Rams release veteran safety Quintin Mikell

[Rambos]

By Brian McIntyre

The St. Louis Rams have released high-priced veteran safety Quintin Mikell, reports Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Mikell was signed to a four-year, $27 million contract as an unrestricted free agent following the 2011 lockout. In two seasons with the Rams, Mikell started 32 games, totaling 192 tackles, four sacks and a pair of interceptions.

The current Rams regime of GM Les Snead and head coach Jeff Fisher inherited Mikell, but releasing him last season would not have made sense. The Rams lacked depth in the back-end of the secondary and Mikell had a $1 million base salary and $4 million cap number last season. Mikell's cash and cap imprint on the Rams' roster increases to $4 million to $6 million in cash and $9 million against the cap in 2013.

Releasing Mikell saves the Rams $6 million in cash and $3 million in cap space.

Moving on from Mikell means the safety position will be one the Rams will look to address this offseason. The only safeties under club control in 2013 are Darian Stewart, an unrestricted free agent, and Matt Daniels, Rodney McLeod and Quinton Pointer, a trio of undrafted free agents that were signed in 2012. One option for the Rams in free agency is San Francisco ***** Pro Bowl free safety Dashon Goldson, who avoided a second franchise tag and will be an unrestricted free agent on March 12.

Mikell, who turns 33 in September, entered the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles, who signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2003. In 155 games over 10 seasons, Mikell has 12 interceptions and eight sacks. A potential landing spot for the veteran is the Carolina Panthers, where Sean McDermott, his former secondary coach with the Eagles, is the defensive coordinator of a unit that could use help at the free safety position.

[HUbison]

The only safeties under club control in 2013 are Darian Stewart, an unrestricted free agent, and Matt Daniels, Rodney McLeod and Quinton Pointer, a trio of undrafted free agents that were signed in 2012.

You never "plan" on filling a starter's spot with an UDFA, but......if one of these 3 were to fill one of the 2 starting safety spots in week 1, I wouldn't be crazy surprised by it.

Or they could all be unemployed by September. What do I know?

[laram0]

Another case of Jeff Fisher cleaning house and saving money.

[Rambos]

You never "plan" on filling a starter's spot with an UDFA, but......if one of these 3 were to fill one of the 2 starting safety spots in week 1, I wouldn't be crazy surprised by it.

Or they could all be unemployed by September. What do I know?

This is so true and could be applied to many of our need positions.There are a lot of players on the roster that may be the answer but the fans just don't have the insight or first hand knowledge of how the coaching staff views a player.

Most players never see that last year of a deal, no surprise they cut him.

I hope they move that cash to the offensive side of the ball. In the form a of a player like Jared Cook.

[Rambos]

Tony Softli reported this on ESPN

The St. Louis Rams are expected to tender an offer to restricted free-agent FS Darian Stewart before the start of free agency.

[Nick]

Most players never see that last year of a deal, no surprise they cut him.

True, but IMO, most players also represent a larger savings against the cap when they're cut at that point in their deal. Mikell still counts twice as much against the Rams' 2013 cap than is saved by cutting him; combine that with his level of play, and I think that's a compelling reason to keep him.

But, the Rams must feel that $3 million more in cap space can help them more than Mikell could, so we'll see how they use it and what kind of results they get on the field.

[THOLTFAN81]

But, the Rams must feel that $3 million more in cap space can help them more than Mikell could, so we'll see how they use it and what kind of results they get on the field.

I think you missed the point above that we saved an additional $10M on next years cap making it a total savings of $13M between the two years. Id say thats fairly significant.

[Nick]

I think you missed the point above that we saved an additional $10M on next years cap making it a total savings of $13M between the two years. Id say thats fairly significant.

I don't have the exact figures in front of me to check, but based on your description, I don't think that's a compelling argument at all.

It would seem to me that, had they kept him this year and cut him next offseason, the cap savings probably would have outweighed whatever he still would have cost against the 2014 cap, which differs from this year.

Unless the guy's play is poor, I don't see much point in cutting someone when he'll still cost more against the cap than what you'd save. It makes even less sense to me since Mikell was good in 2012.

I'm willing to give Snead and Fisher the benefit of the doubt and see how things turn out, but at present, I don't like this move. I hope they prove me wrong.

[Rambos]

True, but IMO, most players also represent a larger savings against the cap when they're cut at that point in their deal. Mikell still counts twice as much against the Rams' 2013 cap than is saved by cutting him; combine that with his level of play, and I think that's a compelling reason to keep him.

But, the Rams must feel that $3 million more in cap space can help them more than Mikell could, so we'll see how they use it and what kind of results they get on the field.

I think you where right when you said it's better to draft a safety then spend 5-6 million on a safety. I don't think getting a box safety will be all that hard Darian Stewart or Matt Daniels could be the answer. Then draft a ball hawk on the back end.

[Nick]

I think you where right when you said it's better to draft a safety then spend 5-6 million on a safety. I don't think getting a box safety will be all that hard Darian Stewart or Matt Daniels could be the answer. Then draft a ball hawk on the back end.

Stewart could be servicable in that role, but the last time we saw him, it was in Spagnuolo's scheme, no? IMO, it looks like a big downgrade on paper, but there's a reason the games aren't played on paper.

[berg8309]

I agree with Nick, this move is a head scratcher. We can't replace Mikell's production for $3mil, and even if we did, then what was the point? It's just spinning the wheels. I can't figure this one out at all.

[sosa39rams]

Jeff Fisher and Tim Walton obviously wanted their own guy, that's all there is to it. Was Mikell good? He was ok. But mind you he was a Spagnuolo addition. Fisher thinks with that extra 3 million he can get his own guy here to replace Mikell.

[Rambos]

Releasing Mikell saves the Rams $6 million in cash and $3 million in cap space.

The $6 million in cash can be used for signing bonus right? That's got to help if we try and land a big name.

[Varg6]

I'm putting my faith in the Front Office in believing that they really know what they are doing. I'm not a fan of the move, but I'm excited and intrigued to see how they approach free agency and the draft. I'm also curious to see how we do depth wise. Sure,--and this would be best case scenario--we could have a great draft, but what if we have a plague of injuries? It seems like we don't have much depth and getting rid of a guy who was fairly productive is puzzling especially at this position.

[DE_Ramfan]

May not pay dividends right away but moves like this help you shift money to other areas of need while bringing in younger guys to groom 10 years instead of 3.