Jim Thomas@jthom1
It’s official on Rams RB Benny Cunningham. His signing of one-year tender as restricted free agent has moved on NFL transactions wire.
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Benny Cunningham signs restricted free-agent offer with Rams
Nick Wagoner
http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/28281/benny-cunningham-signs-restricted-free-agent-offer-with-rams
Los Angeles Rams running back Benny Cunningham will be making the move west with the only NFL team he ha known. Cunningham officially signed his one-year restricted free-agent tender with the team on Thursday and confirmed the move on Friday.
The Rams offered Cunningham the original round tender in March. He went on to visit the New England Patriots but did not get any outside offers. The one-year deal will pay Cunningham $1.671 million.
Cunningham took to Twitter and Instagram on Friday afternoon to announce his return.
Retaining Cunningham is an important move for the Rams, who leaned on him as the primary backup to Todd Gurley in 2015. In three seasons with the Rams, Cunningham has established himself as the team’s best back when it comes to picking up the blitz and a key contributor on third downs because of it.
Cunningham also brings plenty to the table on special teams. Over the past two seasons, he’s fifth in the NFL in kick-return yards and sixth in yards per kick return (among those with at least 10 attempts). He contributes on coverage units as well.
With fellow running back Tre Mason dealing with the fallout from his arrest in Florida, the Rams could have been thin at running back had Cunningham departed. With Friday’s move, that’s a concern the Rams no longer have.