Game overview:
Pretty entertaining game to watch for me from a scouting perspective. Mostly legit prospect QBs on both sides, so I was able to get a feel for some of the offensive talent because there was legit QB play making the engine run.
As far as the game itself is concerned, the Rams don’t really ‘try’ per se in the preseason. I mean the players are working hard, but it comes off more clinical or vanilla or trying things out or trying players out…ditto for the Chargers because Staley is a football wonk/wanna be scientist like Sean McVay (McVay better at it). As opposed to just having watched the Lions vs. Giants about the same time as this tape -- a game where two legit tough guy teams went out and bludgeoned each other for fun. NYG and DET try to punch you in the mouth. LAC and LAR try to out-clever-playbook their opponents.
The Rams and Chargers are reflections of their coaches…so too are the Lions and Giants. And in August 2023, the Giants and Lions way is going better than what the two L.A. teams are doing heading into the season…but the Chargers have the great equalizer (Herbert).
Let’s get into the player scouting from this game…
Scouting Notes from the game:
-- Let’s start with the Chargers WRs…
Quentin Johnston (3-10-1/6) debuted and had one TD…and 1 or 2 or 3 drops, depending on your definition of drops. QJ defenders will note Ja’Marr Chase struggled mightily with drops in his rookie preseason…and therefore their pro-QJ ways are safe from scrutiny. QJ haters are reviling in the drops…it’s evidence that they have been right all along, that QJ has bad hands (as I believe).
What’s weird to me about Quentin is -- he can look so majestic on one play and then butcher a play the next. Pro-QJ people remember the majestic moments. Anti-QJ people remember all the drops/gaffes.
I’ll fall in the middle right now, but ultimately -- I’m anti-QJ. The Chargers are going to use him to be a deep ball decoy guy…and that’s a good use for him. One week, he’ll get 2-3 yards separation on a defender and Herbert’s gonna put a laser beam right on him, and bingo…TD magic. The next couple weeks, Johnston will get that 2-3 yards step ahead and Herbert will put it on/near him and QJ won’t make the play. BUT there will be weeks he does. It’s a nice specialty really. You’d like Jalin Hyatt more in that role…just go deep and catch the ball. But the Chargers have a TCU fetish and QJ is their guy. We (football people and fans) will argue this back and forth passionately for a rookie season and then will forget about it and move on to some other nonsense debate.
Ultimately, I don’t think this story ends with Johnston as a superstar. It ends with him as a cool highlight moment guy every so often…and that has NFL value, and some FF and Best Ball value…but not a great long term Dynasty value for the current price.
I could see Johnston with two 3-115-1/4 games right out of the chute and everyone in his corner going… SEE, I TOLD YOU!!! But then by Week 6-7-8, everyone is like…where did QJ go?
I wasn’t won over by Johnston in his debut, but I was won over by another TCU WR, one that I wrote off more than Johnston prior. I am onboard-ish with Derius Davis (2-21-0/2, and a PR TD) now. I see the speed/agility. I didn’t see it so much at his TCU time or anywhere else pre-Draft, but in his debut here -- he showed he has legit NFL speed/usefulness.
Davis is not a future star, but he’s future good/useful as a gadget weapon and great return man. Not a Dynasty/Fantasy stud, but he’s not-nothing. He and QJ will have some very erratic outputs week-to-week, month-to-month.
One other LAC receiver note: TE Donald Parham (1-13-0/1) just is not getting any attention. I so think there’s an opportunity there for LAC with him, but it does not look like they will give into it…and it does not look like Parham is gonna force them to notice. I’m about ready to let this pipe dream go (so, guaranteed he scores two TDs next preseason game).
-- Rams RB report…
Ronnie Rivers (6-31-0) started, which you think would be ‘no big deal’, but Andrew Whitworth said (on the broadcast) that he asked the players who they were excited about seeing tonight, he said they all said ‘Ronnie Rivers’.
I was stunned to hear it…but I’d had someone tell me positives on Rivers and the connection with the Rams staff prior, and I dismissed it -- but now I’m not going to dismiss it. I’m not embracing it for FF reasons, but in DEEP roster leagues, I’m sure he’s on waivers and if your league scarfs RBs eternally maybe you hold Rivers to see if Akers flakes out again and also I’m assuming Kyren Williams is not going to have an impact.
And if rookie Zach Evans (8-34-0) is ‘behind’ Rivers, as he was in this game, it’s another feather in Rivers’ cap. The Rams RB group is arguably the worst in the NFL…so, Rivers popping up for a moment isn’t that crazy. I thought Evans looked meh/OK here…looked like he lost 5-10 pounds and has become skinny where he was supposed to be a banger RB of sorts, but he was fine/OK…like a thousand other RBs -- runs straight ahead and falls down with contact, and the O-Line dictates if that is for 1-2 yards or 4-5.
-- The Chargers backup RBs are probably as good or better than Cam Akers…so, in theory they could all start for the Rams, but they play for the Chargers…so, they’re stuck.
Joshua Kelley (9-54-0, 0-0-0/1) looked fine/solid/as usual. Not a star but not a joke.
Isaiah Spiller (5-27-0, 2-11-0/2) came in behind Kelley and rotated with him. Spiller looks better than Kelley with his acceleration and bigger size. It seems like Spiller has taken a step forward in his year two. I would not assume Kelley is the clear #2 anymore. Spiller is cutting in on that turf.
Then, later in the game, UDFA rookie RB that I never really looked at pre-Draft (for a number of rational reasons), Elijah Dotson (6-92-2, 0-0-0/0) comes in and looks better than all of them and wins over my heart.
5’9”/202 out of Northern Colorado, Dotson ran a 4.53 40-time with a weak 7.39 three-cone but did post 21 reps on the bench. He is short, compact, and much faster on the field than what the Pro Day foretold. Dotson’s emergence further puts Kelley’s stronghold on the #2 role at risk. Dotson may not have his moment until later this season or 2024, but he’s definitely on the radar now.
-- QB review time, two rookies to look at…
First, we’ll look at the non-rookie, Easton Stick (14-21 for 109 yards, 1 TD/0 INT, 2-12-0). He continues to fortify his formerly stick-skinny body, which is strengthening his arm. He’s got experience. He’s got movement skills. He’s become a legit nice backup.
Stick’s gradual, grinding improvement hurts rookie Max Duggan’s (2-3 for 19 yards, 0 TD/0 INT, 4-20-0) chances to be the guy LAC turns to in 2023 if Herbert were to go down. Dugger didn’t get much time or throws, but he did run the ball some…and that dude is probably, shockingly, the best running QB from the 2023 NFL Draft, outside of the obvious top runner in Anthony Richardson.
If someone says Malik Cunningham is the best non-Richardson running QB from this class…then you are out of your mind. Cunningham is the most overhyped QB/player from preseason Week 1 and the mainstream flocking to him like New England pulled some magic shows me they absolutely have no idea what they are talking about on anything related to QBs…from their wrong position on Bryce Young on down. Cunningham is quick but skinny as a rail, and Duggan actually tested with a similar/faster 40-time as Cunningham, AND Duggan can actually throw a football in the NFL. Cunningham is a terrible passing QB.
Nor will anyone be held to account, in the mainstream, for missing that Stetson Bennett (17-29 for 191 yards, 1 TD/0 INT) is a more talented version of Bryce Young…only Bennett has a much stronger arm and much faster feet. What Bennett accomplished in his rookie debut here, the throws he made, the throws he was allowed to make, behind a weak O-Line compared to what throws/plays Bryce Young showed us at the hands of Frank Reich…it’s an embarrassment that all of football flocked like lemmings to join the Bryce Young chorus…and that Reich was going to be a genius taking Young to new heights. That last 6 months narrative all got exposed in one week in the preseason. Unbelievable.
The reason Bennett is not getting any love, or wasn’t pre-Draft, is because most all NFL coaches want a game manager…not a gunslinger. Bennett is an arrogant/confident personality, and he plays arrogant…too arrogant at times, but he could reel himself in eventually. NFL coaches HATE that. They don’t wanna work with that. They want the QB to be their buddy…to be beholden to them…to not get out of line. Thus, Brady and Rodgers not-wanted by their original organizations anymore. In their place, the great game managers in Mac Jones and Jordan Love. Hue Jackson didn’t want arrogant Baker Mayfield, he wanted passive Cody Kessler or Tyrod Taylor. Only, Mac Jones is getting out of line now too…which is gonna bring on the Bailey Zappe era at some point (and it should be happening already, but it isn’t).
Do you actually buy the NFL bull$#1# that the ‘best man earns the job’? Ha.
Ha ha.
Ha ha ha.
The ‘best man’ for NFL head coaches is the one that licks their boots/has a great dinner meeting with them pre-draft.
Bennett might be the bridge to the Rams future when Stafford is done in 2025, maybe 2024. Depends on if Bennett pisses off McVay between now and then. Bennett is good. He’s not amazing. But he’s good/NFL-worthy with some upside because he has tools despite his size.
-- Rams WR report…
Puka Nacua (3-32-1/5) continues to feel like the 2023 version of Romeo Doubs 2022. Nacua has terrific hands, but I don’t know if he can get open well enough to have that great an NFL impact. Remember when Van Jefferson was that guy in Rams preseasons? He was gonna be great too…
I’m still neutral on Nacua. I’m willing to endorse him if I see it. Haven’t seen it so far, but he has great hands -- so that makes him a camp star…and maybe it will make him an NFL star. We’ll see.
I’ve liked Lance McCutcheon (2-28-0/6) since the first time I saw him dominate the 2021 preseason for the Rams. He has been a ghost since. In this game, it looks like his soul has been sucked out. He was so exciting, so playmaking, so dynamic his rookie preseason and now he looks like a robot who knows his place. There is no more excitement seen with McCutcheon.
-- Rams rookie OLB/DE Byron Young (1 tackle) had a nice sack in this game but grabbed the facemask too and had it negated. He’s just really raw, but talented, right now.
-- Rams rookie PK Tanner Brown (1/2 FGs, 2/2 XPs) got off to a slow start missing his first FG attempt of his NFL time but made his next one and made all his XPs. He’s the Rams Week 1 kicker until further notice. He’s talented…but these young kickers are really flaking out in various places across the league.
I’d rather run with steady eddie Cameron Dicker (2/2 FGs, 4/4 XPs) even if he doesn’t have a huge leg. He makes kicks…that’s what the job is about.
