There’s a familiar sentiment shared in pretty much every recaps from the first episode of HBO’s Hard Knocks. Seemingly every one I’ve read says something like, “now we know why the Rams cut Deon Long.”
Which makes me ask the writers of those recaps the question, “Who really cares why the Rams cut Deon Long?”
Thanks to Hard Knocks, we know why Rams cut Eagles WR Deon Long
(@AaronMazer_) https://t.co/8Ya9NiV70p
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) August 10, 2016
Those of you who’ve yet to watch the episode, spoilers are coming. You’ve been warned.
Long gets cut about halfway through the show for violating team rules. There were literally just two that Los Angeles Rams head coach Jeff Fisher gave the team when camp started. 1. Be on time. 2. No visitors in the dorms.
Long broke the second one by having a girl drop by his dorm. He thought it wouldn’t be a big deal, but it was. Mainly because he was a bubble player and Fisher could cut him over anything to make an example without hurting the team. Trust me, if Todd Gurley had a girl come up to his room for a minute he’d still be in camp the next day. The Fisher “rules” vary depending on who you are. It’s a lot like regular life that way.
But Gurley wouldn’t do that. Elite players are elite for a reason and most of the time it’s because they don’t screw around with basic, loser stuff. Gurley’s not going to mess up his game by having a stripper drop off a pair of aviators he left on her nightstand. She can keep them as a souvenir of the visit from his penis. He’ll drop by Sunglasses Hut and pick up another pair.
It was an interesting scene, uncomfortable and cold, showing the realities of the football business for a guy at the bottom of an NFL roster. It’s why people are talking about it and they’re trying to make an excuse for it other than, “Man, look at that dude’s face melt when he realized trying to hook up with a Hooter’s waitress cost him a football career.” They got off on all the drama Aaron Rodgers’ brother brought to their life through his journey into a woman’s well-traveled panties on The Bachelorette while acting like they were talking about it for “real sports-related reasons.” I don’t play that kind of game.
Of all the people that could possibly care that Long was cut, I’m actually one of them. Not because the Rams shouldn’t have cut him, they absolutely should have and not just because some woman tried to hook him for 18 years of child support so she doesn’t have to use her cosmetology degree. I’m glad Long is gone because he was in the way of some talented young wideouts the Rams have in camp that need to make the team.
There’s a chance the Rams will keep seven receivers. More likely they keep six. Tavon Austin, Pharoh Cooper, Kenny Britt and Michael Thomas are going to be four of them. That leaves three spots at most for the rest of the guys to compete for. Those three guys should be Brian Quick, Nelson Spruce and Duke Williams.
But I don’t trust Fisher at all to make the right call there and he’ll end up trying to sneak Spruce of Williams onto the practice squad while keeping somebody like Bradley Marquez on the roster. It’s happened before. The Rams put Mike Remmers on the practice squad in 2014, only to see the Carolina Panthers swoop in, sign him and start him for two straight playoff seasons and, you know, Super Bowl 50.
The Rams got lucky last season when they pulled the same trick with offensive tackle Isaiah Battle. They can’t expect to be so fortunate again.
If Williams hadn’t gotten in trouble at Auburn last offseason, he’d probably been a first-round pick. That’s the value the Rams got with him as a street free agent. They need to capitalize on that. Spruce is Wes Welker/Julian Edelman made over and will unquestionably be snapped up by the New England Patriots, New York Giants or some other fare more successful team the minute the Rams cut him loose. Neither guy will make it to the practice squad.
That fade Jared Goff threw on Hard Knocks that made everybody take notice? Quick was the guy that caught that. He’s been hurt over the last two seasons, but he needs to stay.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Y_gslf6MU
A guy like Long on the roster just gives Fisher one more chance to screw up decisions that should be obvious to anyone.
I actually like a lot of these Rams UDFA receivers. I’m hoping that Marquez North out of the University of Tennessee and Paul McRoberts from Southeast Missouri State do get past waivers so they can end up on the practice squad.
But these other guys, Austin Hill and David Richards, they make me nervous. All the Rams need is for Fisher to fall in love with some “hard worker” and send a future Pro Bowler into another team’s loving arms.
Don’t feel sorry for Long. After the Rams cut him he was picked up by the Philadelphia Eagles, where he also has no chance to make the team.
