fumbles/LostFumbles

Now, Wallace has been tendered at the 1st round level so the question is how could we get Wallace?

Some people have reported New England's interest in trading up to the top 10. New England owns picks #27 and #31 in the first round. We could trade our #6 for New England's #27 and #31 plus a 3rd round pick (or whatever makes sense for both parties). Then, give the Steelers pick #27 and get Wallace. We would immediately take care of a huge hole in our offense. Wallace is young so he could build a great rapport with Bradford. It seems that everybody is in agreement on the fact that there is no Calvin Johnson / A.J. Green type of receiver in this draft so I don't think we should draft a WR in the first round based on need. Because of this reason, acquiring Wallace via trade makes even more sense to me.

I am all for trading for a known commodity. If we were to trade down for Wallace, we would know exactly what we would be getting. Blackmon and the other WRs in the draft are intriguing of course but Wallace has proven what he can do in the NFL.

After this trade, the Rams would end up with Mike Wallace and have the following picks in the first two rounds:

1st round - #31 from New England

2nd round - #1 (#33 overall) and #7 (#39 overall) from Washington

I believe that there is a lot of quality in this draft in the first three rounds so those three picks give us a great range of possibilities.

I would be extremely satisfied if after all is said and done we end up with a top WR as Wallace and have three picks in the first 40 picks of the draft.

What are your thoughts? I trust this FO has at least considered a scenario like this one. Snead/Fisher seem to be aggressive so I have faith that they will finally address the WR unit.

Go Rams!!!

Here is an interesting possibility that I thought I would share with my Rams brothers to think about. The Miami Dolphins have the following picks in the first five rounds this year:

1st round: #8. 2nd round: #10, 3rd round: #9, 4th round: #8, 5th round: #10

It has been reported that Miami is also looking for a QB so the Dolphins have been mentioned as a possible suitor to trade up for RGIII. For the reasons below, I believe we should make a deal with Miami if they offer an attractive number of picks PLUS Brandon Marshall. My rationale below not only applies to the draft but also to the fact that I think it makes sense to get an established WR via trade or FA (if you can afford it) rather than relying on hitting gold on the draft:

- Most WRs take a few years to develop (A.J Green or Calvin Johnson are some exceptions).

- We are in serious need of a true #1 WR (even more so if we don't resign Brandon Lloyd).

- It appears that there is no A.J. Green, Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones type of talent at WR in the draft.

- History says that the current staff knows how to develop talent at the OL without necessarily using high draft picks on offensive lineman so we may not need to use a high pick for an OL like Kalil.

- Justin Blackmon may end up being the real deal but I would pick up an established WR over any college WR who has not taken a single snap in the NFL.

- We would immediately take care of a wound that has been opened for too many years.

- It appears that Vincent Jackson will get the franchise tag and DeSean Jackson is also likely to get it (I am not a big fan of the latter one though) which reduces our options of plugging this hole at WR.

I don't think it would be too far fetched to believe that the Dolphins would be willing to trade their 1st round pick, 2nd round pick, 4th or 5th round pick AND Brandon Marshall for our 1st round pick. They would need to be aggressive to beat offers coming from Cleveland and Washington. Furthermore, if the Dolphins make an offer that does not include Brandon Marshall, I would counteroffer with a package that would include him. I would even settle for their 1st, 2nd and Marshall.

Obviously, I don't know if this strategy would fit in the cap. My guess is that it may not be possible to get Marshall and resign Lloyd (having both as part of our WR corps, plus Amendola and Salas would dramatically upgrade our passing game though) but finally having a true #1 WR on the roster would finally start giving Bradford a chance to be successful (assuming that the issues at the OL are taken care of).

As far as who to draft with the picks we would get, I would probably go BPA with a preference to cover the biggest holes we currently have.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading and go Rams!!!

Bear with me for a second... I think you are going to feel a little better in a couple of minutes...

I thought I was going to be really upset and disappointed at the end of the game and I think I would have been if we would have lost 23-20 by a FG in the last second; however, I want to believe that losing to Seattle yesterday is going to help us tremendously in the future. If we would have scored points and made it look like we had a legitimate chance to win the game, Devaney and Co. could have forgotten the fact that we have NO offensive weapons other than Steven Jackson and Amendola (and maybe Illinois Mike). We need at least two WRs (one of them must be a true #1), a change of pace backup RB and a TE. We cannot go into the next season thinking that with the returns of Avery, Clayton, and hopefully a healthier Alexander, we would be OK... that would be a huge mistake. I would bring all those guys back (if healthy) but I would still bring two solid WRs into the mix considering that the mentioned above are injury prone.

When I saw Kroenke on TV, I hoped that he was taking notes to address the Rams' needs in the offseason which starts now. I am not going to start throwing names there but I think we need a solid #1 receiver in the FA and another WR in the draft. We need to surround Bradford with some weapons in order to give him a chance to be successful. Sam threw a bad interception, we all know that but he played solid. Once Amendola was shut down, nobody else could make a catch. He looked frustrated at his WRs at times and we cannot blame him for that. If the football hits you on your hands or goes through your arms, that's on the WR.

I am not even going to question the coaching at this point. Perhaps our WR unit has been playing well above its talent level and Spags & Shurmur knew that so they played very conservative to give us a chance to win games. Show me in the offseason some aggressive moves and bring the Eagles' WCO to St. Louis. With Bradford and our defense we could be dominating the NFC West for years.

Thanks Seattle for exposing our deficiencies... this is REALLY going to help building a much better Rams offense.

Go Rams!!

Last week when we played the Chargers I was so upset with how we played despite the win. Some of my Rams brothers here were saying that "a win is a win", "you have never coached in the NFL so let the OC work", "the OC doesn't want to show the entire playbook", "Steven Jackson got the critical 1st down because we worn out the Chargers' defense" and so forth. I respect all those opinions but I am going to say it again, when you play ultra-conservative starting in the 3rd quarter, you're bound to lose the game 95% of the time!

We lost this game because of our OC and maybe our head coach (not sure who to to blame on the play-calling). I am sick and tired of Shurmur. Playing not too lose is not the way to go.

I feel bad for the players though. You could see how frustrated they were. Steven Jackson gave everything he had in him and came up short. The play-calling is too predictable and one just cannot expect that the other team is just not going to score for 30 minutes. We need to put some points on the board especially when we are only 2 scores ahead of our rival.

This loss was worse than the one against the Lions... way worse because we actually had the game totally under control at the half.

Unfortunately, we cannot fire Shurmur in the middle of the season and I get that but this guy is hurting our chances to win some games. I give him credit for the play-calling in the first half. He actually mixed it well but what in the world happened in the second half?

I feel bad for the defense too. They played fairly well but a defensive unit will end up breaking apart when it spends most of the second half on the field. This is common sense Shurmur and Spags. Nobody needs to be an NFL coach to apply common sense to the game.

Many of us called this horrible strategy last week and warned that this was going to cause trouble in the future. Well, there you have it Spags and Shurmur. Thanks for shattering the players and the Rams fans hopes.

I don't think I have ever felt this way about a Rams win before. I was so hyped about the way our defense was playing, and the way our offense looked for most of the first half... even our dome looked like a place that opposing teams would want to avoid at all costs; however, I couldn't fully enjoy the win because I felt like Shurmur's ultra-conservative play calling almost cost us the game.

I understand that you don't want to put a rookie QB on the hot seat and get some interceptions that could be crucial but shutting down the entire offense and relying solely on your defense was suicidal, especially against the Chargers! It is a good approach to run more the football and play more conservative but running Steven Jackson straight up the middle every single time was just way too predictable to say the least. At the minimum, we should have kept playing to put some points on the board during the third quarter. Then, play as conservative as you want in the fourth quarter. Fortunately, the defense was out of this world and kept us alive but if the Chargers would have found their momentum a little sooner we would be sitting at 2-4 right now. We all remember the 7-play TD that took only 40 sec right?

We got away with the win this time because Steven Jackson is an absolute monster and because our defense held the Chargers for most of the game but this strategy is not going to work 95% of the time, especially on the road.

Shurmur has shown us that he actually has a nice playbook in hand. Perhaps he was following Spags' direction but come on, trust your offense, especially when there are still two full quarters to play and running straight up the middle is not working! The defense is not going to be getting 7 sacks every week.

On a positive side, congrats to the entire Rams team. I was pleasantly surprised about Alexander and I wish him a long and successful NFL career with the Rams. Gibson made some nice catches and Steven Jackson is just an unbelievable professional. It is also hard to put into words how hard our defense fought. Amazing effort!

Don't take me wrong, a win is a win but we could have easily gotten burnt here. We need to wrap up games when we have a chance. Am I the only one that was extremely frustrated with the play calling?

First of all, please don't kill me for this thought but I was just wondering if you would do it. It has been reported that the Chargers want 2 2nd rounders for Jackson. I have thrown around the idea of trading Gilyard + a 3rd round pick for VJ but as some people mentioned, that is probably not enough for the Chargers to agree; however, Avery + a 3rd round pick may be a good package considering that Avery has a lot of potential as a former 1st round pick and perhaps a change of scenery is all that Avery needs. Obviously, I would structure VJ's contract according to his DUI risk.

Something to keep in mind is that Alexander should just spend this season recovering and getting ready for 2011 and then all the sudden, we may have Danario as a tremendous weapon to add to the mix.

Consider our WR corps for next season:

Jackson, Clayton, Alexander, Amendola, Gibson

Personally, I haven't given up on Avery; however, he is a #2 WR like Clayton but Clayton has shown me in three games way more than Avery has in these past seasons.

San Diego is not in a rush to get someone short term but they may see the potential of bringing Avery so this deal may be appealing to them.

Thoughts?

I am sure that we all agree that losing Clayton was one of the worst things that could have happened to the Rams other than losing Bradford or Jackson. Now, I am trying to stay positive on a sad Monday for all Rams fans. The only positive thing about losing Clayton was the fact that it showed how big of a difference it makes to have a talented #2 WR (not even a #1 - although Clayton was playing as our #1 WR). Once he was out of the game, the whole Rams team collapsed. The offensive unit was broken, Bradford had nobody to throw to. He was still being accurate but our WR just couldn't make a catch! The Lions were putting 9 man in the box and Jackson kept fighting against the entire Lions team with little chance for success. In the previous two games, we opened the field for Jackson by throwing the football and stretching the field. Now, our only deep threat is gone for the season.

My conclusion: If we don't make a move now, we are not going to win more than 1 or 2 additional games. We have no passing game whatsoever and we will be just risking Steven Jackson getting injured.

If I were Devaney, I would be on the phone talking to teams about getting a true #1 WR via trade, right now!!!

My proposal: As a mentioned on my response on a different post, I would trade our third round pick and Mary Gilyard for Vincent Jackson. I know that many of you think that VJ is too risky and I agree but this kind of trade would be of the high return / low risk kind of trade. I don't think Mardy has shown anything. He falls easily, he just runs into defenders and seems fragile. I had high hopes for Mardy but he hasn't shown me much. As far as VJ goes, I know that he is one DUI away from being suspended so I would just structure his contract accordingly. We would get to keep our 1st and 2nd round picks next year and if VJ doesn't work out, we are not losing too much.

Bradford has shown us (thanks to Clayton) that with just one really good, reliable receiver he can win games for us. Please stop grabbing leftovers from other teams / practice squads and make a move!!!! I really don't want to start thinking about next season just after 5 games.

Devaney is on the hook right now. This is what he is hired to do.

What are your thoughts? Would you do this trade? Feel free to throw a different name there instead of VJ.

Go Rams!

Just throwing an idea out there after reading Sando's column on Fitzgerald's uncertain future with the Cards.

Here is the link:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcwest/post/_/id/24912/around-the-nfc-west-fitzgeralds-future

Personally, I would give them our 1st round pick (and our 2nd round pick the following year if necessary) to get one of the best WRs in the NFL. If we make a good offer to both the Cardinals and the player AND if the Rams look good this season with Bradford throwing amazingly well... Fitzgerald make find this opportunity intriguing. He is probably going to grow frustrated with the QB situation in Arizona.

Thoughts?

Bradford's INT

- I absolutely loved Bradford's INT. This guy is an absolute winner. If I remember well, the score was 14-0 and he saw an opportunity to score a TD and took it. It would have been 21-0 and the end of the game there. He wasn't being conservative. He was going for the win. He reminds me of Payton Manning.

Rams fans at the dome

- I love seeing Rams fans at the dome getting excited about the game but they need to put pressure on the opposing team non-stop! It seems like when the Rams have a couple of bad drives, many fans just give up! The defense yesterday got the fans ignited and it should be the other way around especially when the team is struggling. Please Rams fans at the dome, bring your A game to the dome against Seattle. Some of the false start calls were in part due to the pressure YOU put on the 'Skins. I know that many Rams fans cheer non-stop but we need EVERYBODY to be on-board! NOTE: If I am willing to fly to Seattle for a season opener against the Rams (see week 1 of last season), sit near the end zone, wear a Rams jersey, and cheer for the Rams while getting all kind of trash talk on me, you can do it too at the dome!

Bradford could be the next Payton Manning

- Bradford is outstanding inside and outside the pocket. As people already pointed out, his patience and read on Fell's TD was incredible. He knew exactly what his option was and sold the play perfectly.

Steven Jackson is a leader

- We all know about Steven Jackson's talent and leadership both on and off the field. I hope he is back soon but his presence in the sidelines can be sensed. I loved seeing his enthusiasm when the team scored in the second half even though he couldn't contribute on the field. That's a true captain.

Jacob Bell's commitment

- Bell has enormous talent but somehow he has continuously underperformed. Last night, he had a solid game and he REALLY was into the game. I love seeing him celebrate when Darby scored the TD. It is so good to see that the whole team is committed to winning.

Our TE corps

- Is it me or we have a really good set of TEs? I cannot believe we almost left Fells go. This guy needs to stay with the Rams. I also liked Fendi, he has a promising future in the NFL.

3 WR and 4 WR sets

- 3 WR and 4 WR sets worked marvels for us (see Darby's TD) - Shurmur should spread the defense with these sets to run the football. Amendola was fantastic, Clayton was terrific. Gibson didn't play his best but I know he will make a comeback. 

Shurmur not playing conservative

- Kudos to Shurmur on going for it on 3rd and 20. A great play perfectly executed by Bradford and Clayton. I haven't seen us taking these chances since the times of Mike Martz. If you have the talent and confidence, every single down should be played aggressively (except for situations in which strategically, it just doesn't make sense obviously)

Clayton = a steal

- Clayton may not be a #1 WR but he is an amazing player. He was quite a steal for the Rams. Congrats to Devaney and Spags for keeping an eye on this guy.

#1 Wide Receiver

- I watched Brandon Marshall last night and I really wished we had him (I know we just couldn't get it last year). What an amazing connection we would have between Bradford and Marshall. We need a guy like Marshall. It would make our passing game one of the best in the NFL. Clayton, Avery, Amendola, Gilyard, they all would be even better receivers. More space and less pressure for them and of course, it would also open the field for Steven Jackson

Game against Seattle will define this season

- If we win we will be 2-2 tied with Seattle and we would be flying to DET with a real chance to have a positive record. I am sure the Rams players are fired up about Sunday! This game will define the season in my opinion. Are we talking about fighting for the NFC West this year or next. In any case, the Rams have definitely turned the ship around!

GO RAMS!!!!!!

I haven't seen enough of Vincent Jackson to know if he is worth the money he asks but after watching the Rams yesterday, I keep thinking that if we had a #1 WR, we could seriously win the NFC West. Vincent Jackson would be a huge target and Clayton would be the perfect deep threat. Those two guys would spread the field and open the lanes for Steven Jackson. Bradford looked great but the Cardinals didn't quite respect our passing game. A true #1 WR would have moved the safety farther down the field. Sam did a great job but he had a tough challenge in front of him.

Now that the Rams have an owner that wants to make this team competitive, would you trade our round 2 pick of next year for Vincent Jackson? If the Rams FO considers Vincent Jackson's personality won't hurt the locker room, I would make this move in a second. I am sure the coaching staff knows that a true #1 WR would have helped our offense tremendously against the Cardinals.

Can you imagine Sam Bradford, Steven Jackson, Vincent Jackson, Mark Clayton, Donnie Avery and Danny Amendola lined up next year? That would be a powerful offense, especially now that the OL is starting to be solid.

Do you think the FO would make a move? Would you do it?

GO RAMS!

Hi everyone,

I have been a huge fan of the Rams for many years and I wanted to thank everyone for all the contributions you make to Turf Show Times. Visiting this site for the latest news about the Rams have become part of my daily routine. I especially wanted to thank VanRam, 3k, and ram_rod for dedicating some of their time to really keep us posted on what's going on at Rams Park. One of the things that I really enjoy about TST is that everybody is respectful and polite. We all are trying to come up with ways of making our team better. I have seen other Rams forums in which many people are extremely rude and disrespectful with each other and that's just plain sad.

I have close ties to Saint Louis. My wife (she is a Saint Louisian) and I graduated from SLU and we now live in Los Angeles because of my job. We are huge Rams fans so we even flew to Seattle to see the Rams play at QWest for their season opener. It was an amazing experience (and a tough one too). A good friend of mine has great season tickets for the Seahawks so we were sitting just a few rows from the field. I proudly wore my Marshall Faulk jersey and as expected, I received a ton of trash talk during the game but It was all good, we all share something, our love for the game.

As many of you, I have been a little disappointed about the first day of the Free Agency market. We have seen some teams trying to make things happen (Bears, Lions, Ravens,...) and we are still seating tight. In my opinion, the Rams need to make a bold move to start being competitive right away. Rams fans have been suffering for too many years now to end up again in the bottom 5 of the NFL. I still have faith in Devaney and Co. but they need to move quick before all the big names are gone.

Here is what I propose and I would like to hear what your thoughts about this plan are:

- Get a true #1 WR: Before writing this post I was going to suggest getting Boldin or Marshall (but Boldin just signed for the Ravens!) so I say let's be aggressive and get Brandon Marshall. He is one of the top 3 WR in the league and would work great in our offense. He is extremely difficult to stop when he has some momentum (grabs tons of YAC) and would open the field along with Avery for Steven Jackson. Can you imagine what having a passing game would do to Steven Jackson's game? Perhaps we could trade our #2 this year and our #3 next year along with Barron. I am not sure, but we need to take our chances and be aggressive. Just make it happen! I am terrified with the thought of the Seahawks taking Marshall. They may have some issues with their OL and at QB but Marshall is young and the Seahawks are going to turn this ship around in 1-2 years. I am not against paying a high price in draft picks in exchange for someone with talent. Like some people say, I rather pay top money to someone that has played in the NFL than to someone that still needs to prove if they can play in the league.

- Get Bradford and we have our franchise QB: I have been in the Suh bandwagon for a while but if Sam Bradford checks out medically, we should take him. If he doesn't check out, take Suh and perhaps keep Bulger as a stop gap for 1-2 more years. Having someone that can catch the football would definitely help him.

- Resign Witherspoon and go defense in the draft: We solidify our defense with someone that already knows our system and take advantage of the talent in this year's deep draft.

- Sign one of the other big names if possible: DE Kapman or TE Scheffler.

What do think about having QB Bradford, WR Marshall and RB Jackson lined up? I think people would start respecting us immediately. I personally am willing to pay a high price with picks to make it happen. I also believe that going offense helps our defense. If you have a good defense (and I think our defense wasn't as bad as some people think) but they spend most of the game on the field, at some point they have to break apart. Having a stronger offense would take some pressure off our defense and help them keep their game up.

What are your thoughts? Does anybody know if the Rams are considering Marshall? Let's make it happen!!!

Go Rams!!!