Rams make tender offers to restricted FA's

[shaunpinney]

In other news: Rams have made contract offer to QB Shaun Hill; negotiations ongoing.

Hohum... I'm really not excited by that news.

 

[shaunpinney]

Decent enough not to beat out one of the worst Centers in the league. (EDIT: I'm not completely against him as a reserve, but I'm not losing any sleep at the moment. If we bring him back cheap, so be it.)

Jones gets a little time because of his 'injury' and all, but I'm not holding my breath...and this is coming from a guy who liked him in the 5th round when we got him.

I'm sure C and OG are getting a lot of thought and attention at the moment.

I'm still confident with Jones, someone with that much talent and versatility in college must be played this year, his grade is far better than any C's in this years draft.

 

[Lunchbox]

I agree with you on Davis. Given his age and experience even the most hardened cynic would have to admit his chances of improving are at least not absolute 0%. So he's a dirt cheap last resort.

Hill, on the other hand, makes zero sense. We know 100% what he is, he's older than dirt and will not improve but only get worse, and we know the Rams cannot win with him. Bringing him back is the definition of insanity that genius guy once said of doing the same thing over expecting different results. I personally think this is a crock of a cop out, it's saying "if SB goes down let's shoot for 7-9 again and hope we don't get fired". Screw that, if they are foolishly gonna blow a couple million, at least do it on one of the other crappy free agent QBs that maybe has a 1% chance of a crazy unexpected result of winning.

This is about keeping our options open. If the Rams don't re-sign Hill then Davis becomes more valuable to us. I'm not sure that Hill couldn't be better behind a revamped O-line though. Yes, we do know what he is but that doesn't mean that we saw his best last season.

 

[RamBill]

Rams tender safety Rodney McLeod, others
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/16809/rams-tender-safety-rodney-mcleod-others

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- Although the moves weren't the ones St. Louis Rams fans might have been hoping for -- i.e. contract restructures or releases -- the team has taken care of some business in advance of free agency.

The Rams rendered decisions on their group of restricted and exclusive rights free agents. Chief among those free agents is starting safety Rodney McLeod, a restricted free agent whom the team tendered at the second-round level. McLeod received the second-round tender, which amounts to a one-year contract offer for $2.4 million.

Other teams can still attempt to sign McLeod, but the Rams have the right to match any offer. If they choose not to, they'd received a second-round draft choice.

The Rams also extended tender offers to quarterback Austin Davis and tight end Cory Harkey, both at the minimum level of one-year and $1.5 million. Because Davis and Harkey were offered the lowest-level deals, the Rams still have matching rights on outside contract offers, but would not receive compensation if they declined those rights.

Center Tim Barnes, the fourth of the Rams' four restricted free agents, did not receive a tender offer and is set to become a free agent. The Rams could theoretically re-sign him at a later date for less money than any of the tenders would have required.

The Rams also offered tenders to exclusive-rights free agents Chase Reynolds and Brandon Washington. Reynolds has been a special-teams ace for the past two seasons and the Rams have devoted that time to developing Washington at multiple spots on the offensive line. Those tenders essentially force Reynolds and Washington to play for the Rams or not play at all, as outside teams can't make offers to exclusive-rights free agents.

 

[Alan]

mr.stlouis willing to learn from history:
I don't like that because we are basically screwing him over if we cut him. I expected Hill to sign for that much, wow. Now I really hope Hill walks.

All arrows are pointing towards 2014 redo... ....

I think we're missing a piece of vital information here because that would be deja vu all over again for sure. I don't trust any of these "inside knowledge" reports until they actually happen.

 

[RamBill]

Howard Balzer ‏@HBalzer721

Rams tenders to RFAs and ERFAs is $6.61M, but adds $4.12M to cap, because five players are bumped out of the top 51.