Rams News Recap: August 13

Morning Ram-blings: The ultimate team
By Nick Wagoner

http://espn.go.com/blog/st-louis-rams/post/_/id/10492/morning-ram-blings-the-ultimate-team

EARTH CITY, Mo. — On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN Insider Mark Dominik put together the best team money can buy using every roster and every cap number for players around the league.

In this sort of fantasy football, Dominik only had to work within the constraints of this year’s salary cap and did not limit himself to having a representative from every team. For those of you with ESPN Insider, here’s the team he put together.

Quinn
As for the team, without giving away the entire roster, the St. Louis Rams had one representative in the form of defensive end Robert Quinn. Considering his talent, potential and relatively light price tag, Quinn is a no-brainer for the team. Dominik has Quinn starting opposite Houston’s J.J. Watt. What a nightmare that would be for an offense.

In looking at the rest of the roster, there was only one spot that jumped out to me as one where you could and should have gone with a Ram. That’s punter. Dominik chose talented Jacksonville’s Bryan Anger. While he’s a fine choice, but it’s hard to justify taking him over the Rams’ John Hekker. Hekker was first-team All Pro and set a league record for net punting in 2013.

Making Hekker even more appealing is that he’s actually scheduled to count $573,334 against this year’s cap, which is almost $200,000 less than Anger. Not that it’s a big deal, but it serves as an easy swap that could have helped with money elsewhere.

I.C.Y.M.I.

A roundup of Wednesday’s Rams stories appearing on ESPN.com. … In the Ram-blings, we began the day by hearing from Quinn, who appeared on ESPN Radio earlier this week. … In this week’s Buzz video, I discussed the offensive line’s movement toward having its five starters in place in the near future. … Next, we took a look at how Hekker can improve in 2014. … Then we delved into quarterback Sam Bradford’s enthusiasm to get back into game action. … Finally, we closed with a quick camp report from the team’s special teams only practice Wednesday afternoon.

Elsewhere:

At stltoday.com, Jim Thomas looks at the effect receiver Kenny Britt has had on the Rams receivers.

Jeff Gordon offers a look at the increased efforts to get a stadium in Los Angeles.

Joe Lyons recaps the early performance of cornerback E.J. Gaines.

101sports.com has Bradford’s interview heading into the second preseason game.

Merril Hoge joined 101sports.com and talked about the impact of defensive tackle Aaron Donald.