Verderame on his pod:

“Outside of Campbell, this is not viewed as a good tackle class. Many people I’ve talked to have said they think Kelvin Banks and Armond Membou are looked at more as Guards by a lot of these teams. Simmons may be a Tackle but he’s considered to be better on the right side than the left. Conerly could be an option but there’s a reason he might be there when KC picks. He’s viewed as a project. He’s gonna take some time.”

Yeesh

They're 100% going to pay a veteran and to the extent of the money will tell you what they think about Kingsley's future position, LT or LG.

Yeah, it's rough timing for teams that are looking for a tackle.

And all the more reason to spend available cap space on the OL in FA and perhaps in retaining Smith.

Been saying that for awhile. I shit on most of the class and then get to Campbell and am like "okay...he might be pretty good"

I wanted to hate the WHOLE class, but I do think Campbell will stick at LT and be a good one. And I think he'll probably be an adequate starter at LT even as a rookie. Not good. Probably not even average. But he won't kill ya.

He's the outlier from this OT class. But I do think at some point down the road one of the more toolsy but raw guys could develop past him.

I mean, not here. We'd leave him to die, bench him then move him to guard. But somewhere.

Tyron Smith gonna end up the Chiefs LT.

Sounds like they’re ready to flush the turd Kingsley

Where did you get that?

So now that the DL class is getting all this hype, wonder if it means we could get Turk and/or Omenihu back on a bit of a discount given many teams may be content to wait and draft their DL primarily

The fact they’re about to pay a RG and a LT combined about 45 million per year.

None of that has anything to do with Kingsley, especially not right now before they've actually done anything.

If they will let CEH and Skyy play out there contracts, there's no way they are "flushing" Kingsley after one season.

Well, I didn’t mean cut. I just meant they seem to have no confidence in him at all to play any position on the offensive line.

He’s an afterthought now.

I think that's a stretch, feels like they have him pegged to take over for Thuney after next season and are going to let him focus on that spot.

Remember, the dude is only 21 years old. There's no chance they're giving up on him this quickly. He's not in their immediate plans because he was even more raw than they anticipated. I'd bet my bottom dollar he's your opening game starter at LG in 2027, though.

Yeah I don't think that's accurate at all. He's 21 years old with elite traits. He's going to play next year and will probably be a starter the next, depending on how he develops. They're going to give him every chance to win a spot.

Yep. Went from starting as a rookie to needing another year of development just to play on the interior. Their opinion of him has drastically diminished.

Yeah, if they gave Niang 4 years as a 3rd rounder then Suamataia will get at least that long to blossom as a 2nd

Folks will always hate developing players man. Kingsley was the 63rd pick. 2nd to last pick of the 2nd rd.

He’s only 21. Let’s pump the brakes a bit

Chiefs are the ones that expected him to operate on an island, benched him twice mid game when he couldn't do it, then relegated him to a project at LG.

Yeah the coaches ****ed it up

We all love Andy Reid, but he isn't infallible

They can’t draft a good tackle bc that would involve trading major assets to move up too far, so they took a shot on a player that has a very high ceiling due to traits that other players at his position just don’t have and may be moving him to G.

They literally had success doing this with with Tyreek, Chris and Patrick.

Nobody should bitch if the kid gives us solid G play, even in 2026. Worst case scenario he fails and it was worth taking a shot, but the kid still has plenty of time.

Rams close to a deal with Alaric Jackson

At what spot is he playing?

Shit

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rams?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Rams</a> and offensive tackle Alaric Jackson are getting close on a long-term extension, per sources. <br><br>The deal is not done but is trending in the right direction. <a href="https://t.co/jkzH5jhe2T">pic.twitter.com/jkzH5jhe2T</a></p>&mdash; Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) <a href="https://twitter.com/JFowlerESPN/status/1895576813117845939?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 28, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Least surprising news of the day. No chance they were letting Jackson leave after reupping with Stafford.

Alaric Jackson back to Rams at 3/57

That should set the market for Cam Robinson

I think he left money on the table by not getting to free agency.

We were speculating he’d get more than that.

He's played both tackle and guard. They could put him anywhere at this point. I still think they are going to give him chances at the LT spot.

Just because you can't see a spot for him in February means almost nothing. Skyy Moore was here for his entire contract. No matter how much you wish, they're not giving up on Kingsley any time soon.

He's going to be back at tackle for camp and people are going to be pissed.

Well that sucks about Jackson, looks like it is looking more and more like DJ Humphries at LT and then being forced to draft LT in the first by moving up

Rams paying their entire OL. Huh.

No I'm not. I WANT him to take an OT job. It would be ****ing stupid to give up on him there, and yet everything the organization has done and said recently would indicate that's what they've decided to do.

Must be reeruns too.

Yeah I don't think him playing guard in a meaningless game when they were shuffling deck chairs more than the Titanic says anything about his future. They drafted him because he has the physical traits to be a LT in this league. He's going to get that chance. Probably more than one or two. Just like Niang.

Veach saying they like his potential inside as well does, though.

That's actually a lot more reasonable than I would have expected, especially considering his age and the cap rising. He may have just helped us out by not breaking the market.

We'll land Robinson for around the same I would imagine.

Everything being said by GMs or coaches this time of year should be taken with a grain of salt, IMO.

Furthermore, Veach doesn't decide who plays where. We've seen it before where Veach talks up a guy and Andy decides differently .

I mean, Veach would absolutely know what the plan is with Suamataia. He's not going out signing Cam Robinson to a long term deal if Reid still wants Suamataia to take that job.

2025-$14 million
2026-$18 million
2027-$28 million (cut with minimal dead money)

You could probably do this for Cam Robinson on an Alaric Jackson type deal. Basically a 2 year $16 million APY deal.

Man I don't get why he wouldn't want to test out free agency after getting that offer.

By comparison , Jawaan Taylor got $80 million over four years with $40 million fully guaranteed.

Yeah, I think that deal is a huge win for the Ram. I wouldn’t call it a loss for Jackson - that’s a lot of guaranteed money for a guy who hasn’t made much yet.

I wouldn’t call have been fine with the Chiefs coming in over top of him.

Yeah, you win some, and others are Jawaan Taylor.

On the plus side Jackson only had 1 really good year, so who knows. But that Taylor contract, yuck.

Oh God, we're getting Cam Robinson aren't we?

That’s what they do in Indy.

All the big name guys know what they’re getting after this week.

Seeing what Jackson got makes me feel good about what they can get Robinson for.

Guessing his agent put the feelers out and simply didn’t find the market he thought he would. Plus, let’s be honest, LA has the advantage of being… LA. A young, soon to be rich young man can have a pretty nice life out there.

taxes???

Yep, I’m seeing this a win for us. Jackson was going to be the market setter and he did just that, and it’s much more palatable than I was anticipating. Robinson’s agent is going to push for more because of his experience and he just might get it, but at least it’s not going to an albatross.

Yeah, he definitely isn’t going to be as impressed with that first check as he might have been in KC.

Can we get Doug Pederson back in KC too? Let’s get all of the former Jags here, maybe Kirk too if he’s released.

On a serious note, would we say Robinson is comparable to OBJ? Because while I never cared much for OBJ the offense could at least function when he was here, if Robinson is comparable in performance but isn’t represented by a dumb **** agent like OBJ then perhaps that same level of performance is palatable at a better price.

He’s a much better pass blocker, way worse in the run game. Basically, the exact opposite of OBJ but a much better fit for this offense.

Very different.

On balance, Robinson is a better pass protector, IMO.

OBJ, on balance, is probably a slightly more consistent player.

Where OBJ wins on power more, Robinson is more likely to win on athleticism. He's by no means elite in that regard but where OBJ had bad feet and made up for it by just being very very long, Robinson has average feet but isn't quite as long.

If you're Madden ranking them, giving them both an 80 grade is probably fair -- but their respective category scores would be quite a bit different.

Ultimately I'd rather have Robinson than OBJ. Some teams might prefer OBJ.

Yes, I think Robinson is comparable to OBJ overall, probably a better fit specifically for us.

He's better than Donovan Smith for sure.

The OL was good when we had either of those guys. We really don't need more than adequate.

If we could go back in time. I would have locked up OBJ when we had the chance.

Rare misstep by Veach there.

JFC you're so goddamn clueless about everything.

That was 100% on OBJ and his "agent". That's why he lost money. Get a ****ing clue.

Lol oh boy. Still off your meds today I see.

Well aware of all that. Veach clearly didn’t prioritize re-signing him or negotiations would never have soured to the point they did.

He thought he could get equal production at a better value and more importantly he underestimated the value in the fact that Patrick trusted OBJ.

He gambled and lost. It happens sometimes.

Yeah - it was strange to me that we had to go over this again a couple weeks back.

OBJ is the reason he's not a Chief. And not necessarily because of the 2023 off-season. That was standard tag games that didn't ultimately work out.

It was the goddamn 2022 offseason where he absolutely screwed us. And he was such a damn weirdo about the whole thing and tied our hands so long that Veach was unwilling to do that dance again the following year.

So even to the extent we 'messed up' the 2023 off-season with Brown, it was a consequence of how badly he and his 'agent' duffed the spring/summer of 2022.

I have no problem saying Veach made a mistake if I think he did (I think he's about to). But in this case, OBJ operated strangely and/or in bad faith and in so doing wrote his own ticket to Cincinnati.

Brown is just a really odd guy. I don't miss him. If Robinson signs and works out to be the slightly above average player I think he'll be, that's a swap I'm content making.

Gambling and losing is going to the next two Super Bowls and winning one of them?

LMAO Veach had an offer worth 4 million AAV on the table OVER what OBJ ended up signing for. Blaming him for OBJ and his agent being imbeciles is ****ing reeruned.

But...he did.

First Brown wouldn't engage because he wanted to do it on his own. Then when he tried to do it on his own it was evidently a fools errand. Then he wanted to get an agent and slow-walked the hell out of it. Then when he got the agent he hired someone with no experience "Because I don't want him to be part of the old boys network" and that guy didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground.

Veach absolutely approached the 2022 offseason with Brown as a priority. And in the 2023 off-season he COULDN'T prioritize Brown anymore because Brown was a damn flake the year prior and we couldn't let him hold the off-season hostage again.

This ain't the place to plant a flag.

You're just wrong.

Yeah -- we're buying him books here and he's eating the pages.

He simply doesn't have the facts straight. He'd be wise to pull the ejection handle on this one.

We all eat a little shit from time time.

I don't think Veach is going to pay top $ for a LT. He's targeting one in the draft. And I think he's hinted that this is the approach the chiefs are going to take.

Everyone is looking for a LT in the draft.

Unfortunately, there is only one guy in the draft that considered sure to stick at LT. And KC won’t get a chance at him. I don’t expect KC to be thinking it can solve LT from this draft. At least not for 2025.

They’re going to either sign Cam Robinson or sign Humphries and have him compete (probably while taking another stab at a T in the draft). I’d go get Jedrick Wills, too, if they go the Humphries route and just try to create as much competition as possible.

Well guys, the obvious answer here is Cam Robinson. And honestly he’s not a bad option all things considered.

He’s a similar version of Donovan Smith but younger, has more system experience and isn’t a brokedick. People wanted Donovan Smith…well here he is.

Don’t think he’s gonna have a big market either. Can’t think of a team besides us and the Patriots that need a starting LT, and the Patriots probably won’t touch him bc they have a great shot at getting Will Campbell.

If this happens the meltdown will be epic.

The women at those LA bars and nightclubs won’t be too impressed when they read about his measurements

If there’s a lot of teams looking for a LT, then they’re all looking at Cam Robinson too

Any chance the giants would trade us Andrew Thomas? Two firsts and Kingsley for Thomas?

Maybe he’ll give a Super Bowl contender’s discount rather than just run for the $$$ in New England.

Doubtful, but that would be the hope for the Chiefs.

There aren't THAT many teams looking for a new starter at LT. Everyone is trying to find guys who can play there in the draft, but the Chiefs are one of a small handful of teams that will be actively engaged in looking for a FA LT of note.

There are other starting caliber LTs in free agency too. I'm sure somebody is going to sign Moore to be their starter, and he might be cheaper and a better fit for other teams with his run blocking.

How I view it...

Teams that NEED a LT:

New England
Cleveland (I do see Dan Moore going here)
Kansas City

Might be looking:
Miami (if Armstead retires and they aren't convinced Paul is ready)
Baltimore (if they can't re-sign Stanley)
Chicago (not alot of love for Braxton Jones and Amegadjie reportedly didn't do much to instill confidence either)
Green Bay (Walker isn't that great so they could look to upgrade if its there)
San Francisco (They need an heir to Trent Williams asap)
Tennessee (Latham wasn't very convincing last season, might want to move him to RT)
Dallas (Depends on how they view Guyton's progress)


Teams that NEED a RT:

New England
New York Jets (their backups suck and Moses is a FA)

Might be looking:
Miami (Austin Jackson should probably move inside)
Jacksonville (Anton Harrison hasn't looked great)
Las Vegas (they may want to move Glaze inside to OG and upgrade)
New York Giants (upgrading from Eluemunor would be prudent)
Arizona (might want to upgrade from Jonah Williams)
Los Angeles Rams (Havenstein is old and falling off)

Man I'd love to have an alternate reality machine so you could see the alternate version of yourself that was super pissed at Veach for giving OBJ everything he wanted for mediocre at best production. Then you'd see how full of shit you are.

LT market isn’t very good. Just gotta hope one of these can turn into something decent in the LT spot for 2025 season: DJ Humphries, Wanya, Kingsley, and perhaps a new Draft pick.

Zero chance they roll with those guys.

We're desperate. We have to make a move and it cannot be a ripple. It has to be a splash. If we can't pull it off it's hard to see us hoisting the Lombardi going against teams who do have really good T's. We may be the only top 5 team that doesn't.

What about Mekhi Becton? He has (or at least had) the physical tools to play tackle and he's still only 26.

Willie Roaf ain’t walking through that door.

Nothing wrong with having your 6-8 be Kingsley, Wanya, Nourzad. Those are young guys with starter upside who if you have an injury somewhere, you’re most likely going to be able to ride it out similar to how we did when Allegretti stepped in.

That’s not nothing. Caliendo cannot be our backup guard next year. Nothing worse than seeing a big guy down and wondering if your season is toast.

After they bring in the sure answer at LT, I think we’ll be ok in that regard for 2-3 years and that’s not a bad way to use draft capital.

… and now talking it through, even though I’ve been a pro-Ronnie Stanley guy thus far, I totally understand why they’d prefer Robinson even beyond the money.

Nourzad is your backup C.

Kingsley can, at minimum, be a swing guard along with Nourzad.

LT depth is the problem. You need a stable floor and a guy you can depend on to be there week after week.

Eye test says Wanya at LT is a player they were able to win in spite of. At RT, looked like a player they could win with, not in spite of.

So really, the most important thing at LT is finding that one solid floor dude who isn’t likely to miss games.