Report: Bradford signs richest rookie deal

Date: Fri, Jul 30, 2010

Rams QB Sam Bradford is the richest rookie in NFL history. The No. 1 overall draft choice has agreed to a six-year, $78 million contract that has a maximum value of $86 million with incentives, a league source has told NFL Network. The deal includes a record $50 million in guaranteed money, according to the report.

The former Oklahoma quarterback concluded the deal just in time for the Rams' first full-squad workout Saturday.

Bradford is the new face of the franchise, and his presence in camp during the early stages increases the likelihood that he can take over the starting job soon, perhaps as early as Week One.

Bradford's agents, Tom Condon and Ben Dogra, also represented the Rams' 2009 first-round pick, OT Jason Smith, who also signed just before the team's first full-squad workout a year ago. Smith signed a five-year, $61.8 million contract that included $33 million in guaranteed money. A fractured toe may cause Smith to be moved from left tackle to the right side during camp.

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Rams toying with switching around OTs

Date: Fri, Jul 30, 2010

The Rams' offensive line has picked right up where it left off early in the offseason as a particularly hot topic. A few months back, the big news was an alarmingly early rash of injuries to projected starting OTs Jason Smith (fractured toe) and rookie Rodger Saffold (knee) and starting OLG Jason Bell (knee), among others. With the injury situation now a lot less alarming — although Smith is still being closely monitored — the big news on the first day of training camp was the strong possibility that Smith, who was drafted high in the first round last year to presumably be the long-term starting left tackle, might start off the season at right tackle, with Saffold on the left side. "I don't see why not," Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo said of such a scenario. "You know, Jason started off that way (at right tackle) last year." Word is Saffold might have already proven he's a better pass blocker than Smith, who has been hindered by his inability to stay healthy.

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Rams sign rookies Saffold, Onobun

Date: Wed, Jul 28, 2010

The Rams signed two more rookies Wednesday afternoon — second-round OT Rodger Saffold and sixth-round TE Fendi Onobun. Terms of their contracts were undisclosed.

Saffold, who hurt his knee earlier this offseason, is projected to replace the departed Alex Barron as the Rams’ starting right tackle. Onobun is an extremely athletic project who figures in a wide-open mix at tight end.

The 6-5, 323-pound Saffold started 41 of 42 games at Indiana. While he was in the starting lineup, the Hoosiers rushed for more than 100 yards in 29 games. During his senior and junior seasons, Saffold registered 171 knockdowns and 20 touchdown-resulting blocks. Indiana also scored 29 times on the ground when he was in the lineup.

The 6-6, 249-pound Onobun was the first of two sixth-round picks the Rams utilized in April. He played just one season of college football at the University of Houston after enjoying a four-year collegiate basketball career at the University of Arizona. Onobun played an important role on special teams at Houston and caught two passes for 33 yards and a touchdown in 2009.

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Report: Rams rookie CB Murphy arrested

Date: Sun, Jul 25, 2010

Rams rookie CB Jerome Murphy was arrested in Tampa, Fla. on Saturday andcharged with a misdemeanor count of driving without a valid license, according to theSt. Petersburg Times.

Murphy, a third-round pick in the 2010 draft,was booked into county jail and released two hours later on $250 bond. He was stopped near the University of South Florida campus, where he played collegiately.

Murphy, who signed a four-year contract last month, is unlikely to face any type of league penalty. He's expected to provide secondary depth for St. Louis this season.

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Rams tackle DT woes with seasoned vets

Date: Fri, Jul 9, 2010

After supposedly very seriously considering the selection of either Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy with the first overall pick in the 2010 draft before opting for Sam Bradford, more than a few eyebrows were raised at Rams Park when the team failed to use any of its 11 picks on a defensive tackle.

How could that happen, many close to the team wondered, with the team entering the offseason having really only one player who could be considered a legitimate starting tackle in fourth-year pro Clifton Ryan — not counting former first-rounder Adam Carriker, whose injury issues turned him into a virtual nonfactor?

"I still say it really was a deep draft at defensive tackle," Rams GM Billy Devaney told the local media shortly after the draft. "It just seemed that when our time came up, there really weren't any defensive tackles. It wasn't like we ignored that position … we just had other guys graded higher."

Which led to an altogether different DT mindset — acquiring experienced quantity at the position, as opposed to highly regarded but totally unproven quality.

The alternatives head coach Steve Spagnuolo will be counting on to fortify the Rams' defensive interior are a pair of newly acquired veterans originally drafted by the Vikings — 33-year-old Fred Robbins and 32-year-old Chris Hovan.

While both players' best years are clearly behind them, we're told the Rams' braintrust genuinely believes they each still have a lot to offer to a DT rotation that is also expected to include the hardworking Ryan and two other players who have displayed flashes of potential, Darell Scott and Gary Gibson.

At the very least, Robbins and Hovan would appear to offer quality veteran leadership, particularly Robbins, who was at his best playing under Spagnuolo in a two-year span with the Giants in which he registered 78 tackles and 11 sacks.

Team sources tell us Robbins, who was signed to a three-year deal worth up to roughly $12 million, has wasted little time making a strong impression on the Rams' impressionable young defensive linemen.

"That's what he (Spagnuolo) expects from me," Robbins said in a late-May minicamp. "Being someone who's been successful with the system, I feel like I can bring a lot to the table in letting guys know how the coaches want things done up front."

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Rams' backup RB situation remains worrisome

Date: Fri, Jul 2, 2010

Needless to say, the Rams have concerns galore coming off a one-win season, and one of the biggest, our sources agree, is the continued lack of a decent complementary running back behind workhorse Steven Jackson. Since selecting Jackson in the first round in 2004, the Rams have drafted only two running backs — Brian Leonard in the second round in '07 and Chris Ogbonnaya in the final round last year. Leonard never panned out and was traded to the Bengals last year, while Ogbonnaya is one of only two veterans currently on the roster — third-year pro Kenneth Darby, who has been ordinary at best, is the other — in the mix to back up Jackson this season after the Rams failed to draft any RB reinforcements this season.

Said one team source: "Spags (Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo) said it was no big deal (not drafting a RB), but Jackson is coming off (April 15) back surgery, and you just never know when running backs might hit that wall. It's been two years now that they've had to run Jackson to death, and it just seems very puzzling that they haven't made more of an effort to find a decent backup."

The way we hear it, the best backup option at present could be rookie free agent Keith Toston out of Oklahoma State. "I think he's better right now than either Darby or Ogbonnaya," the source said of Toston, whose style is considered very similar to that of Jackson. The Rams have contemplated signing former Eagles star Brian Westbrook, going as far as to bring him in for a physical exam in April. Westbrook would seem to be a no-brainer addition if he were healthy enough, but we hear the two concussions he suffered last season, in addition to a problematic left knee that might not react well to the Rams' playing surface, continue to make him a long shot to be wearing a St. Louis uniform in 2010 — or any team's uniform, for that matter.

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Rams sign two more draft picks

Date: Mon, Jun 28, 2010

The Rams still haven't worked out a deal with top pick Sam Bradford, but they have inked the man who they hope will be on the receiving end of a lot of Bradford passes in the next few years.

WR Mardy Gilyard, whom St. Louis selected in the fourth round with the 99th overall pick, agreed to a four-year, $2.34 million contract, according to the Twitter account of his agent, David Lee. The former Cincinnati Bearcat is expected to contribute in the receiving corps and in the return game

DE Hall Davis, a fifth-round selection from Louisiana-Lafayette, also agreed to terms with the Rams. The terms of the deal have not been announced.

In PFW's 2010 Draft Preview, personnel analyst Nolan Nawrocki wrote that the 5-11 7/8, 187-pound Gilyard "lacks desirable speed to threaten off the line, but is a smooth-moving slot receiver with run-after-catch skills and return ability that adds to his value." Regarding Davis, Nawrocki wrote that the 6-4, 271-pounder "has the size, athletic ability and versatility to fit in a variety of schemes as a base end or potentially even as a rush linebacker."

"I am happy to have these players signed," Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo said in a press release. "Once training camp begins, these rookies can direct all of the focus on football and not be concerned with the business side of things."

St. Louis has now signed eight of its 11 draft picks but is still negotiating with Bradford, the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma and the No. 1 overall selection in the draft.

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Rams sign third-round CB Murphy

Date: Sat, Jun 26, 2010

The Rams are on a signing roll. A few days after re-upping with starting FS O.J. Atogwe and a few hours after revealing the signings of a pair of seventh-round picks (DE George Selvie and Josh Hull), the Rams made third-round CB Jerome Murphy the highest-drafted rookie to sign a contract up to now.

Murphy, the 65th overall pick in the draft, signed a four-year deal worth $2.7 million, including a $937,739 signing bonus, according to Profootballtalk.com

Considered very physical in the mold of Packers CB Al Harris, Murphy is a candidate for the Rams' nickel corner job and adds depth to what could be a decent CB corps, health permitting. Ron Bartell and Bradley Fletcher, who both had injury issues in 2009, are expected to be the starters, with Murphy, Justin King and Quincy Butler in the backup mix.

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Report: Rams sign rookies Selvie, Hull

Date: Sat, Jun 26, 2010

The Rams are working from the bottom up in terms of nailing down deals with their 2010 draft crop, signing two of their three seventh-round picks — DE George Selvie and ILB Josh Hull — to four-year deals, according to an ESPN radio affiliate. Terms of the deals were not immediately disclosed.

Selvie is expected to add depth outside on the defensive line along with fellow rookies Hall Davis and Eugene Sims. In Pro Football Weekly's 2010 Draft Preview, PFW personnel analyst Nolan Nawrocki wrote that the 6-4, 252-pound Selvie “does play big for his size with enough leverage and grit to stick as a 4-3 base end despite his lack of bulk.”

The 6-2, 237-pound Hull is expected to contribute primarily on special teams if he is able to make the final roster. Nawrocki wrote that Hull “gives consistent effort and does not quit on plays.”

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Atogwe maintains he never wanted to leave Rams

Date: Fri, Jun 25, 2010

To hear O.J. Atogwe tell it, there was never any doubt in his mind about wanting to remain a fixture at free safety in the Rams' secondary for the long haul. "This is where I'm supposed to be," Atogwe said in a conference call shortly after signing a new five-year deal. " … St. Louis has been my home these last five years, and my time here was not finished." So why then did it end up taking so long for the Rams and Atogwe's agent, Ken Landphere, to reach a meeting of the minds? As much as anything, Atogwe believes, "the state of the league and the impending lockout that's pretty much upon us come 2011" was responsible for an impasse team insiders never fully comprehended. We hear that same reason was in part responsible for the surprisingly scant interest in his services on the free-agent market. Concern over his health — Atogwe admitted he had "other complications that needed to get corrected" besides his season-ending shoulder injury last year — likely was another factor.

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Rams sign free-agent FS Atogwe

Date: Wed, Jun 23, 2010

Updated June 24, 2010 @ 1:49 a.m. ET

The Rams’ prolonged contract impasse with starting FS O.J. Atogwe came to an abrupt halt early Wednesday afternoon when the team announced it had agreed to a multiyear deal with its most accomplished defensive playmaker. NFL.com reported that the contract is for five years and is worth a maximum of $32 million.

With leaguewide interest in Atogwe, who officially had become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the month, surprisingly limited, the news of his signing did not come as a big surprise.

“We are excited to have O.J. back in the fold,” Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo said. “We were always hopeful for this result. We look forward to having his leadership, character and talent back on our defense.”

Atogwe, who is entering his sixth season with the Rams, has played in 72 career games, starting 60 consecutive contests since the start of the 2006 season. In 2009, he started 12 games before being placed on the reserved/injured list with a shoulder injury Dec. 9. Despite missing four games, Atogwe finished second on the team with 82 tackles (38 solo), one sack, two interceptions, three passes defensed, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

“It’s really important to stay here,” said Atogwe in an official team release. “That was one of the things I was thinking about through this process is my purpose with the Rams. I have been here through a lot of the hard times, and I believe that was to build the resolve within me, build the resolve within my teammates so when the promised land arrives, we’d be able to enjoy it and know how to be thankful for it.”

Atogwe has notched 38 combined forced fumbles and interceptions (19 interceptions, 19 forced fumbles) since the start of 2006, the most in the NFL during that time period. In 2007, he recorded a career-high and NFC-leading eight interceptions, and since the start of 2006, his 19 interceptions rank fourth in the NFL.

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Rams make changes in personnel department

Date: Thu, Jun 17, 2010

The Rams announced a number of changes in their personnel department Thursday, including the promotions of Mike Williams to vice president of player personnel and John Mancini to director of college scouting. The team also hired Rich Snead as a pro personnel scout and Russ Bolinger as an area scout.

Prior to his current position, Williams served as director of pro personnel for the Rams in 2009, responsible for managing the pro scouting department and overseeing the Rams’ evaluation of all professional leagues and available free agents. He also managed the club’s advance scouting efforts of upcoming opponents and helped evaluate and manage the Rams’ current roster.

Mancini is entering his 11th season with the Rams, the past 10 as a college scout covering the Midwest region. In his new role, he will direct the Rams’ college scouting process, coordinate the schedules and cross-check duties of the area scouts. Mancini also will manage the team’s draft preparation and evaluations of NFL draft-eligible prospects.

Snead comes to the Rams from the Raiders, where he spent the past three years in Oakland’s personnel department. He also worked for the Los Angeles Raiders from 1990-93. Prior to his last stint with Oakland, he spent 13 years with the Titans, 10 as director of player personnel.

Bolinger previously worked for the Redskins from 2005-08 as a national scout. He spent nine years with the Lions, where he served as a college area scout, assistant pro scouting director, college scouting director and college scouting coordinator. Bolinger was a third-round pick in the 1976 NFL draft and began his 10-year playing career as an offensive lineman for Detroit. From 1983-85, he played for the Los Angeles Rams.

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Torn triceps could end Setterstrom's season

Date: Sat, Jun 12, 2010

Rams OG Mark Setterstrom suffered a torn triceps muscle during practice at the team's minicamp Friday, head coach Steve Spagnuolo revealed Saturday. The injury could force Setterstrom to miss the entire season.

Setterstrom, who suffered a similar injury that caused him to miss the final game of 2009, faces a decision as to whether to undergo surgery or try to let the muscle heal on its own. Surgery would almost certainly sideline him until 2011.

"We're kind of weighing our options right now," Spagnuolo said. "We've got a few days. We're not going to do anything right now. I'm disappointed — I feel bad for Mark. All the rehab that he's gone through from the injuries here. He's just a tough guy and a quality guy."

Earlier in the week an MRI revealed that OLT Jason Smith had a stress fracture in his left toe. He has been ruled out of the remainder of this weekend's minicamp and next week's final set of OTAs, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The injury won't require surgery, but Smith will wear an orthopedic boot.

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Atogwe could remain with Rams after all

Date: Sat, Jun 12, 2010

For better or worse, the Rams' stance on FS O.J. Atogwe has remained the same. While there are many league observers who have had a hard time understanding why the Rams haven't gone more out of their way to assure the return of the defense's most proven playmaker by a wide margin, it always has been a simple matter of dollars and cents.

The way we've been hearing it from team insiders for months now, Atogwe has been angling for a new contract similar to the one ex-Cardinals FS Antrel Rolle received from the Giants in early March (five years for $37 million, $15 million guaranteed). The Rams, meanwhile, have been focused on a deal that would pay somewhere between $4-5 million annually, Atogwe's impressive playmaking accomplishments notwithstanding. Judging by the surprising lack of interest in Atogwe since he officially became an unrestricted free agent on June 1, it appears the rest of the league agrees more with the Rams on Atogwe's relative worth.

"I am a little surprised that he hasn't signed elsewhere yet," said one team insider of Atogwe. "He did have the (season-ending) shoulder injury last year, but I don't think that's been a big hang-up. It really just looks like a case of teams thinking he is asking for way too much money." With that in mind, the likelihood that Atogwe might stick with the Rams, after all is said and done, has increased, although it remains quite possible a serious suitor could suddenly materialize in the coming days.

How would Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo feel if Atogwe did end up signing with another team? "He's a good football player, and I don't like to lose good football players, but we move on," Spagnuolo said in early June. "It would be no different than if somebody got hurt, and it happened last year when O.J. had the shoulder injury, and we move on.

"Everybody in the building knows what the wants and needs are and who the people are and what they mean to the team. All of that is factored in. ... But it's a process. It's the business side of the business."

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