Confirmed: St. Louis Rams reach deal with SS James Butler

[Nick]

Report from KDVR in Denver:

DENVER - NFL sources have informed FOX 31's Josina Anderson that free agent defensive back James Butler has agreed to terms with the St. Louis Rams Monday afternoon.

Butler is expected to sign a four-year deal as early as Tuesday. According to league sources it's a $14 million dollar deal that includes three million dollars in incentives that escalate it to a $17 million dollar package.

Butler spent all four of his previous seasons with the New York Giants. Butler recorded 68 total tackles, and three interceptions last season.

That's the report I just saw as well. Hoping it turns out to be right!

[codeman123]

sounds like a pretty good deal for the rams... im happy he got locked up and we can worry about other positions now

[RockinRam]

Hmm. This is certainly good news. With the signing of Butler and the potential done deal of Karney, that eliminates two more needs from the draft.

-Center
-Safety
-Fullback


Woohoo.

[THOLTFAN81]

This organization is just hammering out quality deal after quality deal

4 year, 14mill not bad @ all!

[Nick]

So is Karney Official?? what did we offer him?

No, he is not officially signed. He probably hasn't even been offered a contract. I believe he's visiting tomorrow.

[Barry Waller]

It's being reported that he signed a four year deal

[RamsSB99]

This organization is just hammering out quality deal after quality deal

4 year, 14mill not bad @ all!

Great signing. Today Butler tommorow Karney.


NY Daily News
March 9, 2009

Butler finally does it with Rams


James Butler, as expected, has reportedly — and finally — agreed to terms with the St. Louis Rams.
According to a Denver TV station (via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch), Butler is expected to sign a deal worth $17 mil over four years.

The former starting safety for the Giants seemed ticketed for the Rams — now coached by former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo — from the start of the free-agent signing period. He visited there early and never made a reported trip to Cleveland. The Giants expressed no interest in Butler, and eventually signed former Texans safety C.C. Brown instead.

[Irishrover40]

This is from Rotoworld.com: "FOX 31 in Denver reports that free agent S James Butler has agreed to a four-year, $14 million contract with the Rams.

Butler can reportedly earn another $3 million via incentives. The Niners gave Butler a brief look, but otherwise St. Louis was the only team known to be in pursuit. He'll be a surefire starter there after Corey Chavous' release.
Source: FOX 31 Denver
Related: Rams"
posted at8:41 PM, CDT

[39thebeast]

Great signing only 14 mil, Bartell is also only 25 mil. I think Demoff has done an excellent Job and his impact has been immediately felt in the FO and through out the organization. I think Devaney has picked out the best guys possible and Demoff has been right on the money with the numbers.

[RamsSB99]

This is good. That signing is gonna almost force us to move either holt or pace if not both. I think Karney potentialy signing is gonna put us over the edge.

Go Rams!

Holt will save us 8mil and if they work out a long term deal with Atogwe (currently 6.342) we could possibly save another 2mil there. Thats 10 mil and we were already about 2.8 mil under which this will eat up. So after this signing we should be about even cap wise with another possible 10mil from Holt and Atogwe 6mil of which is needed for the draft which leaves about 4mil left for free agency. We should have the cap room to sign Karney and keep Pace if we Trade/Release Holt. Atogwe should not even have to sign a longterm contract as long as we did not sign anyone else after Karney but I think he will sign longterm and we probably will pick up some one else as filler for the team. Karney may have played a factor in this happening now because now I doubt they can sign Karney until they release/trade Holt or sign Atogwe long term would give them another 1.5 -2 mil this year which should be enough to cover Karneys cap hit this year.

[Mooselini]

Wow. We need to make it OFFICIAL! I'm excited!

[r8rh8rmike]

It's amazing what can happen when you actually have competent FO personnel. Are we on a roll or what?!

[AvengerRam]

Another good signing. I like how they are getting things done.

[Azul e Oro]

Has anyone else listened to the Bernie/JT radio interview,link posted by RamWraith.

Some odd stuff in there. JT on "furlough"? Is that a layoff? No explanation offered & he seemed to be hinting at some sort of restrictions on his access to sources.

The other weird thing was a technical glitch with Jason Brown's contract. It was disallowed by The NFL & the details had to be adjusted to fit the CBA. Jason Brown is technically not under contract right now...or at least wasn't for maybe 24hrs.

The rest of it basically repeated the rumor/assertion that both Butler & Karney were all but officially signed.However, with JT "on furlough", who knows what his "league sources" are right now.

No mention of numbers except that the market wasn't that high for safeties & that Weaver priced himself out of our desired range at something like 2.5.

JT also observed that, since we don't have the money for both signings, Holt will probably be cut,rather than traded & that The Rams don't want to pay the bonus anyway.Ditto for Pace but vague.Nothing new, in other words.

Some talk of saving a bit by restructuring Randy McM. and possibly cutting Wroten but JT thought a suspended player couldn't be let go until he returns. Anybody know?

Some other yak about TO but who cares?

[hill_Bartell=Probowl]

Good Job upstairs!!! getting things done!!!!

This year is sounding really good so far!


BARTELL IS A BEAST!!!!!