Brian Allen might be the centerpiece of Rams’ draft

[Ramlock]

And remember, what I said for Notebloom holds potentially for him. McVay and Kromer gave Whitworth and Sullivan and sometimes Saffold the first practice day of the week off every week this year. These young guys unlike some drafted to be developed will be getting first team reps every week.

That’s huge, the reps that these youngsters will get

 

[XXXIVwin]

I'm not a draftnik, I don't spend a ton of time scouting players before the draft.

But since I am a crazy Ram fan , I read the scouting reports and watch the highlight reels of every guy they draft.

In this year's draft class, Brian Allen is the ONLY pick where I watch his tape and think "WOW." Pancaking guys, dominating, destroying people, opening up huge running lanes.

I didn't watch tape of AD before he became a Ram, but as soon as I did, I was blown away and thought, "THIS guy was still available?!?" I'm not saying Allen is on AD's level or anywhere near it. I'm just saying, Brian Allen's highlight reel shows a player who is capable of dominating.

 

[1maGoh]

I don't quite get the reasoning. If we picked him "too early" and yet it was done because of a "run" on Oline, doesn't that mean the market composed of GM's, set level of value? Doesn't that mean that demand met value.?

Economics in Football by @LoyalRam . I'm waiting for the book. Very good point you made there.

 

[Loyal]

Economics in Football by @LoyalRam . I'm waiting for the book. Very good point you made there.

 

[fearsomefour]

Suh, Donald, Brockers & Easley should provide quite the test.

Haha.
That first day of contact blocking drills will be an eye opener.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

If he is smart enough to pick up defensive schemes quickly and handle the OL blocking assignment calls early on, he will be a real boon to the team. He will have a terrific mentor in Sully and a master teacher in Aaron Kromer.

This is really interesting and harmoniously sweet. Kromer sought out Andrew Whitworth as our veteran LT and Sully as our veteran center to anchor our 2017 OL. They started off the 2018 draft by acquiring their possible eventual replacements. You want that skilled, dancing bear at LT to protect the QB's blind side and that smart center making the OL line calls and guarding the most direct path to the QB. These two picks may very well end up being the future anchors of our OL. The struggles of the Gurley Man and our QBs in 2016 severely underlined the importance of a solid OL group, and I love the fact that our coaching brass sought to address that early on.

I agree that they couldn't wait forever to address the OLine. But I think Allen is limited physically. College career doesn't always translate to the NFL. The Rams had two top college centers, and Rimmington award winners, that were physically limited and it didn't work out for either.....Barrett Jones and Brett Romberg. Allen reminds me of Romberg. Hopefully I am wrong.

Yeah, its possible he coulda been had later. But by the time you get to the 3rd day You never know what teams value certain players. The Rams staff have a certain type of player in mind to fit their system. Allen was one of those.

So here we are in the 4th round. We have a guy targeted that may or may not be there later. Plus, its not like there's other can't miss guys by then. If you graded him higher and you like him for the fit, go ahead and take him. So what if its a bit of a reach. You want to make sure you get your guy.

Yeah, basically that is what I was saying. With the third round run on tackles then fourth round with Centers and guards, if they really wanted Allen, then they couldn't wait. But, if not for the high demand of Olinemen in the NFL, I don't think most of them go nearly as high as they did. Demand drives up the price.

 

[Karate61]

Brian Allen had the best draft call. He gets bleeped. The guy sounds fired up to be a Ram! Here's the call if you haven't seen it:

 

[XXXIVwin]

Brian Allen had the best draft call. He gets bleeped. The guy sounds fired up to be a Ram! Here's the call if you haven't seen it:

Karate61,gotta say, love the new avatar.

 

[Corbin]

Brian Allen had the best draft call. He gets bleeped. The guy sounds fired up to be a Ram! Here's the call if you haven't seen it:

Was just going to post this. Love his attitude! Lol

Guy has an edge to him an literally everybody I’ve heard said he’s going to be not intimated by our vaunted d-line. Going to be very interesting to say the least!

 

[shaunpinney]

Sorry I'm not as excited as the rest of you on this pick, I'm still not sure about this selection to be honest as a long term replacement for Sullivan. Sullivan's shoes from last year are huge ones to fill.

He just looks physically small on his highlight reel, and we know the step up to the NFL is huge, he's short too (6'1") for an NFL C, IMO. He does look like he's a bit of a LOS bully, but I haven't seem him move away from the comfort of his phone booth much and Sullivan was everywhere last year.

Sorry to rain on the parade, I hope I'm proved wrong.

 

[Merlin]

I didn't watch tape of AD before he became a Ram, but as soon as I did, I was blown away and thought, "THIS guy was still available?!?" I'm not saying Allen is on AD's level or anywhere near it. I'm just saying, Brian Allen's highlight reel shows a player who is capable of dominating.

I think forming opinions on dudes without watching the tape is the root of some of the craziness you see with us fans. That includes forming opinions from highlight tapes too IMO. This is why I take the time to watch them at least, just so I can at least talk about these guys with an opinion backed up by something.

And one thing about watching cutups too... When you watch a whole game there's always those meh plays. So IMO it's kind of important to watch how the player responds over the entire game.

One example of what I am talking about is our new OLB Oko. Watch him in that game vs Georgia and the first half was pretty rough on him. But he responds and improves greatly in the second half. I like players who can do that, who have the tenaciousness to rebound from things in-game.

Lastly what's fun about doing that (watching the full game cutups) is you start to see trends with certain media types where you wonder about what they're saying about a player instead of just trusting what they say. And then you realize this stuff is extremely opinion based and those opinions vary widely. Which makes sense, I mean just look at the hit/miss rate on guys by round, it's nuts to consider that nearly half a first round draft in a given year has a good chance to bust.

 

[TheTackle]

If you are drafting a player to start - even if that is in a year or two's time - which, appears to be the case here - the player is going to be positioned higher on your board than potential back ups or situational players.

Maybe it is me, but we picked 4 potential future starters with our first 4 picks... with some situational players taken later

 

[Merlin]

Maybe it is me, but we picked 4 potential future starters with our first 4 picks... with some situational players taken later

Possibly. If I had to answer the question on which of these guys was "drafted to start," however, I'd say only Oko. And that's certainly no given, since it's gonna be open season at both OLB spots.

Watching the OLBs during camp is gonna be fun this year.

 

[Classic Rams]

Mike Webster: 5th round pick
Rich Saul: 8th round pick
John Sullivan: 6th round pick

I'm not too high nor too low on Allen. Like many here, can't wait to see all the picks in TC and preseason. But good centers do fall past the 3rd round in the draft sometimes.

 

[yrba1]

Whether Allen is the solution to our piece at center in the future or not. I am liking the competition across our roster. No spot is a gimme and these guys will push each other to bring their A-game

 

[tomas]

Sorry I'm not as excited as the rest of you on this pick, I'm still not sure about this selection to be honest as a long term replacement for Sullivan. Sullivan's shoes from last year are huge ones to fill.

He just looks physically small on his highlight reel, and we know the step up to the NFL is huge, he's short too (6'1") for an NFL C, IMO. He does look like he's a bit of a LOS bully, but I haven't seem him move away from the comfort of his phone booth much and Sullivan was everywhere last year.

Sorry to rain on the parade, I hope I'm proved wrong.

Low man- leverage wins in football.

 

[WestCoastRam]

I wonder how long it took him to come up with this phrase?:wow:

But what pisses me off is that the title, while clever doesn't really go with the article at all. There's not linkage between the content and the thesis the title provides. BAD WRITING!

 

[nighttrain]

Whether Allen is the solution to our piece at center in the future or not. I am liking the competition across our roster. No spot is a gimme and these guys will push each other to bring their A-game

i see some players that at the very least are going to change the the practice squad, some guys there are going to have to fight to stay
train

 

[RamsFlash80]

I thought this pick was a reach but I will trust Kromer, McVay, and Snead on this one. They havent really given us any reason yet to doubt them so I will root for this guy since hes a Ram now. Hoping hes our starting C after Sully for the next decade

 

[ReekofRams]

But what pisses me off is that the title, while clever doesn't really go with the article at all. There's not linkage between the content and the thesis the title provides. BAD WRITING!

Yeah Mark Wicker didn't really think that one through.