Someone had to speak up on Perriman’s behalf. Who thought he’d be a good addition? Anyone coach him in the past? Was is Randel El in Tampa?
We know that T. Williams was Lynn’s hand picked guy to bring on offense.
Someone spoke up for Benson, Holmes mentioned it in the press conference. Who was from Denver?
Hodge and Reynolds are ex-rams so clearly Holmes was familiar there.
Perriman is on his third team this year, back in Tampa, not sure what they see in him that nobody else seems to be able to get out of him.
Randle-El was in Tampa with him
Not trying to defend Holmes, just trying to understand what was him versus coach recommendations.
Holmes was in charge of all college scouting for the Rams. They didn’t make a ton of free agent acquisitions. It was usually one big one each year for their 1st round draft pick.
When we look at the draft + UDFA class, it looks like a ton of guys are contributing and belong.
When we look at the FA class, it’s been mostly a bust. Jamal Williams is very good and he was the only one given 2 years. Everyone else is on a one year prove it so that may have been where he shows his confidence.
Marlow is contributing. Boyle played a game but it was bad. Reynolds had a good game and was definitely scouted by Holmes. Who else was picked up in FA this year?
I guess it looks to me like T. Williams was hand picked by Lynn, and Perriman was hand picked by Randle El? Holmes and Campbell still signed off so they are ultimately accountable.
What I’m trying to understand is if Holmes had so much roster organization to do, if he outsourced the WRs to Lynn and Randle El. That has been a colossal bust and may be contributing to Holmes needing to take over there (getting Reynolds) and may lose trust in the offensive coaches…
I think a big part of it was that they were inexpensive and with high upside due to their substantial risks. I still think it was a sound strategy given our situation. Unfortunately it blew up on us. Hopefully we can get a legit high end veteran WR in free agency.
Benson was brought to Holmes attention by the scouting department, which hasn’t been gutted yet, who put together a highlight reel and sucked him in. I’m betting some of these scouts will be looking for a new job soon.
Good note. Mistakes and gambles were inevitable with how much there was to change and how short of time they had.
The key is Holmes needs to correct the mistakes. Find the right guys to scout, coach, and play. That is everything.
As a first time GM, this is Holmes true test, imo. How does he handle personnel decisions in the front office. Is he going to let people lead him around by the nose? Is he going to demand results? Is he going to demand accountability? Is he going to bring in a bunch of yes men? All very real questions that will go a long way to determining where this ship goes.
I get the sense from watching him in pressers and how he’s evaluated talent that he is a very cerebral, logical type. If you’ve ever participated in “insights” training, he is all blue energy or what the data tells him.
The Rams seemed to evaluate position coaches in some ranking much like players. There may be some metric that measures scout performance as well. I get the feeling he will want to upgrade all three based on what the numbers and performance tell him.
With Lynn, the offense may be too atrocious to overcome, especially with Holmes knowing what Goff can do… He may get let go after this season. With Randle El, it may be more about individual player performance and what growth metrics need to be seen next season for him to prove himself.
It’s collaborative, but he’s the Holmes is the personnel guy. If the buck has to stop somewhere, it’s with him.
All scouts are going to make a case for their guys. Boyle is one of the scout’s guys. I would assume that everyone had “a guy” because that’s exactly the thing they drove. “Bring us someone you’re passionate about, someone YOU want.”
Plus, we know that Detroit was a “prove it” destination for a lot of players and coaches even.
In the end, there was an overall approach that instilled buy-in from all parties. Yes, there are misses, but there would have been anyway.
I definitely think he’s very intellectual, I simply question how he’s going to handle hiring and firing within his own baliwick. When it comes to leading his office, he’s Schroedinger’s Box for all intents and purposes.
Our past 3 GM’s have all been rookies. Millen, Mayhew, and Quinn. None of them developed the scouting department to a recognizable level of competence, imo. Right now, the current scouting department has stated their case that they did their jobs and were ignored by Quinn, who made personal calls on guys like Tabor.
Is that valid? Maybe. Does it mean they had superior recommendations that would have been better than league average? Who knows? That’s going to be the first thing Holmes needs to figure out, imo.
He can’t run around and personally scout every guy. The scouts he has HAVE to be his strong right hand and he HAS to be able to trust their work. Without good drafting, this team is doomed as they have been.
This.
There were very limited resources this offseason, so they took a couple of risks. Perriman flamed out because of attitude (my perception), and TWill got a concussion. Maybe someone should’ve known about the former, but the latter was just bad luck.
I also don’t understand anyone who gets wound up about the Trinity Benson trade. It’s essentially a fifth rounder for a dude with some upside. If he doesn’t pan out, it ends up being like 80+% of all fifth round picks. Whoop-de-doo.
I think a lot of people (TC mouse primarily) are saying that Holmes has screwed up this roster because there aren’t any wins.
To me it looks like a fantastic job on the rookie/udfa portion and mixed bag on the FA side.
I too didn’t mind the swings but I want to understand if Lynn/Randle El are the two that screwed up the WR room primarily or a scout on Holmes’ team?
Ultimately Holmes is responsible, but he has the opportunity before next season to make changes. Will he? What will those be?
Its November 29th and people still can’t get it thru their heads that we didn’t have any money.
There was very little money but something like 6 million was spent on T Williams and Perriman. More than most places so they knew it was a need and elected not to retain Golladay and Jones (may not have been able to afford them).
Many were asking for the Lions to pick up Reynolds for $2mm before season started, but Holmes must have not felt he was worth it at that point.
Next year there should be more money as the cap will go up and some contracts free up. Will be interesting to see if they go after a bigger name… Please no sammy watkins.
AMEN!
I think it is a worthy question about connections for Perriman and T. Williams.
But I do question the gamble, of like you say around 6 million, on two high risk players at a position so critically depleted.
He had to know if both bombed where we would be.
Maybe he was hoping for one or both to step up and we’d be in line for a comp pick if they got a contract elsewhere next season. Who knows?
We now know it was a bad gamble however he was looking at it.
I don’t want to see a sort of repeat of Mayhew’s penchant for picking broken players in the second round.
Get the collective heads together and scrutinize that decision, and make corrections where needed.