I know the elbuzzard faithful expected a draft post on Monday morning. For that I apologize. I’m much better at free agent signings than drafts. With the exception of our last pick, we only took guys who wore red in college. Excellent draft strategy.
We traded up to get Sedrick Ellis, a DT from USC. Apparently, he’s real good. Like all college players, I don’t know a lot about him other than what Mel Kiper says on TV. He’s a defensive player. A run-stopper. I like that. If he pans out, and we can get consistent pressure on the QB, our secondary will look a lot better than it did last year, even if Chasin’ David is still starting. Also our Dline coach Ed Orgeron was his coach at USC. So we should know what we are getting. In theory.
What I really like about our draft is our sixth-round pick. Taylor Mehlhaff. A GODDAMN kicker. He was the first kicker taken in the draft, and was the highest ranked by most everyone. Who cares, right? Who cares about the kicker? Why waste a draft pick? Just sign a free agent, right?
That’s been working out great for us, hasn’t it? No more Mare (well, he’s already been cut), no more Cundiff, no more Marteen Gramatica, no more whoever we have kicking for us now. No more having a kickoff guy and a field goal guy. Just one guy who does both. I really hope this guy can do both, the criticism I’ve read in some places is that he’s a better kickoff specialist than field goal kicker. I’m just glad to see us addressing a position that caused us no end of grief last year.
Assuming, of course, the kid can kick.
Nice photoshop work … I thought the kicker was kind of dumb, too, but maybe he’ll win the job and we’ll be able to sign him cheap for a while.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear. The kicker was our second best pick. Didn’t we give up a 6th for Mare? This year, we got the best rookie kicker for a sixth. one who will score points for us in the very first game. production!
i didn’t do the photoshop work, i stole it from the saints’ webpage.
i really wanted a speedy corner, which i think we coulda got if we had not traded down. i also can’t help but think that anyone who deal with the patriots is going to come out on the short end of the stick. i don’t see how that will happen this time, but it’s just something in the back of my head. I’m also happy they took at Husker, even if it’s one with off-field issues.
It makes a lot more sense to waste a 6th rounder on a rookie than to pay a decent veteran $14.2 million over five years, which is what the Rams did with Brown.
Nicks could be a good player some day–lots of size–and is a great project for a 5th round pick.
Josh Brown is a reliable kicker, though. A known commodity. If he can kick well in Seattle, he’ll certainly be able to kick well inside the Rams’ stadium. Plus, you took him from a division rival.
Last year, to get Mare, we traded a sixth to the Dolphins and paid him $1.5 million base salary. Here’s what we knew about Mare before we acquired him:
Mare completed just 72.2 percent of his field goal tries last season and was 1-6 on tries beyond 50 yards. In fact, for his career, Mare has only completed 46.7 percent of his attempts from that distance. – from an article published April of last year.
Also, in looking up this kicker info, I discovered that the Seahawks replaced Brown with Mare. It’s win-win for the Rams!
That being said, the Rams still suck.
I thought the word was the Grammatica would do the field goals and the new one would handle kickoffs. I cannot believe Mare wound up anywhere. He should be with Aaron Brookes.
I also understand that a kicker has not been selected in the draft since Morten Andersen.
I think that 2-3 kickers get drafted every year. Back in 2000, the Raiders actually wasted a first rounder on Janikowski, who has managed to stay on the team and out of jail ever since.
Ah, I get it now, Marnie, you were talking about the Saints not having drafted one. Sorry about that.
Man we shoulda just sold the 6th pick and picked up whichever ancient kicker was on the waiver wire.
We tried ancient kicker last year. He cost us games.
Hopefully Mehlhaff will be able to kick field goals, and we can get rid of Gramatica. Nick Folk and Mason Crosby did absolutely fine last year. (they were also sixth round picks).
I know I seem stuck on kickers, but it’s important. How many game get decided by three points or less? How many points per game do kickers score? 5? I bet its more like 7 points per game.
Bottom line……we NEED a good kicker!
You and your mom are completely hung up on kickers. It pains me to say this.
I admit it, I am. It’s a position that is often ignored. But look at it this way. Kickers score points. It takes three players for a kicker to score points: long snapper, holder, kicker. Sure there are other guys on the field, but there are three “special” players on the field to get three points. Since the holder is usually a backup QB or a punter, let’s say two “special” players. These two guys have one job: score three points or one point (yes, and kickoff). How many players does it take to score a touchdown? Now I’m not saying scoring touchdowns is important. It surely is.
But you shouldn’t relegate a points-scoring position to “just some scrub out of free agency.” Invest in the position and get consistency at that phase of the game. It’s easy. You need two specialized guys. Get those guys and keep them for a long time.
John Madden has stated very clearly, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins. Why NOT care about kickers?
That is my boy!!! I love football talk!!! Look how many times we have lost a game (or won one) because of a kicker. Morten Anderson is a prime example. Spend the money….invest in a good one!!!!
And of course, kicker is one of the best positions to get a Brit on your roster. NFL teams need more British kickers.