The Rams Are On The Clock !!!!!!

[MauiRam]

THE RAMS ARE ON THE CLOCK
Posted by Mike Florio on April 22, 2008, 12:59 p.m.
The St. Louis Rams are now free to negotiate with any incoming rookie. Except left tackle Jake Long. Because, according to Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com, Long has agreed to terms with the Miami Dolphins to become the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

It’s a five-year deal, which might be one of the major concessions that the Dolphins had to make in order to hold down the total money to be paid to Long. Typically, the No. 1 overall pick signs a six-year deal.

Glazer says that Long is already in the building, for a press conference that apparently will start at 1:45 p.m. EDT.
http://www.profootballtalk.com/category/rumor-mill/

There are many details to be discovered about this one, including whether linebacker/defensive end Vernon Gholston ever had a chance to take less than the amount that was accepted by Long. Since Long and Gholston are represented by the same firm, any efforts to leverage one player against the other likely never materialized — even though it would have been in Gholston’s best interests for a reverse bidding war to occur.

As it now stands, Gholston could slide out of the top five, and he’ll earn far less money than if he’d been the No. 1 overall pick.

For those of you who still don’t realize the extent of the conflict of interest that CAA had on this issue, think of it this way. Gholston’s agent should have been calling the Dolphins every five minutes, pimping his client and suggesting that he’d consider doing something less than Long’s deal in order to be the No. 1 overall pick. In turn, Long’s agent should have then been required to scramble in order to keep the Fins focused on his client.

But since both men are represented by the same agency, it most likely never happened. And, as we suspected, Gholston is the one who has gotten screwed.

[MauiRam]

The first pick of the NFL Draft is no longer a mystery.

FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - Dolphins to make Jake Long draft's top pick

Michigan offensive lineman Jake Long and the Miami Dolphins have agreed to terms on a five-year deal, FOXSports.com has learned, and Long is slated to fly into Miami later Tuesday to join his new team.

There has been much speculation recently that the team was setting up a smoke screen in their interest of Long, but apparently it wasn't a ruse.

Long, a 6-7, 315-pound tackle, was a two-time All-American at Michigan and was twice named Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year.

He will be the first offensive lineman to be drafted No. 1 since 1997, when the St. Louis Rams took Ohio State tackle Orlando Pace. It will be the fifth time in league history an offensive lineman has gone No. 1.

Long has insisted he's not consumed with the possibility of going first.

"It doesn't matter to me when I get drafted," he said. "I'll be happy wherever I go and I'm going to do everything I can to have a great career."

With the deal done, the St. Louis Rams are on the clock. The Dolphins have nine total picks in this weekend's draft.

Long gave up just two sacks and was called for only two penalties in his entire career. He joined Pace, Michigan State's Tony Mandarich and Ohio State's Korey Stringer as the only Big Ten linemen to be selected the conference's best in consecutive seasons.

Long's toughest challenge came off the field on the night the Detroit Pistons won the 2004 NBA title. The off-campus house he was living in caught fire and the only way out of his second-floor room, which was filled with smoke, was through a window. He kicked out the screen and belly-flopped on his buddy's Bronco.

Long suffered a sore shoulder from his fall onto a truck, and smoke inhalation landed him in the hospital for a week. He made a full recovery.

During his sophomore season, he missed the first seven games with an ankle injury. Long weighed 335 pounds as Michigan slumped to a 7-5 record that was so startling, it motivated the entire team to get into better shape, including its star tackle. Long lost 20 pounds and kept the weight off the next two seasons

[HUbison]

Welcome to St. Louis, Chris...er, I mean Vern....uh, Gle............oh crap, I don't know anymore.

[MauiRam]

.FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - Dolphins to make Jake Long draft's top pick
Michigan offensive lineman Jake Long and the Miami Dolphins have agreed to terms on a six-year deal, FOXSports.com has learned. The deal, to be voided after five years, is worth $30 million guaranteed and has a total value of $57 million over five years.

Long is slated to fly into Miami later Tuesday to join his new team.

There has been much speculation recently that the team was setting up a smoke screen in their interest of Long, but apparently it wasn't a ruse.

Long, a 6-7, 315-pound tackle, was a two-time All-American at Michigan and was twice named Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year.

He will be the first offensive lineman to be drafted No. 1 since 1997, when the St. Louis Rams took Ohio State tackle Orlando Pace. It will be the fifth time in league history an offensive lineman has gone No. 1.

Long has insisted he's not consumed with the possibility of going first.

"It doesn't matter to me when I get drafted," he said. "I'll be happy wherever I go and I'm going to do everything I can to have a great career."

With the deal done, the St. Louis Rams are on the clock. The Dolphins have nine total picks in this weekend's draft.

Long gave up just two sacks and was called for only two penalties in his entire career. He joined Pace, Michigan State's Tony Mandarich and Ohio State's Korey Stringer as the only Big Ten linemen to be selected the conference's best in consecutive seasons.

Long's toughest challenge came off the field on the night the Detroit Pistons won the 2004 NBA title. The off-campus house he was living in caught fire and the only way out of his second-floor room, which was filled with smoke, was through a window. He kicked out the screen and belly-flopped on his buddy's Bronco.

Long suffered a sore shoulder from his fall onto a truck, and smoke inhalation landed him in the hospital for a week. He made a full recovery.

During his sophomore season, he missed the first seven games with an ankle injury. Long weighed 335 pounds as Michigan slumped to a 7-5 record that was so startling, it motivated the entire team to get into better shape, including its star tackle. Long lost 20 pounds and kept the weight off the next two seasons.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Nick]

Thank God, this makes the first pick in my final mock pretty accurate!

[MauiRam]

Anyone think we'll lock up our guy before Saturday, or do we wait and milk the clock on Draft day to see if anyone wants to give up the farm for our pick? I hope we don't trade unless it"s with the Falcons or Raiders, In fact I'd almost rather we don't trade at all. We have our pick of the top 3 and we should take it!

[Nick]

Originally Posted by MauiRam

Anyone think we'll lock up our guy before Saturday, or do we wait and milk the clock on Draft day to see if anyone wants to give up the farm for our pick?

It'll be the latter. The Rams will probably wait to see if they get a great offer as the clock winds down. The only way they also think about making the pick early is if the discussion in the war room has basically ended and they're absolutely set on their guy.

[Falconator]

Originally Posted by MauiRam

Anyone think we'll lock up our guy before Saturday, or do we wait and milk the clock on Draft day to see if anyone wants to give up the farm for our pick? I hope we don't trade unless it"s with the Falcons or Raiders, In fact I'd almost rather we don't trade at all. We have our pick of the top 3 and we should take it!

my guess would be this:

• Rams will sit on this and digest information overnite
• by Wednesday morning, they will start taking calls for trades
• If they don't like trade offers, they will pick their #1 target(Chris Long or Glen Dorsey) and start negotiating Thursday morning
• Goal: have draft pick signed by Friday nite

My guess is we should all know who the Rams #1 target is by Thursday afternoon. these are my GUESSES!!!

[jkramsfan]

this does take a little bit of the suspense out of it and that was the Long I wanted the Rams to take but I just hope the Rams do the right thing here and take Chris Long now.

[Falconator]

Originally Posted by Nick

It'll be the latter. The Rams will probably wait to see if they get a great offer as the clock winds down. The only way they also think about making the pick early is if the discussion in the war room has basically ended and they're absolutely set on their guy.

Nick,

no offense but why would the Rams do that? teams know right now - TODAY - that they can make an offer for the Rams #2 pick and get whatever player it is that they want.

Sure, the longer the Rams wait, the more likely a team could put together a big offer. But, then the Rams lose all the "financial benefits" if no offer comes through of getting their pick signed now and avoiding a training camp holdout.

Dolphins have been on the clock for 3 months with no credible offer to move up. The Falcons are not going to trade up. The Raiders don't have the picks to move up. The Chiefs don't have a player they like(now that Jake is gone) enough to move up. The Jets don't have the money to move up with all of their free-spending ways in free agency. The Patriots never move up - they always move down. The Ravens "could" move up but I am hearing now that they are more likely to "move down" and take Chad Henne. The Bengals could move up but are way to "cheap" to do so - if they moved up it would be for Dorsey.

The Saints, ah, the Saints - they are the "hot rumor" on who wants to move up. However, its likely they will trade their 2nd round pick for Jeremy Shockey. The draft trade chart probably would require the Saints to trade #10 overall, 2nd rounder and 1st rounder next year. Don't see that happening, do you?

If I am the Rams executives (DeVaney/Linnehan) - I am saying to the other 30 teams(excluding Dolphins and Rams) - the #2 pick is "open for business". Bring your best offer now, because, come Thursday morning we will be working on getting our choice for #2 signed......

I think the "rumors" will still be Glen Dorsey is the target, because no team is trading up to #2 for Chris Long.......so, do the Rams take Dorsey? who knows?......

But, if there is no trade - I would fully expect Rams to sign somebody before the draft - that is the "advantage" of being on the clock before the draft starts...

[txramsfan]

Give me a McFadden with Fries please? Oh wait, this isn't McDonalds...

[jkramsfan]

Originally Posted by Falconator

my guess would be this:

• Rams will sit on this and digest information overnite
• by Wednesday morning, they will start taking calls for trades
• If they don't like trade offers, they will pick their #1 target(Chris Long or Glen Dorsey) and start negotiating Thursday morning
• Goal: have draft pick signed by Friday nite

My guess is we should all know who the Rams #1 target is by Thursday afternoon. these are my GUESSES!!!

well then I don't need to watch now on Saturday.

[Bald_81]

YES!!! A big sigh of relief from me. I was just standing up at clapping once I saw it on ESPN. PHEW! I can sit back now, and enjoy the draft. Yay!

[sturgess77]

The Miami Dolphins have reached a contract agreement with Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long and will select him with the No. 1 overall pick in Saturday's draft.

Despite speculation that Dolphins vice president of football operations Bill Parcells really had planned to select Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston or Virginia defensive end Chris Long, sources told ESPN's Michael Smith that since the Dolphins opened negotiations with Jake Long they were talking to him exclusively.
Long, a 6-foot-7, 313-pound senior who moved to left tackle in 2006 and started his final 26 games, was an All-America selection and Big Ten lineman of the year in each of his last two seasons.
Offensive line is considered the biggest need for the Dolphins, who went 1-15 last year.



Via espn.com

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Falconator

no offense but why would the Rams do that? teams know right now - TODAY - that they can make an offer for the Rams #2 pick and get whatever player it is that they want.

And if that's the case, the Rams will want to wait and hear offers and see if they can get a deal they're excited about. Often times that involves some negotiations beyond the initial offer, which will take time. Maybe they're not going all the way until the final minute of their clock on Saturday, but if they're listening to offers, they're going to take some time to see if those offers improve.

Now, if they're not inclined to trade down, then they could make the pick early. They'll need to come to a consensus in the war room on who is the guy and go from there. But as I said, I think the only way they think about making the pick early is if they've had that discussion and have come to a conclusion. If they're still unsure, there's no reason not to take some time, think it over, and maybe listen to some offers in the process.

Let's keep in mind that the price has now been set. The top pick is signed, so it'll be a lot easier to slot a contract for the second overall pick knowing what the guy ahead of him signed for. I think the chances of a contract holdout went down quite a bit with this signing.