Financial impact of LBs after week 3

[HUbison]

In the offseason we talked a lot about several free agent LBs on the market. Here's a contract post I made several months ago....

Here's an updated look at the Rams LB acquisitions and initial targets contracts

Hartwell --- (Falcons) --- 6 years, $26.24 million ($8 mil bonus) --- $4.373 mil avg.
Bell --- (Chiefs) --- 7 years, $35 million ($11 mil bonus) --- $5 mil avg.
Pierce (Giants) --- 6 years, $26 million ($6.5 mil bonus) --- $4.3 mil avg.
Coakley (Rams) --- 5 years, $14.5 million ($3.0 mil bonus) --- $2.9 mil avg.
Claiborne (Rams) --- 3 years, $10.5 million (3.6 mil bonus) --- $3.5 mil avg.

And of course, the real kicker...
Guaranteed money

Hartwell - $4.373 mil per year
Bell - $1.57 mil per year
Claiborne - $1.2 mil per year
Pierce - $1.08 mil per year
Coakley - $.6 mil per year

And now here's the current stats to go with the salary information.

Hartwell - 17 tackles, 11 solo
Bell - 3 tackles, 3 solo
Pierce - 23 tackles, 19 solo
Claiborne - 12 tackles, 11 solo
Coakley - 14 tackles, 10 solo

That's good performance for a low budget deal on a "has-been" and a "never-was".

[HUbison]

And here's another note. Each of the above mentioned LBs were brought in to be the centerpiece of their respective teams' LB corp. Currently, Hartwell ranks 3rd in tackles among Atlanta LBs, Bell ranks 3rd in tackles among KC LBs, Pierce leads Giants LBs, and Claiborne and Coakley are 1st and 2nd for the Rams LB corp.

That's pretty good value, if you ask me.

[maltz88]

Here's a couple more to add for comparison:

Lofa Tatupu:
5 years $7 million 14 tackles (9 solo) 1 sack

Jamie Sharper:
5 years $17 million 18 tackles (13 solo) 1 forced fumble

[general counsel]

In the cap era, which most fans dont understand, its all about balance and using your dollars carefully. Everyone wants their team to sign dick butkus, but where is the cash going to come from? The point here is that our front office did a good job getting what we "needed" without breaking the bank to do it.

ramming speed to all

general counsel

[coy bacon]

Good post Hub. It's good to see that the FO acquisitions have paid good dividends thus far.

[RamsFan16]

This is good information. Our Linebackers are doing better for the Rams at a cheaper price in my opinion

[r8rh8rmike]

Excellent post HUb. I'm certainly happy with our LB situation, all things considered.

Hartwell third in tackles for Atlanta? That is one scary thought.