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Jim Thomas Mini-Camp Update

Post-Dispatch Rams beat writer Jim Thomas joined Bernie Miklasz and Randy Karraker on Friday afternoon live from Rams Park.

Thomas said that Scott Linehan told him he was unaware if the Rams were close to signing Chris Long, but Thomas said he can't see them not getting the deal done very soon.

The rookies were thrown right into the fire today, and Chris Long blew by Alex Barron (who was playing LT) in a drill today. Jim said that one of the coaches thought Barron was a street free agent at first because of how he got beat, but then realized it was the former #1 pick of the Rams.

Second round pick Donnie Avery was very fast and made some nice catches for a good start. Fourth round pick Keenan Burton looked very quick as well, and may be a pleasant surprise according to Thomas.

Leonard Little was cleared for team drills, but both he and Adam Carriker were very limited today.

Two players not in attendance today were center Dustin Fry who is getting married this weekend because he thought it would be a rookie only camp, and left tackle Rob Petitti has a torn achilles tendon.

If any of the rookies were signed already, they would count in the number on the roster, but since none are signed, the Rams have 85 players in camp.

It might take a couple weeks into camp to see if the players' relationship with Scott Linehan is any different, but he seems much more relaxed. Thomas said he saw Linehan walking off the field with Chris Long smiling and he's getting along pretty well with the other players.

It was vintage Al Saunders going stride for stride with the receivers on some of the routes. He is in excellent shape and his energy on the field has not subsided since last time he was in St. Louis. Al's offense will be much more complex than what the players saw in Linehan's playbook.

Thomas said in the past few years the Rams had one rookie camp and one veteran camp, but there were never more than 28-30 players so they never had enough players for all the positions. Linehan wanted to get a sense of urgency going, and the players are going to get some extensive football earlier this year.

Jim said that the Rams have their eye on the Tampa Bay roster because they have 7 quarterbacks, because they want to have 4 in camp. This might not be something we see till early or mid July though.

Thomas was told by someone upstairs at Rams Park that they kept watching Felix Jones drop in the draft, and Jim thinks they would've taken him at #33 to back up Stephen Jackson. There is some mutual interest in Tampa Bay's Michael Pittman and the Rams also. Jim think Travis Minor is strictly a special teams player. Right now it comes down to how they will use Antonio Pittman and Brian Leonard.