Many Rams in Final Contract Year/PD

[RamBill]

Many Rams in final contract year
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_ef1d9e48-4e60-578f-bb8d-38276a7a07e2.html

While first the rookies and then the veterans descend on Rams Park this week for the start of training camp, the team’s front office continues the task of trying to shape the roster for beyond 2015.

Under the tenure of Kevin Demoff as executive vice president of football operations, the Rams have been able to avoid entering each offseason with many core players eligible for free agency.

But that changes this year, in part because of the extra draft picks the team began to acquire in 2012 as a result of the Robert Griffin III trade with the Washington Redskins.

The Rams are currently scheduled to have more than a dozen unrestricted free agents following the ’15 campaign, most of whom are either starters or top reserves.

In the secondary, three of the top five players have contracts that expire at the end of the 2015 season: cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson, as well as safety Rodney McLeod, who made impressive strides last season.

Blessed with depth on the defensive line, the Rams have one of the best tandems of backup ends in the game in William Hayes and Eugene Sims. Both are scheduled for unrestricted free agency at the end of the season.

Reserves Nick Fairley at defensive tackle and Mark Barron at safety also are up, and the team might want to extend defensive tackle Michael Brockers before he enters the final year of his contract in 2016. (The Rams exercised the fifth-year option for that 2016 season in May.)

On offense, newly acquired quarterback Nick Foles — who came to St. Louis in the Sam Bradford deal in March — is also scheduled for unrestricted free agency after this season, as are wide receiver Brian Quick and fullback-tight end Cory Harkey.

Quick was headed toward a breakout year in 2014, and was on pace to become the team’s first 1,000-yard receiver since Torry Holt in 2007, before a shoulder injury ended his season early in Game 7 against Kansas City. Harkey has proven to be a tough, valuable lead blocker.

These deals take time, and ideally, the Rams would like to have a few of the contracts resolved before the end of the season. They have a little bit of salary cap room to work with this season: $6.6 million, according to NFL Players Association figures.

In recent years, the Rams have come up with contract extensions for defensive end Chris Long and middle linebacker James Laurinaitis before the start of the regular season. Defensive end Robert Quinn was signed to a extension before Game 2 in Tampa last season. And in early December of last year, punter Johnny Hekker was signed to an extension.

Hekker’s counterpart in the kicking game, place-kicker Greg Zuerlein, also is scheduled for unrestricted free agency after this season. He has yet to hear from the Rams about an extension, but it would be surprising if he didn’t before the end off the season.

But the Rams have had conversations with most of their pending free agents already, according to Demoff. Some of those conversations should intensify with the start of training camp Friday.

It’s possible the Rams could lock up a pending free agent or two before the regular season opener Sept. 13 against Seattle; but at this point it’s equally possible that nothing gets done.

The Rams have stated a desire to sign Foles to an extension, but his value is difficult to gauge at the moment. He had a breakout Pro Bowl year in 2013 for Philadelphia, but that was followed by a so-so, injury-plagued year in 2014. His body of work in the NFL consists of only 24 starts, the equivalent of 1½ seasons, not a large sample size to evaluate.

In the secondary, re-signing Jenkins appears to be an organizational priority, and according to agent Josh Hare, there have been regular conversations on the topic with the Rams for several weeks.

There has been some back-and-forth on numbers, but so far Hare said the talks have been characterized more by a discussion of structure than numbers.

“We’re still talking,” Hare said. “You’d always love to get something done before the start of the season.”

Jenkins has made some big plays for the Rams since being drafted in the second round (No. 39 overall) in 2012. In fact, his six defensive TDs, five on interceptions and one on a fumble recovery, are the most in the NFL over that span.

But he has also given up some big scoring plays and had issues at times with penalties. Even so, good cornerbacks are hard to find, and the Rams like his speed and competitiveness.

RAM-BLINGS

Rookie offensive guard Cory Wichmann, a sixth-round pick from Fresno State, was placed on the physically unable to perform list Monday, meaning he won’t begin training camp practicing with the team. He’s still recovering from a leg injury suffered last month during OTAs.• Special teams coordinator John Fassel helped save the life of man drowning off Manhattan Beach, Calif, last week. According to ESPN, Fassel was boogie-boarding when he saw the swimmer in distress and helped bring him to safety with the help of another surfer, Jim Burton.

 

[HE WITH HORNS]

So we are basically going to lose a lot of players before next season then. If we go 8-8 again, or close to it, and can't even keep our own free agents, never mind signing big names from somewhere else, what is wrong with this picture?

 

[drasconis]

So we are basically going to lose a lot of players before next season then. If we go 8-8 again, or close to it, and can't even keep our own free agents, never mind signing big names from somewhere else, what is wrong with this picture?

Think it is a combination of things (some can be blamed on the staff):
1. with a haul like the rG3 trade this is bound to happen....getting a lot of picks means a lot come up at once
2. talent takes time to develop, and the coaching staff (like most) tends to prefer veterans/experience so they come along slow when they have veteran compitition
3. turn over in coaching staff has slowed progress (note that I feel you can blame Fischer for this somewhat...the assistant coaches are his choices)
4. many of the A. coaches we have seem to use difficult systems slowing the learning curve
5. most of this talent has been good not great, making the choice to resign (and which ones) difficult...for instance sure hit talent they always extend (Quinn, Hekker,...Donalds new contract will done long before he hits the market)...but with these guys the opinion on resigning them is all over the place (look at the post on JJ).

 

[iBruce]

I think drasconis's 5th point is the biggest one. Sure, some of these guys are starters you'd like to keep, but we have the core in place (besides a QB).

 

[snackdaddy]

Well, if they end up losing the talent they drafted and still don't sniff the playoffs, I think we'll have to wonder about the people who drafted them and the people who coached them.

 

[FRO]

This team has to make the playoffs this year. I'm not sure we do with a super inexperienced offensive line. It's time we see all these high draft picks hit their prime and start winning football games.

 

[V3]

Think it is a combination of things (some can be blamed on the staff):
1. with a haul like the rG3 trade this is bound to happen....getting a lot of picks means a lot come up at once
2. talent takes time to develop, and the coaching staff (like most) tends to prefer veterans/experience so they come along slow when they have veteran compitition
3. turn over in coaching staff has slowed progress (note that I feel you can blame Fischer for this somewhat...the assistant coaches are his choices)
4. many of the A. coaches we have seem to use difficult systems slowing the learning curve
5. most of this talent has been good not great, making the choice to resign (and which ones) difficult...for instance sure hit talent they always extend (Quinn, Hekker,...Donalds new contract will done long before he hits the market)...but with these guys the opinion on resigning them is all over the place (look at the post on JJ).

This team has been the one of, if not THE youngest in the NFL. They haven't been playing vets in favor of youth on this team.

 

[Rams43]

Well, first of all, I'm very thankful that Demoff will be in charge of the contract negotiations. This will test him to the fullest.

We simply can't keep everybody, in any case. The coaches must make some difficult decisions as to whom to keep.

There may even be a necessity to release a sacred cow or two. Such as Long or J Lau, for example.

Other starters may have to be allowed to leave simply because they are merely "pretty good" rather than great. Jenkins, Tru Johnson, McLeod, and Cook might fall into this category. Yeah, Cook won't be a FA, but he could still be a triage type cap casualty.

Our '16 draft might be needed to replace departed cap casualty starters. Perhaps several of them.

I sure hope this '15 draft turns out to be a good one. The pending '16 FA's leaves precious little room for busts from this last draft class.

I don't like it either. We all get attached to our players, but I don't see a lot of other alternatives.

One good thing is that the affected players also know the situation. And it gives them tremendous incentive to impress the Rams (and other teams) with their play to enhance their '16 contract options. So there is that.

 

[drasconis]

This team has been the one of, if not THE youngest in the NFL. They haven't been playing vets in favor of youth on this team.

Our Center position last year would seem to say otherwise...

Yes the team has been the youngest, that is the make-up of the team, but just because the team overall is young doesn't mean when given a choice the coaches have gone young. Often where there has been "competition" between young and old the leaning has been old, especially on the Oline there seems to have been a preference for the veteran over the youth.

Now this year they eliminated that competition on Oline....

 

[DaveFan'51]

Jenkins has made some big plays for the Rams since being drafted in the second round (No. 39 overall) in 2012. In fact, his six defensive TDs, five on interceptions and one on a fumble recovery, are the most in the NFL over that span.

I find this interesting! I didn't realize this point!

And as far as all the possible FA's. If they're smart, they will be playing their collective Ass's off, to prove to us and other Teams in the League they are worth the $$$$ they want!!

 

[Rmfnlt]

Like many have said... it's a result of having a lot of draft picks via the RGIII trade.

And, like many have said, these will be difficult choices because - let's face it - even though these kids have been on the team for three years, there's still a LOT we don't know about them.

Fact is... the Rams have only a few proven "elite"-type players that must be retained.

The rest are "tweeners" still... we need this year to see if they blossom or wither.

Lots of decisions to be made... I don't envy the coaching staff or Demoff.

 

[brokeu91]

We really need to resign Brian Quick. I think he's going to explode on the scene this year. I will be seriously angry if we lose Quick to free agency after we went through the extensive effort of developing him.

 

[Dodgersrf]

Our defense is obviously way ahead of our offense. It's one of the elite units in the league.

Once the offense catches up, we should be a consistent competitor.
It's not like the offense has been entirely forgotten, it just that FA's like Wells and Long didn't work out.
I also believe that guys like Quick, Austin and Bailey are going to turn it on this year.

I'm not concerned. This team is competitive and fun to watch. Something I couldn't say a couple years ago.

 

[CGI_Ram]

We really need to resign Brian Quick. I think he's going to explode on the scene this year. I will be seriously angry if we lose Quick to free agency after we went through the extensive effort of developing him.

I guess it depends how he does this year. But I feel the same way.