5 Takeaways From Les Snead Combine Press Conference

1. Rams Don’t Value The Quarterback Position

"“We’re in the NFL, so it seems like whenever you talk about QBs, that’s the piece. If I get a little bit of a long answer, I can tell you this. We’ve done a lot of studies, as many as any team, about QBs and what makes a QB successful and all that, over the past couple years. The goal of this whole thing is to win games, so let’s just look at QBs this way. We’ve done a lot of studies since 2012 — and that’s when Jeff and I got to the Rams — about how teams win. There’s been 21 QBs since 2012 that have started 45 or more games. So if their team gives up 25 or more points, there’s only one of those QBs who has actually got a winning record, and it’s just over .500. I’ll let you guys do the research to figure that out. If your team gives up 17 or less than 17 points, all 21 of those guys have winning records. Now you get into a couple categories, 21 to 24 points, that you give up, 11 of those quarterbacks have winning records and 10 have losing records. If you give up 17 to 20 points, all but three of the QBs have winning records. So to win in this league, it’s a direct correlation to how many points you’re giving up. So what we’re doing in our search for consistency at QB is also doing the things we do well, and that’s defense. So in that 2012-15 period, we’ve given up, on average, about 20 points per game, which is about 12th out of all NFL teams. I think, to try to put this to a close, since 2012, we have had five starting QBs, and in each of those seasons — four seasons — we’ve had two guys actually start, sometimes three. So I think getting consistency at that position is one thing. Finding good players is another. To sum it all up, when Case Keenum came in he went 3-1 down the stretch. So he stabilized us. We had gone on a five-game losing streak and he goes 3-1 down the stretch. That’s a start there. We do like what Case brought to the table. That’s why we traded for him last year, to bring him back, and he helped stabilize the position. So my answer, it’s not just one variable to win in this league. There’s a lot. The QB is important, but there is a lot of other things that are important, too.”"

This quote was very demoralizing. In a quarterback league, the Rams must put more value on the quarterback position than they do or they are never going to win. By this quote, it looks like the Rams are content building their defense and then getting a quarterback who can just hold the ship. At this point, it looks like that guy is Case Keenum.