With the 111th pick in the NFL draft the Rams take Brian Allen C

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Soul Surfer

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Charles Mazyck
We all here at ROD agreed Rams needed depth at OL, most, like myself thought they would address it with later picks in the 6th.
Kudos to McSnead for not fuking around and getting it done with their 1st two picks.
Hmmm..
I'll get back to you when I find out if our linebackers know how to stop the run game.
 

Akrasian

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Projected SEVENTH ROUND UDFA !!!!!!!!!!!!
They could have gotten him with one of those 6th round picks.
Hope they know what they are doing. Looks like a " 4 Pillars" pick or something. "Try hard guy" Bad memories.

Projected by whom?

Did the person or people projecting him that late go to his pro day, and the combine, and pay careful attention to who was scouting him and how carefully, and also go to the pro days of all the other major centeroptions, so they could see who scouts were really excited about?

I somehow doubt that.

Especially with positions like center, I trust the pros more than the media.

There is good reason based on his college career to think that he can succeed. We'll see - but I doubt he would have made it to the 6th round.
 

Mackeyser

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Reminds me of people losing their minds when the Cowboys drafted Travis Frederick.

And... turns out that Travis Frederick was totally worth a 1st round pick and then some.
 

TheTackle

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I was disappointed we didn't take Settle and didn't like the Allen pick (at that spot). But, it is not like Settle wasn't on their radar and they passed up drafting him on multiple occasions. I will wait and see - Allen is definitely one to watch, because the consensus he is a technician, who would have gone a lot earlier if he was 2 inches taller and ran faster (not exactly key attributes for a center) - once he adds weight and muscle, he might flash early, so I will look forward to hearing and seeing what we have
 

TexasRam

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Reminds me of people losing their minds when the Cowboys drafted Travis Frederick.

And... turns out that Travis Frederick was totally worth a 1st round pick and then some.

People get sucked into the media
Draftboard that the general public eat up which is developed by a few so called “expert” media types.

The reality is always different than the media board.

There is no proven science that works with drafting and no modern day prophet that always nails picks.

Teams do hard work to determine projected fit in system based on talent and required traits, and this is often at odds with a linear top 250 board or whatever.

Proof is in the pudding. So we wait and see.
 

PhillyRam

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No truer words have been spoken.

.

The reality is there are 32 diff realities. Every team has a diff board. Sure there are many consensus rankings, but teams will have a diff emphasis on some traits that will affect their rankings.
 

TexasRam

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The reality is there are 32 diff realities. Every team has a diff board. Sure there are many consensus rankings, but teams will have a diff emphasis on some traits that will affect their rankings.

Right. And in the case of Notebloom and Allen you can see they both have quick feet and the ability to block in space. Perfect fit for our zone scheme and the Mcvay offense that uses a lot of movement by the Oline with the screen game.

Neither one are maulers, though if you watch Allen's film such as vs Ohio state you can see him really moving some huge bodies.

A so-called "projected" 6th round pick is a narrow, simplistic way to generalize.

Teams have different systems and prospects can vastly differ in value per system and team.
 

PhillyRam

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plus the diff between a "6th round prospect" and a guy taken in thec4th is so slight. I would think the field really flattens out from picks 120 to 200.
 

Dieter the Brock

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Reminds me of people losing their minds when the Cowboys drafted Travis Frederick.

And... turns out that Travis Frederick was totally worth a 1st round pick and then some.

Yeah exactly
And cause of that now you see a guy like Ragnow as Matt Patricia's first pick as a HC and nobody skips a beat
 

CGI_Ram

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I got to say... I REALLY like this player. Anxious to see him against NFL competition, but this is a tough and competitive guy.

I love those types.
 

LACHAMP46

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Scrappy player....taken a lil high....but should be interesting....I forget who our UDFA center is....but I figured he's like #yikes at this moment. LOL

Great plan in this draft however....throw some draft capital at positions of weakness....find something that sticks...I'm more interested now in the guys we grab as UDFA....

6'1....298.....sounds like a PS candidate to me as well
 

OregonRamsFan

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Nice game tape. I like the way he finishes plays. He seems to enjoy his sport. You can really see the wrestler in him. Short, stocky and mean. Good balance and strong. What’s not to like? Can’t wait to see how he helps us with some good coaching and tutelage.
 

Akrasian

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6'1....298.....sounds like a PS candidate to me as well

I expect him to add a few pounds of muscle before training camp. He'll be ready for ST, which is what he'll be called on to play, barring injury.
 

ramfan46

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He appears to have some power to redirect when he's already engaged. I'll be watching him like a hawk in preseason action.
 

PhillyRam

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Scrappy player....taken a lil high....but should be interesting....I forget who our UDFA center is....but I figured he's like #yikes at this moment. LOL

Great plan in this draft however....throw some draft capital at positions of weakness....find something that sticks...I'm more interested now in the guys we grab as UDFA....

6'1....298.....sounds like a PS candidate to me as well

Trash, I don't like his size, but then looked up Jason Kelcie who is often called undersized.... and while Kelcie is 6-3, he is listed as only 295, so Allen is a thicker kid, not as athletic as Kelcie, but maybe he can stick as a starter? However, I wanted a mauler that can handle the Fletcher Cox types as those are the guys they have to beat in the big games.
 

den-the-coach

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Brian Allen might be the centerpiece of Rams’ draft/OC Register

nfl_draft_football_25913893.jpg

Los Angels Rams fans cheer during the NFL football draft in Arlington, Texas, Saturday, April 28, 2018. (Jae S. Lee/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

THOUSAND OAKS — “The basement” has become a metaphor for cyber-driven dysfunction, a teenage wasteland below ground.

The Allen basement, in Hinsdale, Ill., is an exception.

It is the headwater for a long stream of large people in Michigan State uniforms.

On Saturday, it contributed its second son to the NFL.

Brian Allen, Spartan center for four years and the king of the high school mat in his time, was the first of the Rams’ fourth-round picks on Saturday.

His older brother Jack was undrafted after his Michigan State career but made the New Orleans roster in 2016 anyway.

His younger brother Matt is a redshirt freshman in East Lansing and was the top recruit among centers in the Midwest..

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio was asked to compare Jack to Brian.

“I don’t really like to do that,” he said, “especially in this case, because one of them will get mad at me.”

Dantonio has been to the basement.

“There’s a wrestling mat down there,” he said. “There’s a three-year gap between all the brothers, so they get after it. For us, we’ve had an Allen in the program since 2011 and we’ll have one until 2020. So that’s pretty good.

“When we go to the house, they already know what we’re all about and what our direction is.”

Offensive line coach Mark Staten has gone down those steps, too.

“There’s holes in the wall, they’ve had to get people to come down and work on the sheetrock,” Staten said. ‘It’s about what you’d expect with three brothers like that.”

All three Hinsdale Central wrestlers won Illinois state championships. Brian was the first to get medals all four years. He went 49-0 as a junior, 45-2 as a senior.

John, the father, wrestled at Purdue. Jim Zajicek, John’s stepbrother, was an assistant wrestling coach at Hinsdale Central.

Brian also won the state shot put title and, in football, played on both sides. He was a starting guard alongside Jack as a freshman at East Lansing, moved to center when Jack left, and started his final 28 games for the Spartans, including a blowout win over Washington State in the Holiday Bowl.

Pro Football Focus, in its draft guide, praised Allen’s low stance and noted that he was “never overmatched” in any MSU game.

It also knocked his athleticism and said he was undersized, even though he lists at 6-foot-2, 302.

Staten, who played with Rams offensive line coach Aaron Kromer at Miami of Ohio, says the mat has a way of equalizing all that. Wrestling is the extracurricular activity that football coaches want to see on the worksheet. It identifies want-to, and exposes fear.

“There’s no excuse when you wrestle,” Staten said. “You’re either winning or you’re losing. It’s that one-on-one thing that you have to have when you’re lined up. And you also pick up a lot off things about the physical angles and the leverage.

“Brian learned from his brother. He was our team captain. He knew when to put a boot up somebody’s (backside) and when to put his arm around somebody. He played with a hip problem and some other things, but it was hard to tell because he’d never admit it.”

An NFL scout tabbed Allen “the bully of the Big 10,” but then nobody picked him in the first two days of this draft. It brought up brief nightmares from Jack’s undrafted year. Brian had said beforehand that he would hold no draft party.

“I’ll probably just hang out with the family and sit on the couch like a loser,” he said. “Expect the worst, hope for the best.”

He even pointed out to Staten that he had an extra year of eligibility he could use on wrestling. Academics weren’t a problem, since Allen was a 3.3 economics student.

Roger Chandler, the wrestling coach, had suggested that very thing for years..

“I told Brian to forget it, you’re going to be playing football,” Staten said.

Allen got clarification, in his mind, when he came to Thousand Oaks. “I was telling my agent today that I thought the Rams would take me,” he said.

The current center, John Sullivan, signed a two-year extension, but turns 33 during training camp. The Rams dare not pretend they can get through another 16-game season without a sidelining injury to a starting lineman.

They drafted 10 of their 11 players on Saturday alone. Even a tape freak like Rams general manager Les Snead risked eyestrain.

“But if you’ve been watching football players all fall and December, February and April and you’re kind of dozing off,” Snead said, “you put the Michigan State center on film.”

Soon the basement will be appearing on the Coliseum floor.



[www.ocregister.com]



 

StealYoGurley

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Hate his tape at guard, but I like it at center. He needs to do a better job sustaining blocks, but his lack of length doesn't help. I was surprised by his movement skills out in space even though he whiffed at times. He was most effective when he didn't have DT head up on him and he could make blocks at the second level. I like that he is smart, tough, physical, a hard worker, team captain and made all the protection calls. Those are the things you want out of your center.