Personally, I think we (the Rams) aught to be perfectly willing to deal the pick, or Ndamukong Suh himself, which ever works out. If the Bucs want him, let's make a deal. This is intended as no slight against Suh, who I regard as the best defensive tackle prospect since Mean Joe, and a true piece of championship material, but I just don't think he is the man we need. All else being equal, I would love to have him, but all else is not equal.
Our defense is very good, and there are a boat load of linemen in free agency this year, many of whom would like to play in Coach Spags' 3 and 4 defenseive end system. Our defense would be clearly statistically solid if our offense would stop setting them up for failure. I can't count how many times our horrendous offense has setup the other team on a short field, thus setting our defense for failure. Our offense is absolutely wretched. I mean totally puke-nasty, disgusting, rotten, bad, aweful. Our offense almost couldn't be worse.
Clearly, we are in need of an offensive overhaul, and I do mean overhaul. We are in absolute rebuilding mode offensively. In our skilled positions I see only two survivors: Steve Jackson and Donnie Avery. On our OL, I see only two survivors: Jason Smith and Jason Brown. This means 7 of 11 starting positions need to be replaced. The key focus has to be on the omni-important QB position.
Some of our offensive players should stick around, but not as starters. Danny Amendola should become our Steve Tasker, if he isn't already. He can make a good #3 reciever, maybe he can even be a Wes Welker as so many have suggested. I do like him. Daniel Fells is a good second tight end. He should stick around. Adam Goldberg should remain as a backup lineman.
To acquire 7 new starters you need both free agents and good solid draft picks. This has to be an offense-focused draft and free-agency. I think 4 + 4 would be a good formula. The top 4 picks need to be offensive players. Our top 4 free-agents need to be offensive players. Who should those men be?
- Trent Williams or Russel Okung
- Tim Tebow
- Dexter McCluster
- Seyi Ajiratutu
- Brandon Marshall
- Jahri Evans
- David Baas
- Deuce Lutui
This is why I once again call on Mr. Devany to fire young Pat Shurmur. He just wasn't the right choice in the first place. He wasn't prepared for the job, and he plays an old-fashioned offense that no longer works: A run biased West Coast. Neither Shurmur's short passing game, nor the run component are really effective anymore. By that I mean it is an invalid approach, not a question of personnel. We need to restore The Greatest Show on Turf. The focus has to be on exact routes for WRs, the use of motion and formation to construct mismatches, and scoring with the big play. For this job I would summon Trent Green, and give him control. I would suggest Mike Martz, but I just don't think we can give him a demotion on a team where he was once the Head Coach.
