By the way, right now the trade is just "possible" (per Manish) Let's not get all of our hopes up just yet.
Wayne sucks, at least Jason Smith has potential and upside and provides a semblance of depth. I can't seem to find confirmation. Manish is saying the same. EDIT: Trade has been officially been filed with the league.
He is 10x better than Hunter. He was expected to be amazing (2nd overall pick) and turned out to be closer to average, but he's not a bust IMO. Better yet, he's no WFH.
I gave Hunter the benefit of the doubt and thought he might improve. If last weeks horrible performance didn't convince me, the fact that the Panthers backups dominated him in the 2nd half did.
"According to Ross Miles at Pro Football Focus, Jason Smith graded out with an -6.2 overall grade in 2011. Smith also graded out with a -3.2 pass blocking, +0.5 screen blocking, -1.5 run blocking. He allowed 11 pressures and two QB hits and two sacks. It was good enough to rank him the second-best offensive lineman for the Rams. Granted, he played 78.1% of the plays and the offensive line as a whole was pitiful. There is still hope." According to Ross:
I dont know, if you've seen any Rams games over the last 2 years, you can see why he's been benched in favor of _____ (insert journeyman signing). They signed Barry Richardson this offseason, about 5 months after free agency. The guy had no offers. Within a week and a half at OTA's/Camp he beat out Smith and was named the starter. I liked what I saw from Howard. IMO, Smith is not even close to being as good as Howard, and Howard isn't even that good. If this is a depth signing, for purposes of letting him ride the bench in an effort to coach him up and see what they can do down the line, I'm in favor of this. But if they expect this guy to come in and be their day 1 tackle I think they're sorely mistaken.
What the actual fuck? How? I don't understand? Our ex OC just had the worst player of his offense last year traded to his new team? And in the process they give up the 2nd overall pick from a few years ago who is at least average but is younger and has upside. I'm so confused at why the Rams would do this but I'm loving it.
sure...but I like removing Wayne from the team and at least bringing in a guy with upside. Jason Smith has hardly been rock solid, but he's still worth bringing in on potential alone.
PFF Grade Comparison: 2011: Hunter: Pass Block: Ranked 73 out of 76 tackles, graded -20.6 Run Block: Ranked 58 out of 76 tackles, graded -6.4 Smith (6 games): Pass Block: Ranked 42 out of 76 tackles, graded -3.2 Run Block: Ranked 34 out of 76 tackles, graded -1.5 So even at the current level Smith seems to be a better player. He probably has room to develop at 26 years old - Hunter only has room to degrade at 31.
Son. Start worrying about your own backup QB if you have time to muse about how much WFH sucks. That said, WFH is a terrible RT that is old. Jason Smith is a terrible RT that still is young. Two very different ballpark.
From rotoworld.com 4/21/2012: Signed a two-year, $16.5 million contract. The deal contains $4 million guaranteed -- Smith's 2012 base salary. 2012: $4 million (+ $500,000 roster bonus), 2013: $750,000 (+ $11.25 million roster bonus), 2014: Free Agent Looks like a stop gap for this year. No way we'd pay that roster bonus in '13.
He's here to be a backup not to start over Howard. People are happy because WFH is gone and we have depth that isn't WFH. Also he has great physical tools which is why he was drafted so high and he is young which means that he could at least improve still. Really nothing to not like about this.
