Chavous Ponders Future

[schut39]

By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer
As Rams players packed their belongings and headed home for another extended offseason, safety Corey Chavous hugged each of them, grabbed his white plastic garbage bag and strolled out of the locker room.

And he couldn’t help but think about the possibility it’d his final sojourn through the Russell Training Center hallways.

“I don’t know,” Chavous said. “I will just wait and see what happens. I have a pretty good idea of what I think might happen but I don’t really ever put much stock into it because I think at the end of the years, every year I have taken it as a one year approach. I continue to do that, I always will. I didn’t even know if I was going to come back and play this year. I was glad I did and I loved being a part of the team.”

Chavous turns 33 today and just put the finishing touches on his 11th season in the league. He signed a five-year, $16 million contract with the Rams in 2006 and has been one of the Rams’ most respected leaders and player in his three seasons in St. Louis.
Chavous’ contract included $6 million in bonuses, which was all paid out in the first season of the contract. Cutting Chavous would save the Rams about $3 million against next season’s cap.

But the Rams have identified strong safety as an area to upgrade in the offseason and hope to find a young player to pair with emerging free safety Oshiomogho Atogwe on the back end.

For Chavous, it was a season that made him begin to realize his football mortality. After starting the first 13 games in his usual strong safety spot, Chavous was benched in favor of Todd Johnson for the final three games.

Still, Chavous finished fourth on the team in tackles with 85 and had a forced fumble and fumble recovery.

While Johnson played well and is likely to be back, Chavous might not have the same opportunity.

Also known for his affinity for the NFL Draft, Chavous would likely have a spot waiting for him on television or he could even be a coach or get into personnel.

For his part, Chavous says he’d be open to a return in St. Louis though he’s not playing it hard and fast in terms of making it a here or nowhere situation.

“I would love to (keep playing),” Chavous said. “I love the game but that’s a decision I will have to make in the offseason. I would be open to any opportunity, it would just depend. You have to wait and see what happens with your own situation and I don’t have any control over that I just try to worry about the things I can control and right now that’s a situation I don’t have any control over.”
Named a captain in each of his seasons in St. Louis, Chavous has long been recognized as one of the most popular players in the Rams’ locker room.

Atogwe and cornerback Ron Bartell enjoyed breakout seasons in 2008 and both give much of the credit to Chavous, whose passion for film study and preparation make him a surefire bet to do just about anything in football he wants to do when his career ends.

“He’s your team captain, voted by the players,” coach Jim Haslett said after making the decision to bench Chavous in December. “This is a move we talked about a couple weeks ago and we thought it wasn’t the right time. He is well respected in the locker room and well respected by the coaches. I love the guy…He’s a great guy and if something happens he will be ready to step in and play and we won’t miss a beat.”

Where losing Chavous could cause the Rams to miss a beat is in that leadership area. Atogwe became the team’s Most Valuable Player under Chavous’ tutelage and Bartell has become one of the best cover corners in the league and certainly in the division.

“Those two guys in particular, I have been able to work so closely with them, it’s really about how much they cared about getting better themselves,” the always humble Chavous said. “Individually both of them had a commitment to being the best at their position and quite arguably, each one of them was the best at their position in the entire league.”

Regardless of the decision the Rams and Chavous make on their own, there’s no doubting the fact that Chavous’ influence in the locker room and on many of his young teammates has been invaluable.

Always the team player, Chavous says he believes the Rams aren’t far from turning it around, with or without him in uniform.

“I was just talking to some of my teammates about that last night,” Chavous said. “To be honest with you, the last month I have been able to see it from a different perspective. I feel like the team is getting a lot closer. Whether I am here or not, I just feel like there are some pieces to the puzzle here that can be a good nucleus. I just like the way the team responded to a stretch where things were so despondent and came back and was so competitive the last month of the season. That’s something I was very proud of and I think the staff should be proud of as well. The results didn’t give us what we would like because it’s about wins and losses but I just feel like that December was a bad month in terms of (losses), there’s some positives you could take from the (last) month.”

[Mooselini]

Chavous. I love the man. He's a captain because the players voted for him. He is a leader in the locker room. We are going to miss that leadership when he is gone, whether it is this year or not.

We need a better talent back there. We will miss the leadership, but this allows someone to step in and take that role.

[Goldenfleece]

He's a class act, but I'm not sure if he's fast enough for the job anymore. As much as he is into film study and the draft, I wonder if he could have a future as an NFL scout?

[UtterBlitz]

That's a nice bit of inside scoop to know that he has helped Otogwe and Bartell become better players. Football is a team sport and it is nice to see that some of them are out to help the team even if they aren't the best one to be on the field. Maybe Chavous will be a coach in the future.

[jjigga3000]

Someone has to stay, and I feel he's a better fit as far as leadership goes, over Holt. I love Holt He's one of my favorite players of all time. But to be fair to Holt it's better for him to go to a team where he has a chance to win one more. I think Chavous is a smatter player, kinda like a Marshall on the other side of the field.

[Aussie Dave]

i love chavous but not on the field.
lets sign him as defensive backs coach!

[laram0]

i love chavous but not on the field.
lets sign him as defensive backs coach!

Keeping Chavous on board at some level of coaching does make sense. Saving $3 million towards the cap makes a lot of "cents" too.

[TekeRam]

Pretty much exactly what I was going to say laram0. I've loved his passion and his knowledge ever since we signed him, but Chavous' abilities were pretty much washed up when he left Minnesota, and we were on the hook for it.

I would absolutely love it if we kept Chavous on board as a secondary coach, but we also absolutely need a younger, better player back there at safety. Chavous is a liability on the field.

[mde8352gorams]

What a class guy he is. If we can have him remain as a secondary coach, he could be most valuable to us, particularly as he helped Bartell and Otogwe. Remember we have Justin King coming back as a "rookie" next year and with his natural talent and Chavous' coaching he may emerge as well. If we hire a offensive minded HC Chavous could offer valuable insight, plus have the respect of that person who probably had to scheme against him. He would be a lock if we hired Leslie Frazier, due to the Minny connection.

Go Rams!

[richtree]

cut him with the quickness

[SFCRamFan]

I think his future is really in scouting or coaching. His leadership will be missed, but he can contribute in other ways as mentioned.