Can the Rams afford three quality FA Offensive Linemen?

[paceram]

Now that the Rams have spent some money on signing some pretty good FA players (Britt, Ayers, Fairley and Kendricks) do they have enough cap space to sign 3 good free agent offensive linemen (Wisniewski, Blalock, Barksdale, etc)? I realize I am dreaming if I really think they have a chance of signing all three of those players but that would be great but I would settle for two of the three and I will be very, very disappointed if they don't sign any of them (which, I am sure, is definitely possible!)!

 

[Ramrasta]

They have the money for 2 of them but 3 would be both difficult to rope into signing and be under the cap. Personally, I would be content with Barksdale only. It's a tough market for OL because everyone could use a few.

 

[Stel]

All depends on how much they cost! LOL

Seriously, IF they want 3 FAs, they can manage the dollars. I suspect what you will get is one 3-5 year young veteran FA, one 1-2 year bridge FA starter, and one draft choice to go with Robinson and Saffold.

 

[Dodgersrf]

I doubt it. We still need cap for our draft picks as well. I think we currently have somewhere around 11 mill.
One. Maybe two. 3 might be cutting it close.

 

[SierraRam]

Now that the Rams have spent some money on signing some pretty good FA players (Britt, Ayers, Fairley and Kendricks) do they have enough cap space to sign 3 good free agent offensive linemen (Wisniewski, Blalock, Barksdale, etc)? I realize I am dreaming if I really think they have a chance of signing all three of those players but that would be great but I would settle for two of the three and I will be very, very disappointed if they don't sign any of them (which, I am sure, is definitely possible!)!

I'd like to sign 2 also, but I agree with @Ramrasta - I'll be happy just getting Barksdale. I think this draft has several OL's that can start day one, and Fisher might finally give in and go with some youngsters. We could go 3 OL's and a CB in our first 4 picks (if Cooper and Hill are gone at #10).... and I'm good with that!

 

[Ramhusker]

Anything is possible. They could kick the can down the road with Quinn's contract and free up enough to sign three but we'd probably pay for it later, especially when it comes time to try and retain some of our emerging stars. I think you'll see our Rams pay one OL FA , draft one with plans of him starting, and either roll with someone already on the roster or pick up another stop gap FA on the cheap for the third starter. I know the front office has a plan or two but it's starting to get a little concerning.

 

[kurtfaulk]

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The real question we should be asking is can foles take a hit and get up without clutching his knee? Because it's looking like he's gonna get hit alot.

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[shaunpinney]

I WOULDN'T sign all 3. It would be financial suicide.

Here's what I would do.

Re-sign Barksdale, we know his stock, we know what he can do. Sign him to a 3 year contract. $15m with $6m guaranteed + a signing bonus of $4.5m spread over 3 years, the rest in playing bonuses
Sign Brian De La Puente 2 year $2m, $250k signing bonus, $500k base salary each year, rest in workout bonuses
Re-sign Jake Long, if he passes the physical, swing him inside to LG on a 1 year suck it and see contract. $1.1m, $250k signing bonus, $250 if he makes the roster and the remainder in playing bonuses

Draft OT/OG in Round 1, ideally Scherff / Peat in R1 (but this depends on BPA at 10) or AJ Cann in R2, I'd also look at Cedric Ogbuehi if he falls far after the ACL op...

Start with Barrett Jones at centre

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

They really only need to sign one. It would be easy to find to good Oline starters in this draft if that was their focus.

I think they are waiting on Joe to see what happens. Then they will move onto Blalock and Wis after Joe signs with the Rams or the Titans.

 

[Corbin]

I WOULDN'T sign all 3. It would be financial suicide.

Here's what I would do.

Re-sign Barksdale, we know his stock, we know what he can do. Sign him to a 3 year contract. $15m with $6m guaranteed + a signing bonus of $4.5m spread over 3 years, the rest in playing bonuses
Sign Brian De La Puente 2 year $2m, $250k signing bonus, $500k base salary each year, rest in workout bonuses
Re-sign Jake Long, if he passes the physical, swing him inside to LG on a 1 year suck it and see contract. $1.1m, $250k signing bonus, $250 if he makes the roster and the remainder in playing bonuses

Draft OT/OG in Round 1, ideally Scherff / Peat in R1 (but this depends on BPA at 10) or AJ Cann in R2, I'd also look at Cedric Ogbuehi if he falls far after the ACL op...

Start with Barrett Jones at centre

So another year of suck from the O-Line then?

 

[shaunpinney]

So another year of suck from the O-Line then?

With the investment we've done on the Defensive side of the ball, we don't really have much options do we? I can't see Fisher drafting 3 O-Linemen in rounds 1-3 and there's not that much left on FA. Wis is overrated and expensive IMO. If he was worth the money he wouldn't still be on the shelf. and he can't be that great a Centre if other NFL teams are thinking of swinging him to centre. Blalock is a bad run blocker (24th in 2013, 32nd in 2012 and 35th in 2011 - sorry don't have 2014 to hand) when he's good he's an ok pass protector (7th, 23rd and 14th) my problem is he's been paid like a top 10 guard. Blalock could bomb given the right paycheque, we could have another Davin Joseph kinda year and with more of a financial hit.

 

[Fatbot]

With the investment we've done on the Defensive side of the ball, we don't really have much options do we? I can't see Fisher drafting 3 O-Linemen in rounds 1-3 and there's not that much left on FA. Wis is overrated and expensive IMO. If he was worth the money he wouldn't still be on the shelf. and he can't be that great a Centre if other NFL teams are thinking of swinging him to centre. Blalock is a bad run blocker (24th in 2013, 32nd in 2012 and 35th in 2011 - sorry don't have 2014 to hand) when he's good he's an ok pass protector (7th, 23rd and 14th) my problem is he's been paid like a top 10 guard. Blalock could bomb given the right paycheque, we could have another Davin Joseph kinda year and with more of a financial hit.

I agree with a lot of your conclusions but I don't agree with listing subjective rankings as if they are facts so I tend to throw those out.

I agree that it would be shocking for Fisher to go OL 1-2-3, but last draft they took four DBs. It seemed like overkill, a strategy to throw them to the wall to see what sticks. I would not be surprised if they do the same approach with OL this time -- perhaps go BPA in round 1 then all or mostly OL after to get tons of bodies in camp at least.

Wis was regarded as the Raiders best young OL before his poor last season. Then the Raiders had a regime change and his uncle resigned in protest. Some believe that family animosity against the Raiders organization affected Wisniewski's on-field performance last season, and that a change of scenery will have him back to his more promising levels.

To try to alleviate your Blalock fears, note that even the fake grades out there for him claim "you have to go back to 2009 for the last time he graded negatively over a season." In contrast, Joseph had been regarded as a top guard, then suffered a serious injury, then had a year of sucking when the Rams signed him full well knowing the risk-reward.

So I think the factors are very different when assessing Blalock's "Joseph risk" -- Blalock seems to have a more consistent track record and not coming off major injury like Joseph (although Blalock had a back injury that ended his streak of 102 games played last year, he missed 1 game).

 

[tahoe]

I just want a good offensive line for once, whatever it takes to make that happen.

 

[RaminExile]

I just want a good offensive line for once, whatever it takes to make that happen.

Spend every draft pick for 1 year on o-linemen and forget about the line for 10 years?

 

[Dieter the Brock]

Spend every draft pick for 1 year on o-linemen and forget about the line for 10 years?

I doubt we will be forgetting about it for 10 years cause in 2015 our Offensive line will still suck no matter who we draft. Vets will play ahead of the rookies for the first part of the season, again, no matter who we draft

Bad news is that Reynolds is gonna be a starter. my bet is that so will Tim Barnes....

 

[tahoe]

Fisher said that oline free agents will heat up after the owner meetings and that the rams are still talking to Barksdale. Ideally id like to to sign two free agents and draft one in the first or second round.

 

[paceram]

I doubt we will be forgetting about it for 10 years cause in 2015 our Offensive line will still suck no matter who we draft. Vets will play ahead of the rookies for the first part of the season, again, no matter who we draft

Bad news is that Reynolds is gonna be a starter. my bet is that so will Tim Barnes....

I am not sure I agree with you about Reynolds being a starter (I think he will be a valuable backup) but I do agree with you about us not seeing the last of Barnes as a Ram!

 

[Corbin]

With the investment we've done on the Defensive side of the ball, we don't really have much options do we? I can't see Fisher drafting 3 O-Linemen in rounds 1-3 and there's not that much left on FA. Wis is overrated and expensive IMO. If he was worth the money he wouldn't still be on the shelf. and he can't be that great a Centre if other NFL teams are thinking of swinging him to centre. Blalock is a bad run blocker (24th in 2013, 32nd in 2012 and 35th in 2011 - sorry don't have 2014 to hand) when he's good he's an ok pass protector (7th, 23rd and 14th) my problem is he's been paid like a top 10 guard. Blalock could bomb given the right paycheque, we could have another Davin Joseph kinda year and with more of a financial hit.

My question still remains, another year of suck?
You want to re-sign Jake Long? Really? Did you not watch him in 2014 at all? Dude is toast, he's not going to sign anywhere unless the money to chance to hurt himself ratio are well worth it and no one is going to sign him for anything significant. What does a guard do? Pulls and has to be mobile which Jake Long is not especially after last year.

De La Puente? No thanks, I'd rather start the center from the Texans than him if we're paying that amount of money.
Barrett Jones? Starting? Dudes had how much time to get on the field and been redshirted his rookie year and still can't even get on the field to practice much less start. Dude is a dud, plain and simple. It's time we stop pretending he's something he's not because of his college accolades.

Barksdale over values himself and is on his honeymoon which the Titans paid for if I'm not mistaken which is a done deal pretty much since we've clearly showed we won't over pay anymore for old prone to injury players.
If we do sign someone who has a history of injury it better be a trade for Mathis because if we are going to spend any money on someone might as well be someone who could play at a Pro Bowl level, which Mathis has shown he can when healthy.

 

[Ramhusker]

My question still remains, another year of suck?
You want to re-sign Jake Long? Really? Did you not watch him in 2014 at all? Dude is toast, he's not going to sign anywhere unless the money to chance to hurt himself ratio are well worth it and no one is going to sign him for anything significant. What does a guard do? Pulls and has to be mobile which Jake Long is not especially after last year.

De La Puente? No thanks, I'd rather start the center from the Texans than him if we're paying that amount of money.
Barrett Jones? Starting? Dudes had how much time to get on the field and been redshirted his rookie year and still can't even get on the field to practice much less start. Dude is a dud, plain and simple. It's time we stop pretending he's something he's not because of his college accolades.

Barksdale over values himself and is on his honeymoon which the Titans paid for if I'm not mistaken which is a done deal pretty much since we've clearly showed we won't over pay anymore for old prone to injury players.
If we do sign someone who has a history of injury it better be a trade for Mathis because if we are going to spend any money on someone might as well be someone who could play at a Pro Bowl level, which Mathis has shown he can when healthy.

What kind of money do you think De La Puente is going to command? I think he may be a relatively cheap stop gap guy. I can't argue about Barrett Jones. I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised at his performance this year but I don't think you can gamble your new QB's health on the guy at this point. I think I'd have to disagree on Barksdale being injury prone. I don't think he has missed many starts with his time with the Rams. Mathis scares me a bit because the Eagles are so eager to move him. I know he is a little pricey for them at the moment but he is at the tail end of his career and won't be too cheap for us either. He is a bona fide pro bowler though. Basically, our OL is a mess at the moment but with a couple of half way sensible moves and a good draft, it could be very serviceable in a hurry. It's just a bit perplexing and nerve racking to be where we are this close to the draft. :eek:

 

[shaunpinney]

My question still remains, another year of suck?
You want to re-sign Jake Long? Really? Did you not watch him in 2014 at all? Dude is toast, he's not going to sign anywhere unless the money to chance to hurt himself ratio are well worth it and no one is going to sign him for anything significant. What does a guard do? Pulls and has to be mobile which Jake Long is not especially after last year.

De La Puente? No thanks, I'd rather start the center from the Texans than him if we're paying that amount of money.
Barrett Jones? Starting? Dudes had how much time to get on the field and been redshirted his rookie year and still can't even get on the field to practice much less start. Dude is a dud, plain and simple. It's time we stop pretending he's something he's not because of his college accolades.

Barksdale over values himself and is on his honeymoon which the Titans paid for if I'm not mistaken which is a done deal pretty much since we've clearly showed we won't over pay anymore for old prone to injury players.
If we do sign someone who has a history of injury it better be a trade for Mathis because if we are going to spend any money on someone might as well be someone who could play at a Pro Bowl level, which Mathis has shown he can when healthy.

Yes, I think Long could work on the inside as a vet swing guard. And for the type of money I was suggesting, he'd be worth it.

De La Puente would be cheap and would add a solid vet backup to Jones.

Again, YES to Jones. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

Barks may over-value himself, but as Right Tackles go he is solid. You obviously have inside info on his personal movements, which I can't comment on, but I do't think he's that injury prone, let alone old - he's 26 same as that old guy Wisniewski and Blalock is an ancient 31, so lets not even bother there.

i wouldn't touch Mathis for various reasons - $$ being one