Rams working to keep more than just this year’s free agents
Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/27260/rams-working-to-keep-more-than-just-this-years-free-agents
EARTH CITY, Mo. — First things first, the Los Angeles Rams have plenty of their own free agents to re-sign as the new league year opens on March 9. It’s a group that includes about a dozen players, including key defensive components like cornerbacks Janoris Jenkins and Trumaine Johnson, safeties Rodney McLeod and Mark Barron and defensive ends William Hayes and Eugene Sims.
And while the Rams will spend the vast majority of their more than $58 million in salary-cap space to retain their current free agents, they’ve also got an eye toward doing all they can to prevent more key pieces from hitting the market next year at this time.
Rams general manager Les Snead confirmed at the NFL scouting combine that the team is also in the beginning stages of getting deals done with guys like defensive tackle Michael Brockers and linebacker Alec Ogletree, both of whom could theoretically become free agents after the 2016 season.
“We would like to do that,” Snead said. “You know the philosophy is to draft, develop and re-sign your own core group of guys. So there’s some guys following this class that we’d like to get done as well over the next few months.”
Brockers is under team control for the 2016 season under the fifth-year option the team exercised on him last summer. Ogletree, who is set to move to middle linebacker after the release of James Laurinaitis, is entering his fourth NFL season and though the Rams are all but certain to exercise his fifth-year option for 2017 before this year’s deadline, they’d like to get him locked up long-term before he’d play that fifth season.
Ogletree and Brockers aren’t the only Rams under team control who could be up for extensions. Receiver Tavon Austin, the team’s first first-round pick in the 2013 draft, is also eligible for the fifth-year option. Austin had his most productive NFL season in 2015, posting 907 yards from scrimmage to go with nine touchdowns. He also scored on a punt return.
“I think, from Tavon’s standpoint, he has done everything we have asked of him,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “I think we have to do more as a staff to get him the football. I think you saw that late in the season, when Tavon got the touches, in addition to the punt returns. I think he’s one of the most dangerous returners in the league, and he has proven that. We’ve had some called back, but I would hate to punt the ball in the field of play with him being there, if I was playing against him. I think from that standpoint, we have to do whatever we can do to get him the football. Keep in mind, there’s only one brown ball and we’ve got good players on offense. But I think the combination of Tavon and Todd (Gurley) and the rest of the guys, I think it provides us an opportunity to be very explosive offensively.”
Using the fifth-year option on Austin isn’t as simple or cheap as it would be for Brockers or Ogletree. Since Austin was a top-10 draft pick, unlike Brockers or Ogletree, he would cost the average of the top 10 receivers in the NFL (or the same as the transition tag), according to NFL rules. Barring a major breakout in 2016, that might be more than the Rams would be willing to pay for Austin, which would make an extension a better option.
“What he brings to the table as a weapon on offense and what our coaches can do — and we’ve hired a couple of new coaches and they come in to the building with excitement because of what they think he can do to help your team,” Snead said. “And also on special teams. He’s a valuable piece. He’s an offensive weapon so we’ll try to figure (that) out. He’s somebody we want for the future.”
Safety T.J. McDonald is also entering the final year of his rookie deal and would be a logical candidate to strike a deal. No matter how you slice up the Rams’ current excess salary-cap space, it’s a good bet that most of it will go toward keeping their own, even those who won’t be free for at least another year.
.
Agamemnon
