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The Sun is shining, the birds are singing, and there is the sound music in the air. It must be spring time in the Rams front office. “We had a good season in 1977, but to say the team was were we wanted would be an inaccurate. We took over the team a little later than desired and the coaches did a great job to get every ounce of talent out of the players we had. Now we must become contenders and it order to be a contender, you have to beat the contenders.” Said owner greyghost.

The Rams have started this off-season in typical greyghost fashion, with trades. The first trade with Tennessee sent 3 draft picks to the Titans in exchange for WR Wiley Cox, WR Roger Sellers, DE George Johnson, and CB Maynard Oliver. “We spent some time on the negotiations of this deal, we wanted to make sure it fit within what both franchises were trying to accomplish. We are happy with the results.” Said ghost. The Rams were barely a threat on offense last season and the wideouts were atrocious. The addition of 2 young quality receivers joining youngster Neil Pennypacker and Christopher Hansen should be the start of a good young base. DE George Johnson should add some needed depth at DE, he will support DE Tom Sawyer and both should be with the team for years. The team is shopping George Amijo, so he doesn’t figure into the plan. CB Oliver is a depth move strictly and has some veteran experience that will add to the secondary. The Rams sent their 1978 3rd round pick, Seattle’s 1979 2nd round pick, and 1980 3rd pick. The Titans were looking at re-building their draft picks, which was accomplished.

The Rams 2nd deal of the day transpired quickly. Cleveland was looking to move the eight-overall pick in the 1978 draft and the Rams hit the timing perfect. The Rams sent their 1978 1st, 1978 2nd, 1979 1st, and 1980 1st to the Browns for 1978 Balt 1st, 1978 1st, 1978 2nd, and 1978 6th. “There are some postions we are looking at improve now and the Browns needed to readjust some salary cap, so the deal made sense” per ghost. If ghost’s past is any indication, those picks could be traded anytime. “We are looking at certain talent to fill certain positions. If that can be done via trade, we will do it. There are currently discussions going for the #8 pick, it is now just a matter if it happens. If it doesn’t there are a few players, we are looking at drafting in that spot. We will doe what is best for the franchise.” Said ghost.

The Los Angeles fans wanted excitement within the franchise, it has arrived.

One thing is certain. When everything is said and done, the Rams will sell a lot of programs because the fans won't know who's on the team. Can't argue with one of the masters of rebuilding teams though.

I do miss the days of you informing the league about how much I was over the cap in Denver, some of my fondest thoughts, lol. You are a league treasure without a doubt.

Well, you were, in fact, over the cap at the time. You gotta admit that. Some guys can pull it off. Some can't (like me).

Yes I was, it was some kind of insane amount, even for me.

It is a safe terminology to define the off-season for the Rams as “Offensive”. Though not in the sense of being mean or rude to upset anyone, but in the sense of addressing a major need on the offensive side of the pigskin. The offense was ranked 21st in total yards per game in 1977 and ownership thought this needed to be addressed. “We were not happy with the output last season. We fixed a couple of things during the initial purchase of the franchise, but decided the offense needed some help.” Said greyghost. Well, the off-season has reflected that with the Rams bringing in 18 new players(10 via the draft) to try out for the offense. There are currently 38 players on the roster on the offensive side of the ball. “We added players to every position, competition breeds winning. If someone on the offense wants a job, they have to prove it.” Said coach Jason Troutman. The additions:

QB Marc Aponte(free agent)
QB Rodrick Mathews(draft pick)
QB William Bermudez(draft pick)
RB David Brown(trade)
RB Jordan Triplett(draft pick)
TE Justin Bohannon(draft pick)
TE Jake Colvin(draft pick)
TE Charles Hunter(trade)
WR Roger Sellers(trade)
WR Willy Cox(trade)
WR George Clark(trade)
WR Richard Hockett(draft pick)
OL Charles Crowe(free agent)
OL Michael McKinney(free agent)
OL Melvin Wisniewski(draft pick)
OL Roscoe Bonaparte(draft pick)
OL Salvatore Pope(draft pick)
OL Gerald Morgan(draft pick)

Don’t think the Rams stood pat on the defensive side of the ball adding 4 new players, but this off-season has already shown a new direction on improving the offense. It will be a fun training camp and pre-season to watch.

Training Camp Roundup
The front office this first off-season for the Rams ownership has been busy and it is always great to see the players running drills and finally throwing down the gauntlet playing some real football. The rookie talk coming out of the Rams camp has the fans excited.

1-24 RB Jordan Triplett (Miami FL), The one-time Hurricane is exactly what the Rams wanted, a good young back that has the desire to get better. “He will most definitely be one of the featured backs soon” said greyghost. Triplett has improved with training camp, but only time will tell where he fits in with 1,000-yard rusher Mike Richardson and newly acquired veteran David Brown. +3

1-31 RT Melvin Wisniewski, Melvin is not a household name yet, coming straight out of the military and never playing college ball made him a questionable choice. He made a huge impression at the combine and shot straight up the draft chart. He then with the leadership of veteran LT William Behrens was a dominating force in training camp. “He will be our starting RT for as long as he wants the job” said ghost. +2

2-8 LG Roscoe Bonaparte (San Jose St.), Bonaparte was slated as the starting LG going into training camp. Then 2 things happened, first Roscoe lacked the focus and desire necessary and secondly 6th round draft pick Gerald Morgan decided he wanted the job (see below). Bonaparte is still expected to be a contributor, but at this point it will be a supporting role. -7

2-24 LT Salvatore Pope (Vanderbilt), Pope will be the heir apparent to LT Williams Behrens and with his tutorship is already showing an increase in performance. “He will get some playing time this season, and with Behrens career winding down should be our starter in 1979. +2

Other training camp notables:

4-23 QB Rodrick Mathews (Grambling), “sometimes you take a chance on a kid and it just doesn’t work out, we wish him luck” said ghost. On the night after the first day of training camp Mathews was arrested for disorderly conduct and assaulting a police officer. He was given his walking papers immediately. -22

6-22 LG Gerald Morgan (Maryland), “sometimes you take a chance on a kid and it does work out” said ghost. Morgan who was totally unknown coming into the draft not only made a statement in training camp but took the LG position. “He is just one of those diamonds in the rough and we are happy for him to be a part of the Rams franchise” said coach Jason Troutman. +7

7th Round TE Jake Colvin (Arizona State) and QB William Bermudez (Michigan), both have shown progress and currently sit on the bubble, but more will be evaluated in pre-season. +3 and +1

I'll be looking for Tripplett's name at the top off the stats list in the coming years.

“Season two is always the most painful in a building process. We calculated coming out of the gate at 0-4, so 2-2 or 1-3 is better than expected. Our evaluations calculate to a 7-9 or 8-8 season” said owner greyghost. The realistic point of view taken by the front office should not be considered in a negative manner. They have a robust 25 players on their roster that have been playing 3 years or less with 6 rookies playing on offense, so it is reasonable for the team to have these expectations to allow for development. “We expected a rough start with the youth, it is going to take time for these players to develop, so we are looking for improvement going forward” said ghost.

The youth is one aspect, but there is a concern about the QB Mullens who has already thrown 8 ints this season compared to 11 in 1977. “He is a definite concern, we still have faith he can do the job, but the offense must start showing better production” said ghost. If Mullens continues to falter, the Rams front office provided them with another young option in acquiring rookie Jorge Bishop from Carolina. The rookie player on offense that has started showing improvement is RB Jordan Triplett, he has been moved into the starting tail back position and the offense seems to show improvement when he is in the game, so look for that to continue. RB Richardson has been a shadow of his former self from 1977 and reports are he could be on the trade block and moving soon, which will elevate veteran Dave Brown into the #2 spot. Patience is a virtue, but how much patience does the front office for the Rams really have. “Our primary goal is to win games, if we can improve the Rams in the process for long term, we will do what is necessary. We will be committed to the players that perform and help us achieve that goal” said ghost.

“We are happy with where we are right now. Then is still a lot of games left and there are 9 other teams that want one of the 6 playoff spots, so we need to keep focus” said greyghost. The Rams moved into first, at least for the time being with a huge victory over the surprising Giants. Los Angeles expected to be 5-5 or 4-6 at this point are surprised at their success. “The young players have developed quicker than anticipated and we are very proud of them” said head coach Jason Troutman. The turnaround came as the defense jumped from the 18th best in Paydirt to the 5th spot. In order to understand the roll this defense is currently on, remove the Houston game and the defense has allowed 2 total touchdowns in the other 9 games. “We did not expect this out of the defense this season. It has been fun to watch and can only hope it continues.” added ghost. The Rams who expected to be 8-8 or 7-9 this season continue with those estimates as they have tough games remaining against Arizona, Jacksonville and two against Seattle which most likely will determine the division winner. When the new regime took over, they had a 3-year plan. The rest of the season will determine if that bell has rung early.