Rams sign Ogbonnaya, agree on deals with Scott, Null

[MauiRam]

07.27.2009 3:24 pm
By Bill Coats
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The start of training camp is three days away and the St. Louis Rams are down to four unsigned draft picks. And that number soon will drop to two.

On Monday, running back Chris Ogbonnaya, a seventh-round selection from the University of Texas, signed a four-year deal with the club. Financial terms will not immediately available.

Also, league sources indicated that the Rams have reached contract agreements with defensive tackle Darell Scott, their fourth-round choice, and quarterback Keith Null, their sixth-rounder.

That would leave just first-round pick Jason Smith, a tackle from Baylor, and second-rounder James Laurinaitis, a linebacker from Ohio State, without deals.

“We’re making good progress” with the representatives for Smith and Laurinaitis, said Kevin Demoff, the Rams’ executive vice president of football operations. “We met again yesterday for a good amount of time. I think we’re getting closer. I still remain very optimistic” that both players will be signed and in camp on time.

[bigtiger737]

personally would have thought the priority would go the other way :P

[mikhal5569]

Good to hear. Now lets get the other two signed.

[RamOfDenmark]

personally would have thought the priority would go the other way :P

Yeah, this is usually the way it plays out though. I guess the first/second rounders (or their agents) like the fact that training camps are fast approaching and generally try to wait it out a bit to put pressure on the team because they know the value to the team of getting the players on time. In addition to that stalling things a little helps the agents/players by having other players with similar draft positions sign so they can work off their numbers.

About half the second round is signed now including the pick right before Laurinaitis so I'm pretty sure he'll sign and be in camp on time. Only 4 picks are signed from the first round I believe (Stafford, Sanchez, Mack and Hood - that's all I've heard of anyway, anybody let me know if I missed anything) and the numbers for the QB's are quite high. I could see a lot of discussion between the team and Smith's agent to work out his deal based on Jake Long's deal from last year (same position), the deals in the first round already signed this year (to try to establish the 'fair'/average increase in pay from last year), as well as Chris Long's deal from last year (same spot). I wouldn't be surprised if it was hard to agree to a deal and if he ends up missing time.

It can be a frustrating waiting game for the fans, I really hope we get Smith to camp on time, though I could see him missing a few days the way things look right now.

[shower beers]

personally would have thought the priority would go the other way :P

These are the easy contracts. They're usually on a scale and can be plugged in pretty easy. There's not much negotiation with these picks.

[RamsFan16]

Great to hear! I was in a job interview for 25 minutes, come back out and find out we signed two more draft picks!

Great news!

I wouldn't be suprised if tomorrow, we get Laurinatis under contract, and Jason Smith late tomorrow night.

[TekeRam]

Exactly Denmark, the low round picks all just get a bump up in salary from the year before typically. The only thing that would make them difficult is how much room is needed in the rookie cap for the top two spots, and that actually makes these deals good for the clubs because now they have less cap space to get the big deals down with Jason and James. Less space means that "their hands are tied" and the agents have to take what the clubs give, much in the same way the clubs now have to sweat out getting all the picks signed before training camp. Always a push pull battle, which is why we need a slotted draft system.

[RebelYell]

I'm not worried. James will sign in the next day and worst case is Jason is a day or two late. Not a big deal.