The Rebuilding Rams' Offseason

This gentleman seems non-plussed with the Rams cleaning house this offseason

[Note: This post is the 8th in our series of posts on each team's offseason.  After this post, we'll have covered one team from every division.  Past posts have discussed the Chiefs, Bucs, Titans, Bears, Browns, Redskins, and Bills.]

At 2-14, the Rams tied the Colts for the worst record in football last year.  Even though the Colts "won" the tiebreak (and with it, the right to select Andrew Luck #1 overall), the Rams were the worst team by Pythagorean expectation, with just 2.9 wins.  It didn't help that Sam Bradford missed 6 games due to injury.

Unsurprisingly, the "R" word looms large when looking at the Rams' offseason.  St. Louis got rid of 19 players this offseason, including 9 who started at least 8 games last year.  They added a few big names as well, but seem largely content to let a youth movement -- and a healthy Bradford -- determine their fate.

After the jump, a deeper dive into the Rams' rebuilding . . .


As always, "value" here is defined using a modified version of the AV formula of our friends from Pro Football Reference:

Value = 2009 AV + 2 x 2010 AV + 3 x 2011 AV

This offseason, the Rams lost or released 16 players with positive value:



	Position	Player	2011 Games Started	Value	New Team
1	DE	James Hall	15	48	Free Agent
2	DT	Fred Robbins	15	43	Free Agent
3	WR	Brandon Lloyd	15	40	Patriots
4	DT	Justin Bannan	14	31	Broncos
5	OLB	Chris Chamberlain	13	28	Saints
T6	C/G	Jason Brown	14	22	Free Agent
T6	DT	Gary Gibson	1	22	Bucs
8	G	Jacob Bell	12	22	Retired
9	CB	Justin King	12	20	Colts
10	CB	Ron Bartell	1	17	Raiders
11	G/C	Tony Wragge	8	9	Ravens
12	OLB	Bryan Kehl	1	8	Redskins
13	DE	CJ Ah You	1	5	Free Agent
14	T	Thomas Welch	1	3	Eagles
15	OLB	David Nixon	0	3	Free Agent
16	WR	Nick Miller	0	2	Free Agent
		Total	123	323

The Rams also acquired12 non-rookies this offseason:

	Position	Player	2011 Games Started	Value	New Team
1	C	Scott Wells	16	60	Packers
2	DE	Kendall Langford	12	42	Dolphins
3	CB	Cortland Finnegan	16	41	Titans
4	LB	Rocky McIntosh	8	34	Redskins
5	LB	Jo-Lonn Dunbar	14	28	Saints
6	WR	Steve E Smith	1	22	Eagles
7	DE	William B Hayes	1	15	Titans
8	DT	Trevor Laws	1	11	Eagles
9	TE	Matthew Mulligan	9	8	Jets
T10	RT	Quinn Ojinnaka	3	7	Colts
T10	TE	Brody Eldridge	8	7	Colts
12	G	Robert Turner	0	3	Jets
		Total	89	278

Our observations:

1. On paper, the Rams got worse this offseason.  They lost 323 value points and gained 278 (-45) and lost 123 games started and gained 89 (-24).  The 323 value points represent the most of any of the 8 teams we've profiled.

2. Despite the losses, the Rams did a decent job finding replacements for many of the very top players they lost.  To wit:

- DE James Hall (48) is replaced by DE Kendall Langford (42), not a huge dropoff
- WR Brandon Lloyd (40), who only joined the team late in the season, is replaced by WR Steve E Smith of the Giants (22), again, not a massive dropoff
- OLB Chris Chamberlain (28) is replaced by Rocky McIntosh (34) and/or Jo-Lonn Dunbar (28), an upgrade if anything
- C/G Jason Brown (22), who signed the largest contract for a Center enter when he signed with St. Louis, is replaced by an all-pro caliber center in Scott Wells (60; more on Wells in a minute)

3. The one spot with a clear gap is DT.  Fred Robbins (43) and Justin Bannan (31) started a combined 29 games last year, and Gary Gibson (22) would have provided depth.  Only Trevor Laws (11) of the Eagles was added among non-rookies.  First round pick Michael Brockers figures to start right away at DT, but who gets the other spot in new coach Jeff Fisher's 4-3?  The next highest value DT on the roster is Darrell Scott (5) who had an AV of 0 for last year.  It could be trouble up the middle for a team that finished 27th against the rush last year.

Rams' first-rounder Michael Brockers -- savior in the middle of the D-line?

4. Scott Wells represents a major bright spot at center.  The long-time Packer and Pro Bowler in 2011 cashed in for $24 MM over 4 years this offseason, and figures to provide an anchor up front to open holes for Steven Jackson, who remains one of the more potent RBs in the game.  Wells, at a value of 60, becomes the most valuable member of the Rams roster, edging out MLB James Lauranaitis (54), FS Quintin Mikell (49), and Jackson (48).

Wells, Bradford, Jackson, and Fisher have to hope that the youth movement around him reaps benefits, but this year, it admittedly looks bleak.  Rebuilding is probably the right move for St. Louis, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and anything above 6 wins looks like a long-shot for St. Louis in 2012.

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