 ABOUT FREE AGENCY---BY RANDY KARRAKER, RAMMED
FOR LIFE, & FIRECAP(DEC. 6) |
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1. RANDY
KARRAKER ON TODD LYGHT & FREE AGENCY (Dec 2) The Rams are going to try hard to sign Lyght for several reasons. Number one, he's a real leader in the locker room, especially for the young corners. Secondly, they want him to mentor not only McCleon, but Bly as well. Third, he is pretty darn goo d. He doesn't get thrown at much. There are concerns about signing a guy that'll be 33 at the end of his contract, but of course, NFL deals can be cut short at any time. The Rams will pick up several million dollars in cap space when they clear out the Eric Hill and Toby Wright accelerations after this season, plus they could make more room by removing Lee and Proehl from the roster. Incidentally, the Rams put "future transition" tags on Bruce and Carter several years ago. The tags were available to teams and the Rams had to use them, so they put one on Bruce right after he signed his latest contract. This gives the Rams the ri ght of first refusal on both players...so in effect they are tied down here. If they sign a contract elsewhere after the 2000 season, the Rams can match it. One more guy they'll have to restructure is Agnew, whose contract was heavily backloaded. He'll get a big bonus after this season. 2. SPECULATIONS ABOUT RAMS FREE AGENTS, BY RAMMED FOR LIFE (Dec 1) FA acquisition is not the issue this year. The issue is getting Carter and Bruce and Warner signed. If we do that, we will have acomplished a lot. As for Lyght--I am wavering! I have always been a Lyght supporter, but I am starting to wonder if he has plateaued. If we do let Lyght go, though, it must be because we believe we can draft another McCleon/Allen/Bly type. Or better, because we believe we can develop someone already on the roster. And we would have to be confident that Bly ACTUALLY WILL develop going into next year. One other quick point. The other day, Vermeil was quoted in an interview as saying that we had no serious cap problems. I interpret that to mean that they see their way clear to being able to re-sign Warner, Bruce, and Carter. This is one of the things I love about the Vermeil/Armey plan: we are in control of the cap rather than mortgaging our future with deferred payments. Plus those guys have shown that they can draft and acquire street FAs who contribute, so they can keep the quality up without purchasing stars. I am looking to get an impact defensive player out of the draft along with quality depth at OL and DL. If we let Lyght go, we need to draft a quality young CB. But I don't expect a big, Timmerman/Green/Faulk kind of off-season. Hell, we'll be too busy dealing with the aftermath of the Super Bowl win to worry about FAs! (Knock on any wood you happen to have handy!) On Amp Lee & Ricky Proehl. Yep--they are not going to be with us very long. I like both of them, but they are far too expensive to be maintained when they can't even make it onto the field. I am going to claim some credit for taking an unpopular stand back in the summer. When we got Faulk, I kept arguing that Lee would become superfluous. People ripped me for that, but it just seemed so clear. Faulk does what Lee does--and far more! You don't take Faulk out to use Lee. People have speculated about using Faulk as a WR and Lee as a back. They tried it once a few games back. Faulk was covered easily. I always said it would turn out to be far more difficult to get touches for Lee than people imagined. Hell, we can't get touches for Holcombe as the upback though this tactic has proven to be successful on many occasions! & Lee is too expensive to be a back up. Proehl--I really like the guy. Excellent possession WR. But he is expensive, limited, and drops too many balls. Sign Carter and Bruce. Sadly, let Lee and Proehl go. 3. RAMS & RFAs, BY FIRECAP (Nov 28) Very simply, both Carter and Bruce's contract are not up until the end of the 2000 season. Most of the RFAs should be easy to sign but I would be to the best interest of the Rams to sign Dexter to a multi year deal. The Rams have a history of just signing the RFA's to min. comp tags. I think they will Franchise tag Lyght, thus making Miller the most important re-sign. If Tucker and Nutten are resigned as RFA, Mike G. will be expendible if bidding goes high. |
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