 UPDATED: DRAFT, FREE AGENCY, & CAP INFO BY
RAMBILL(March 13) |
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1. THE RAMS PICKS: We have
the following picks: 1st round 2nd round 3rd round 4th round 5th round from Baltimore via Detroit for Hill 5th round from Denver for Jenkins 6th round 6th round from KC for Jacoby 7th round from Baltimore for Banks 7th round from Detroit for Hill Lots of ammunition for trade ups! Note: The Rams traded their own 5th for Mike Jones (NE) and 7th for Paul Justin (Oakland) Here are the draft positions for the picks we got in trades. * 10th pick of the 5th round (from Denver-- Jenkins) * 20th pick of the 5th round (from Baltimore thru Detroit-- Hill) * 23rd pick of the 6th round (from KC-- Jacoby) * 14th pick of the 7th round ( Detroit-- Hill) * 18th pick of the 7th round ( Baltimore--Banks) 2. A NOTE ON TRADING TRENT GREEN. Some have speculated that if Green is traded after June 1 the cap hit diminishes. However, Howard Balzer has reported [back on Feb 6] that it wouldn't matter when Green was traded. Before June 1 or after, the entire accelerated signing bonus counts against the 2000 cap. Apparently it is only when players are cut after June 1 that you are allowed to split the cap hit over two years. 3. THE CAP INFLUENCES THE DRAFT. The salary cap and free agency prevents you from truly taking "the best player on the board." For example, the Rams pick at #31 will have a cap number of around $1 million/ yr. You can't pay a player that kind of money who is going to sit on the bench for 3 years. Also, free agency means you may only have a player for 3 or 4 years. As a result, a 1st round pick needs to be starting by his 2nd year or at a minimum, a major contributor. So teams usually take the "best player on the board" among a limited number of positions. A QB, RB, WR (assuming Bruce is re-signed) or DE (assuming Carter is re-signed) would have no chance to be a starter for a number of years. The only way the Rams should take a player at one of those positions is if someone who they had rated as a top 10 pick somehow falls down to #31. As you get into the middle and later rounds the "best player" principle is more applicable. The Rams 1st pick will most likely be the "best player on the board" amongst DT's, OLB's, and OT's. 4. FUTURE SALARY CAPS: [From Pro Football Weekly: " The salary cap that NFL teams are working with this year is $62.5 million. We hear the projected salary cap values for the next three seasons, disclosed at the NFL Scouting Combine's annual agents meeting, are as follows: $67.2 million in 2001......$72.6 million in 2002....$78.4 million in 2003."] That's an average increase of $5.3 million per year. That will make the difficult task of getting all our key free agents signed a little easier. 5. SOME UFAs VISIT THE RAMS: Here is how the War Room rated the 3 UFA's that just visited the Rams: Grading Scale: 5.0-- Marginal Starter, 4.0-- Reliable Backup **Sean Moran, Bills, DE, 6'3", 275, 26 yrs. old Grade: 4.5 Instinctive backup that can also contribute on special teams... High effort guy with quick first step but injuries have prevented him from reaching full potential... good second-tier player. **Jay Leeuwenburg, Bengals, OC/OG, 6'3", 290, 30 yrs. old Grade: 4.5 Did a solid job of filling in at OG last season... Veteran leader that is a quality player to have around young guys... Intelligent, steady, makes few mistakes... Still has decent feet and quicks... Struggles a bit versus powerful DT's but can still be productive. **Norberto Davidds-Garret, Panthers, OT, 6'5", 315, 27 yrs.old Grade:4.0 Has yet to play up to potential... Shows flashes but way too inconsistent... Extremely strong and slides surprisingly well in pass protection... lacks aggressiveness and doesn't fight to finish blocks. 6. COMPENSATION FOR LOSING UFAS: The league has some type of formula (which they don't release) which rates all of the UFAs each year. Just losing any UFA doesn't necessarily help you. They have to be quality starters. The league balances the quality of the FAs you gained vs. the quality of the FAs you lost and then awards picks based on their secret formula. The picks are not awarded until the following year. Any picks we might get for the loss of Miller and Grutt wouldn't come until the 2001 draft. The compensatory picks start at the end of the 3rd round, and continue through the remaining 4 rounds. The league awards a total of 31 compensatory picks, enough to essentially create an extra round in the draft. One other thing about UFA compensatory picks---they CANNOT be traded. |
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